---
title: 'How to Make Classic Carbonara | Jamie Oliver'
source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=D_2DBLAt57c'
video_id: 'D_2DBLAt57c'
date: 2026-07-01
duration_sec: 280
---

# How to Make Classic Carbonara | Jamie Oliver

> Source: [How to Make Classic Carbonara | Jamie Oliver](https://youtube.com/watch?v=D_2DBLAt57c)

## Summary

Jamie Oliver demonstrates how to make an authentic spaghetti carbonara using only five core ingredients: guanciale, pecorino romano, eggs, pasta, and black pepper. He emphasizes technique—rendering fat, emulsifying water and oil, and carefully adding eggs off heat—to achieve a creamy sauce without cream.

### Key Points

- **Introduction to dish** [[00:00]] — Jamie introduces spaghetti carbonara as a classic Italian dish made from pasta, cheese, bacon (guanciale), and cream (from emulsification).
- **Five essential ingredients** [[00:14]] — The authentic recipe requires guanciale (cured pork cheek), pecorino romano cheese, free-range eggs, pasta, and black pepper. Optional: garlic.
- **Preparing guanciale** [[01:26]] — Remove skin, slice into 1 cm, then chop into half‑centimeter chunks. Cook in a cold pan over medium‑high heat to render fat.
- **Freshly cracked pepper** [[02:06]] — Crack peppercorns in a mortar and pestle. The inside of the peppercorn is hotter and better for a spicy carbonara.
- **Egg mixture** [[02:19]] — Whisk eggs with about 20 g of pecorino. Eggs must be handled carefully to avoid scrambling.
- **Emulsifying the sauce** [[02:55]] — Remove garlic, turn off heat. Add pasta and some pasta water to the pan. The fat and water emulsify to form a creamy sauce—no cream added.
- **Final plating** [[03:25]] — Toss pasta with egg mixture off heat, adding more pasta water as needed. Finish with extra pecorino and black pepper. Serve immediately.

### Conclusion

The video delivers a step‑by‑step guide to restaurant‑quality carbonara at home, highlighting that authentic creaminess comes from emulsification, not cream. Quality ingredients and precise technique are crucial.

## Transcript

Pasta, cream, bacon, cream. Hi guys, we're going to make spaghetti carbonara, a classic Italian dish pasta, cheese, bacon.
What's not to love, right? But it's really controversial. I want to give you what I think is the most authentic recipe. So first up guys, you only need five ingredients, guanciale. This is the cured cheek of pork. And as you can see, it's all about the fat. It's salted, it's got pepper,
it's dried and it's aged. Of course it's similar to smoked bacon and you can get some pretty good results actually, but you can see this is quite lean. So try and get them to not cut off the fat
because you need it. Or there's panchetta. Then most people use parmesan. But actually the more classic is pecorino, romano, sheep's cheese, it's crumbly, it's salty, free-range organic egg,
pasta, black pepper. And then optional garlic. So first up guys, grab the pasta by two hands, twist it into the water. By twisting it, it won't stick together. Put a tiny amount of salt
in this water because the cheese and the guanciale is salty. This beautiful pasta takes eight minutes to cook. So I've got my guanciale. I'm going to remove the skin and I'm going to take a nice
centimeter slice of the guanciale. Roughly chop this to about half centimeter chunks. Now the pan is cold. Turn it on to a medium high heat. The reason I want it cold is because I want to render
the fat out. The guanciale goes in to the pan and this pan is getting hot. Give the garlic a crack and then put it in the pan. As this starts to sizzle, the fat will just pull out some of that
perfume from the garlic. Then there's the black pepper. Get your peppercorns in a pestle and water, crack it, get a little stiff. This is one of the most important little bits and no one really does
it. Okay, honestly, this is the outer skin, this is much milder. What we have here is the inside part, the peppercorn, which is hotter, perfect for a good hot carbonara. The guanciale is getting golden.
Now let's get onto the eggs. Eggs are really, really delicate and if you don't treat these right, you end up with stir fried noodles and we don't want that. I'm going to take a bowl and I'm going to crack the egg straight into there and I'm just going to add a little pecorino to that.
So like 20 grams. Now we're a time sensitive so we're going to have a little whisk up. We've got dark guanciale. We've got the fat that's come out of it and that's what you want. You want attitude and colour. Now I'm going to remove that garlic. Turn the heat off and we're going to drag the pasta
and the water into the pan. Use the water to stop the frying. Bit of water, bit of water. That water and the fat, that is what's going to emulsify to become a creamy sauce.
We're not frying anymore. Can you hear that? Quiet. No frying at all. Only then can we think about adding our egg. As we toss, we add some more liquid. That's the cream. You get the cream through the
emulsification of the cooking water and the fat and technique and timing. So as simple as this is, it's technical. Get your friends, your family. Get them around the table, glass of wine. Look at that,
guys. Look at that. Carbohonara. And you finish with more pepper. Wow. I'm so excited. Spaghetti, Carbohonara with a beautiful little finishing of pecorino. That is as classic as I can give you guys
from chefs, from nonners. It's about quality ingredients, the guanciale, the pecorino romana, quality eggs, the pepper, the technique of the pepper, good pasta and then the sensitivity of cooking it
right. Come on. There's a little plat for two people and of course the most important thing when you eat pasta is don't watch it, eat it. That my friends is a thing of joy.