Adding cream to carbonara may not be ‘authentic’, but it sure is delicious! This Easy Creamy Carbonara features bacon, garlic, cream, parmesan and pasta… but no egg. (Perfect if you love the flavours of Carbonara, but you’re not a fan of the eggy sauce!)
Un-authentic, but delicious !
A few years ago, I was fortunate enough to spend a week in Rome. On that trip, I took a pasta making class and learned how to make an authentic carbonara. (Which has far fewer ingredients than most people realise – just egg, parmesan, pecorino, guanciale and black pepper!)
Well, this is not that! This is most definitely an anglicized version of carbonara. This is much more like what you get when you order carbonara in a restaurant in the UK or the USA: lots of cream and garlic, bacon instead of the guanciale, and no egg in sight.
But while this is in no way an ‘authentic’ carbonara, it is absolutely delicious (I mean with cream, bacon, garlic and parmesan, how could it not be?) and of course, as you’d expect from me, it’s quick and easy!
How to make creamy carbonara
This creamy carbonara is even easier to make than the egg-based version – and it takes just 15 minutes from start to finish!
All you need to do is put your pasta on to boil, then fry the bacon and garlic. Next, add cream, parmesan, black pepper and parsley. Finally, stir in your freshly cooked pasta and a splash of pasta cooking water.
Serve with more parmesan and parsley sprinkled on top.
(Full recipe given in the recipe card below.)
What to serve with creamy carbonara
This creamy carbonara really is a complete meal in its own right, and that’s how I usually serve it.
However, if you wanted to make it a bigger meal, you could add crusty French bread or garlic bread and a simple side salad.
What to drink with creamy carbonara
For me, hands down the best wine match for creamy carbonara is Chardonnay – it is always my top pick for creamy pasta dishes, as it really goes so well with the richness and the creaminess of this type of dish. Really any chardonnay will work, except the very delicate ones. You want a chardonnay that has a bit of oomph!
Other good white options include: Chenin Blanc, Frascati, Soave or Sauvignon Blanc.
A fruity rosé also works pretty well. And, at a push, you could even pair it with a light to medium bodied Italian red with good acidity, like Barbera or Valpolicella.
Make it your own…
Given we’re messing with tradition anyway, you might as well have fun with this creamy carbonara recipe! So feel free to adapt it to suit your tastes and/or whatever you have available to you in your kitchen! Here are a few ideas:
- Add chicken (pan fry diced chicken breast immediately after the bacon, then add back in at the same time as the bacon)
- Add cooked prawns in at the end (instead of, or as well as, the bacon)
- Add smoked salmon in at the end (instead of, or as well as, the bacon)
- Use chorizo instead of the bacon
- Add peas in at the end
- Add bell peppers, courgette, aubergine, and/or mushrooms (pan fry diced veggies immediately after the bacon, then add back in at the same time as the bacon)
- Add a pinch of chilli flakes or some fresh chilli
- Use basil instead of the parsley
(Did you adapt this recipe? I’d love to hear about it! Let me know in the comment section below.)
Can you reheat leftover Creamy Carbonara?
No, this is a dish that is best made fresh.
Can you freeze Creamy Carbonara?
No, this is a dish that is best made fresh.
If you like this recipe…
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Easy Creamy Carbonara
Ingredients
- 300 g linguine or spaghetti (Or any pasta shape you like! This also works well with tagliatelle and fettucine.)
- 300 g bacon lardons or diced bacon (See Note 1)
- 4 cloves garlic grated or crushed
- 300 ml double cream
- 35 g grated parmesan
- Salt and black pepper to taste (See Note 2)
- 2 tablespoons parsley finely chopped (plus extra for garnish)
- More grated parmesan to serve (optional)
Instructions
- Cook the pasta according to packet instructions / your own preferences. When cooked, drain, reserving some of the pasta cooking water. (See Note 3.)
- Meanwhile, heat a non-stick frying pan over a high heat for 1 minute.
- Place the bacon lardons in the pan and fry for 2-3 minutes, stirring regularly until golden brown on all sides.
- Remove the lardons and most of the released fat to a plate. Leave a small amount of bacon fat in the pan.
- Turn the heat right down and place the frying pan back on the heat. Add the garlic and fry for 30 seconds, stirring frequently, taking care not to let the garlic go brown or burn.
- Add the double cream, parmesan, salt (if using – see Note 2) and pepper, and turn the heat up to medium. Bubble for 2 minutes until a little reduced and thickened.
- Add the bacon lardons back to the pan together with as much or as little of the bacon fat as you want to add (see Note 4). Then add the parsley and stir well.
- Add the drained pasta, together with a very small splash of pasta cooking water. Stir together well. (If the pasta is looking too dry at this point, you can add an extra splash of pasta cooking water – but don’t go too mad. The sauce is supposed to be quite thick and cling to the pasta.)
- Turn off the heat and serve, scattered with grated parmesan, more black pepper and more chopped fresh parsley.
Notes
- For best results, I recommend using bacon lardons. However, if you can’t get hold of lardons, you can chop up streaky bacon into small pieces instead.
- I personally only use black pepper in this recipe as I find the bacon is salty enough to provide enough salt in this recipe.
- I recommend cooking the pasta until it’s nearly but not quite your desired texture as it will cook a little bit more in the sauce.
- It’s up to you how much of the bacon fat you add back in. More fat = more flavour, but also more calories! Personally, I add about 1 teaspoon of the fat back in.
- Not suitable for freezing.
- Nutrition information is approximate and meant as a guideline only.
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