Crispy bacon, tomatoes, garlic, cream, and Pecorino Romano make the perfect weekend pasta dinner in under 30 minutes!
The flavor of the sauce
This pasta dish has some similarities to the flavor of carbonara because you use some of the bacon fat from cooking the bacon to flavor the sauce and pecorino Romano or Parmigiana cheese. But with the addition of canned tomatoes and heavy cream, that creates a different flavor.
There are no eggs in this dish either which is traditional to carbonara. The sauce is a not as acidic as tomato sauce and not as heavy as a cream sauce, it’s somewhere right in the middle.
Recipe notes
- You can omit the smoked paprika with red pepper flakes. If you like more heat in your sauce you can add more of either of these spices to taste.
- If you don’t want to use the reserved bacon fat, you can drain the saute pan after cooking the bacon and use olive oil instead.
- Spaghetti, fettucine, or penne noodles work well with this sauce.
- If you want an even creamier sauce, you can add more heavy cream to taste.
While you are eating all the extra bacon cooking the bacon chop up the garlic and fresh tomatoes. Once the bacon is cooked, remove from the pan and reserve some of the fat. Sauté the garlic and smoked paprika until just fragrant, about 30 seconds or less, and quickly add the tomatoes to keep from burning the garlic. Simmer for a few minutes until the liquid is reduced and the tomatoes have thickened somewhat.
Add the salt, pepper, and dried oregano, then add the heavy cream. Stir to combine and add the cooked pasta and stir some more. Add the reserved pasta water to help it all come together, stir to combine everything, and remove from the heat.
Sprinkle fresh basil on top (optional).
Serve this pasta immediately and add the chopped bacon and sprinkle in lots of Pecorino Romano cheese or Parmigiana and freshly cracked pepper!! Are you drooling yet?
Bon Appetit Ya’ll,
Leslie O.
Easy Creamy Tomato & Bacon Pasta
Equipment
- One large pot for boiling the noodles
- One large deep saute pan for the sauce and mixing in the noodles
Ingredients
For the noodles
- 1 pound fettuccine, spaghetti, or penne pasta
- water for boiling pasta
For the sauce
- 8 oz bacon
- 1 Tbsp Olive Oil
- 4 cloves garlic chopped
- 1 tsp smoked paprika or red pepper flakes
- 14.5-15 oz canned diced tomatoes
- 1 tsp oregano
- 1/3 cup Plus 2 tbsp heavy cream
- 1 handful Pecorino Romano or Parmigiana shredded
- 1-2 tbsp Reserved pasta water
- salt and pepper
- fresh basil leaves optional
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook according to package directions (or al dente). Reserve 1-2 tbsp of pasta water.Drain and set aside.
- Cook bacon in a large sauté pan over medium heat until crispy. Set aside and reserve two tablespoons of fat from the pan.
- Over medium heat add olive oil, reserved bacon fat, the chopped garlic, and smoked paprika or red pepper flakes to the pan that you cooked the bacon in and cook until just fragrant, about 30 seconds.
- Immediately add diced tomatoes to the pan to keep garlic from burning and simmer until the liquid is reduced and the tomatoes have thickened. Season with a touch of salt and pepper.
- Once the tomato sauce has slightly thickened add the heavy cream and stir. Lower the heat to low and stir in the cooked pasta and reserved pasta water.Stir until it all comes together and thickens slightly, and season with salt and pepper again (if needed). Add a few fresh basil leaves and stir (optional).
- Shave some of the fresh Pecorino Romano or Parmigiana on top and toss in chopped bacon.
- Serve immediately and top with more cheese, bacon and black pepper.
Video
Notes
- If you don’t have red pepper flakes or smoked paprika you can omit them from the recipe. The smoked paprika adds a smoky flavor or the red pepper flakes will add very subtle heat.
- If you like more heat or spice you can add more of either of these to taste.
- If you don’t want to use the bacon fat, you can drain it from the pan and use olive oil instead.
- If you want an even creamier sauce you can a bit more heavy cream.
Oh my word this is comfort food at its best! I can totally understand why you would need this if you wake up 4 to 5 times a night! Hope it ends soon 🙂
Me too Johlene! Of course his cuteness makes everything better. Oh and bacon doesn’t hurt either:)
I want to compliment you on the photos. I’m a reader but I am also a visual learner. As a cookbook collector, I am constantly complaining about and will not buy a cook book that is all talk and few pictures. I want to SEE the finished dish and the ingredients please . Good job.
Wow, thank you Paula!! I have sooooo much to learn when it comes to food photography, so hopefully the photos will look better and better the more practice I get. I also like seeing lots of photos on blogs or cookbooks, so I make sure to have several for each post, especially for posts about baking.
Hey there! Thought I would come over and have a peek at your blog! YUM! This looks DELICIOUS! My grocery store sells the end pieces in a separate box and it is about 1/2 the price of the lowest price bacon. What a BARGAIN! Anyway, I can’t wait to try this dish. Thanks for sharing!
Hey there Wendi!! Thanks for stopping by. I’m glad to know you have the inside scoop on on those beautiful little end pieces. I don’t know why I have never seen them in my stores, maybe I’ve overlooked them because I didn’t know what they were. People would be chomping at the bit to buy it if they knew how good it was, and then the price would go waaay up.
I am making this tonight, but what did you use the reserved day from bacon for? The pasta water tempered the eggs, but the fat wasn’t used (that I can tell). TIA
Aw shucks, thanks for catching the mistake! I was away from my computer yesterday and wasn’t able to reply. I updated the recipe instructions to add the bacon fat back to the pan wit the the olive oil and garlic. Please excuse my mistake. It’s an older recipe that desperately needs new photos and less rambling from me in the post!
So you talk about adding cream with the tomatoes in the text but do not have it in your directions. I followed the directions (without any cream) and it was still really delicious but yes, the tomatoes could have been more creamy. I added basil as a garnish. Yum.
Oh my goodness thank you so much for catching the mistake in the recipe! Yes, I see where it’s in the ingredients, but I didn’t add it to the instructions. It’s supposed to be added at the end and heated through. This was actually one of the first recipes I posted on this site and the photos could use a refresh. Thank you making the recipe and your feedback, I appreciate it!
Hi,
This was really tasty! One thing though…in the recipe directions the cream was never added but I figured it out! Personally I would make more sauce and less pasta! I’ll definitely make this again!
Whoops! it looks like I forgot to add it to the instructions, my apologies! I’m going to photograph this recipe again to update the outdated photos. Thank you for commenting and I’m glad you enjoyed the recipe!
You said the cream is supposed to be added at the end and heated through. Can you clarify what ‘added at the end’ means?
Like add the cream in step 9 after the eggs are cooked through? And maybe before adding Romano/parmesan cheese? And will the eggs be something like they are in egg drop soup? I imagine the pasta water will need to be very hot to cook the eggs.
I had cottage bacon – leaner, from the pork shoulder – so I used a little more olive oil. Other than that, the only other subtitutes I made were half & half for the heavy cream, and asiago for the cheese. I love carbonara and this was easily as good!
That sounds amazing! I’m glad you liked the recipe.