Healthier Carbonara Pasta Recipe » LeelaLicious (2024)

FAQs

What's healthier, carbonara or Alfredo? ›

The Alfredo selection, however, only comes in at 1,400 calories, while the Carbonara has 1,480, with even more of them (510 versus 460) coming from fat.

The golden rule of cooking carbonara is to never cook the sauce over direct heat once the eggs are added. Instead, remove the pasta from the heat and toss it with the egg and cheese mixture off the heat, allowing the residual heat from the pasta to gently cook the eggs into a creamy sauce.

Carbonara is almost always served with spaghetti or linguine, but you can use whatever pasta you prefer. For a more unusual take on carbonara, try spinach fettuccine tossed with warm pasta and fresh baby spinach; you'll get a vibrant, beautiful dish with some additional health benefits.

1. Adding your eggs while the pasta is still on the heat. This is one of the most common mistakes when making carbonara. It is very easy to end up with pasta a la scrambled eggs instead.

The difference between alfredo and carbonara is that carbonara contains an egg while alfredo sauce does not. Carbonara is usually thinner in consistency than alfredo sauce, using the egg to coat the noodles instead of relying on the cream.

The Italian version doesn't use cream or ham. It is made with pancetta (pork belly meat that is salt cured, also referred to as Italian bacon), Parmigiano Reggiano or pecorino romano cheese, eggs, and black pepper—called the basics. The pork is fried in fat, usually olive oil.

Don't put garlic, cream, milk or butter. It is not needed. It is fine if you want to make a dish with those ingredients, but if you want to learn how to make this dish correctly, use only pecorino, eggs/egg yolks, black pepper, guanciale, and pasta water.

The traditional method uses raw egg which is mixed vigorously with hot pasta and parmigiana reggiano cheese which transforms into a silky, creamy, luxurious sauce unlike anything you've ever had before. Arguably the best pasta dish in the whole world!

Pecorino Romano and Parmigiano Reggiano – I like to use a combination of Pecorino Romano and Parmigiano Reggiano. While these two cheeses ARE similar, I strongly recommend you use BOTH (and not sub one for the other), as it adds a layer of complexity to the flavors.

Preparation of Carbonara

Grate your choice of cheese, Pecorino Romano is traditional but you can also use Parmigiano Reggiano (my preference) plus freshly cracked black pepper to taste. Remember to have a ladle of starchy pasta water 💦ready; it's the secret to binding the sauce perfectly.

How to avoid scrambling eggs in carbonara? ›

Using a large mixing bowl and setting it over the boiling pasta water to create a makeshift double boiler helps prevent you from accidentally scrambling the eggs.

Must-have ingredients

that there are only five ingredients: pasta, pork cheek, eggs, cheese and pepper. That's it. A real carbonara does not contain onion, garlic, or cream.

Possibly the most important part of Spaghetti Carbonara is the freshly ground black pepper.

A typical portion of this decadent dish has 1200 calories, 75 grams of fat, 47 grams of saturated fat and gives you more than half a day's worth of sodium. Yikes! Looking at a recipe, it's not hard to figure out why. The star ingredients are buckets of heavy cream, butter, cheese and mountains of pasta.

Marinara sauce is lower in calories and fat, making it a preferable sauce choice for those that are counting calories or on a low-fat diet. It also has more fiber than Alfredo sauce as it contains mostly vegetables. Conversely, high-fat diets are on the rise, making Alfredo an ideal sauce for many consumers.

With such a similar nutritional profile, pizza and pasta can be considered equal for weight loss. It is important to remember that whether eating pasta or pizza, portion size is key for weight loss - you can eat pizza and pasta while trying to lose weight if you are mindful of the amount you are eating!

Health Benefits of Carbonara Sauce

Because carbonara sauce contains a lot of dairy – cheese and cream – it provides plenty of calcium and magnesium. These nutrients are needed to maintain healthy teeth, as well as bone and muscle. Dairy is also rich in protein, phosphorus and B vitamins.