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Are you ready for some bacon?! If you’re familiar with Spaghetti alla Carbonara, then you know how excellent this dish is. If you’re unfamiliar, then let me introduce you to a dish that comes as close to perfect as any dish can. Cheap? Yes. Fast? Yes. Easy? Yes. Alarmingly rich and delicious? YES!

Now that we’ve gotten all that out of the way, let’s get to the yum!

NOTE: This recipe feeds two hungry adults, but it is easily doubled to feed 4 or more (or use this recipe to produce smaller portions as part of a larger meal).

Total Time: 15 min (prep), 15 min (cook) Serves: 2

Ingredients

  • 1/2 pound thin spaghetti
  • 4 slices of bacon, sliced into strips
  • 4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 cup grated Parmesan
  • Freshly ground black pepper
  • 1/4 cup scallions, thinly sliced

Directions

Begin by prepping all the components — Chopping the garlic, slicing the bacon, and slicing the scallions won’t take long and will allow you to put everything together as fast as it’s ready.


Place the sliced bacon in a cold pan (cold!!) and then set the pan on medium heat. Placing bacon in a cold pan allows the fat to render and creates the luscious base for the carbonara sauce.

While the bacon renders, set a pot of water to boil. Once the water boils, add a healthy handful of salt to the water, then add the spaghetti. Cook the spaghetti 1-2 minutes less than the box suggests. This will keep the pasta very al dente so it will finish cooking in the sauce.

After the bacon has cooked down (about 7 minutes), toss in the chopped garlic and allow the garlic to warm through for 1 minute (do not let the garlic burn!).

Place the Parmesan into a bowl. Add the eggs and then mix them together with a fork.

Add the hot spaghetti straight from the water into the pan with the bacon and garlic. Do NOT dump the pasta into a colander — you will need some of the water the pasta was cooked in to smooth out the sauce.

Stir the spaghetti into the bacon fat so that it coats all the pasta. Let the pasta cook for 1-2 minutes in the pan with the bacon, then take the pan off the heat. Pour the egg and cheese mixture into the pan, stirring vigorously so that the eggs cook but don’t scramble.

Continue to stir for 1-2 minutes, cooking the eggs completely. Add some of the pasta water and continue to stir. The sauce will become silky and shiny. I add about 3/4 cup of water to get the sauce the way I like it, but it’s really a matter of personal preference, so add as much or as little as you’d like.

Plate the pasta and add a sprinkling of scallions on top …and of course, some garlic bread won’t hurt, either! Enjoy!

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