Ham and Pea Pasta Carbonara

Ham and Pea Pasta Carbonara combines spaghetti and parmesan with an incredibly rich and creamy egg based sauce to create a savory meal.

To achieve the perfect carbonara sauce, you just need to follow a few easy steps. This recipe elevates ham and peas into a decadent pasta dinner!

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If you love carbonara, you’ll have to try my Chicken Carbonara recipe as well! And if you love peas, you’ll have to make my Pea Salad.

Why this recipe works:

If you love delicious pasta recipes for dinner, this one is not only unique but it’s super delicious!

• Who wouldn’t love the combination of flavorful smokey ham, vibrant green peas, tender pasta, and a rich and creamy parmesan sauce?
• This is a fantastic recipe to use up leftover holiday ham.
• You control how thick and creamy the sauce is. There’s a trick to getting the perfect consistency!

Ingredients needed:

• spaghetti
• butter and olive oil
• yellow onion
• cooked ham
• steamed peas
• garlic
• whole eggs
• parmesan cheese 
• heavy cream

Here’s how to make it:

Before you start cooking, make sure you have all of your ingredients chopped, measured, and prepped. The goal is to have the pasta finish cooking around the same time that the ham and pea mixture has finished cooking.

1. In a large saute pan, you will saute the onion in butter and then add the ham, peas, and garlic.
2. Meanwhile, you’ll prepare your sauce by mixing together the eggs, paremsan, and heavy cream.
3. Cook the spaghetti in a large pot of boiling water. Prior to draining it, be sure to grab a measuring cup of the pasta water. This is used to thin the sauce later on.
4. Once the pasta is cooked and drained, the hot ham and pea mixture is added.
5. The sauce is poured over the piping hot ingredients and stirred to combine. 
6. Once everything is combined, add small amounts of the reserved pasta water until you reach the desired thickness. Give it a taste and add salt and pepper, if desired.

Cooking tips:

• Freshly grated parmesan always melts better than pre-shredded. Either will work for this recipe, but finely grated cheese from a block is best.
• For the best carbonara, the trick is to transfer the hot pasta directly out of the pot of salted boiling water and into the sauce, away from additional direct heat to avoid curdling the egg. This can be done either in the pasta pot or in a dish.
• Although any kind of pasta can be used, spaghetti is really your best choice because it has a sufficiently large ratio of surface area to volume. This means that the cylindrical shape of each spaghetti noodle will maximize it’s contact with the sauce, thus ensuring the sauce gets properly cooked.
• To avoid having the egg scramble, never add the egg in carbonara sauce over direct heat. You use the heat from the freshly cooked pasta to heat and cook the sauce. You can also avoid curdling by setting your eggs out at room temperature a few hours before using them. That will decrease the temperature delta between your eggs and the hot pasta.
• Leftover pasta carbonara can be reheated, but you must do it gently. My recommendation for reheating would be to either heat on the stove, covered, over very low heat. The alternative would be to heat in the microwave at a low power, say 30-50%, and to stir it often to ensure it gets heated evenly. 

Other great pasta recipes:

If you are craving pasta with a decadent cream sauce, you might also enjoy these favorites.

• Homemade Alfredo Sauce Recipe
• Shrimp Fettuccine Alfredo
• Fettuccine Alfredo
• Cajun Chicken Fettuccine Alfredo
• Cajun Shrimp Pasta
• Asparagus Mushroom Fettuccine Alfredo
• Broccoli Carbonara

Ham and Pea Pasta Carbonara

Prep10 minutes mins

Cook15 minutes mins

Total25 minutes mins

Servings 6 servings

Author Krissy Allori

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If you’re looking for a rich and satisfying pasta dinner, this Ham and Pea Pasta Carbonara will quickly become a family favorite!

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Equipment

• sauté pan
• stock pot

Ingredients 

½x1x2x

• ▢ 1 pound spaghetti
• ▢ 1 tablespoon butter
• ▢ 1 tablespoon olive oil
• ▢ 1 medium yellow onion diced
• ▢ 8 ounces ham thinly sliced
• ▢ 10 ounces peas steamed
• ▢ 1-2 cloves garlic minced
• ▢ 3 eggs
• ▢ 1 cup parmesan grated
• ▢ 3/4 cup heavy cream
• ▢ salt and pepper as desired

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Instructions 

• Ensure all ingredients are chopped/measured/prepared before you start cooking. The goal is to time the recipe so that the pasta has finished cooking at the same time the ham, pea, and onion mixture is done.
• Cook pasta in large pot of boiling water.
• Heat butter and oil in large saute pan and cook onion over medium high heat until golden brown, about five minutes. Add ham, peas, and garlic and cook long enough to heat through.
• Meanwhile in a separate bowl, combine eggs, parmesan and heavy cream. Whisk to combine.
• Prior to drain pasta, add about 1/2 cup of the cooking water to a measuring cup in case it is needed to thin the sauce later on.
• Drain hot pasta and return to pot. Add hot ham and pea mixture. With the heat off, add the egg mixture to the hot ingredients and stir very well to combine. The hot ingredients will cook the egg enough to turn it into a wonderful sauce without scrambling the egg. Season with salt and pepper, as desired.

Notes

• Freshly grated parmesan always melts better than pre-shredded. Either will work for this recipe, but finely grated cheese from a block is best.
• For the best carbonara, the trick is to transfer the hot pasta directly out of the pot of salted boiling water and into the sauce, away from additional direct heat to avoid curdling the egg. This can be done either in the pasta pot or in a dish.
• Although any kind of pasta can be used, spaghetti is really your best choice because it has a sufficiently large ratio of surface area to volume. This means that the cylindrical shape of each spaghetti noodle will maximize it’s contact with the sauce, thus ensuring the sauce gets properly cooked.
• To avoid having the egg scramble, never add the egg in carbonara sauce over direct heat. You use the heat from the freshly cooked pasta to heat and cook the sauce. You can also avoid curdling by setting your eggs out at room temperature a few hours before using them. That will decrease the temperature delta between your eggs and the hot pasta.
• Leftover pasta carbonara can be reheated, but you must do it gently. My recommendation for reheating would be to either heat on the stove, covered, over very low heat. The alternative would be to heat in the microwave at a low power, say 30-50%, and to stir it often to ensure it gets heated evenly. 

Nutrition

Calories: 655kcal, Carbohydrates: 66g, Protein: 30g, Fat: 29g, Saturated Fat: 14g, Cholesterol: 162mg, Sodium: 782mg, Potassium: 486mg, Fiber: 5g, Sugar: 5g, Vitamin A: 1105IU, Vitamin C: 20.6mg, Calcium: 264mg, Iron: 2.6mg

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

Did you make this? Leave me a comment below

This recipe was originally published in November 2017 and has been updated with helpful information, ingredient and process photos, as well as recipe tips. Don’t worry – the recipe hasn’t changed!