How to Make Pasta and Cabbage Carbonara

When my family is hungry, I mean really hungry, nothing satisfies them like pasta. Some nights we’re hungry and tired. We’re craving simple but satisfying late-night fare like bacon and eggs.

What could be better than bacon and eggs? How about bacon and eggs and pasta? Yum!

If you’ve never had pasta carbonara, you’re in for a treat. This may be one of the simplest yet most satisfying pasta sauces you can make at home. It’s rich and creamy and satisfying, yet there’s no cream in it.

The secret behind carbonara sauce is bacon and eggs. Bacon brings the smoky, salty wonderfulness that is bacon to the dish. The eggs bring richness and silky body to the sauce.

My family loves bacon and eggs, and pasta. I do too. But I was looking for a way to make it a complete meal. In other words, I wanted to add a vegetable component that would bring a big bang of nutrition without taking away from the creamy, bacony goodness of carbonara sauce.

Enter cabbage. It’s mild, inexpensive, easy to work with, and a powerhouse of nutrition. Cabbage is loaded with fiber plus vitamins K and C. I buy green cabbage regularly. It’s an excellent slaw ingredient for fish or pulled pork tacos. We like it sautéed with onions and ham or roasted with corned beef. I’m a big fan of sauerkraut too, although my family is less enthusiastic about that.

I had a leftover hunk of cabbage in my crisper drawer. So, I decided I would try adding it to the sauce. It works. It adds a crispness that pasta carbonara doesn’t usually have, without taking away from that velvety sauce. Plus, since I was springing this on my family without warning, the green cabbage had a color that was subtle enough not to invoke immediate rejection. Let’s face it, when you add a new vegetable to some dishes, lovers of that dish (especially children) can be put off initially.

I cut the cabbage into ribbons with a knife instead of putting it in the food processor. That’s because I didn’t want the pieces to be too small to add any real texture. The ribbons of cabbage worked nicely to add just a little crunch to this creamy pasta dish. And it meant I didn’t have to make a vegetable side or salad to have a complete meal.

Unless the recipe specifies otherwise, I always use large eggs. Carbonara is one of those recipes where the size of the eggs you use doesn’t matter as much as it would in something like a cake batter. If you have extra-large or jumbo eggs, they will also work. You will have slightly more sauce. If you are using small eggs, you will want to add an extra egg. If you are using medium eggs, you can add an extra whole egg or just an extra egg yolk. The extra yolk will make the sauce a little richer and give you the volume you need.

TIP: Crack your eggs, one at a time, into a separate cup or bowl before adding to the cheese. This keeps any eggshell out of the cheese, where it would be harder to remove.

I use parmesan when I make carbonara sauce because I almost always have a wedge of parmesan in my refrigerator. Some classic carbonara recipes call for Romano cheese or parmesan and Romano. Some even specify Pecorino (sheep’s milk Romano). I say go with what you have and what you like. I’ve made this basic carbonara sauce with asiago cheese too. It’s also delicious. The real rule is to use a hard cheese that has a flavor you and your family enjoy.

It was hard for me to believe there was no cream in the sauce the first time I had pasta carbonara. The sauce is velvety. Combining the parmesan cheese with the raw eggs and then cooking them using just the residual heat of the bacon and pasta is the reason. This process allows the egg, cheese, and bacon fat to come together, creating a creamy sauce.

You may notice the batch of pasta and cabbage carbonara in these photos appears to include two kinds of pasta. That’s because it does. I love to make this dish with garlic angel hair pasta (which takes about two minutes to cook). When I made this batch, I only had about two ounces of this delicious angel hair pasta in my pantry. I wanted to use it up. So, I used the angel hair plus two ounces of thin, whole wheat spaghetti. You can make your carbonara with any pasta you like.

It is essential to turn off the heat under your pan before adding the egg and cheese mixture. Removing the heat and tossing the pasta very quickly in the egg mixture ensures you develop the smooth sauce carbonara is known for and not scrambled eggs. (Although, it’s not ruined if the eggs are a little.)

