• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Home
  • Recipes
    • All Recipes
    • Dinner
      • Asian
      • Fish & Seafood
      • Meat & Poultry
      • Pasta
      • Sandwiches
      • Soup
      • Vegetarian
    • Dessert
    • Appetizer & Side Dish
    • Breakfast & Brunch
    • Drink
  • Portfolio
  • About
  • Contact

Taming of the Spoon

Eat everything {in moderation}

September 6, 2019

Easy Tortellini Carbonara with Peas and Asparagus

Jump to Recipe
Easy Tortellini Carbonara with Peas and Asparagus - the easiest pasta carbonara ever. You only need 6 ingredients, 1 pan, and 20 minutes.

There are many good reasons why this easy tortellini carbonara recipe is perfect right now.

  1. Hints of fall (hello, PSL) means comfort foods (i.e. stews, soups, creamy pasta dishes).
  2. I dropped my oldest daughter off at college and I need comfort foods (refer to point #1).
  3. My youngest daughter started as a senior in high school and is working on college applications. She needs comfort foods (again, refer to point #1) .
  4. My freezer is overflowing and I found a huge bag of frozen tortellini in there.
  5. I may be subconsciously starting a collection of easy recipes for college students.

Honestly, the best reason really is that this recipe is the easiest carbonara you’ll ever make. It requires only 6 ingredients, 1 pan, and 20 minutes.

Technically speaking, a true carbonara would have some crispy pancetta, guanciale, or bacon tossed in but, remember, this is EASY tortellini carbonara. Getting another pan dirty or spending an extra 10 minutes to fry the pancetta didn’t fit the bill for easy or fast. Honestly, I didn’t miss the pancetta when I left it out. Besides, a good carbonara is really about the silky sauce that just lightly coats the pasta and vegetables.

Easy Tortellini Carbonara with Peas and Asparagus - the easiest pasta carbonara ever. You only need 6 ingredients, 1 pan, and 20 minutes.

How to make the perfect carbonara sauce? The secret is whisking an egg with some cream until it’s well blended and then tossing the mixture with the still hot, just drained pasta. The residual heat from the pasta will cook the egg and the cream helps ensure you don’t end up with scrambled egg bits in your sauce. Using freshly grated parmesan cheese and the freshest egg possible are also key.


Print
clock clock icon cutlery cutlery icon flag flag icon folder folder icon instagram instagram icon pinterest pinterest icon facebook facebook icon print print icon squares squares icon

Easy Tortellini Carbonara with Peas and Asparagus

  • Author: Taming of the Spoon
  • Prep Time: 5 minutes
  • Cook Time: 15 minutes
  • Total Time: 20 minutes
  • Yield: 4 servings 1x
Print
Pin

Scale

Ingredients

  • 1 pound cheese tortellini
  • 8 ounces thin asparagus, trimmed and cut into 2 inch pieces
  • 2 cups frozen peas
  • 1 large egg
  • 1/2 cup heavy cream
  • sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • 1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese plus more for serving

Instructions

  1. Bring a large pan of lightly salted water to a boil, add the tortellini, and cook according to the package instructions. When the tortellini is almost al dente, add the asparagus. Cook the asparagus and pasta for another 2-3 minutes, then add the frozen peas. Cook for 1 minute more, until the peas are warmed through and pasta is done cooking. Drain the tortellini and vegetables, reserving 1/2 cup of the pasta cooking liquid. Return the pasta mixture to the pan or transfer to a large bowl. Set aside.
  2. In a small bowl, whisk the egg with the cream until well blended.
  3. While the pasta is still hot, pour the egg and cream mixture over the pasta. Gently toss the mixture together with a rubber spatuala while sprinkling in the Parmesan cheese. If necessary, add a little of the reserved cooking water to thin the sauce. Season with salt and pepper and serve as soon as possible with extra Parmesan on the side.

Notes

Recipe adapted from Jamie Oliver.

Keywords: easy dinner, weeknight pasta, pasta carbonara,


  • Pinterest
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Stumble
  • Yummly
  • Email
Previous Post « Chicken and Sausage Paella with Couscous
Next Post Breakfast Apple Crisp with Oats and Maple Syrup »

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

Search for the perfect recipe

About

I’m Nguyet. Full time mom, part time everything else. Food blogger, food photographer, graphic designer, & WordPress/Genesis web developer.

I’m always wondering what to make for dinner.

Learn More

Stay Connected

Never miss a recipe. Get new posts delivered to your inbox.

Footer

Browse

  • All Recipes
  • Dinner
  • Asian
  • Drink

Information

  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy Policy
  • Portfolio

Copyright © 2014–2021 Nguyet Vo | Taming of the Spoon · Site By VO Graphic Design · Back to Top