Bacon. Parmesan cheese. Cream cheese. Heavy cream. Oh yes. This stuff is good. This recipe, brought to us by Trish Boese, brings together some of the most enticing ingredients known to man into an easy, irresistible dish.
It was hard to keep my fork out of the pot before serving the pasta. Even my little brother, who dislikes bacon, loved it. Let me show you how it’s done:
Here’s what you’ll need: bacon (yes, a whole pound) crushed red pepper flakes, penne pasta (I used whole wheat), heavy cream, cream cheese, grated Parmesan, eggs, and freshly ground black pepper.
Begin by frying the bacon. Sprinkle with the crushed red pepper flakes. When the bacon is cooked (I like mine just on this side of crispy), roughly chop and set aside.
Bring a pot of water to boil. Salt the water.
Add the pasta and cook until done (it took about 12 minutes for the whole wheat Penne to cook to al dente).
Meanwhile, place the cream cheese and cream in a small saucepan.
Heat over low until the cream cheese is melted. Whisk until smooth.
Remove from heat. Add the parmesan, eggs, and pepper. Whisk.
Drain the pasta and reserve 1/2 cup of the water. Place pasta in a large bowl (or return to the pot). Immediately add the white sauce and toss. The hot pasta will cook the eggs. Add the bacon and toss. Add a little pasta water, if needed, to loosen the sauce.
Serve with extra Parmesan cheese and freshly ground black pepper.
Notes: The flavors in this recipe were excellent and even improved the next day. Next time I will probably make more sauce. I didn’t serve the pasta immediately, so it soaked up quite a bit of the sauce. Also, I thought it could use a tad more salt.
Thank you, Trish, for sharing this delicious recipe.
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Description
A break from the standard tomato or creamy white sauce – ingredients can be added depending on what you have in the kitchen.
Ingredients
- 1 pound Bacon
- ¼ teaspoons Crushed Red Pepper Flakes
- 1 pound Rigatoni Or Penne Pasta
- ½ cups Heavy Cream
- ¼ cups Cream Cheese
- ¼ cups Grated Parmesan Cheese
- 2 whole Eggs
- ¼ teaspoons Freshly Ground Black Pepper
Preparation Instructions
In a skillet, fry the bacon. Sprinkle with red pepper flakes. When done, remove bacon until cool enough to handle and roughly chop.
Meanwhile, cook the pasta in boiling salted water until done (according to package instructions).
Place cream and cream cheese in a small saucepan. Heat over low until cream cheese is melted, and whisk until smooth. Remove from heat. Add the parmesan cheese, eggs, and pepper and whisk until blended.
Drain pasta (reserving 1/2 cup of hot water) and return to pot. Immediately add the white sauce and toss to coat. The hot pasta will cook the eggs. Stir in the bacon, and add some reserved pasta water if needed to loosen the sauce.
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Erica Berge shares her wonderful recipes and amazing food photography on her blog, Cooking for Seven. She also writes about crafts and posts more of her beautiful photography in her personal blog, EricaLea.com. There really isn’t much that this amazing young lady can’t do, and we’re thrilled she does some of it here.
59 Comments
Comments are closed for this recipe.
muppet on 3.18.2011
This is delicious. Before adding cream and cream cheese to sauce pan, I added 1 tablespoon butter and 1 finely minced clove of garlic. I sauteed the garlic for a couple minutes over low head and then added the cream and cream cheese. I also added a dash of dried parsley and a dash of dried chives. After adding the sauce to the pasta and stirred the bacon through, I added a little additional granulated garlic and salt. My husband said “you can make this again any time.”
Stephanie on 2.15.2011
I made this last night for Valentine’s Day. Mr. Quirky loves bacon and cream cheese. Here were my changes: fettucini v. penne – I just don’t love penne. I like to spin my noodles. Also, half & half v. cream. (It made me feel better.) Before I melted the cream cheese in the cream, I sauteed a little fresh garlic in a pat of butter (see point about half & half and laugh at my silliness.) I also added a little more of the half & half. I added peas at the end too. Great addition. The only other change I would make is I might leave out the second egg and sub in more cream cheese. Not sure it needs so much egg as a binder.
