This mushroom carbonara with crispy bacon is a twist on a classic and is ready in just 30 minutes. It makes the perfect easy Italian dinner for busy weeknights or for a fancy date night at home!
I love carbonara and we make so much of it that sometimes my family complains that they are sick of it. I am not sure how you can ever get tired of it but I try to please them by adapting recipes a bit to make it more interesting.
Because I like to cook carbonara because it is so quick to cook (perfect for during the week), I switched it up a bit for everyone by making it a little more meaty with bacon (and lots of it) and adding mushrooms to the mix.
It is pure deliciousness! When time is short, this carbonara, my spaghetti alla carbonara with peas or my sausage and broccolini pasta is what I turn to to get dinner on the table fast!
What’s in a Carbonara?
Before altering any recipe, it is important to understand what the original one was, in this case, a classic carbonara. A classic carbonara (One of the 4 main pasta dishes in Rome) has guanciale, egg yolks, pasta, and pasta water with a little pecorino romano or Parmesan cheese.
When you are in Rome (Roma, Italy) you will find this dish on almost every restaurant menu. It is a dish the Italians have been proudly making for generations.
Though some people think there is cream in it because the sauce is so creamy, there actually is none. The creaminess of carbonara comes from mixing the egg yolks with starchy pasta water.
Different restaurants in Rome will have slightly different ways to make this but they all use the same ingredients. Some chefs make their carbonara, extra creamy. Some do special plating presentations.
One thing they all have in common is they think their version is the best and they take lots of pride in what they make.
This Carbonara
This recipe is a twist on a classic carbonara where we are swapping out the guanciale for bacon and add in some more meaty goodness with mushrooms. It has all the other classic carbonara elements though and it is really easy to make.
This is not authentic Roman carbonara but it is something definitely just as delicious. Also, in my experience, and eating my fair share of carbonara when staying in Rome, many of the restaurants are now becoming a little more modern and switching up classics just like this dish with a little more variety. That is how I came to try one of my all time favorite pasta recipes, pasta al tonno.
Another modern version of a classic!
Ingredients and Substitutions
- Pasta: I like to use rigatoni or bucatini pasta.
- Mushrooms: I try to use cremini mushrooms for this recipe (and in my Italian mushrooms) since they have a little more flavor than button mushrooms and are easily available.
- Bacon: A nice thick-cut bacon works great.
- Olive oil: always extra virgin for pasta.
- Parmesan cheese: This gets mixed into the creamy sauce and tops the pasta.
- Egg yolks: The egg yolks help make the pasta sauce creamy.
- Kosher salt and black pepper: For flavor.
How to Make A Mushroom Bacon Carbonara
- Add Egg Yolks To A Large Bowl: This will be where you add the hot pasta water slowly into the egg yolks to temper them. Your egg mixture.
- Saute Bacon: In a large saute pan, add the olive oil and bacon and cook until crispy then remove and allow to cool completely.
- Saute mushrooms: Now you cook the mushrooms in the bacon fat until they are cooked all the way through and lightly brown.
- Cook the pasta: Cook the pasta until al dente.
- Temper eggs: Before draining the pasta, go ahead and scoop out a cup of pasta water and very slowly drizzle this into the egg yolks while whisking. This is called tempering.
- Assemble: Now add the drained pasta, parmesan, mushrooms and bacon to the bowl with egg yolks and toss well.
Pro Tips
- Reserve a little extra pasta water: In addition to using this to temper the eggs, the pasta water is great to add to the carbonara after tossing it all together so it does not dry out.
- Have all of your ingredients, bowls, pots, and pans ready before cooking: This meal comes together very quickly and timing is everything when making a carbonara. Having everything ready for you will help you be successful in making carbonara.
More Delicious Pasta Recipes
If you love this mushroom and bacon carbonara, you may also like these:
Mushroom Carbonara Recipe (Ready In 30 Minutes)
Ingredients
- 1 lb rigatoni
- 16 ounces Baby Bella mushrooms sliced
- 6 ounces bacon diced
- 5 egg yolks
- 1 cup Parmesan cheese finely grated
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- Fill a pasta pot with water and bring to a boil for your pasta.
- In a large saute pan, add your olive oil and your bacon and cook until crispy.1 tablespoon olive oil, 6 ounces bacon
- With a slotted spoon, remove the bacon onto a plate and set aside.
- In the same pan you cooked the bacon add the mushrooms and cook until lightly golden brown then remove from the heat.16 ounces Baby Bella mushrooms
- In a large bowl, add your egg yolks along with salt, half of the cheese, and freshly ground black pepper and mix well.5 egg yolks, ½ teaspoon kosher salt, Freshly ground black pepper, 1 cup Parmesan cheese
- Set aside for now.
- Cook pasta until al dente according to the instructions on your pasta box.1 lb rigatoni
- Half way through the pasta cooking, take about ¼ cup of that water out and bring it over to your egg yolk mixture.
- Slowly whisk in that hot pasta water to lightly temper your egg yolks so they do not curdle later when added to your hot pasta.
- Now, scoop out another ¼ of your pasta water (in case you need it later) and drain your pasta.
- Pour your hot pasta into your large bowl with the egg yolks and quickly pour your pancetta mixture over the pasta and toss well.
- Toss for a few seconds letting the pasta drink up the sauce.
- If the pasta seems too dry, add a little of that reserved pasta water and toss it again.
- Plate into individual bowls with your pasta and add a sprinkle of Parmesan and freshly ground black pepper.
- Enjoy!
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