Instead of black pepper, this 30-minute carbonara swaps in chili crisp for a nuanced heat that leaves you licking your lips for more. Chili crisp carbonara features the same glossy, silky smooth sauce as classic pasta carbonara, with a subtle kick of heat.
Chili Crisp Gives This Simple Carbonara a Restaurant-Quality Flavor
This quick and easy recipe fuses luxuriously creamy spaghetti carbonara with crunchy, savory chili crisp.
Despite “chili” being in the name, this chili crisp carbonara doesn’t deliver so much heat that you’ll be breathing fire like a dragon. There’s definitely a kick of spice to the sauce, but it’s more of a lip-smacking spice that will have you immediately reaching for another forkful of pasta (and another and another).
As a bonus, because there’s no dairy in this recipe to separate when chilled in the fridge, any leftovers are absolutely divine warmed up in the microwave, then enjoyed topped with a fried egg.
With a short list of budget-friendly ingredients and a fast cooking time of just 30 minutes, this Italian-Asian fusion pasta is guaranteed to be a weeknight favorite.
Enjoy!
Heidi’s Tips for Recipe Success
Not all chili crisps are created equal. This is my favorite brand of chili crisp. It costs less than $5 and has a beautifully complex spicy-savory flavor.
After boiling the pasta, immediately toss with the cooked pancetta or bacon. This coats the pasta in the rendered pork dripping and keeps it from absorbing too much of the carbonara sauce. In turn, this keeps the sauce silky and creamy for longer.
Don’t skip out on using the starchy water. It helps emulsify and thicken the sauce without adding any dairy or heavy cream.
The 6 Main Ingredients
The full recipe, with amounts, can be found in the recipe card below.
- Pasta — I like hollow strands of bucatini for its chewier texture, but spaghetti or fettuccine work well too.
- Egg yolks — Save the whites for your morning egg scramble! I know it’s tempting to just use the entire egg, but if you add the whites to the carbonara sauce you’ll end up with a scrambled sauce.
- Parmesan cheese — Freshly grated Parm will melt seamlessly into the sauce without clumping.
- Chili crisp — Traditional pasta carbonara relies on freshly ground black pepper for most of its flavor, but we’re using chili crisp to impart a more complex spicy-savory-umami flavor. (After making this carbonara recipe, use the leftover chili crisp to make my favorite chili crisp salmon.)
- Pancetta or bacon — Use whichever is easiest for you to find. I buy chunks of pancetta from the deli counter, then dice it myself. In my opinion, in the pre-diced packs of pancetta, the chunks are too small and don’t carry as much flavor.
- Yellow onion — Slice it very thin strands that almost melt in to the pasta and sauce when cooked.
Heidi’s Tip: Make this pasta vegetarian by subbing the pork for 8-10 brown mushrooms, sliced and cooked in 2 tablespoons olive oil. Or, add the mushrooms to the whole kit and kaboodle for more texture!
How to Make Chili Crisp Carbonara
- Boil the pasta. Follow the package directions and cook it a minute or two less so it retains a good amount of chewiness. Set aside ½ cup of the starchy pasta water before draining — you’ll use this later!
- Prep the sauce ingredients. In a small bowl, whisk together the eggs, Parm, chili crisp, and black pepper. You want to do this ahead of time because things move quickly from here on.
- Render the pancetta (or bacon). Add the pancetta to a cold pan with a drizzle of olive oil, then turn the heat to medium (warming the bacon up in the pan over medium-low helps render more fat). Once it’s tender but somewhat crisp and has rendered its fat, transfer it to a plate.
- Sauté the onion in the rendered fat. If you sliced the onion thinly as instructed, it should need just 3 to 4 minutes to soften.
- Add the drained pasta off the heat. Return the pancetta to the pan with the onions, then the cooked pasta. Toss everything together to coat the pasta in the residual bacon grease.
- Temper the egg mixture. Slowly add ¼ cup of the reserved (hot) pasta water to the beaten eggs, whisking constantly so they don’t scramble.
- Finish the sauce. Add the tempered eggs to the pasta and toss quickly to create a smooth and silky sauce. Add more cooking water as needed to make the sauce Don’t be too shy about adding the pasta cooking water! The sauce thickens as it stands, and you want a silky sauce, not clumpy.
Heidi’s Tip: You can add 1-2 tablespoons of butter while tossing to make an extra glossy sauce.
- Garnish and serve. I like to garnish my chili crisp carbonara with slivered nori sheets for an extra Asian nod.
If you make this recipe, please let me know! Leave a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ rating below, leave a comment to tell us what you think, and tag me on Instagram @foodiecrush.
Chili Crisp Carbonara Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 pound bucatini, or other long-strand pasta (reserve 1 cup pasta cooking water)
- 3 tablespoons kosher salt, for the cooking water
- 3 large eggs
- 1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
- 2 tablespoons chili crisp
- ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 4 slices pancetta or bacon, cut into ½-inch pieces
- 1 medium yellow onion, thinly sliced
Instructions
- Get the pasta cooking. In a large pot, bring 4 quarts of water to a boil with 3 tablespoons kosher salt. Add 1 pound bucatini pasta to the boiling water and cook according to the package directions, until al dente.
- Prep the egg and cheese mixture. In a medium mixing bowl, whisk 3 eggs, 1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese, 2 tablespoons chili crisp, and ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper until smooth, and set aside.
- Cook the pancetta or bacon. Drizzle 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive in a cold, large skillet with 6 ounces diced pancetta or bacon and heat over medium-low. Cook until the fat has rendered and the pancetta is still tender but crisped to your liking, then transfer to a plate. Add 1 thinly sliced onion to the rendered fat in the skillet and cook until tender, 3-4 minutes. Remove from the heat and add the pancetta back to the skillet to warm.
- Combine the pasta with the bacon and onion. Reserve 1 /2 cup pasta water, drain the cooked pasta, then add the pasta to the skillet with the pancetta and onion, tossing well to coat with the rendered fat.
- Toss it all together! Slowly whisk ¼ cup hot pasta water into the egg mixture, stirring constantly so the eggs don't scramble. Off the heat, quickly add the egg mixture to the pasta in the skillet and toss well to make the sauce. If needed, add more pasta water while tossing the pasta to make the silky sauce. Add more salt and pepper to taste, dollop with more chili crisp if desired, and serve with more grated Parmesan cheese.
Notes
Nutrition
What to Serve With Chili Crisp Carbonara
- Garlic Bread
- Korean Cucumber Salad
- Sesame Broccoli
- Smashed Cucumber Salad
- Asian Pickled Cucumbers
- Crunchy Ramen Noodle Salad
- Asian Cucumber Watermelon Salad
Storage Tips
Pasta carbonara in any form is best enjoyed right away, but I can eat leftovers for 3-4 days after making it as a main meal.
More 30-Minute Pasta Recipes
- Marry Me Shrimp Pasta
- Creamy Bacon and Mushroom Pasta
- Penne alla Vodka
- Shrimp Scampi Pasta
- Buffalo Chicken Pasta
- Simple Pasta Pomodoro
- Lemony Fettuccine Alfredo
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