20-Minute Sausage Carbonara - a simple weeknight pasta that requires 6 basic ingredients. Indulgent, delicious and on the table FAST!
Can't recommend this recipe highly enough! It was so easy to throw together and the whole family devoured it. We will definitely be making it again at our house.
-Erica S.
HAPPY NEWS! Only 20 minutes and 6 ingredients stand between you and skillet filled with spicy, creamy, flavorful, fancy, and dangerously delicious good pasta. Tender pappardelle noodles (because they cook SUPER fast), a 2-ingredient creamy sauce , maybe some fresh parsley and just the right amount of flavorful Italian sausage. While it may not follow all the "traditional rules" of making authentic sausage carbonara, we have no doubt that the whole family is going to LOVE this one!
OPINION: Pappardelle noodles are the best pasta to use when making 20-minute sausage carbonara and I won't debate with you about this. Traditional carbonara recipes are almost always made with spaghetti or linguine, but pappardelle cooks in half the time and tastes twice as good!
This recipe was inspired by a Sunny Anderson's 5-Ingredient Spicy Sausage Carbonara. We changed her original recipe by upping the amount of sauce (aka.. more parmesan and egg) + swapped out sausage links (because who wants to remove the casing) for ready to use ground Italian sausage.
If you like simple pasta dishes with big flavor, make sure to check out our recipe for Lemon Garlic Pasta with Chicken Sausage.
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Ingredients
- pappardelle noodles
- olive oil
- ground Italian sausage
- parmesan cheese
- eggs
- parsley
- salt and pepper
See recipe for quantities
Instructions
Step 1: Cook the pasta according to recipe directions. Drain. Reserve ¼ cup of pasta water.
Step 2: Heat a skillet over medium heat. Add olive oil and sausage. Brown sausage and season with salt and pepper. Reduce heat to low.
Step 3: In a small bowl, whisk together eggs and parmesan.
Step 4: Add drained pasta to skillet. Toss to coat in sausage fat. Remove pan from heat and add 1 tablespoon of reserved pasta water.
Step 5: Pour the egg/parmesan sauce onto the sausage and noodles. Toss to coat. Use reserved pasta water as needed to thin sauce.
Step 6: Garnish with parsley, toss and serve immediately.
Hint: The reserved pasta water is an important part of this recipe. It is needed to loosen up the sauce. If you forget, you can create an emergency pasta water replacement by mixing together ¼ teaspoon of cornstarch with 1 cup of water. Microwave for 1 minute (or until hot).
Substitutions
- Sausage - instead of Italian sausage, you can use bacon or pancetta.
- Noodles - although we strongly recommend using pappardelle noodles, you can swap for linguine or spaghetti noodles.
Variations
- Creamy Bacon Carbonara: swap out the Italian sausage for bacon
- Kid- Friendly: leave out parsley from the recipe if visible "green" will prevent your child from enjoying the recipe.
- Lighter: swap out Italian pork sausage for chicken sausage
- Spicy - toss in some red pepper chili flakes
Storage
Sausage Carbonara is best served immediately. Leftovers can be stored in the refrigerator for 2-3 days. To reheat, set oven to 300 degrees. Spread out your leftover carbonara evenly on a baking sheet. Add 1-2 tablespoons of water. Cover the carbonara with foil and bake for 5-7 minutes, stirring halfway through.
Equipment
The pot and skillet pictured in this recipe are the 4.5 quart sauté pan and 6.5 quart dutch oven from Caraway. Both sizes are perfect for this recipe, but any brand offering a similar size pot/pan will work perfectly.
Top Tip
This recipe comes together quickly (20 minutes). It is very important to have all ingredients prepped and ready to go, prior to starting the cooking process.
Watch: 20-Minute Sausage Carbonara
📖 Recipe
20-Minute Sausage Carbonara
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Total Time: 20 minutes
- Yield: 4 servings 1x
- Category: Easy Dinner
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Italian
Description
20-Minute Sausage Carbonara - a simple weeknight pasta that requires 6 basic ingredients. Indulgent, delicious and on the table FAST!
Ingredients
- 8 oz. dry pappardelle noodles
- 2 Tbs olive oil
- 1 pound ground Italian sausage
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon pepper
- ⅓ cup shredded parmesan cheese
- 3 large eggs, beaten
- ¼ cup parsley, chopped
Instructions
- Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain. Reserve ¼ cup of the pasta water.
- Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add olive oil, Italian sausage, salt and pepper. Use spatula to break up the sausage and combine ingredients. Cook until sausage is no longer pink. Reduce heat to low.
- In a small bowl, whisk eggs until smooth. Add parmesan cheese. Stir to combine.
- Add the drained pasta to the skillet. Toss until it's coated with the fat of the sausage. Remove the pan from the heat.
- Add 1 tablespoon of pasta water along with the egg/parmesan sauce. Toss the pasta until the liquid thickens and a light sauce is created. If it becomes too thick, add additional pasta water 1 TBS at a time. Garnish with parsley and serve immediately.
Notes
- The pasta water is an important part of this recipe. If you accidentally toss pasta water you can mix ¼ teaspoon of cornstarch with 1 cup of water. Stir until smooth and then microwave for 1 minute.
Keywords: carbonara, pasta, easy dinner
FAQ
Your sauce should be creamy, but not runny. If your sauce is too thick, add some pasta water to thin it out. If it is too runny, add addition parmesan cheese.
You MUST remember to remove your pan from the heat prior to adding the sauce or your eggs will curdle. If this starts to happen, stir in a small amount of the reserved cooking water.
Carbonara is one of the easiest and most straight forward pasta dishes to make. It uses very few ingredients and cooks quickly.
There is always a risk when using raw eggs, but eggs in carbonara will be fully cooked by the time it is plated. It is important to pour the egg/parmesan mixture over the noodles as soon as the pan is removed from the heat so the eggs reach a safe temperature. If you are concerned about cooking with raw eggs you can opt to purchase pasteurized eggs.
Dawn Conklin says
This looks so delicious 🙂 I too have days where my blog calendar and what is actually happening don't match up - it happens quite often here haha! It happens more in the summer when the kids are home and the dog wants to get out and go places (ok we want to get out and take him places!) Can't wait to try this for dinner.
Bailey Sissom says
Hey Dawn! I hope you love the Carbonara as much as us! I totally hear you about the Summer struggles. Mine have been back to school for a couple weeks now and I can't believe how much more constant I have been with blogging!
Erica S. says
Can't recommend this recipe highly enough! It was so easy to throw together and the whole family devoured it. We will definitely be making it again at our house.
★★★★★