This easy Thermomix Carbonara recipe is rich and creamy and comforting. It is sure to be a hit with the whole family.
Everyone in my family loves this delicious spaghetti carbonara recipe. The saltiness of the bacon mixed with the creaminess of the egg is a match made in heaven.
It's one of my favourite midweek meals to make as it is so quick and easy and requires just 6 ingredients, including pasta.
Serve it up with a salad and some garlic bread and it's a fantastic family meal.
Despite the fact that this is a beautiful creamy carbonara, it has no actual cream in it. This is the traditional Roman way of making carbonara sauce and instead relies on the creaminess of the eggs and egg yolk to provide the silkiness of the sauce.
Now I'm not claiming that this is a particularly authentic carbonara as I have made a few personalisations:
I have added garlic and switched out guanciale (pork cheek) for bacon, because I like the flavour of garlic and it is way easier to buy bacon here than guanciale. And sometimes I use parmesan in place of pecorino, because that it what I have.
But authentic or not, everyone in my family loves it and I hope yours will too.
Ingredients
This carbonara uses just six ingredients, plus seasoning. All of these ingredients should hopefully be in your pantry or fridge, making it a great recipe for a midweek and/or last minute family dinner.
- Pecorino - traditional carbonara recipes use pecorino, an Italian sheep's milk cheese. You can substitute for parmesan cheese if that is what you have, although an Italian chef would probably frown at me for suggesting that. (I often do, shhh!)
- Garlic - again an authentic carbonara does not use garlic, but I like the flavour it adds. You can choose to leave it out if you prefer.
- Bacon - traditionally a carbonara uses guanciale (pork cheek) which you can probably get from your butcher or deli. However, where I live it is far easier to find bacon and I usually have it in my fridge, so that is what I use. Streaky is best but I also sometimes use back bacon. You can also use pancetta.
- Extra virgin olive oil - Italian chefs will tell you that if you use guanciale then there is enough fat in the pork that you don't need oil to cook it. However I find using oil with the bacon helps prevent the bottom of your Thermomix bowl from going too brown.
- Eggs - the ratio of whole eggs to egg yolks differs greatly depending on the carbonara recipe. I like the result of using 3 whole eggs plus one extra yolk. Some recipes use only whole eggs, some use only yolks. The higher the ratio of egg yolks, the richer the sauce will be, so you can play around with this if you like.
- Pasta - the traditional pasta to use for carbonara is spaghetti and that is definitely my favourite, as I like the way the sauce coats the strands. You could also try another long pasta like fettuccine or tagliatelle - or rigatoni works well too.
How to make Carbonara in the Thermomix
Step One: Make the carbonara sauce
(Step by step instructions are provided in the recipe card at the bottom of the post)
First grate the pecorino cheese and set aside.
Next finely chop up the garlic and then add the chopped bacon to the mixing bowl together with the olive oil and cook for 10 - 15 minutes, depending on how crispy you like the bacon to be.
Put the bacon into a large bowl and set aside.
Next you add the eggs, egg yolk and grated cheese into the Thermomix bowl and mix it all together with a good pinch of black pepper, before adding it into the big bowl with the bacon and garlic.
Note that both the bacon and pecorino are salty so I don't recommend adding any extra salt to the sauce.
Step Two: Cook the pasta
You can cook pasta right in the Thermomix bowl. To do this, add 1200g of water and a teaspoon of salt into the bowl and heat for 10 minutes.
Then place the spaghetti through the hole in the lid and cook for however long it says on the pasta packet or until it is al dente. Just ensure you have the REVERSE function enabled.
Note: I usually cook my pasta in a separate pan on the stove top, as this means I can cook the pasta while the Thermomix is cooking the bacon, thus halving the time it takes to make the dish.
It depends how much time you have and whether you want to dirty another pan!
Step three: Combine the pasta and sauce
Once the pasta is cooked, drain it and immediately add it to the bowl with the bacon and egg mixture.
Stir it quickly and thoroughly to ensure all the spaghetti is well coated with the egg and cheese mixture. It should form a silky smooth pasta sauce.
Serve in bowls with some extra grated pecorino and a sprinkle of black pepper.
FAQs and Top Tips
To prevent the eggs from scrambling in a carbonara, you need to ensure that the heat is switched off on the pan before adding the sauce to the spaghetti and keep stirring until it is all mixed. The method here of adding the spaghetti to the sauce in the bowl rather than in a hot pan also helps.
The eggs in Carbonara are partially cooked by the heat of the spaghetti. However, according to an article in Science Direct, after mixing the pasta with the eggs, the temperature of the carbonara is only 60C, which is not high enough to inactivate all salmonella, if present. For this reason it is not recommended for the elderly, immunocompromised or pregnant.
Carbonara is not ideal for reheating as the eggs can cook and scramble very quickly. If you do have leftover carbonara, I would recommend the best way to reheat it is to place in a heatproof bowl and place this over a pan of boiling water and stir until it heats up. Remove it immediately if you see the eggs starting to solidify.
I don't recommend freezing carbonara sauce.
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Easy Thermomix Carbonara
Ingredients
- 90 g pecorino
- 2 cloves garlic
- 150 g bacon chopped
- 20 g extra virgin olive oil
- 3 eggs
- 1 egg yolk
- freshly ground black pepper to taste
- 1200 g water
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 450 g spaghetti or other pasta
Instructions
Carbonara Sauce
- Add the pecorino cheese to the Thermomix bowl. Grate for 10 seconds / speed 9. Set aside.
- Peel the garlic and add to the Thermomix bowl. Chop for 3 seconds / speed 7. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and repeat.
- Add the olive oil and chopped bacon and saute for 10 minutes / Varoma / speed 1 with the simmering basket on the lid in place of the MC. Check if it is crispy enough and if you prefer it to be crispier, repeat for a further 5 minutes / Varoma / speed 1. Set aside in a large bowl.
- Place the eggs, egg yolk and grated pecorino cheese to the Thermomix bowl together with a good pinch of freshly ground black pepper. Mix for 15 seconds / speed 4. Add the egg and cheese mixture to the bowl with the bacon.
To cook Spaghetti in the Thermomix
- Add water and salt to the Thermomix bowl and heat for 10 minutes / 100 degrees / speed 1.
- Place spaghetti through the hole in the lid and cook for the time indicated on the pasta packet. Check it is al dente before draining.
Assembling the Carbonara
- Drain the spaghetti and immediately add to the bowl with the bacon and egg mixture. Mix quickly and throughly to ensure all the spaghetti is coated with the sauce.
- Serve in bowls with an extra grating of pecorino and some freshly ground black pepper.
Excellent
Thanks for this recipe！I have a question, for instruction step 4ー when we mix the eggs w the cheese right after step 3, won’t the bowl be very hot as we have just saute the bacon at high temperature? Won’t the eggs be cooked as a result of the high heat from the previous step? Thanks!
Hi Samantha - good question! However, I have never had this problem. I just throw it all in and mix and it is fine.