This isn’t just Chicken Carbonara. It’s Bacon Chicken Carbonara, and that makes a whole lot of delectably delicious difference.
I’m a sucker for a fancy sauce of any kind, be it Hollandaise, mayonnaise, or—well, you get the point: I love sauces. What makes this little confession of mine all the stranger is that although I went to culinary school, carbonara was new to me until about a year ago when I began reading Lidia Bastianich’s Mastering the Art of Italian Cooking. When I saw the picture for her Spaghetti alla Carbonara (Spaghetti with Bacon, Eggs, and Grated Cheese), I was like, “I must make this, like, NOW.”
And I’m so glad I did, so I could find out that these sauces aren’t hard. In fact, they’re faster and easier to make than any ole marinara. And in just 10 minutes of prep and 20 minutes of cooking time, you and your family can be sitting down to this delicious, bacon-y, cheesy, chicken-y, creamy, and amazingly delicious Chicken Carbonara. So get out those eggs, and let’s GO.
Why You and Your Family Will Go Ga-Ga for Chicken Carbonara
You may have thought you’d tasted a carbonara before, but for all you moms and dads, unless you’re making this yourself, you really, most certainly, have not.
Carbonaras are surprisingly fast and easy to make. Don’t be fearful because of the eggs—they won’t be in your pan in their raw form very long. When those eggs get tossed around your pan with the hot pasta, the oil leftover from cooking your bacon and chicken is in there. Then, the bacon, chicken, and cheese help transform the rich, luscious, velvety, sauce that is amazing.
And with that heavenly, luscious, egg-custard-like sauce they create, so rich in the heady flavors of bacon and cheese, well, be afraid of nothing and look forward to everything. People who are Carbonara fanatics are fanatical about these for a very good reason. They are astonishingly delicious.
How to Make Ahead and Store?
Carbonara is a made-to-order kind of dish. Don’t make much more than you’re eating is the general rule for Carbonaras. This dish will keep at most two days after service, sealed tightly with plastic wrap or in an airtight container. You cannot freeze egg sauces—not and have them taste like anything good.
Serving Suggestions
Private chefs like me get asked to host dinner parties all the time, and carbonara, which you can fix table-side, is an especially nice dish to impress guests with. Here is the meal I made for Sherry’s mother’s 80th birthday party. Although her mother brought a bottle of Cristal (fancy-schmancy) to serve with dinner, the meal began with cocktails and appetizers. I made two pitchers of Mango Sangria for guests, and that mango sangria, let me tell you, was the perfect fruity, strong cocktail to get everything rolling. Appetizers included Spinach-Parmesan Appetizer Bites, these stunning Shrimp Deviled Eggs, and these simple but elegant Cream Cheese Mushroom Bites. For the salad, Sherry’s mother loves anything with olives in it, so I chose this simple Greek salad made with tender butter lettuce. Dinner was, of course, this chicken Carbonara paired with this Rustic Bruschetta, to scoop up bites of pasta with and make it all especially delicious with those tomato and garlic-topped toasted rounds. For dessert, I fixed her this stunner of a Black and White Three-Tiered Cake.
If you like this recipe, try this delicious recipe for Pasta alla Gricia. It’s a classic, made-to-order Italian pasta dish (but made without eggs) with a luscious pasta sauce made from pasta water, guanciale, and Pecorino Romano cheese. It’s swoon-worthy. Believe it.
Chicken Carbonara
Ingredients
- 8 ounces spaghetti
- 6 slices bacon chopped
- 1 pound boneless skinless chicken breast, cut into bite-sized pieces
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 2 large eggs
- 1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- Fresh parsley chopped (for garnish)
Instructions
- Cook spaghetti in a large pot of salted boiling water until al dente. Drain, reserving 1 cup of pasta water, and set aside.
- In a large skillet, cook bacon over medium heat until crispy. Remove bacon and set aside. Drain all but 2 tablespoons of bacon grease from the skillet.
- Add chicken pieces to the skillet and cook until no longer pink inside, about 5-7 minutes. Add minced garlic and cook for another minute until fragrant.
- In a bowl, whisk together eggs, Parmesan cheese, salt, and pepper.
- Reduce heat to low and add the cooked spaghetti to the skillet with the chicken. Toss to combine.
- Pour the egg and cheese mixture into the skillet, stirring quickly to coat the pasta and to prevent the eggs from scrambling. If the sauce is too thick, add some reserved pasta water to reach desired consistency.
- Add cooked bacon back into the skillet, toss everything together, and heat through.
- Serve garnished with chopped parsley.
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