Ramen Carbonara
- Total Time
- 25 minutes
- Rating
- Notes
- Read community notes
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Ingredients
Yield:2 servings
- 6 to 8slices bacon or pancetta, cut crosswise into ½-inch strips or lardons (4 to 6 ounces)
- 2cups boiling water
- 3tablespoons butter, plus more for frying eggs
- 1cup grated Parmesan or pecorino, or a combination (about 4 ounces)
- 2(3-ounce) packages ramen noodles (noodle blocks only; discard the seasoning packs)
- 2eggs, whisked together until smooth
- Kosher salt and black pepper
- 2whole eggs, at room temperature
For the Ramen
For the Optional Fried Eggs
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (2 servings)
1275 calories; 92 grams fat; 42 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 34 grams monounsaturated fat; 10 grams polyunsaturated fat; 55 grams carbohydrates; 3 grams dietary fiber; 2 grams sugars; 54 grams protein; 3147 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
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- Step 1
In a large skillet (preferably nonstick), cook bacon over medium heat until fat is rendered and meat is cooked through. Adjust the heat as needed to prevent scorching. When bacon is cooked, use a slotted spoon to transfer it to a paper-towel-lined plate. Set aside.
- Step 2
Pour off the extra bacon fat in the pan, leaving behind any browned bits stuck on the bottom. Return pan to medium-high heat and add boiling water, butter and half the cheese. Stir, scraping up bacon bits, and bring to a boil. Add noodle blocks and boil, gently separating the strands as they soften, until noodles are almost cooked through, about 3 minutes. The noodles will absorb some of the liquid, and there will be a thick broth in the pan. Keep the heat high; you want most of the liquid to evaporate.
- Step 3
Reduce heat to low. Add whisked eggs, stir into noodles very well, and cook, stirring constantly and scraping the bottom of the pan, about 1 minute. The sauce should remain quite runny; the eggs will continue to cook after you remove them from the heat. Mix in cooked bacon, remaining cheese and plenty of black pepper and immediately remove from the heat.
- Step 4
Scrape mixture into 2 large serving bowls. If not making fried eggs, serve immediately, grinding pepper over the top of each bowl.
- Step 5
If making fried eggs, cover the noodle bowls to keep them warm. Return empty pan to medium heat, add a lump of butter, and swirl until melted and foaming. Crack the eggs into the pan and fry until yolks are just set and edges are brown, about 3 minutes. Transfer to noodle bowls, grind on more pepper, and serve immediately.
Private Notes
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Cooking Notes
Kim
Cooked the bacon in the oven on a rack with foil underneath. Put a T bacon grease in the hot pan with 1 T Butter, added broken up Ramen noodles, stir around in hot grease, poured in boiling water and cooked for a couple of minutes. Added ground pepper, stirred in eggs a bit at a time adding cheese in this step. Added back in crumbled bacon and served with bacon and cheese on top. Husband loves me more and is now napping.
Steve
Delicious and satisfying as well as simple. One suggestion: I would wait to add the first batch of cheese until at the time of or after adding the eggs. Adding the cheese to the water resulted in the clumping of the cheese. Also, with the bacon and parmesan, I elected to forego the added salt and thought it was well seasoned.
Button
This recipe also inspired me to think of other broths I could make to cook ramen noodles in. Ginger, garlic, green curry paste, and coconut milk, with some green onions was delicious! I hope this gives you some inspiration as well!
Sara Bonisteel
This is very tasty, but it is so rich, I would consider serving it between four people. You do not need to add any salt — the bacon and cheese have more than enough for the dish.
pookie
Might a Secular Salt (flaked, granular, or other) work as well as a Religious salt?
Button
This was a delicious dinner! When I added the first half of the Parmesan cheese with the water, it became a solid gloop of cheese, which was less than desirable, but I just pulled the whole thing out, after letting it flavor the broth for a little while, and added the other half of the Parmesan once the noodles were served. Perfect!
MBeanland
You can halve the recipe pretty easily Use pancetta rather than bacon, the flavor is better. Be generous with the cheese, but add it by sprinkling and stirring to prevent clumping. Let the heat reduce a bit before adding the eggs to avoid cooking them too fast. Temper the eggs with a few tablespoons of very warm tap water and then stream them into the dish so that they become part of the sauce and not scrambled eggs
Charlie in Maine.
Stopped after step 4. Used chicken broth in place of water Double the bacon. Don't skimp on the pepper. You will enjoy this dish.
