Kids Carbonara {In 20 Minutes}

One of our kids' favorite weeknight meals? This fast and easy kids Carbonara pasta dish made with spaghetti and bacon in a creamy sauce, and ready in 20 minutes!

Kids Carbonara

If you're a regular reader of my site you might have noticed I love an easy weeknight meal and this Spaghetti Carbonara is not going to disappoint. It's got all the classic kid favorites (in this house anyway!), it's creamy, cheesy, includes pasta and contains bacon. And that's pretty much a job done here :)

I've kept this recipe quite traditional, I use egg yolks and cream to make an egg mixture sauce that's really creamy and gives the pasta a great flavor. I also boiled the spaghetti vegetable stock for extra taste and use lots of bacon.

I used bacon lardons (or pancetta) in this one but I've also used rasher bacon before cut into small pieces, you get the same end result so don't go out of your way to find lardons. I do recommend you use smoked bacon though, the flavors' more intense and, well, bacony!

Cheesiness is king in our house and I used Parmesan cheese for this, the flavors rich and the kids love it. However, you can also use regular Cheddar cheese. You need to use a full fat cheese so it melts into the sauce as you warm it through though.

This recipe is surprisingly simple to make. You can use just the one pan to fry your bacon, boil the spaghetti and then put the whole thing together, so there's minimal cleaning up afterwards.

The total prep time is counted in minutes, once you've fried the bacon and then put it to one side you can make the egg mixture while the pasta is boiling in the same pan you cooked the bacon in.

One thing I haven't used is Garlic in the ingredients, which you're free to use if you have Garlic loving kids: I don't! Traditionally you should add a little Garlic but really, my aim is to get the kids to eat and not stick to tradition. I've included amounts in the recipe of you need it. Feel free to add it or not :)

And side note:

• If your bacon lardons cook and burn the bottom of the pan, the burnt bits will come off when you're boiling the pasta
• If your sauce feels to dry, keep a little of the stock the Spaghetti's been cooked in and add it one table spoon at a time to the pasta, it will loosen the sauce without weakening the flavor

More Kid Friendly Pasta Recipes

• Creamy ham and mushroom pasta
• Lemon spaghetti with chicken
• Slow cooked lamb Ragu with Tagliatelle
• Quick crab Fettuccini
• Easy Avocado pasta
• Clean eating mac'n'cheese

Wholemeal Spaghetti

When we started eating Clean one of the first things I did was to stop buying white pasta. This applied to all the pasta I cooked with, Spaghetti, Penne or anything else. It was surprisingly easy to get used to. I know lots of people think their kids won't eat it but I stand by my theory that if the sauce is yummy enough, the pasta will be eaten, and furthermore, enjoyed!

If your kids are being super resistant to changing over to wholewheat pasta, try adding in a little to start with, 70% white and 30% wholewheat and gradually reduce the white pasta more and more over time. I promise you, eventually they'll eat it without a fuss. And I say this with a couple of amazingly fussy eaters!

Al Dente?

I guess this proves my point about being a home cook that cooks mostly for kids: I admit it, I don't understand Al Dente pasta. It feels all wrong to me and undercooked. Maybe I'm doing it all wrong and maybe it's the best thing ever but I do not cook our pasta Al Dente, I cook it so it feels cooked when we eat it.

I guess the end result we're all looking for is a dinner that's eaten, right?

Leftovers

Leftover spaghetti carbonara is one of those things you can spoon into your mouth straight from the fridge if you wanted to, it's super yummy. Maybe that's just me.

If you prefer to reheat yours like a grown up, add a little water (1 tbsp) onto the top of the pasta before microwaving it for 2 minutes, stirring half way through heating. Make sure it's piping hot throughout and then serve.

How To Make Kids Carbonara

Ingredients

• Spaghetti for 4 kids I used wholewheat spaghetti
• 2 Cups Vegetable stock
• 1 Cup Parmesan Finely grated
• ¾ Cup Bacon lardons Smoked
• 2 Egg yolks
• ¼ Cup Cream
• 1 tbsp Olive oil
• 1 tsp salt
• Black pepper
• ½ teaspoon Crushed Garlic Optional

Instructions

• Grate your cheese and separate your eggs into a bowl so you just have the yolks. Make your vegetable stock up. Put them to one side
• In a large pan heat your olive oil over a medium heat and then add your bacon lardons and fry them until fully cooked and crispy. If you're using Garlic add it in half way through cooking the bacon and don't allow it to burn! Transfer them to a plate and put them to one side
• Add the vegetable stock to the bacon pan and bring it to a simmer. Using a wooden spoon scrape the bacon bits off the bottom of the pan and add the salt to the stock
• When the water is simmering, add your pasta and cook until it's cooked how you like it to be
• While the pasta is cooking, whisk the egg yolks, black pepper and cream until well combined and then add nearly all the cheese, leaving a little to sprinkle over the top of the finished dinner
• Drain your pasta keeping hold of the cooking stock in case you need to loosen the sauce
• Tip the pasta back into the pan
• Add the egg mixture sauce and stir it through the pasta. Use the residual heat from the pasta and pan to allow the egg yolk to cook and the cheese to melt. Keep stirring the pasta through until the cheese has melted. If the sauce is too dry add a couple of tablespoons of the pasta cooking water to loosen the sauce
• Add the bacon lardons back in and stir through the spaghetti
• Serve with a little sprinkle of Parmesan
• Optional: Sprinkle some chopped Parsley on top

Kids Carbonara Recipe