Carbonara sauce at home: recipe (+ reviews)

Carbonara sauce is one of the most recent inventions of Italian culinary experts. It was first prepared in the middle of the last century, but it has already gained popularity all over the world and is considered one of the best masterpieces of Italian cuisine. It is served with spaghetti or pasta, as its creamy garlic taste perfectly complements the taste of pasta. The recipe is based on cream, egg yolks, garlic and cheese, thanks to which the sauce acquires a unique taste and aroma. Fried bacon and some other ingredients give it additional shades. To appreciate the unique taste of carbonara sauce, there is no need to go to an Italian restaurant and leave a lot of money there. Carbonara sauce can be made in your own kitchen. Moreover, any housewife can cope with this task if only she knows a few important points.

Cooking features

The products that make up carbonara sauce are quite accessible, if you don’t strive to maintain complete identity and don’t try to get Italian-made products. The cooking technology is also not too complicated, but it still has several features, without knowledge of which you should not start preparing the dish.

They say that an unlucky housewife can hide her flaws behind the sauce. However, this trick will not work if mistakes were made when preparing the sauce itself. If you try to use low-quality and stale products for it, this will certainly affect its taste and aroma. In the end, it will not save, but, on the contrary, will ruin the main dish.
Raw eggs, or rather their yolks, are used to prepare the sauce. The heat treatment they undergo during the brewing process may not be sufficient to ensure their safety. Therefore, you can only use eggs for sauce that you are sure are safe. For example, you can purchase them from a farmer you know, especially since in this case they will be even healthier than store-bought ones.
To prevent the sauce from turning into an omelette during cooking, it is better to brew it in a water bath, constantly monitoring its condition. As soon as it thickens and turns yellow, it should be removed from the heat.
The sauce most often includes bacon, which is fried in a frying pan. If it is quite fatty, there is no point in using oil for this, since it will increase the energy value of an already high-calorie dish.
Use the sauce hot, adding it to equally hot pasta. In this case, the dish must be stirred. Only in this case will it turn out homogeneous, without lumps. Otherwise, pasta with carbonara sauce will look unappetizing.
It is not customary to add salt to carbonara sauce. It is considered sufficient to salt the water in which the pasta is cooked.
Do not rinse the pasta before adding the sauce so that it does not cool down. Thanks to this, they remain saltier.

From sour cream and ketchup

This is the easiest way to prepare sour cream gravy; it is prepared from simple ingredients. It has a pleasant taste and aroma.

sour cream 15% – 110 ml;
seasoning;
flour – 2 tbsp. spoons;
ketchup – 210 ml;
salt;
water – 230 ml.

Pour flour into a hot saucepan and fry, stirring.
Pour water, combine components. It’s better to use a whisk, the lumps will go away faster.
Boil. Boil.
When the mass becomes thick, pour in sour cream, then ketchup.
Leave on low heat.
When it thickens, add salt.
Sprinkle with seasonings.

Classic carbonara sauce recipe

Compound:

cream – 0.2 l;
egg yolks – 4 pcs.;
Parmesan cheese – 100 g;
bacon – 0.4 kg;
garlic – 2 cloves;
Italian herbs - to taste.

Cooking method:

Cut the bacon into small pieces.
Chop the garlic with a knife.
Fry the bacon in a frying pan until some of the fat has rendered out. If there is not enough fat in the bacon, you can pour a little olive oil or other odorless vegetable oil into the pan.
Add the garlic to the bacon and fry everything together for a few minutes until the garlic begins to change color.
Remove the pan from the heat. Sprinkle the herbs over the bacon and stir.
Grind the cheese on a grater with small holes.
Separate the yolks from the whites. The whites are not required, but the yolks should be beaten with a whisk.
Add the yolks to the cream, beat with a whisk or mixer until a homogeneous mixture is obtained.
Place the cream and yolks in a water bath. Heat on it, stirring constantly, until the mixture becomes thicker and acquires a yellowish tint.
Remove the container of cream from the water bath, add the grated cheese and mix well.
Add bacon, fried with garlic, to the mixture. Stir again.

