If you love Italian food, this is one of the easiest pasta recipes you can make. This can be made in just 15 minutes and only uses a handful of ingredients.

If you couldn’t tell already, I absolutely love Italian food. I lived with an Italian flatmate for my 4 years of university, so it was kind of a given.

The main thing I learnt from my Italian flatmate is this: Italian food is simple. She used to get so annoyed when she’d see restaurants adding hundreds of ingredients to a traditional Italian recipe. Italian recipes are supposed to be simple, and the ingredients shine because they have been cooked properly.

When it comes to simple cookery, there really isn’t a pasta recipe as simple as carbonara. It contains just 5 ingredients: guanciale (cured meat that tastes a bit like bacon), eggs, parmesan and pecorino cheese.

The reason why this is an (almost ) authentic recipe is because I’ve decided to swap some of the ingredients which are hard to find. I have never, ever been able to find guanciale, and I doubt that many people live next to a shop that sells it. However, if you do happen to live next to an Italian deli, please make the most of it! I’m using bacon instead, which tastes just as good and is much easier to find!

The other choice I’ve made is to swap the pecorino cheese out for just parmesan, just because it is a cheaper and easier option. I don’t think it detracts from the taste of the carbonara, but if you do want to stick to the original recipe, simply swap out the bacon in this recipe for guanciale and the parmesan cheese for half parmesan and half pecorino.

Also, I’ve chosen to add garlic, because I love garlic and I think it gives a richer flavour.

If you saw my story, you’ll know that there is one cardinal sin when it comes to carbonara: never, ever put cream in your carbonara! The creamy sauce comes from eggs only. Please don’t ever put cream in your carbonara, or you might hear my Italian flatmate cursing from Italy.

This recipe only takes 15 minutes to make, making it the simplest weeknight recipe if you can’t be bothered to make anything else.

Look at that closeup, what more could you want?

If you are looking an easy and (almost) authentic carbonara recipe, here you go! I hope you enjoy!

Almost authentic carbonara recipe

Servings: 2

Prep time: 5 minutes

Cook time: 10-15 minutes

Ingredients

• 200g of spaghetti or linguine
• Boiled water
• 1 tsp of salt
• 2 bacon rashers (or pancetta or guiancale)
• 2 garlic cloves, finely diced
• 1 whole egg and 3 egg yolks (if you want to be really authentic, use 6 egg yolks and omit the whole egg)
• Parmesan
• Salt and pepper
• Dash of olive oil

How to make spaghetti carbonara

1. Cook the pasta in salted water according to the instructions. When the pasta is nearly done, scoop a little pasta water and leave to one side.
2. Cut the bacon into small pieces. Fry in a little oil on a high heat until starting to brown, then add the diced garlic cloves.
3. Add 1 egg and 3 egg yolks to a bowl. Cover in a thick covering of parmesan and mix well.
4. Once cooked, take off the heat and pour the pasta in. Stir in the pasta and mix with the bacon and garlic.
5. Slowly (and I mean SLOWLY) add the egg mixture a little at a time, stirring to incorporate. Be careful not to do this too quick or on too high a heat as this could cause the eggs to scramble.
6. Add a teaspoon or tablespoon of the reserved pasta water to loosen up the pasta.
7. Serve with a crack of black pepper.

Tips: if the eggs scrambled, don’t worry too much. It won’t look as nice, but the flavour will be more or less the same.