Creamy Carbonara
Creamy Carbonara is a high-protein pasta recipe ready in 20 min. It makes 4 servings, each 1000 kcal with 30 g protein. Intermediate level, 5 ingredients.
Adapted from a home cook's recipe and measured by Cookpath.
- 20 mintotal
- Intermediatelevel
- 1000kcal a serving
- 30 gprotein
What is Creamy Carbonara
Spaghetti tossed in a sauce of cream, egg yolks and parmesan, with crisp fried pancetta, all coated onto every strand.
- Pasta · Pork
- Boiling
- Sautéing & stir-fry
- Sauces & dressings
How to make Creamy Carbonara
Tips from the cook
- Fry the pancetta slowly in a dry pan, so the fat renders out and the pieces turn crisp.
- Take the pan off the heat before adding the yolks, or they scramble.
- Save a cup of pasta water first, and add it a splash at a time to loosen the sauce.
- Grate the parmesan fine, as it melts into the sauce more easily.
- Serve at once, as the sauce thickens quickly as it cools.
Step by step with timers, in your shopping list in one tap.
Goes well with
Sides from Cookpath that balance this dish, the same picks the app suggests.
Creamy Carbonara substitutions
Out of something, or cooking around an allergy. Each swap was checked against a source.
Spaghetti1 option
- Gluten-free pasta (corn/rice or corn-rice blend) 1:1 by weight; cook per packet, slightly al dente
Soups (goes soft fast) and long simmers.
Pancetta3 options
- Bacon, diced 1:1 but use less or pre-cook to render fat; it is smoked and stronger
Smokiness changes the dish; fattier.
- Guanciale or prosciutto 1:1 by weight; prosciutto is cured, not cooked-fat
- Olives, chopped (meatless) to taste
Does not taste like pancetta.
Heavy cream2 options
- Oat cooking cream (GF-labelled) or soy cream 1:1
Does not whip.
Still contains soy.
- Coconut cream (top layer of can) 1:1
Coconut flavour.
Egg yolks0 option
From the cook: yolk is the sauce.
Parmesan2 options
- Vegetarian hard Italian-style cheese (made with microbial rennet) 1:1 by weight
Grana Padano contains egg lysozyme.
Still contains dairy.
- Nutritional yeast (fortified flakes) 1:1 by volume, add a pinch of salt
No melt; less sharp.