Bonnie on 1.25.2011
Made this for dinner last night. Doubled the sauce and added broccoli. Yum! There were no leftovers.
Lea J on 1.15.2011
This dish look simply delicious, and resembles my Chicken Carbonara recipe. I will be trying yours, too! Thank you for posting!
Nicole on 1.14.2011
this looks delicious! how many will this serve?
heidi s. on 1.14.2011
I made this for dinner tonight and it was AMAZING! I added some asparagus (so I could say there was something healthy in it) and it was delicious. Pretty sure it added another dimple to my bottom but it was totally worth it!
Stacy B on 1.13.2011
I made this for dinner over the weekend, and it was wonderful! I loved it so much I shared the recipe with all my Facebook friends!
Mrs. Jeffrey on 1.9.2011
I too was wondering the amounts of ingredients to use. I am someone just starting out and rely heavily on measurements. That would be a huge help!! Other than that I can’t WAIT to try it! It looks divine!
AlohaDisney on 1.8.2011
Are you kidding me!!! Bacon and pasta…this is my husband’s dream dish!! Thank you!!!
Patty on 1.8.2011
In October my cousins from Italy came for a quick visit and she taught me how to make this recipe. Although hers did not have heavy cream or cream cheese. It did have zucchini, bacon and eggs. I can’t wait to try this with the cream and cream cheese. Maybe I will make this tomorrow night for supper then have the left overs Monday night….. if there is any……
rebekah baltic on 1.8.2011
This was awesome!! I actually made twice the sauce and only added one egg to the second batch of sauce. i also cooked some onions in a little of the bacon grease. i agree it needed a tad more salt but the overall recipe was so good! reminded me of a meal i had in Italy last summer!
Thanks!!
Jennifer on 1.7.2011
Good gods, I’m drooling heavily now…
Justine on 12.4.2010
How much heavy cream do you add to make the sauce?
mrshurst on 12.3.2010
This was great! I doubled the amount of sauce per her advice and added more salt and pepper. My hubby loved it and I cannot wait to have more for leftovers tonight! Fabulous recipe!
Jamie on 12.2.2010
Anything with bacon, you KNOW it’s going to be good! Printing this as I type this comment and I will SO make it! YUM!
Leanna on 11.30.2010
I made this for dinner, with the addition of some chicken and garlic. Sooo delicious! Really quick and easy, too.
lbilyeu on 11.27.2010
I can’t wait to make this dish during the upcoming week! Looks great!
Carol on 11.25.2010
I make a version of this all the time … but I omit the cream cheese, add a half stick of butter, instead. Also, nuke a cup or so of frozen peas for 4 minutes and toss with the pasta and sauce. The creamy sauce, the bacon, the bright green peas and a good pasta make this a great winter meal!
Carly on 11.24.2010
We had some leftover bacon from breakfast on Sunday, so I was happy when this recipe appeared on Monday morning! I made it last night and it was wonderful! I did make the full amount of sauce per the recipe, with only about 1/2 the bacon and noodles, since it’s just two of us. It was a good amount and delicious!
Kendra on 11.23.2010
I made this last night for my family and it was amazing. Everyone loved it and that is rare.
Martha Dick on 11.23.2010
This was really yummy. The two of my kids that are picky went back for seconds.
Therese on 11.23.2010
We made this for supper tonight and it was wonderful. Instead of making more sauce, I decreased the pasta. There are just two of us and it will be great for lunch tomorrow. Thanks so much.
Eskimo on 11.23.2010
Whew! That was good! Loved the red pepper.
CarolAlaniz58 on 11.23.2010
My DH and son are bacon freaks. Son doesn’t like pasta too much, but I’ll bet my last dollar he’ll eat this! It looks yummy. I’ll make this as soon as the Thanksgiving leftovers are gone. THANK YOU!
KeithsKelly on 11.23.2010
I was looking for something quick and easy to fix last night for myself and the kiddos and after scanning the recipe I had everything on hand, so I got started!
