Healthy skinny spaghetti carbonara in a light, creamy sauce mixed with peas and bacon.
I’ve been having quite a craving for pasta recently. This weekend we dined out and I had me some Seafood Rasta Pasta which was fettuccine in a super, super rich alfredo-like sauce with clams and shrimp. It was freaking delicious but undoubtedly not very good for me. Even my body knew this, as I could only stomach a small serving of it at a time and started getting queasy halfway into it. But! It was delicious.
So today we are making some skinny spaghetti carbonara which still has a little creaminess to it, but just enough to be manageable. Let’s get started.
While not oh-so-good but oh-so-bad-for-your-heart kind of creamy, like the kind you see in Italian restaurants that score in the high 1000 caloric scale, it still tastes good. At least to me and Mr. Cooking Jar. After feeling guilty for indulging in the decadence that was the Rasta Pasta, I was willing to sacrifice some creaminess to keep it under 500 calories. The good part though: the smoky, addictive bacon flavor more than made up for it. And those peas! Those roly poly peas! Besides adding a splash of vibrant color to everything, if you cook it right and don’t use frozen peas, those peas will be nice and plump.
Now, onto some history! Carbonara is Italian of course and comes from Latium, Rome. Based on a sauce made from eggs, cheese and bacon, this hearty pasta was believed to be made for Italian charcoal workers since the name stems from the Italian word carbonaro which means ‘charcoal burner’. It’s even been called Coal Miner’s Spaghetti!
You can use Parmesan also called Parmigiano-Reggiano (now you know how to say it in Italian) or Pecorino Romano which is cheese from sheep milk. The tricky thing about Carbonara is making sure the eggs don’t coagulate or scramble. I made this mistake 15 years or so back when I first tried my hand at it; due to impatience, I thought I could cheat and did it over high heat. Bad mistake! Came out with this scrambled mess of goop that I didn’t really want to eat. So don’t cheat. You can’t get away with it. The Carbonara will know.
The common technique is to cook the pasta first and reserving some pasta water, dumping the hot pasta and some pasta water directly onto a mix of beaten eggs, cheese and pepper. The whole thing is stirred until the eggs cook slightly from the residual pasta heat then left to sit while it thickens. The marriage of the pasta and eggs is all done away from direct heat.
SKINNY SPAGHETTI CARBONARA TIPS AND TRICKS
Eggs: Keep the eggs at room temperature to help them cook faster
Tossing: Add the peas and bacon last to keep their color vibrant and prevent the peas from splitting from too much stirring
Pasta: You can choose whole wheat spaghetti over regular to keep it even healthier.
Enjoy!
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Skinny Spaghetti Carbonara
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 4 1x
Description
Healthy skinny spaghetti carbonara in a light, creamy sauce mixed with peas and bacon.
Ingredients
- 1/2 lb. spaghetti
- 1 teaspoon olive oil (optional)
- 4 strips turkey bacon
- 2 large eggs, beaten
- 1 cup Parmesan cheese, shredded
- 1/4 cup pasta water
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 1 can (15 oz.) sweet peas
- 1 tablespoon fresh parsley, chopped (optional)
Instructions
- Cook the spaghetti until al dente, reserving 1/4 cup of pasta water.
- Meanwhile, cook the turkey bacon with olive oil in a skillet over medium high heat until crisp on both sides. Drain on paper towels and set aside to cool, then roughly chop.
- Mix the eggs with cheese, salt and pepper to taste then whisk.
- Once the pasta is cooked, add the pasta and water immediately to the egg mixture. stirring constantly.
- Let it stand 5 minutes to thicken, stirring occasionally.
- Add the bacon and peas and stir to combine.
- Sprinkle with parsley, dish and serve hot.
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Cook Time: 20 mins
Comments & Reviews
Great weeknight recipe. It is quick and easy. I ended up tempering the eggs with the hot pasta water instead of mixing everything together. It worked perfectly. Thanks for a great recipe!
Thanks for trying out a super old recipe of mine, Val! I always get excited when someone digs through the long forgotten archives 🙂
Hello, I’m wondering the nutritional info on this recipe. Do you happen to have the calorie count? Thank you.
1/2 pound of spaghetti is about 433 calories, 2 cups of peas is about 300 calories, (40 calories for optional 1 teaspoon olive oil), about 140-160 calories for the turkey bacon depending on which brand you use, 140-150 calories for 2 large eggs, 1 cup shreeded Paremeson cheese is about 80 calories, so we have total calories so far at about 1,113 without the olive oil, divided by how many servings? 2 would be ~550 calories/serving and 3 servings would ~366 calories. Is that what others got?
I’m not sure how I missed this comment but I only just saw it today. I’ve gone ahead and added a nutritional label to the recipe. Thanks!
Carbonara is a classic, no? I know it’s a chef’s favorite because it’s a delicious dish that can be prepared easily after working a long shift on the line. I like your adaptations to make them skinny.
Thanks, DB! I love all types of creamy pasta but dreaded the calories. Not that it’s ever stopped me from eating what I want but it’s nice not to feel too conscious of how bad something is for you and just enjoy it, guilt free!