This light and creamy carbonara is filled with earthy mushrooms, salty bacon and miso which adds another layer of umami to this pasta dish. It’s my autumn spin to the traditional and beloved Carbonara. It requires minimal prep time and if you’re comfortable in the kitchen, you can probably make this within 20-minutes.
key ingredients
- Bacon: guanciale or pancetta are also great options. For my vegan and vegetarian friends, you can eliminate the bacon all together and double the mushroom quantity instead.
- Mushrooms: I recommend shiitake, oyster, chanterelle, maitake, cremini, shimeji and/or porcini mushrooms.
- Yellow Miso: or white miso
- Eggs
- Parmigiano Reggiano
- Pecorino Romano (optional)
- Bucatini: or udon noodles
3 foolproof tips
1. How to make creamy (not scrambled) Carbonara Sauce
The question I get the most from my community is “How do I make sure I don’t scramble the eggs in the carbonara sauce?” First temper the egg and cheese mixture by whisking in the hot miso pasta water into the eggs. Once the pasta is cooked al dente, transfer the pasta directly from the pot into the pan with the bacon and mushrooms. Then immediately pour the egg miso mixture into the pan. Then stir the pasta vigorously to emulsify the egg mixture with the pasta water which will turn into a creamy carbonara sauce. Before transferring the cooked pasta to the pan, I recommend letting the pan of bacon and mushroom cool down for 5 minutes to prevent the eggs from scrambling. When you pour the egg mixture into the pan, it should not be over any heat.
Another way to make the carbonara sauce is to add the egg yolks, cheese, miso pasta water and black pepper to a heat-proof bowl and whisk. Then create a bain-marie by bringing a pot of water to a soft boil over medium-high heat. Then place the bowl over the pot of pasta water and whisk vigorously until you get a creamy consistency. Then add the cooked pasta and additional pasta water to the bowl and stir vigorously until the sauce becomes emulsified.
You can’t go wrong with either method. Choose the one that best suits your skill level. For carbonara novices, I recommend the bain-marie method.
2. how to render the bacon fat
The best way to render fat from bacon, guanciale or pancetta is to add it to a cold pan. I like to add a little oil to the pan as well. Then I cook the bacon over low heat while stirring ocassionally. It should take about 8-10 minutes to fully render the fat out of the bacon. This step is important because the bacon fat is a crucial component to any good carbonara sauce.
3. clean the mushrooms properly
Unless you have harvested the mushrooms yourself in the wild, there is really no reason to wash the mushrooms under water. Use a mushroom brush, pastry brush or dry towel to wipe off any excess dirt. Dry mushrooms will brown quicker when you sauté them. Wet mushrooms will yield rubbery steamed mushrooms in the pan. I go into length on how to properly clean and saute mushrooms in this post. I normally recommend sautéing mushrooms in a dry pan but for this recipe, I want the mushrooms to soak up some of the bacon fat so I add the mushrooms into the pan once the fat has been rendered out of the bacon.
toppings and garnishes for miso carbonara
You can get creative here with your pantry! Here are some thought-starters for toppings:
- Furikake
- Seasoned Seaweed
- Togorashi Shichimi
- Chopped Scallions
- Chopped Chives
- Chopped Shiso Leaves
- You can never go wrong with more grated Parmigiano Reggiano!
30-Minute Miso Bacon Mushroom Carbonara
Ingredients
- 12 oz Bucatini or udon noodles
- 3 eggs
- 2 egg yolks
- 8 slices of bacon or 8 oz of guanciale or pancetta; chopped into 1/2" pieces
- 3 cups mushrooms shiitake, oyster, chanterelle, maiatake, cremini, shimeji and/or porcini mushrooms; chopped/torn into bite size pieces
- 2 oz grated Parmigiano Reggiano equals about 3/4 cup
- 2 oz grated Pecorino Romano equals about 3/4 cup
- 1/2 tsp cracked black pepper
- 3 tbsp yellow miso or white miso
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 1/3 cup reserved pasta water
- furikake for garnish
- scallions green parts finely chopped for garnish
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of water to boil.
- While the water is being boiled, render the fat from the bacon. In a cold skillet, add the chopped bacon and olive oil. Then turn the heat on to low and cook the bacon for about 8-10 minutes until the fat is rendered and the bacon turns golden. Make sure to stir occasionally so that the bacon doesn't cook too long on one side. Then add the mushrooms in the bacon fat for about 2-3 minutes until they turn golden brown. Turn the heat off and let the pan cool down.
- When the bacon and mushrooms are finished cooking, the pot of water should be boiling by then. Generously add salt to the pot of water and cook the bucatini al dente.
- While the bucatini is cooking, make the carbonara sauce. In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, cheese and black pepper. Then whisk together 1/3 cup of the pasta water with the miso. Then vigorously whisk the miso pasta water into the egg mixture to temper the eggs. Then set aside.
- When the bucatini is cooked al dente, immediately transfer the pasta to the pan with bacon and mushroom. (Make sure to reserve a cup of pasta water before straining the pasta.) Then add the egg miso mixture to the pan with the hot pasta. Add another 1/4 cup of pasta water to the pan and vigorously stir the pasta with the sauce so that it emulsifies and it becomes creamy.
- Plate the pasta immediately and top with furikake, grated Parmigiano Reggiano and chopped scallions. Serve immediately because good carbonara waits for no one. Enjoy!
Is there a preferred method to reheating?
For any carbonara pasta, I reheat by adding the pasta to a heat-safe bowl and placing the bowl over a simmering pot of water for about 1-2 min. This will gently reheat the carbonara without cooking the eggs. It’s definitely more work than reheating the pasta in a microwave but using a microwave will definitely cook the eggs in the carbonara.