After this, it remains to mix the sauce with the boiled pasta. Remember that both the pasta and carbonara sauce must be hot.

Recipe for chicken cutlets with gravy

To prepare chicken cutlets, it is better not to use ready-made minced meat, but to make it yourself. You can use any part of boneless chicken, but the tastiest cutlets are made from chicken breast. In them, the dryish white meat is completely transformed, and the finished products turn out to be very tender and juicy.

You don’t need to put any onions or other spices in the minced chicken, but you can use one secret that will make the chicken cutlets even more tender. Lastly, add a little grated frozen butter and quickly stir the mixture so that the butter does not have time to melt.

What to do next:

Salt the minced chicken to taste, add white bread soaked in milk and squeezed out.
Instead of water, add a little heavy cream to form a fairly thick dough-like mass.
Form into patties, regularly wetting your hands in cold water.
Roll them in coarse breadcrumbs.
You can fry it either in a frying pan or in the oven using tomato or mushroom sauce.

Carbonara sauce with onions and ham

Compound:

ham – 0.2 kg;
chicken egg (yolks) – 2 pcs.;
onions – 100 g;
garlic – 3 cloves;
cream – 100 ml;
hard cheese – 100 g;
vegetable oil – 50 ml;
fresh herbs - to taste.

Cooking method:

Cut the ham into small cubes.
Chop the garlic cloves with a knife.
Peel the onion and cut into small pieces.
Melt the butter in a frying pan. Add onion and garlic to it and fry them until golden brown.
Add the ham cubes to the pan. Fry until it is browned.
Place the yolks in the cream, first separating them from the whites. Beat with a whisk or mixer. Brew the sauce by placing it in a water bath.
Chop fresh herbs.
Finely grate the cheese.
Add ham with onions and garlic to hot pasta and stir.
Add the sauce and stir again.
Sprinkle with herbs and cheese.

Delicious cutlets with mushroom gravy

Mushroom gravy can be made in 2 ways.

From fresh champignons

First, sauté chopped onions and grated carrots in vegetable oil.
When they turn golden, add the champignons cut into thin slices along the stem to the pan.
Fry everything for 5 minutes and add a little flour, mix well.
After this, carefully pour in the broth or sour cream diluted in water.

The result will be a thick gravy with pieces of mushrooms. To obtain a homogeneous mass, it must be punched with an immersion blender.

From dried mushrooms

According to the second method, the gravy is prepared from ground dried mushroom powder. You can grind them in a coffee grinder or a simple mortar. In this case, it is best to take dried white ones - they hold the record for mushroom smell.

Sauté wheat flour in a dry frying pan until straw-colored.
Pour in broth or hot water in a thin stream, stirring constantly, until the sauce reaches the desired consistency.
Add mushroom powder, add salt and simmer the mixture for 15 minutes.
At the end, add a tablespoon of thick sour cream or butter.

Carbonara sauce with shrimp

Compound:

peeled shrimp – 0.3 kg;
fresh dill – 50 g;
chicken egg (yolks) – 2 pcs.;
olive oil – 50 ml;
cream – 100 ml;
garlic – 1 clove;
Parmesan cheese – 150 g;
ground black pepper - a pinch.

Cooking method:

Finely grate the cheese.
Separate the yolks from the whites.
Finely chop the dill.
Boil the shrimp for 2-3 minutes, adding dill and pepper to the water. If desired, the water can be salted so that the sauce does not turn out too bland.
Finely chop the garlic.
Cool the shrimp and cut them into small pieces.
Heat olive oil in a frying pan, add garlic shrimp and fry them for 5 minutes. Remove from heat.
Whip the cream together with the yolk and brew the sauce by placing it in a water bath.
Add about 2/3 of the grated cheese to the sauce and stir.
Mix the creamy egg mixture with the shrimp and garlic. Add it to the hot pasta and stir.
Sprinkle with remaining cheese and serve.

Despite the fact that a slight deviation from the classic recipe was made in the preparation of carbonara sauce, it fits into the traditions of Italian cuisine. This recipe is sure to please those who love seafood.