Comments
Except it's not Saimin, it's just using ramen noodles to make a different dish. Also given that Saimin combines several different cultural cuisines into a single dish it's a pretty weird choice to use when arguing some kind of culinary cultural purity.
Deedub
For those who missed a bit of green a handful of spinach melts into the sauce nicely. For vegetarians, using dried mushrooms & the broth from re-hydrating them works OK.
joan
i used chicken broth instead of water, and some breakfast sausage instead of bacon (which would have been better). and i buy packages of rice ramen which have no seasoning packets (too salty-i would never use them), so i just weighed out 6 ounces. this was delicious. i added cilantro and some green curry paste to the broth as well....
Steve
There is a regular carbonara recipe on here which is significantly better and not much more difficult to make. This was only "meh" (and I was even a little drunk!).
Helen
This was FANTASTIC. A perfect Saturday evening treat when we were feeling too lazy to cook something more elaborate. Make as written and you won’t be disappointed. This made three servings for us - so we’ll be fighting over the leftovers come breakfast-time!
Bree
Made as directed except used EVOO instead of butter and added red pepper flakes. Tasted good (hard not to with all that fat and salt) but I prefer pasta al dente, which is not a ramen strong suit. Served with a mound of steamed broc that futilely tried to compensate for the richness. Not something I'll make again but enjoyed the quirky diversion of this recipe during trying times, and yes, I realize criticizing any carbonara dish for being unhealthy is like being upset with water for being wet.
Simon de Swaan
This was delicious. Full stop. I’ll make it again. And again. And again.
Val F
Really quick and really satisfying for a weeknight meal and a couple of hungry teenagers! We will just add this to the rotation. So what if it’s simple.
Deb
Oh jeez, made this recipe with buckwheat ramen, not realizing how much starch would release into the broth. What a gloppy mess! Tasted good, though. I mean, bacon and cheese...
J Mitloff
I use pancetta, add peas somewhere towards the end of noodles boiling and cook the fried eggs in the pancetta fat. Love this easy meal!
mintii
Use a whole pack of bacon in a cold cast iron skillet. Sub spaghetti pasta in place of ramen, cooked it in its own pot and save a cup of pasta water. Thinly slice two bell peppers and add that to the skillet after cooking bacon (drain as directions say). Use a wedge of Parmesan cheese not the grated stuff this helps with better sauce mixing. When bell peppers have softened add butter, cheese, then pasta, then eggs and stir stir stir!!
Laura
I pared this down to a single serving and it did fine. For my taste, I'll use less bacon/pancetta next time.
karen
Yum, Ben and I made 1.5 times the recipe and ate it all up!
Jessica
Very simple. Added green onion but cut recipe in half. Turned out delicious.
Jeff
Why not just use traditional pasta? The cheap, pre-cooked ramen noodles will be a soggy mess.
Jane in CA
"Discard" the seasoning packs--how about, save them for another use?
Ed Fontkeroy
Use the packet or boil noodles in a healthier stock/broth and just before serving drop in some chucks of avocado and cilantro.
Henry
Maybe I'm doing something wrong, but when I follow the recipe I end up with cheesy gloop and curdled eggs. It works better for me when I work the egg and cheese in immediately after taking the noodles off the heat. The broth and fried egg are a nice touch, and you can play with this recipe in a lot of creative ways.
Echo
We did what others recommended and just added butter to the water — and not the cheese just yet. No to Sopping cheese! Cooking the ramen noodles — the timing will depend on the thickness of your noodle and 3 min might have been too long. Also we took the heat completely off before pouring in the beaten eggs. We wanted to be sure that the eggs wouldn’t cook and sure enough they didn’t. We then stirred in the entirety of the Parmesan. The remaining heat was enough to make this amazing!
EmilyC
Thanks for all the notes on adding the cheese last. Definitely helped. I used chicken broth instead of water and needed more broth at the end to losses it up. I added some frozen peas to squeeze a vegetable in there. Easy weeknight meal.
clumsy cook
Good but so. intensely. rich. My fiancé, who usually eats very large portions, after a bowl and a half had to take a nap. I was done after 3/4ths of a bowl. We added the chicken bouillon packets to the boiling water and no extra salt.
Elena
I'm bored being belief with cooking, at this point. This recipe was a perfect solution to my mental doldrums: super easy, quick, and hilariously rich and comforting, plus the weird mashup of Italian and Asian fare was worth a smile ot two. May never make it again, but it was great tonight!
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