Best Carbonara Sauce Meatballs

Oops! Don’t you have pasta in your pantry? Then how about we make these creamy carbonara sauce meatballs instead! Meatballs with bacon, eggs and cream… That sounds so delicious!

Can you believe it?

So here I am, planning a delicious classic carbonara sauce pasta dinner at home one fine evening.

Monday night is usually pasta night here. And we always look forward to it because we love our pasta dinner. So I get into my kitchen, ready to cook because there is one hell of a hungry tummy waiting around the corner for dinner to be ready.

No Pasta

And so I am looking in my kitchen cupboards and pantry for that dry spaghetti that I bought just last week to go with this pasta carbonara sauce for our pasta dinner tonight but…

But hang on a minute, I can’t find any?!

A house without spaghetti. That must be the first one in history.

Thing is it also turns out to be mine, by all places.

And it was already late, I just got home after an intensive day at work and it was raining cats and dogs outside. I am sure that you can imagine that moment, right?

Plan B

So not surprisingly I was not in the mood at all to walk or ride my bike to the nearest grocery store that is still supposed to be open around that time.

Which is also situated on the other side of town to make things worse.

And I am definitely not in the mood to go ring my upstairs neighbour’s doorbell for just some silly dry pasta for my carbonara sauce. I’m fine with asking for an extra egg or even some sugar. But pasta, that’s one step too far for me.

Don’t you have that feeling sometimes?

Inspiration

That you are absolutely sure that you bought something at the supermarket.

And you even put it away in your grocery bag at the cash register. And then all of a sudden you just can’t seem to find it anywhere?

So right there and then I decided to just stay home and make a dinner with whatever I had at home.

And I don’t mean popping a few frozen pizzas in the oven.

Because that is way too easy.

And I felt like cooking a lovely meal anyway.

Best Recipe for Carbonara Sauce Meatballs

So I desperately needed a plan B right there and then for my recipe for carbonara sauce for pasta.

Are there any other recipes with carbonara sauce that I can come up with?

And so I went to check all my kitchen cupboards, my pantry, fridge and freezer. Well hey, it turns out that I still have a batch of homemade frozen meatballs in my freezer. I made those just a little over a week ago.

Sure thing I can feel a eureka moment coming up.

So then how about a bunch of creamy carbonara sauce meatballs then instead of the classic pasta carbonara?

Freezer Diving

That sounded just great. And the hungry tummy also agreed.

So I kind of had to adapt the classic carbonara sauce recipe a little. So that it would go well with those meatballs. You want to serve them in plenty of sauce of course. To get that result, I simply added a little cream which is obviously not a classic carbonara sauce ingredient of course.

But since it had to go with meatballs I thought that a delicious creamy carbonara sauce with bacon and egg yolks would be a great match!

And so it was.

One popular theory is that pasta carbonara was developed by Italian coal miners (“carbonari” in Italian), who needed a hearty and nourishing meal.

Rice & Green Beans

I served these creamy meatballs in carbonara sauce with boiled rice and a portion of steamed green beans. This makeshift dinner was delicious, even the hubs who is a pasta addict loved it to bits.

And in the end it was actually a fun recipe to put together!

See I do like a challenge in the kitchen.

Do you love pasta with carbonara sauce?

Then you should also check out my carbonara risotto!

Enjoy!

Best Meatballs in Carbonara Sauce Recipe

Print

Carbonara Sauce Meatballs

Prep Time

10 mins

Cook Time

30 mins

Total Time

40 mins

 

No pasta? Make creamy carbonara sauce meatballs!

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: Italian

Servings: 2 people

Calories per serving: 797 kcal

Ingredients

• 12,5 oz meatballs (350 g)
• 3 oz salted bacon (85 g), diced
• 3 medium egg yolks
• ½ cup cream (120 ml)
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp unsalted butter
• pepper
• salt

Instructions

1. 1. Add the olive oil and butter to a non-stick pan. Place this over medium-high heat until melted, then add the meatballs.

   

2. 2. Bake the meatballs for 5 minutes until golden on all sides. Stir regularly. Then cover the pan, lower the heat and cook the meatballs for 10 minutes until cooked through. Stir regularly. Add extra olive oil or butter if necessary.

   

3. 3. Then transfer the meatballs to a plate and cover with tinfoil. Don’t wipe the pan clean. Add the diced bacon and season with a dash of pepper.

   

4. 4. Cook the bacon for 4 minutes until cooked through. Transfer the bacon to another plate. Now add the cream (keep 2 tablespoons of the cream aside).

   

5. 5. Stir well. Bring the cream to a very light simmer. Don’t let it boil! Combine the yolks and cream you kept aside.

   

6. 6. Once the cream in the pan is warm, add the yolk mixture in a steady stream. Whisk fast.

   

7. 7. Simmer the carbonara sauce over medium heat. Whisk constantly for 4 minutes until the sauce is foamy and a little thicker. Then add the cooked bacon.

   

8. 8. Stir and check the seasoning of the carbonara sauce. Add extra pepper or salt to taste. Then add the cooked meatballs.

   

9. 9. Stir and cover the pan. Let the meatballs warm through in the sauce for another 5 minutes. Then scoop the carbonara sauce meatballs onto deep plates and serve hot.