Tomato sauce for cutlets

To prepare it you need:

1 liter of meat broth,
1 carrot,
half an onion,
3 tbsp. l. tomato paste (you can take less or more - to taste),
2 tbsp. l. flour with a slide,
salt and pepper to taste.

What to do:

First, fry the flour in a dry frying pan, stirring it constantly, until light brown.
Pour it into a separate bowl and stir with a small part of the broth until a homogeneous mass has the consistency of liquid sour cream.
Chop the onion, grate the carrots on a coarse grater and fry together in a frying pan with vegetable oil until golden brown.
Place the tomato paste in the pan and fry for 1-2 minutes, stirring constantly.
Carefully, in parts, without ceasing to stir, pour in the broth.
Add salt and at the end of cooking thicken the gravy by pouring in the liquid flour mixture prepared earlier.
Cook over low heat for about 10 minutes.

Additionally, you can beat the mixture with an immersion blender until smooth, but you don’t have to do this.

Gravy for cutlets with sour cream

Cooking time: 25 minutes. Kitchen utensils: frying pan or saucepan. Servings: 8 pcs.

Ingredients

broth (vegetable or meat) – 500 ml;
sour cream – 300 grams;
flour – 50 grams;

butter – 50 grams;
salt, pepper mixture.

Cooking sequence

Melt butter (30 grams) in a frying pan.
Pour in the flour. Mix. Fry for 4-5 minutes.
Add broth little by little and stir.
Add sour cream and stir.
Cook over low heat for 3-4 minutes.
Remove from the stove. Add salt, pepper mixture and butter. Mix.

Good advice

The higher the fat content of sour cream, the creamier the taste of the gravy.
It is best to take butter with 82.5% fat content.
Spices and seasonings can be added to the gravy as per your desire.

If you don't like pan-fried dishes, be sure to try steamed cutlets. A simple recipe for crab cakes will help out when you can’t spend a lot of time at the stove making crab cakes. You can cook during fasting. To diversify the usual taste of cutlets, you can add hard cheese cutlets with cheese to the minced meat. Those who love poultry cutlets will love Pozharsky cutlets.

Friends, share your options for preparing gravy for cutlets in the comments.

Options for replacing main products

It is best to use Parmesan for the sauce. Previously, Pecorino cheese was used. This is an Italian cheese made from sheep's milk. It is very aromatic, has a salty, even bitter taste, and a little spicy. Therefore, it is difficult to find a replacement for him. Parmesan does this job well. But, if you don’t have it, you can replace it with another hard cheese. It should be salty, slightly bitter and melt well at high temperature. This is necessary so that it completely dissolves during mixing. You cannot use soft cheeses, such as feta and cheese. They have a salty taste, but are not suitable for this dish; they will only spoil the final version.

There is no substitute for bacon. It is this that gives the sauce its specific taste. The only option is pork belly with cheeks. This meat is quite fatty; lard will be released when evaporated. Many believe that the original version of the dish used pork cheeks. It is better not to use meat without fat; the sauce will be too dry.

Carbonara with seafood (shrimp)

To diversify the taste of a well-known sauce, you can replace the bacon with shrimp. You need 300 grams of peeled seafood.

Next you will need:

egg (chicken) – 2 pieces;
oil (olive or sunflower) – 70 milliliters, necessary for frying;
cream (20% fat) – 100 milliliters;
hard cheese – 100 grams;
garlic in the amount of 1-2 cloves;
spices are added to taste and desire.

So, step by step preparation of carbonara sauce at home:

Usually shrimp are sold ready-made. To bring them to taste, you just need to put them in boiling water. You can take it out almost immediately, wait a maximum of one minute. You can add a little lemon juice to the water, add a bay leaf, and add salt if desired. Or add a pinch of ground black pepper and dill to boiling water. It is better to use it fresh and finely chop it first.
Then you need to remove the shrimp and drain off the excess liquid. Once warm, peel and chop. If using king prawns, remove intestinal strings. Crush the garlic or cut into small pieces. Heat a frying pan, add a little oil. Place the prepared shrimp in the pan and add the garlic. The shrimp should be golden and the garlic should change color. Usually 5 minutes is enough for this.
Mix the yolks, taken separately from the whites, with the cream. Instead, you can use thick sour cream alone or mixed with milk. It will not replicate the taste of cream, but goes well with other products. Heat the mixture in a water bath. Once the sauce has thickened, remove from heat. The color should turn yellowish. Prepare the cheese by finely grating it. Add to the yolks with cream. Mix well. Add the fried shrimp to the resulting mixture, stirring the sauce again. You can season freshly cooked pasta with it.

