Pasta and Egg Skillet with Parmesan
Spaghetti tossed with softly scrambled eggs and grated parmesan, a quick stovetop take on carbonara without the pork. Rich, savory and ready in under twenty minutes.
- Total
- 17 min
- Prep 3 · Cook 14
- Serves
- 1
- Difficulty
- Easy
You'll practice: Cooking al dente · Emulsifying
- Savory
- Quick
- Stovetop
- Oven
Instructions
-
Bring 1 l water to a rolling boil in the large pot over high heat.
~5 min
-
While step 1 cooks
While the water heats, crack the 2 eggs into a small bowl, add 20 g of the grated parmesan and the 0.25 tsp black pepper, and beat with a fork until smooth. Grate the remaining 5 g parmesan and set aside.
~2 min
Beating the eggs with parmesan and pepper disperses the cheese and seasons evenly, so the mixture forms a smooth sauce rather than lumps.
-
Add the 100 g pasta to the boiling water and cook until al dente, about 8 minutes, stirring once so the strands do not stick. Reserve 60 ml of the cooking water, then drain the pasta in the colander.
~8 min
Reserving starchy cooking water is essential because its starch and heat help emulsify the eggs into a creamy sauce that clings to the pasta.
Cooking al dente Cook pasta until it is tender but still firm to the bite, with a slight resistance at the center. Check early and taste a strand; overcooking makes it mushy and unable to absorb sauce well.
-
Return the empty pot to low heat. Add the drained pasta and the 60 ml reserved cooking water, tossing with tongs for 30 seconds so the pasta is coated and steaming.
~1 min
Tossing the hot pasta with the starchy water coats every strand and keeps it steaming, which provides gentle heat to cook the eggs without scrambling.
The reserved cooking water is what loosens the egg mixture into a sauce, so do not skip it even if the pasta looks wet after draining.
-
Remove the pot from the heat and pour in the egg and parmesan mixture, tossing constantly with the tongs for about 1 minute until the eggs thicken into a glossy sauce that clings to the pasta. The residual heat cooks the eggs without scrambling them.
~1 min
Off-heat residual heat thickens the eggs into a glossy sauce; direct heat would scramble them, so constant tossing is key.
Emulsifying Toss the egg mixture off the heat so the fat in the eggs and cheese combines with the starchy water into a smooth, creamy sauce. If the pan is too hot, the eggs will scramble; if too cool, the sauce stays thin.
-
Serve immediately in a warm bowl, topped with the remaining 5 g grated parmesan and an extra crack of black pepper if you like.
~1 min