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Spaghetti alla carbonara in a speckled bowl, the nest glossy with pale gold egg and pecorino, crisp guanciale and cracked pepper on top, wine by the window.

Spaghetti alla Carbonara

Spaghetti with guanciale, eggs, Pecorino Romano and black pepper, tossed off the heat into a silky sauce.

30 min · Serves 4

  • Lazio
Jump to the recipeWhat to serve with it

This version builds the sauce as a thick paste of yolks, whole egg and Pecorino before the pasta arrives, then loosens it with pasta water only as you toss; that is how you get silk instead of scrambled egg. The decision that matters is doing that final toss off the heat, in a pan that is warm but no longer hot. Toasting the pepper first is a small step you will taste in every forkful.

Total
30 min
Prep
15 min
Cook
15 min
Serves
4

One step at a time, with what each step needs.

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Spaghetti alla Carbonara

Total 30 min · Prep 15 min · Cook 15 min · Serves 4

Method

  1. Toast the cracked pepper in a dry, wide pan until fragrant; tip half into a large bowl.

  2. Cut the guanciale into batons and render it in the same pan over medium-low heat until amber and crisp, 8 to 10 minutes. Kill the heat; keep fat and meat in the pan.

  3. Whisk the yolks, egg, and Pecorino into the peppered bowl until you have a thick gritty paste.

  4. Boil the spaghetti in lightly salted water to one minute shy of al dente. Reserve two cups of the cooking water.

  5. Drag the spaghetti into the warm (not hot) guanciale pan and toss 30 seconds so the fat coats every strand.

  6. Loosen the egg paste with half a ladle of pasta water. Off the heat, pour it over the pasta and toss relentlessly, adding splashes of water, until a glossy sauce clings and flows. It thickens as you toss; stop while it still pours.

  7. Plate in nests, crown with the crispest guanciale, the remaining pepper, and a last snow of Pecorino. Serve faster than you plated it.

Equipment

  • Large SkilletWide is the point: room to toss the pasta through the fat and the egg off the heat.Our pick

    • Our pick

      Lodge Cast Iron Skillet, 30cm

      A 30 cm skillet for cooking and tossing in batches when needed.

      Shop
  • Mixing Bowl
  • Microplane ZesterFinely grated Pecorino melts into the sauce instead of clumping.2 options

    • Our pick

      Microplane Premium Zester

      For finely grating the Pecorino Romano into the egg mixture.

      Shop

    • Cuisipro Surface Glide Fine Rasp

      A fine rasp for citrus zest and hard cheese.

      Shop
  • Whisk · OptionalA fork does the job too.

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Estimated per serving

Calories
679 kcal
Protein
27.8 g
Carbohydrates
74 g
Fat
31.7 g

One of 4 equal portions. Uses Fiorucci guanciale values and standard large-egg proportions for the listed 105 g egg mixture. Includes the rendered fat; excludes extra cheese at the table. Sodium is omitted because cooking-water salt retention varies.

Nutrition sources: USDA Agricultural Research Service · CREA Centro di ricerca Alimenti e Nutrizione · Fiorucci

Nonna's tips

  1. Let the pan cool before the eggs

    Take the pan off the heat and let it cool from hot to warm before adding the egg mixture. Toss with small splashes of pasta water until the sauce is glossy.

  2. Guanciale for this version

    Use guanciale for this version, rendering it slowly before tossing the pasta in its fat. Keep the smoky flavour of bacon for another dish.

  3. Same pantry, three Roman classics: drop the egg for gricia, add tomato for amatriciana.

    Master the carbonara emulsion and you own the trilogy.

What to serve with Spaghetti alla Carbonara

A dinner from Lazio, built around this dish. Change any course and the shopping list follows.

  1. Antipasto

    Supplì al telefono with meat ragù

    Oval Roman rice croquettes with tomato and beef ragù, a mozzarella centre and a crisp breadcrumb coating.

    3 hr 45 min · make ahead

  2. First course

    Spaghetti alla Carbonara

    This recipe

    30 min

  3. Main course

    Saltimbocca alla Romana

    Rome’s ten-minute main course: veal scaloppine pinned with prosciutto and sage, flashed in butter and white wine until they jump in the mouth.

    27 min · make ahead

  4. Side

    Carciofi alla romana

    Whole Romanesco artichokes with garlic and mentuccia, cooked head-down in a covered casserole until tender.

    1 hr 30 min · make ahead

  5. Dessert

    Ricotta and visciole tart

    A lattice-topped Roman tart with visciole jam beneath a sambuca-scented ricotta filling.

    5 hr 35 min · make ahead

  6. What to pour

    A Frascati Superiore from the Castelli Romani, just outside the city: its fresh acidity and minerality cut through the guanciale fat and the salt of the Pecorino.

    Frascati Superiore
Lazio

Lazio

By Roman standards carbonara is young: a 1950 La Stampa report mentions American officers eating spaghetti alla carbonara in Trastevere. Its origins are uncertain; one theory links the dish to American soldiers in Rome in 1944. Today it belongs to the Roman pasta tradition alongside gricia, amatriciana and cacio e pepe.

The Lazio guide

Shopping list

People at the table
4
On the table

To buy

  • Shop

Check the pantry

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Cook your way around Italy

Twenty regions, one dish from each. Cook one and its region goes on your map.

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Made Spaghetti alla Carbonara? Stamp Lazio.

Grilled arrosticini with small cubes of lamb on wooden skewers.Next stop · AbruzzoArrosticini1 hr 20 min

When you go to Lazio

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One dish from every region

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  8. Emilia-RomagnaTagliatelle al Ragù Bolognese
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  10. UmbriaStrangozzi al Tartufo Nero
  11. MarcheVincisgrassi
  12. LazioSpaghetti alla Carbonara
  13. AbruzzoArrosticini
  14. MoliseCavatelli al Ragù di Maiale
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  16. PugliaOrecchiette alle Cime di Rapa
  17. BasilicataStrascinati con Peperoni Cruschi
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  19. SicilyPasta alla Norma
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Sources and citations (6)
  1. www.accademiaitalianadellacucina.it: SPAGHETTI ALLA CARBONARA | Accademia Italiana della Cucina
  2. La Nuova Stampa, 26 luglio1950, p.3: original Trastevere report
  3. www.accademia1953.it: Civiltà della Tavola, n. 339, luglio 2021
  4. Pasta alla carbonara | Turismo Roma
  5. Una leggenda nel piatto: i bucatini all'Amatriciana | Turismo Roma
  6. La Gricia | Turismo Roma

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