The classic sauce recipe does not contain cream. This variation of the dish uses them. But you can refuse them. You need to boil the egg mixture in a water bath, immediately adding chopped cheese to it.

Carbonara with chicken

You can make Carbonara sauce more dietary. To do this, use chicken fillet instead of bacon. This is already a greatly modified recipe for a classic dish, but, nevertheless, it is very popular. It is easy to prepare and does not involve eggs, which speeds up the creation process, but does not make the dish less tasty.

To create the sauce you will need:

chicken fillet – 350 grams;
garlic in the amount of 3 cloves;
cream (20% fat) – 300 milliliters;
onion (leek) – 1 piece;
hard cheese – 100 grams;
salt and pepper - to taste;
sunflower or olive oil for frying.

Cut the onion into half rings and place in a heated frying pan. It is better to use a small amount of oil. Prepare the chicken fillet by cutting into small pieces. When the onion becomes a little translucent, add the chicken to the pan. Continue frying, stirring. Salt and add pepper. Chop the garlic with a press or knife and place in a frying pan. You can add thyme if desired. There is no need to chop, put in sprigs. When the chicken has a golden crust, you can pour the cream into the pan. After a couple of minutes, turn off the sauce, it is ready.

Be sure to serve hot!

Cheese sauce

To prepare you need to purchase the following products:

2 small processed cheeses;
1 small spoon with a heap of dried herbs (parsley, dill, oregano);
100 grams of celery;
2 large spoons of flour;
2 small glasses of water;
50 gram piece of butter;
a quarter of a chili pepper;
a pinch of ground black pepper;
a little salt.

It will take about 30 minutes to cook and the calorie content will be approximately 120 kcal.

How to cook:

First you need to grate the processed cheese or cut it into small pieces;
Rinse the celery and grate it on a fine grater;
Cut a piece of hot chili pepper into thin rings;
Place the butter on a frying pan, put it on the fire and heat until completely melted;
Place grated celery and slices of hot pepper in oil and fry;
We add salt and season everything with spices;
Next, slowly add the flour in parts, while stirring;
Add dried herbs and mix thoroughly. Fry for 5 minutes;
Fill everything with water and bring to a boil;
Then gradually lay out the pieces of processed cheese, while constantly stirring everything;
Let the sauce simmer until the cheese is completely melted;
Next, close the lid and let stand for 5 minutes;
After this, serve with cutlets.

With mushrooms

Mushrooms are popular in cooking in different countries. They are used for preparing first and second courses, salads and snacks.

Mushrooms will become an integral part of the sauce.

Mushrooms also found their place in Italian recipes, slightly changing the taste of the sauce:

200 grams of ham;
150 grams of fresh mushrooms;
150 g cream 20-25%;
200 grams of grated parmesan;
several sprigs of basil and oregano;
olive oil;
salt.

First of all, wash the mushrooms, removing darkened spots if necessary, and cut into small cubes. We also cut the ham.

Heat the oil in a frying pan and fry the mushrooms and ham over medium heat. After a quarter of an hour, pour in the cream, reduce the heat and simmer under the lid, stirring with a spatula. It will take 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, rinse and finely chop the greens.

When the sauce has simmered a little, you need to salt it and add the prepared herbs and grated cheese. Stirring, cook for a minute until the sauce thickens due to the melted cheese. Afterwards, you can serve it with pre-boiled pasta, arranged in portioned plates. You can decorate with fresh chopped herbs.

On a note. Italians do not use cream in the sauce - only egg yolks. They began to add cream, experimenting with the composition of the traditional sauce. The sauce with cream is more delicate.