Fettuccine With Crispy Prosciutto And Butter

This delicious pasta dish with crispy prosciutto and butter sauce is inspired by an everyday dish they make in Bologna, Italy. It is delicious, quick and easy to make, and it's the perfect meal for any night of the week.

I first came across this crispy prosciutto pasta dish on a trip to Italy. In my search to find what locals eat, this dish was shared with me in a cooking class there. It is called the Bologna fast food that people there like to make when they want a satisfying quick pasta dish and but they don't have time to make a Bolognese sauce.

In Bologna, the prosciutto is cooked in the butter sauce (melted butter) which was good, I felt it left a little room for improvement to have crispy prosciutto.

I have made this now a dozen or more times and although I love the version they made in Italy, I think this version is better because the prosciutto is extra crispy since I bake it in the oven and then break it up over the buttered pasta.

It truly is delicious fast food Italian style and even if your cooking skills are beginner level, you can make this 🙂

What You Will Need

The name of the game here is easy! So that means the ingredients are too 🙂 For the full amounts, see the recipe card below.

• Fresh prosciutto. This is Italian cured ham which you can find in the deli section of most supermarkets. Prosciutto di parma is what you want.
• Butter: I like to use unsalted butter and add my own salt to taste later.
• Fresh fettuccine pasta: Fresh pasta is what they use in Bologna. When I had this dish there it was made with tagliatelle but fettuccine is much easier for me to find fresh at my local store. Use any long-shaped fresh pasta you can find.
• Parmesan cheese.
• Kosher salt.

How to Make

Making this crispy prosciutto pasta is so simple. You are just doing these few simple steps:

• Bake the prosciutto: Place the prosciutto on a sheet pan and bake for 10 minutes. Remove the prosciutto to cool and it will crips up like sheets of crunchy bacon.
• Cook the pasta: In a large pot, cook the fresh fettuccine until al dente according to the manufacturer's instructions.

• Melt the butter: In a large saute pan, melt the butter then remove from the heat.
• Toss it all together: Toss the fresh pasta with the melted butter. Add a little pasta water along with the Parmesan.
• Crush the crispy prosciutto over the top and enjoy!

My top tips!

• When working with fresh fettuccine, just like with my fettuccine al burro, separate it and loosen it up before adding it to the pasta water to cook. This will ensure that the fettuccine cooks evenly.
• Reserve pasta water for the butter sauce. It will help make sure the pasta is not dry.
• Make only enough to eat on the same day! Since this is fresh pasta with a very light butter sauce, it does not store well. Only make what you are going to eat for the meal.

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