Spaghetti Carbonara
with bacon / spinach / mushrooms
Smarts: Be sure to combine the pasta and eggs when the pasta is still very hot - it will gently "cook" the eggs into a creamy sauce.
Ingredients
- Cheese, parmesan - 2 oz, grated
- Bacon - 6 strips, chopped
- Mushrooms, any button - 8 oz, sliced (look for pre-sliced to save time)
- Spinach, any type - 5 oz, roughly chopped
- Eggs - 2
- Egg yolks - 1 (discard egg whites)
- Lemon zest - 1/2 tsp
- Pasta, spaghetti or linguini - 10 oz
- Black pepper - 1/2 tsp
- Red pepper flakes (opt) - 1/2 tsp
Nutrition Facts
Prep
- Cheese / Bacon - Prep as directed and store separately. (Can be done up to 5 days ahead)
- Mushrooms / Spinach - Prep as directed and store separately. (Can be done up to 3 days ahead)
- Make sauce - In a large mixing bowl, whisk together eggs, egg yolks, cheese, and lemon zest. (You want this sauce ready to go so that it can be tossed with pasta just after it finishes cooking.)
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Make
- Bring a saucepan of salted water to boil. (If you've never made carbonara before, check out this video.)
- While water boils, heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add bacon and saute until bacon is crisp, 6 to 7 minutes. Transfer bacon to a paper-towel lined plate.
- Drain off all but 1 Tbsp / 15 mL of bacon grease from the pan. Return pan to heat. Add mushrooms and saute until mushrooms are tender and brown, 4 to 5 minutes.
- While mushrooms cook, keep an eye on the pot of water. When water is boiling, add pasta to boiling water and cook until al dente, tender but not soggy. Reserve 1/4 cup (59 mL) of pasta water (for 4 servings, adjust accordingly).
- Return to mushrooms and season with some salt. Add spinach and saute until spinach is wilted, ~3 minutes more. Turn off heat under the pan.
- Working quickly so that the pasta stays hot, drain pasta.
- Add hot pasta and reserved pasta water to egg sauce. Toss vigorously with tongs or two forks until eggs coat the pasta, creating a creamy sauce. (The eggs will “cook” from the heat of the pasta.)
- Stir in spinach and mushrooms. Season with some salt.
- Transfer carbonara to serving plates. Top with black pepper, red pepper flakes (if using), and bacon. Enjoy!
Nutrition Facts
Reviews
Ratings
20 reviews
This was a bit dry instead of creamy as I would have preferred. I added cream cheese and some milk for added creaminess. It was yummy after that. I used thick cut bacon and arugula instead of spinach.
0 HelpfulThis was great!! I bumped it up to 16oz pasta, 3 eggs, 2 yolks, 4 oz cheese, 10 slices bacon. Mushrooms and spinach stayed the same and the ratios seemed fine.
0 HelpfulHeavily improvised because my spinach sat too long in the fridge and we like a protein with our pasta, I added shrimp and used asparagus needing to be cooked. Some precooked bacon pieces instead of bacon rounded out the improvisation and sped up the process. All in all a solidly delicious meal.
0 HelpfulI was so excited about this but it didn't feel worth all the trouble. I used chickpea pasta, which may have been my first problem -- it was too chewy and heavy; this meal really calls for simple white-flour pasta. Also cooking all the bacon felt like a waste of time and bacon -- as much as I love good bacon, I don't think the meal would have been much different with prepackaged bacon bits. Lemon zest was the best part.
0 Helpful