Make restaurant-caliber fettuccine carbonara with its simple, creamy sauce in the comfort of your own kitchen.
Fettuccine carbonara is a hearty pasta dish that combines fettuccine noodles with a simple yet creamy sauce made with eggs, Romano cheese and cured pork. Although it feels fancy enough for a date night, carbonara with fettuccine is a classic Italian pasta recipe that comes together in a breeze, making it an ideal weeknight dinner.
Though fettuccine carbonara’s origin story is murky, many food historians have traced its inception to Rome, following the city’s liberation by Allied forces at the end of World War II. American troops brought rations of eggs and bacon with them, which, when combined with local ingredients, resulted in the creation of pasta carbonara.
What is fettuccine carbonara?
Although there are many variations, the most traditional version of carbonara with fettuccine combines fettuccine noodles with a simple sauce made from just four ingredients: cured pork, pecorino Romano cheese, eggs and pepper. Fettuccine Alfredo, on the other hand, features a sauce made from butter and grated Parmesan. American-style versions of both recipes often include the addition of half-and-half or heavy cream.
If you are cooking a traditional fettuccine carbonara recipe without the cream, the golden rule of carbonara sauce is to take the cooked pasta off the heat once the egg mixture has been added. If there’s too much heat, your eggs will scramble. But there is no need to worry about serving raw eggs—the residual heat of the pasta will cook the eggs as the ingredients are tossed together.
Our recipe is slightly nontraditional, as it uses the more-easily sourced bacon in place of guanciale and includes garlic and onion for an extra pop of flavor and half-and-half for added creaminess.
Ingredients for Fettuccine Carbonara
Fettuccine: Fettuccine is a flat and wide ribbon-shaped pasta. Spaghetti, bucatini and linguine are common alternatives. Want to know the difference between fettuccine and linguine? Check out our guide to pasta shapes.
Bacon: Use thick-cut bacon for the best flavor. (Try one of our Test Kitchen’s picks of the best bacon brands.) Guanciale, which is cured pork jowl or cheek meat, is more traditional but can be hard to find. Pancetta, which is cured pork belly, is another tasty alternative.
Eggs: Use large room-temperature eggs. Make sure you know how to tell if eggs are fresh before you crack them open.
Romano cheese: Pecorino Romano is a salty and flavorful Italian cheese made from sheep’s milk. Parmesan, which is made from cow’s milk, can be used as a substitute, but note that it is less salty than Romano so you may have to adjust the seasoning in the final dish.
Garlic and onion: Fresh garlic and onion are nontraditional carbonara ingredients but add a boatload of flavor.
Half-and-half: Even though it’s not in every carbonara recipe, 1/2 cup half-and-half ensures a creamy sauce.
Directions
Step 1: Cook the bacon
In a large skillet, cook the chopped bacon over medium heat until crisp, stirring occasionally. Remove with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels. Discard the bacon drippings, reserving 1 tablespoon in the skillet.
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