Classic spaghetti carbonara
Serves: 2
Prep time: 20 minsTotal time: 
Recipe photograph by Maja Smend
Classic spaghetti carbonara
All you need is five ingredients for this classic Roman pasta dish. Carbonara is traditionally made with guanciale, but we’re using smoked pancetta as an easier-to-find alternative
Serves: 2
Prep time: 20 minsTotal time: 
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Nutritional information (per serving)
Calories
670Kcal
Fat
32gr
Saturates
12gr
Carbs
63gr
Sugars
2gr
Fibre
4gr
Protein
31gr
Salt
2.2gr
Spencer Lengsfield
Our Senior Food Producer Spencer was born in Los Angeles, so has an inherent love for all things Mexican, Japanese, and Korean but is also heavily influenced by her family’s Louisiana heritage. She loves spice, bright flavours, and fusion food, and she has a soft spot for a chocolate chip cookie.
See more of Spencer Lengsfield’s recipes
Spencer Lengsfield
Our Senior Food Producer Spencer was born in Los Angeles, so has an inherent love for all things Mexican, Japanese, and Korean but is also heavily influenced by her family’s Louisiana heritage. She loves spice, bright flavours, and fusion food, and she has a soft spot for a chocolate chip cookie.
See more of Spencer Lengsfield’s recipes
Ingredients
- ½ tbsp black peppercorns, plus freshly ground black pepper to serve
- 3 egg yolks
- 40g pecorino romano, finely grated, plus extra to serve
- 175g spaghetti
- 100g diced smoked pancetta
Step by step
- Start by toasting the whole peppercorns in a dry pan over a medium heat for 2 minutes or until just fragrant. Transfer to a mortar and use a pestle to grind. Alternatively, toast some freshly ground black pepper. Transfer the pepper to a bowl and mix with the egg yolks and pecorino.
- Add the pancetta to a dry, cold pan. Turn the heat to medium and cook the pancetta slowly to render out the fat, stirring occasionally. Once the pancetta is deep brown, turn off the heat.
- Cook the spaghetti according to pack instructions. When it’s almost cooked, turn the heat back on for the pancetta pan to medium-low and add a ladleful (around 50ml) of starchy pasta water. Stir a couple of tablespoons of pasta water into the egg yolk mixture, and reserve a few extra tablespoons of the water when draining the pasta.
- Add the cooked, drained spaghetti to the pancetta pan, mix through, then turn off the heat and add the egg yolk mixture. Toss the pasta constantly, off the heat, to avoid scrambling the eggs, adding more pasta water and a pinch of salt if needed. Divide between bowls, then top with extra pecorino and black pepper to serve.
