Orecchiette Carbonara with Asparagus — 2nd Easiest Weeknight Dinner
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Flavored with leeks and lemons, this pasta carbonara is especially fresh and light. With bacon and eggs on hand, dinner can be thrown together in a flash. Add asparagus and you have a (nearly) one-dish dinner on your hands.
This is simply a variation of my favorite easy weeknight dinner with the addition of asparagus, which adds about a minute more to your prep time but precludes the need to make any other sort of vegetable side dish — win win.
Ready to make it?
Fry some bacon. Sauté some onions. Cook some pasta. Blanch some asparagus. Whisk some eggs. Zest a lemon. Toss it all together, and watch how a no-cream light-on-the-cheese sauce transforms a simple pasta into a creamy-tasting, vegetable-loaded, one-pot wonder.
Orecchiette Carbonara with Asparagus — 2nd Easiest Weeknight Dinner
- Total Time: 35 minutes
- Yield: 4
Description
Source: Everyday Food
Ingredients
- kosher salt and ground pepper
- 6 slices bacon, cut crosswise into 1-inch pieces
- 4 leeks* (white and light-green parts only) or spring onions*, halved lengthwise, rinsed well, and thinly sliced
- 3/4 pound short pasta, such as campanelle or orecchiette
- 3/4 pound of asparagus, ends trimmed
- 2 large eggs
- 1/2 ounce Parmesan, grated (1/4 cup), plus more for serving (optional)
- 1 tablespoon finely grated lemon zest, plus 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1/2 cup fresh parsley leaves, coarsely chopped (optional — I didn’t use them this time around)*If you don’t have leeks or onions, any onion will do — finely chop about a half cup or more of whatever onion you have on hand.
Instructions
- Set a large pot of salted water to boil. In a large skillet, cook bacon over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until crisp, 8 to 10 minutes. With a slotted spoon, transfer bacon to paper towels to drain. Pour off all but 2 tablespoons fat from skillet. (I do not pour off any fat… ) Add leeks, season with salt and pepper, and cook, stirring often, until leeks are golden brown, about 10 minutes.
- Add pasta to pot and cook according to package instructions. Meanwhile, cut asparagus into 1.5- to 2-inch long pieces. In the last three minutes of the pasta cooking time, drop the asparagus into the pot of water. Reserve 1/4 cup of the pasta cooking liquid.
- In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, Parmesan, and lemon zest and juice. Whisk 1/4 cup pasta water into egg mixture.
- Drain pasta and asparagus and immediately add to egg mixture, along with bacon, leeks, and parsley. Season with salt and pepper and stir to combine. Sprinkle with more cheese if desired and serve immediately. Note: If you’re nervous about the egg not cooking, just throw the whole mixture back into a large skillet over medium heat for a minute or two.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Italian
This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure policy.
32 Comments on “Orecchiette Carbonara with Asparagus — 2nd Easiest Weeknight Dinner”
This looks amazing! I love making carbonara – so quick and simple. Asparagus is a great addition, too. Gorgeous photos as always
Well I have all the ingredients to make that for dinner tomorrow night. So I think I will. Thank you very much.
Zach and I love this carbonara. Ever since I first spotted it on your blog it has been a staple for those nights when I just don’t feel like it. Asparagus sounds like a good addition. I tend to add whatever is floating around in the veggie drawer/freezer – green peas? great throw them in! Half a bag of spinach? In it goes. It is my “kitchen sink” dish. Lovely photos as always Ali!
Talley — I’m so happy to hear this! It’s so true — you could throw anything in this dish and it will taste good. My friend sent me a similar recipe that calls for broccoli and anchovies… so delicious!
This recipe looks delicious! It’s nice to see a carbonara recipe without cream.
Love this! Asparagus is my fave veg so I would probably have use a pound or more, lol. I make a few variations of this dish, and it always is yummy. This version looks delicious! I just bought 2 bags of orecchiette too!
Lisa — I don’t think you can overdo it with the veggies here. THere always seems to be plenty of sauce!
Love the recipe!Always beautiful to see a pasta recipe that respects all the principals of the italian cuisine including the one that pasta should be served immediately! I always cook pasta when everybody is already sitting at the table! Wonderful photos!
