Spaghetti Carbonara

Name: Spaghetti Carbonara
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 30 min
Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients: 1½ tbsp Diamond Crystal kosher salt, for the pasta water; 6 oz guanciale, rind removed, cut into strips 1/4 inch thick and about 1 inch long; 2 tsp black pepper, coarsely ground; 4 large egg yolks; 2 large eggs; 3 oz Pecorino Romano, finely grated, about 1 1/2 cups loosely packed; 400 g spaghetti, about 14 oz

By the Tapas kitchen · Updated November 5, 2026

Prep: 10 min
Cook: 20 min
Total: 30 min
Yield: Serves 4

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If the pan is still too hot when the eggs go in, they scramble, so take it off the burner and count to thirty first. Keep a mug of pasta water nearby to loosen the sauce if it tightens or starts to catch.

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Photo by Sebastian Coman Photography, Unsplash License, via Unsplash.

Ingredients

Serves 4

1½ tbsp Diamond Crystal kosher salt, for the pasta water
6 oz guanciale, rind removed, cut into strips ¼ inch thick and about 1 inch long
2 tsp black pepper, coarsely ground
4 large egg yolks
2 large eggs
3 oz Pecorino Romano, finely grated, about 1½ cups loosely packed
400 g spaghetti, about 14 oz

The salt amounts here are for Diamond Crystal kosher salt. If you have Morton kosher salt, use a little over half as much, because its grains are denser and saltier by the spoon.

Steps

Bring a large pot of water, about 4 quarts, to a boil and add the salt. It should taste lightly seasoned, less than you would use for other pasta, because the pecorino and guanciale bring plenty.
Put the guanciale in a large cold skillet and set it over medium-low heat. Stir now and then as the fat melts out, until the fat is clear and the strips are golden and crisp at the edges but still bend, 8 to 10 minutes. Add the pepper for the last 30 seconds, then turn off the heat. Leave every bit of fat in the pan; it is half the sauce.
Set aside a small handful of the pecorino for the table. In a bowl, beat the rest with the egg yolks and eggs into a thick, sandy paste.
Cook the spaghetti about 2 minutes short of the package time; it finishes in the skillet. Just before it's done, scoop a big mugful of pasta water out of the pot.
Lift the spaghetti straight into the skillet with tongs, add a splash of pasta water, and toss over medium heat until every strand is glossy with fat and the liquid has mostly cooked off, about 1 minute.
Take the skillet off the burner and count to thirty. Whisk a couple of spoonfuls of pasta water into the egg paste, pour it over the spaghetti, and toss hard with tongs, adding more pasta water a splash at a time, until the sauce turns creamy and clings, about 1 minute. When you tilt the pan it should flow slowly, a little looser than you want it, since the spaghetti keeps drinking it on the plate. If it stays thin and tastes of raw egg, put the pan back over low heat for 10 seconds at a time, tossing the whole time. If small curds appear, the pan was too hot; add a splash of pasta water and toss fast.
Serve right away, with the reserved pecorino and more pepper at the table.

Notes

On an electric coil stove, move the skillet to a cold burner before the eggs go in; the coil holds too much heat. If you can't get guanciale, pancetta cut the same way is fine. Rigatoni is the other classic shape. Carbonara doesn't reheat, so cook only what you will eat. The eggs are cooked only by the heat of the pasta and pan, which thickens them into a sauce but doesn't reliably bring them to the 160°F that makes eggs safe; for anyone pregnant, very young, elderly or with a weakened immune system, use pasteurized eggs.

To make more or less of it, paste the ingredients into our recipe scaler and it works out every amount.

Ingredients

Steps

Notes

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