Main ingredients 🥩
pastabacononiongarlicbutterParmesan cheese
Seungwoo Dad's Bacon Pasta
A rich-flavored pasta that maximizes umami by stir-frying plenty of bacon, then sautéing garlic and onion in the rendered oil, and adding butter and pasta water.
🙋 Recommended for
- ⭐ Those who want to enjoy a rich and hearty oil pasta rivaling restaurant quality using only leftover bacon and garlic at home.
- ⭐ Those who wish to experience overwhelming umami achieved solely through bacon oil, butter, and pasta water without complex spices.
Ingredients needed 🛒1 servings
- 1 serving pasta
- plenty of bacon (to taste)
- 1/2 onion
- 5 to 6 cloves garlic
- 1 pat of butter
- 1 to 2 ladles of pasta water
- appropriate amount of grated Parmesan cheese
Recipe 🍳
- Slice the garlic into thin slices or lightly crush it, and thinly slice the onion for preparation.
- Cut the bacon into bite-sized pieces, about 1 to 2 cm square.
- Place the cut bacon generously in a dry pan and fry over low heat until golden brown and the oil is fully rendered.
- Once the bacon oil is sufficiently released, add the sliced garlic and sliced onion, and sauté together until they turn brown to maximize flavor.
- Pour in 1 to 2 ladles of the pasta boiling water (pasta water) and use a spatula to scrape up the flavorful bits stuck to the bottom, letting it simmer.
- Add the al dente pasta to the pan and stir over high heat to ensure the sauce coats the noodles well.
- Add a pat of butter, then vigorously shake the pan back and forth to emulsify the oil and pasta water into a creamy sauce.
- Transfer the pasta to a bowl, then generously sprinkle grated Parmesan cheese over the top to finish.
- Fry the bacon in a pan to render the oil, then sauté garlic slices and onion in that oil for flavor.
- Add pasta water and the cooked pasta, and simmer over high heat until the sauce is absorbed into the noodles.
- Add butter to emulsify the sauce, then sprinkle with Parmesan cheese to finish.
Cooking tips 💡
- Since bacon itself is very salty and oily, there is no need to add extra salt; the pasta water and bacon alone provide perfect seasoning.
- At the final step, add butter and shake the pan quickly to ensure the oil and pasta water blend smoothly, creating a creamy, rich sauce that clings to the pasta.