Simplu si bun — Love the idea of waiting till everyone is seated to serve! That way everything is nice and not. Yum!
A very tasty spring meal!
A lovely way to eat the spring veggies with one of my favorite pasta choices.
This looks so fresh and springy. It would make an excellent Spring dinner!
Love carbonara and love asparagus…and LOVE the idea of getting that serving of veggies in the main course for one less dish to prepare! 🙂 Can’t wait to try it!
Jennifer, I hope you do! This is one of my favorite/easy one-dish dinners. So fun seeing you at the park today!
Oh yum! I sometimes do a similar thing with zucchini. I really like the idea of using orecchiette – it has such a nice chew to it.
Alicia — zucchini sounds wonderful! I can’t wait till we start getting it in our CSA. I love slicing the zucchini really thinly and tossing it with hot spaghetti — you don’t even have to cook it. Love it!
OK, I know it’s crazy, but I don’t have any bacon. I’m going to try it for supper tonight without and see how it goes. I’ll look for some other salty goodness to throw in there!
Jeanne — I bet it will work just fine without the bacon. The sauce from the eggs and the cooking liquid and lemon juice is ample to coat the pasta, so it might just need (as you say) some more salty goodness — anchovies? parmesan? I hope it turned out well for you!
I made this tonight and it was/is FAB…FAB….FAB! No, kidding…flavors blend wonderfully well…I love it and so do the others diners at my house….Thank you!!
Teresa — soooo happy to hear this! I love this recipe, too, but it’s always nice to hear when others have success with it too. Thanks for writing in!
It works just fine without the bacon, for us vegetarians! Just up the Parm
Nice! Love it.
If you have an immersion circulator you can also pasteurize your own eggs, for those nervous about the egg not cooking.
Cook a batch in a 135F water bath for 75 minutes, and store it in the fridge afterwards.
Great for these raw-egg recipes, or if you’re cooking for a crowd and want some added peace of mind.
Great tip, Andre! Thanks so much.
A winner! I la la love pasta carbonara and ate it as often as I could during my first pregnancy (yeah yeah, don’t give me any grief). I used to sit at the bar at Monello in SD and the bartender would make me mocktails and bar food and then their famous pasta carbonara. Such good memories…. I love how this recipe comes together. There was no egg curdling. Its how I normally make plain noodles with parmesan and butter for the kids, but this time with asparagus, eggs, lemon, and bacon. Definitely hit the craving. I love it Ali. You’re the bestest.
Awww so great to hear this, Dana! Also: sitting at a bar in SD, pregnant or otherwise, sounds dreamy right now 🙂 🙂 🙂 xoxo
Made it last night and my husband and son really liked it. Thank you.
Great to hear this! Thanks for writing 🙂
Hi Ali,
Thank you for such a delectable springtime treat. I had recently bought a Costco pack of asparagus, my favorite vegetable, and wanted to try a new recipe. This was the perfect choice of flavor, texture and eye appeal. I am looking forward to the leftovers.
It is nice to feel spring emerging and the promise of some sunshine and warmth.
Hope you are doing well.
So nice to hear this, Bruce! Thanks so much for writing. And I hear you — last Friday it was 68ºF up here, and feeling the warmth was so uplifting. ALSO: I have been meaning to write, because I recently added notes to this Sicilian Style Pizza post that scale the dough recipe to fit that Lloyd “grandma” style pan. The notes are below the recipe. Hope all is well!
Fantastic weeknight dinner–I also love to use asparagus (I cut it into 1 cm dice and saute with the leeks in bacon fat) when in season, but fresh pea shoots (sprout your own easily) or baby arugula (uncooked) work just as well mid-winter. When leeks look nice, I wash then slice them into half rings before freezing them–then I pop out a handful for dinner. Freezing softens their texture so they cook faster, but the real bonus is less prep to get this dinner underway. For anyone immunocompromised and worried about the egg, it can be poached and added on top (I did this for my son when he was a baby), otherwise, with a glass of white wine, this dinner is date night worthy.
So nice to read all of this, Bri. Thanks for writing and sharing all of your notes:)