I made a couple basic changes, but nothing drastic. I didn’t want to take time to thaw out a package of bacon and then cook it, so I substituted a jar of Hormel Real Bacon Pieces. I also added about a tablespoon of parsley (for some reason all the kids think white sauces “look” better with parsley….go figure…) and I threw in about a teaspoon of minced garlic close to the end.
DIVINE!!! Everyone loved it, leaving only a small container of it in the fridge for DH to take for lunch today, and he wasn’t even here to eat it last night! This has already been added into my own cookbook as well as written out and put into the cookbook I’m making for DS21 for Christmas. THANK YOU!!!
Amy B.- Portland, OR on 11.23.2010
Good dear lord. This looks divine. Thanks for sharing and for the awesome pics to accompany!
Holly in FL on 11.23.2010
Erica Lee…thank you for letting me know. I had a feeling you might say that kind of bacon. I’m trying to get my grocery store to carry it!
Smiles!
~Holly
knosmo on 11.23.2010
This was really good. I used turkey bacon and lowfat yogurt instead of heavy cream. Next time I’ll use lowfat cream cheese too.
Sallyk on 11.23.2010
That sounds delicious — and I have everything on hand.
Caitlin on 11.23.2010
This looks fantastic. Can never go wrong with bacon, as far as I’m concerned. I now know what I’m making for dinner tonight!
Kelly C. on 11.22.2010
Bacon- bacon – bacon….I am worse than the dog food commercial… set a trap with bacon and you will catch me.
Ginny on 11.22.2010
Carbonara! Oh, yummmmmmmmmmmm
Joy on 11.22.2010
Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens….bacon, cheese, and pasta are a few of my favorite things!!
Susan on 11.22.2010
Yummy! My family and I loved it. Everyone had seconds.
Christina in MN on 11.22.2010
This looks delicious. Can’t wait to try it.
Chelle in MO on 11.22.2010
Yum, yum, YUM!
Erica, I think I have a saucer that matches the one your raw bacon is on in the ingredients photo! Does yours happen to be an old Johnson Bros. Snowhite piece?
Danielle M on 11.22.2010
Mmmm. Made it for lunch today!
cookincanuck on 11.22.2010
Oh my! This looks so decadent and comforting. I’m certain I wouldn’t be able to stop at just one bowl.
Erica Lea {Cooking for Seven} on 11.22.2010
Suzanne: I’m not sure how turkey would be…much less tasty, I would imagine. But you could certainly give it a try!
Erica Lea {Cooking for Seven} on 11.22.2010
Holly In FL: I used Farmland Lower Sodium Bacon — http://bit.ly/guONW6 It was excellent.
twopeasandtheirpod on 11.22.2010
Comforting dish for winter! Thanks for sharing!
Kathryntwoshoes on 11.22.2010
All my favorite food groups in one bowl, can life get any better? Guess whats for dinner? YUM
Lee on 11.22.2010
OK, I had to smile that after using cream cheese, heavy cream, and a pound of bacon, you used whole wheat pasta. Heh, that’s like having diet coke with your cheesecake. If I’m going to have a decadent dish like this, I’d probably use good ol’ semolina pasta…
Jana on 11.22.2010
This is just not right…how can you do this to me on a Monday morning? How can you do this when I’ve just spent way too much time and money in the grocery store for Thanksgiving dinner and have not a whisper of room in my refrigerator (but I do have cream!) Oohh…I just remember I have bacon in the freezer! Oh well, what’s another 5 lbs to holiday weight gain, right? Can’t wait to try this…maybe even tonight!
MOV on 11.22.2010
This is my favorite thing in the whole world to eat. I really should have been born in Italy. Damn my American parents!
http://mothersofbrothersblog.blogspot.com
MOV
Nicole Bojtos on 11.22.2010
This looks wonderful! It’s on tomorrow night’s menu for sure.
TreeHugginMomma on 11.22.2010
I was thinking like Carbonara as well! Might have to try it.
Sara on 11.22.2010
Oh my Goshness!!
I’m hooked!
celia on 11.22.2010
Kind of a cross between carbonara and alfredo, plus the added cream cheese?
Holly in FL on 11.22.2010
Okay…what brand of bacon is that? I don’t see bacon that nice in stores around here!
Thanks!
~Holly