Las personas que aman comer son siempre las mejores personas.
-Julia Child
Quickly translated Julia is saying: People who love to eat are always the best people.
I could not agree more with this concept. Great food & great people are where memories are made!
My favorite time to spend with friends is over a dinner table. Being able to have a drink & eat delicious food while reminiscing about past events is the absolute best! This weekend I got to take a short road trip to see one of my best friends from college. Even though we hadn’t seen each other in almost 2 years, after a few minutes it was like no time had past. Getting to double date with her, grab drinks, split appetizers & share WAY too many sushi rolls made my weekend!
A few weeks ago I made the most delicious & creamy carbonara. It was loaded with flavor & made me feel like I was eating at my favorite Italian restaurant, but in my own home. Any time you combine bacon, chicken & mushrooms into a dish, you will have a hard time sharing and not eating it all yourself!
How to make this extra creamy Chicken, Bacon & Mushroom Carbonara:
To begin, make your carbonara base. To do this, grab a small bowl add two large eggs and your heavy cream.
Next, add salt, pepper and freshly chopped parsley.
Finally, shred 1/4 cup of parmesan cheese and add it to the bowl.
Whisk all ingredients until combined.
Cooking Tip: Your carbonara egg mixture can set out while you’re cooking the proteins of the meal. This will allow it to combine more & let the eggs come to room temperature.
Next, into a non-stick frying pan, add 5 pieces of bacon. Cook bacon (flipping halfway through) until it is crispy on both sides. When you bacon is finished, place the bacon onto a paper towel covered plate to soak up extra grease.
After your bacon has cooled, give it a rough chop until your bacon is in large crumbles.
Next, add 1/4 cup of diced onion into the frying pan. Allow to cook for a few minutes, then add in your sliced mushrooms and 1/2 tsp of minced garlic.
How to add additional flavor to your carbonara:
Don’t forget to leave some bacon grease in your pan in order to create added flavor while cooking your onions, mushrooms & garlic!
Sauté until your onions have turned translucent, your garlic is fragrant & mushrooms are browned. Don’t forget to add in your pre-cooked (diced) chicken a few minutes before everything is cooked to warm it up!
Add your cooked pasta & carbonara mixture into the frying pan. Mix all ingredients together until pasta is well coated.
Cooking Tip: Turn the heat to LOW before adding the egg mixture into the pan. You do not want scrambled eggs, it will completely ruin the dish. Allow the heat to come down while cooking the garlic & warming the chicken so you do not overheat the eggs.
Finally, top pasta with your chopped bacon. When you serve the carbonara, don’t forget to garnish your dish with extra parsley & pepper!
The most important thing to know about carbonara, you have to eat it quickly. When carbonara becomes cold the egg mixture will begin to solidify. Don’t get me wrong, it still tastes delicious just not AS DELICIOUS as when it is warm.
Make sure you have a hungry crowd when you make this meal, it serves a heavy handed 4 plates. It is also so good you’ll have a hard time leaving any for left overs!
ENJOY!
- 1/2 lb spaghetti
- 1/4 cup parmesan, shredded
- 2 large eggs
- 3/4 cup heavy cream
- 1/2 cup cooked chicken
- 1/2 cup mushrooms
- 1/4 cup onion, diced
- 5 slices bacon
- 1 tbsp parsley, chopped and divided
- 1/2 tsp garlic, minced
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp pepper
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Bring pot of water to boil over high heat. Add pasta & cook until al dente or your likeness of cooked.
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Into a bowl add eggs, heavy cream, salt, pepper, 3/4 tbsp parsley, & parmesan. Whisk until all ingredients are combined. Set aside until needed.
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In a pan, add 5 slices of bacon & cook evenly on both side. About 2 minutes on each side until crispy. Set aside. When cool, crumble into large pieces.
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Leave some bacon grease in pan & add diced onions. Cook for 3-4 minutes until begins to soften. Add in mushrooms, cook for an additional 2-3 minutes. Finally add garlic and cook until fragrant.
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Dice your cooked chicken into thick cubes. Add to pan and allow to warm. Finally add cooked pasta into pan.
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Turn your stove heat to low. Pour the "egg mixture" into pan and mix until all ingredients are combined. **
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When all ingredients have warmed, add your bacon back into the pan. Garnish with pepper, parsley & parmesan. Serve & enjoy!
**Make sure you do not leave your pan on high heat, the egg mixture WILL begin to cook itself which will change the taste of the meal
Nice easy recipe that tastes great. I used gluten free pasta too & that was even really good
Well worth the effort.
Nate
Glad you liked it Nate!
Great recipe! Easy to make – great directions – will definitely be making this again! We even added asparagus to the leftovers and it was still terrific!
Wow…enjoyed…licked the bowls!!!
Try with gnocchi instead of pasta…:)