Make sure the egg mixture has combined with the bacon fat, and pasta is well coated in the sauce before adding the cabbage. There should be more than enough sauce. If it seems there isn’t, add some of the reserved pasta water (one tablespoon at a time) until the volume is right. Then add the cabbage.

Just like before, you’ll want to toss the cabbage and pasta until everything is well coated. Again, if there isn’t quite enough sauce, add a little reserved pasta water. If the starchy water is still warm, don’t pour it right on the cabbage, as that might cook it a little too much.

Once the cabbage and pasta are combined, and everything is coated with sauce, the dish is done. You can pile this onto a large serving platter or individual plates. Either way, I like to top it with a little more shredded parmesan cheese and a bit of chopped, fresh parsley. 

This recipe makes two very large portions or three smaller ones. If you love a big plate of pasta, this will serve two. If you always have leftovers when you cook the two ounces of dry pasta per person the package recommends, this will easily feed three people.

The recipe is scalable. You can double or triple it if needed. Likewise, it can be cut in half too. But since the cabbage is barely cooked, this holds up well in the refrigerator overnight, so it makes an excellent leftover lunch the next day.

Pasta and Cabbage Carbonara

Course: Dinner, Late Night, WeeknightCuisine: Updated Italian, Healthy CookingDifficulty: Easy

Servings

2

servings

Prep time

15

minutes

Cooking time

15

minutes

Total time

30

minutes

Lighten up a simple pasta carbonara with cabbage. It adds a nutritious crunch to pasta carbonara without taking away any of the rich and creamy goodness of this family favorite. This recipe can be doubled or tripled to serve your needs.

Ingredients

• 4 oz. spaghetti or angel hair pasta

• Salt (1 tsp per quart for pasta)

• ½ lb. cabbage (1/4 medium head), shredded to make about two cups

• 4 oz. bacon (4–6 slices)

• ½ cup freshly grated parmesan or Romano cheese, plus more for topping

• 2 large eggs

• 1 teaspoon minced garlic (1 large clove)

• freshly ground black pepper, to taste (optional)

• freshly chopped parsley (optional)

Directions

• In a large pot of salted water (about 1 teaspoon per quart), cook pasta according to package directions. Drain pasta, reserving 1 cup of pasta water.
• Using a knife, cut cabbage into thin ribbons, and set aside.
• Whisk together the eggs and parmesan cheese and set aside.
• Chop uncooked bacon into ½-inch pieces. Cook bacon in a large, high-sided skillet over medium-high heat until it’s just crispy.
• Add garlic and cook until fragrant (about 30-seconds).
• Add drained pasta and toss to coat in bacon and pan drippings.
  Remove the pan from heat.
• Add egg and cheese mixture and toss with hot pasta and bacon.
• Add pasta water, 1 tablespoon at a time if needed to loosen the sauce.
• Add cabbage and black pepper if desired (to taste). Toss vigorously until everything is well coated, and cabbage just begins to cook (about 1 minute).
• Arrange on a serving plate or individual plates. Top with chopped, fresh parsley and shredded parmesan cheese, if desired.

Notes

• Use a slightly smaller pot for cooking the pasta than you normally would. This allows the water to become extra starchy, which works better in this sauce.
• If you don’t have any uncooked bacon on hand, you can substitute six slices of cooked, crumbled bacon or 1/3 cup real bacon bits. If you use cooked bacon, you’ll need to add some fat. Heat 2 tablespoons olive, canola, vegetable, or corn oil in the skillet. Add the cooked bacon and stir around the pan until crisp (30-seconds to 1 minute). Then add the garlic and proceed as directed.
• You can make this with real egg white products from a carton (like original Egg Beaters®). The result won’t be quite as rich, but it will still be delicious.
• This carbonara sauce recipe also works very well with spiralized zucchini (zoodles) in place of the pasta. I expect you could use any spiralized vegetable you like that doesn’t require much cooking.