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–+ servings
A large stainless steal pan filled with spaghetti, chorizo and carbonara sauce.
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4.30 from 27 votes

5 Ingredient Spaghetti Chorizo Carbonara

This intensely flavourful chorizo spaghetti carbonara is made with 5 ingredients and only 20 minutes of your time. A perfect weeknight dinner treat.
Prep Time5 minutes
Cook Time15 minutes
Total Time20 minutes
Course: mains
Cuisine: Italian
Servings: 4
Calories: 582kcal
Author: Mimi Harrison
Cost: £0.97

Equipment

Ingredients

  • 160 g (from 225g pack) chorizo, sliced into small cubes (£1.70)
  • 300 g spaghetti (£0.20)
  • 2 garlic cloves, minced (£0.69/3)=(£0.23)
  • 3 egg yolks + 1 whole egg (£0.88)
  • 80 g parmesan, grated (£1.75/2)=(£0.87)

Cupboard Essentials

  • 1 tsp olive oil
  • Salt Pepper
Metric - US Standard

Instructions

  • Start by adding the chorizo cubes into a large/deep frying pan on a low heat with the olive oil. Gently fry on a low heat to render the delicious fat out of the chorizo. Fry on low for around 8 minutes and add the minced garlic for the last 2 minutes of fry time.
  • Meanwhile, add your spaghetti into heavily salted boiling water, timer set to 2 minutes minus the packet time.
  • In a bowl, combine 3 egg yolks, 1 whole egg and the parmesan. Season generously with pepper and a pinch of salt. Whisk to combine.
  • Add a ladle of pasta water into the egg/parm mix and whisk to temper the eggs.
  • Reserving the pasta water, add the undercooked spaghetti into the pan with the chorizo for one minute. Stir to coat the spaghetti in the chorizo oil, cooking for one minute before turning off the heat.
  • Now that the heat is off and the pan is less hot, add the egg/cheese mix into the spaghetti whilst continuously stirring. We don’t want the pan to be too hot here as it will scramble the eggs. Add pasta water when necessary to loosen the sauce.
  • Serve immediately with an extra sprinkle of parmesan, black pepper, salt and some optional chilli flakes.

Notes

  • Use low heat to render fat from chorizo to maximise oil releasing from the chorizo  which provides extra coating and flavour to the spaghetti.
  • Ensure the pasta water is heavily salted to season each ingredient individually.
  • Avoid adding the slurry of parm/egg/pasta water to a hot pan to prevent scrambling the eggs; mix off the heat and temper the mixture with pasta water before combining.

Nutrition

Calories: 582kcal | Carbohydrates: 56g | Protein: 29g | Fat: 31g