Chicken Carbonara - The Stay At Home Chef

It’s just too darn easy to love Chicken Carbonara with that velvety sauce, crispy bacon, and pecorino romano cheese. Seriously, how could you not love this dish? And, adding chicken to a classic carbonara makes this meal a bit more substantial, so it’s not just loading up on the pasta.

But when you do just want to load up on the pasta, go for our Authentic Pasta Carbonara.

Why Our Recipe

Ready in just 30 minutes which is perfect for weeknight dinners.
Deliciously juicy chicken adds to the classic pasta to make it more filling.
The sauce is velvety smooth, made with eggs, pasta water, and pecorino romano cheese.

Closeup shot of tongs picking up chicken carbonara in cast iron pot.

No need to wait for a special occasion to order this at your favorite Italian restaurant once you realize how easy it is to make. Enjoy this at your kitchen table whenever the craving hits! Add some chicken to a classic carbonara and it’s a whole meal ready in 30 minutes. You still have that glorious, thick-cut bacon and a velvety egg and cheese sauce. If you don’t have pecorino romano, you can always cheat and use parmesan—we won’t tell if you won’t. We do it all the time!

Ingredient Notes

Ingredients used to make chicken carbonara.

Thick-Cut Bacon: You can always substitute pancetta for bacon which is the authentic ingredient. Pancetta isn’t always as easy to come by and can be more expensive, so we default to bacon as the better option for most of our audience.
Chicken Breasts: Boneless, skinless chicken breasts are great for this recipe. Dice into bite-sized pieces.
Eggs: You’ll want large grade AA eggs for this recipe. You’ll use a combination of egg whites and whole eggs for the perfect silky smooth sauce.
Spaghetti: Just use from the box. Cook to al dente, tender but firm.
Pecorino Romano Cheese: You can easily substitute with parmesan cheese. Just make sure it’s freshly grated as pre-grated doesn’t melt as smoothly and can make the sauce gritty.
Parsley: It’s just there to add a pop of color. It’s optional, but makes it look a little more fancy.

Chicken Options

We prefer to use boneless skinless chicken breasts, but you could always use chicken thighs if you prefer dark meat or a fattier cut of chicken. Those boneless skinless chicken thighs are always juicier than the breasts.

Time & Money Saver

You can easily use leftover chicken or shredded rotisserie chicken in this recipe. You’ll need about 2 cups or you can really load it up with a cup or two more. Rotisserie chicken is often sold as something called a “loss leader” for grocery stores where they sell the chicken at or below cost to get you into the store and hopefully buy other things. This means that rotisserie chicken is often the best price per pound for chicken you can get. Save a little time, save a little money.

Pasta Options

Spaghetti is the traditional choice for pasta in a carbonara, however, you don’t need to feel tied to that. You could use almost any long, skinny pasta shape. Other favorites are linguine, fettuccine, and bucatini.

Overhead shot of chicken carbonara in cast iron pot.

Pasta Water

Pasta water is the secret weapon when combining pasta and cheese. The starch that’s pulled from the pasta during the cooking process emulsifies (binds) the ingredients together, creating a smooth sauce. No clumpy cheese here. You can always use a little more pasta water to adjust the thickness of your sauce as needed.

Wait until the last minute to get your pasta water so that the water is full of starch. Dip the edge of a glass 2-cup measuring cup into the pot of pasta water and fill the cup, making sure you get at least 1 1/2 cups. Then, you can go ahead and drain your pasta.