At Pirelli's restaurant in Rome, chef Barbara Lynch ate what was, for her, the perfect carbonara: The sauce was bright yellow from fresh eggs, and each rigatoni hid cubes of fatty guanciale. In Boston, where Lynch has five restaurants, she set out to master the dish. Her yolk-heavy recipe is beyond creamy—without cream!—with a heady mix of peppercorns (you can substitute black pepper for all and it's still great). It's unlike any clumpy carbonaras you've had. The tricks? She omits most of the egg whites; their water thins the sauce. Too much cheese overthickens it, so she gradually adds Pecorino while tossing the pasta until she hits the right consistency (the sauce should be loose enough to drag the pasta through). Lynch was right: It's a pasta worth mastering. This is part of BA's Best, a collection of our essential recipes.
Recipe information
Yield
4 to 6 Servings
Ingredients
¼
7
1
1
½
2
Preparation
Step 1
Cook guanciale in a large skillet over medium-low heat, stirring frequently, until fat renders but guanciale is not browned, about 5 minutes. Pour into a fine-mesh sieve set over a small bowl; reserve drippings. Transfer guanciale to a large bowl and let cool slightly. Add egg yolks and egg to bowl; whisk to blend.
Step 2
Meanwhile, cook pasta in a large pot of boiling salted water, stirring occasionally, until al dente. Drain, reserving ½ cup pasta cooking liquid.
Step 3
Immediately add rigatoni, 2 Tbsp. pasta cooking liquid, and 1 tsp. guanciale drippings to egg mixture; toss to coat. Working in 3 batches, gradually add ½ cup Pecorino, stirring and tossing to melt between batches. Add 2 tsp. black pepper; toss until sauce thickens, adding more pasta water by tablespoonfuls if needed. Season with salt and pepper.
Step 4
Divide among bowls. Garnish with Pecorino.
Nutrition Per Serving
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Reviews (240)
Back to TopI enjoyed this recipe! I used spaghetti instead, and only used about half the box and so I ended up using 3 egg yolks and 1 egg (although 2 yolks and 1 egg probably would have been fine). I also added some lemon zest that I feel like punched up the flavor a bit. Also, I only had Parmesan, so I had to add a bit of salt as Parmesan is not as salty as pecorino.
isacooks
New York City
6/22/2022
I think frittata & cooking eggs both need to know you put the RAW egg mixture into the serving bowl NOT the cooking pan. Then you put the hot pasta into serving bowl with eggs and the heat from pasta kinda cooks the egg, just barely, keeping them loose, not frittata nor cooked egg. This lovely dish is for those ok with very undercooked eggs, and I am such a person! Nice recipe!
ET
Denver
7/14/2021
Is this a recipe for making a frittata or a carbonara? 450grams of pasta and how many eggs?
Anonymous
3/13/2021
tasty, but how do you stop the egg yolks from cooking too quickly and congealing into clumps?
Anonymous
Boston, MA
7/24/2020
Super easy and creamy, only issue was that my biggest bowl wasn't quite big enough to have room for turning the pasta and sauce easily in. The entire family, previously carbonara haters, all declared their love for this sauce. Quite pleased
Anonymous
Derbyshire, UK
5/10/2020
Ohhhh I so wanted to love this --- it didn't exceed my all time favourite Carbonara recipe from Nigella Lawson. Also, I used the bucatini in the video recipe and eeeeew none of us liked it! :(
Anonymous
Canada
5/1/2020
This is a good recipe but there was so much pepper in it that the flavor of pepper overwhelmed the rest of the taste and texture of it. I had bacon on hand so I used that instead of guanciale but it was still great! When I make it again I am definitely going to hold back on the pepper.
Anonymous
Clemson, SC
3/29/2020