Easy Ham Carbonara

"This is so quick and easy. I love it when you can cook a good dinner and still be able to spend some time with the family!"
 
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photo by Ivansocal photo by Ivansocal
photo by Ivansocal
photo by Ivansocal photo by Ivansocal
photo by Ivansocal photo by Ivansocal
photo by miz.decker photo by miz.decker
photo by mary winecoff photo by mary winecoff
Ready In:
25mins
Ingredients:
9
Serves:
4
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ingredients

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directions

  • Cook pasta.
  • In a skillet, saute the onion in oil.
  • Add the ham, broth and margarine and heat through.
  • Add drained pasta to ham mixture.
  • Pour in egg yolks and cook until the eggs are completely set.
  • Sprinkle with parsley and Parmesan cheese and toss to coat.

Questions & Replies

  1. why waste the egg whites...what would that do to the carbonara if you included the egg whites...like breaking egg yolk and white together...
     
  2. What size package of pasta?
     
  3. Is there a decent substitute for the parsley? I don't have any, and wondered if either cilantro or basil would work (?)... help?
     
  4. How do you know when the egg yolks are fully cooked?
     
  5. how would this be warmed up as leftovers?
     
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Reviews

  1. This recipe is fantastic. Since I had an excellent ham carbonara while in Germany ten years ago, I have been looking for something that came close. This one did! I am inspired to try it with variations such as olive oil instead of vegetable oil. Also, I had a one pound box of angel hair pasta so I doubled the recipe because it seemed like alot of pasta to combine to the single recipe. My suggestion that might make it even better is lighter on the oil and margarine and use more broth. If you want to get really fancy, fresh parmasan and baby peas would be very tasty. One last thing - the fresh parsley made it taste very fresh. Very easy and pleasing for the whole family.
     
  2. I am usually very skeptical of recipes that look easy because they often lack flavor. This recipe was a pleasant surprise! It was not only the easiest recipe to make but the flavor was amazing for such a simple recipe; economical too. I used linguine instead of angel hair pasta (a little heartier noodle for my DH), substituted butter for the margarine (a little richer flavor)and used dried parsley instead of fresh (didn't have fresh - 8 teaspoons dried = 8 Tablespoons fresh). I modified one step but only because I was afraid I'd screw up the addition of straight egg yolks to the mixture - I mixed the egg yolks with a portion of the chicken broth. I will definetly make this recipe often in the future- 5 stars.
     
  3. I love this recipe. I have made this with ham, salmon, baby shrimp, and chicken. All were excellent. After several times making this, I have made a couple of small changes. I use Olive Oil instead of vegetable oil. I have been using 1/2 cup of margarine. I cut the heat back alot, and melt the margarine very slowly. I also use 3 egg yolks and 3/4 cup of parmesan cheese. I make sure to keep heating everything until the water is gone, and all that is left is the creamy coating. Thanks again for the great recipe.
     
  4. Delicious! Carbonara is one of my husband's favorite dishes so I made this for his b-day dinner. I didn't realize it would taste so yummy w/o cream! I didn't have ham so I used bacon instead. I also used olive oil and real butter. And I omitted the parsley since I didn't have any. It was so good we ate it for breakfast this morning! Thanks for posting this.
     
  5. Easy excellent recipe. Next time I make it however, I'm going to use only 1/2 the box of pasta as it made far too much. Good flavor, before even tasting it, my husband rated it a "keeper".
     
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Tweaks

  1. Here are a couple of hints to make this recipe a success - break your pasta in half before placing in boiling water. It is much easier to mix all the ingredients at the end. Also save some of the pasta water before draining. If your sauce is too thick use the pasta water to thin it out to desired consistency. Also make the sauce a little thinner than you think you need as it will thicken up as it cools and the noodles absorb more fluid.
     
  2. I made this last night except I substituted olive oil for vegetable oil and I used butter instead of margarine. (Does anybody actually still use margarine?) It turned out fantastic! I will definitely make it again. Thanks for the recipe!
     
  3. I made just as directed, except I used butter instead of margarine and olive oil instead of vegetable oil. This was a hit for everyone...it had ingredients I already had in the house, and both my husband and I loved it, as well as our very picky 3 year old. This will definitely be one we make again!!
     
  4. This is a definite winner at our house. I remember growing up with a recipe like this, and went searching today for one...this was perfect. I did halve the pasta amount, when I got the whole box cooked up it seemed like too much pasta. I think next time I will add some bacon grease instead of the cooking oil, and increase the ham amount. I didn't have fresh parsley so I used dried, and I definitely want to try it with fresh.
     
  5. Delish! So easy to make and the flavors are wonderful! Used butter in place of margarine and dried parsley instead of fresh. Thank you for posting!
     

RECIPE SUBMITTED BY

I live in Las Vegas. I was lucky enough to run into Recipezaar around Nov. 2000 and got hooked quickly. I am a cookbook collector and have been collecting recipes for as long as I can remember. My DH had to build in shelves for all my cookbooks! I like to dabble with OAMC and for a few years hosted the Budget/OAMC forum with some great people over there. Even though I don't work in the forum any longer I've set up a lot of cookbooks for the purpose of OAMC and stretching food that might be helpful. Please feel free to check them out! I go on food jags and cooking jags! Please come say hi to me and chat on facebook. I currently host a blog for saving money through finding deals and coupons if you are interested. Most of the time I try to cook and have a good dinner on the table but I'll be honest enough to say there is still fast food occasionally in the budget! I have had such wonderful support here whenever I need it. Thank you all for being here! Just a quick note on how I rate recipes: ? 5 stars - This recipe is perfect. (My DH is truly a critic and doesn't give 5's unless it's amazing) I would recommend it to others and would definitely make again. ? 4 stars - This recipe was good but I would change something in it next time. ? 3 stars - This is a recipe I would not make again but it was OK ? 2 stars - This recipe I would not make again and we didn't like it at all ? 1 star - This recipes did not work out/taste was unappealing and wouldn't make again
 
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