CARBONARA Filipino-Style

Spaghetti in a creamy and savory sauce with mushrooms and bacon

1 comment

12 ingredients•Prep: 10 mins•Cook: 30 mins

12 ingredients•Prep: 10 mins•Cook: 30 mins

Tita Becky

•

October 13, 2025

If you're expecting an authentic Italian carbonara, you might want to look away for a second. Filipino-style Carbonara proudly does its own thing...NO eggs, NO Pecorino, and absolutely NO apologies. Why is it called carbonara? I honestly don't know, but that's what it's called in the Philippines, so don't shoot the messenger.

What it does have is a gloriously creamy sauce, crispy bacon, canned mushrooms (because pantry staples deserve love too), and all the comforting goodness that makes you go back for a second helping before you've even finished the first. It's rich, satisfying, incredibly easy to cook, and proof that sometimes the best comfort food comes from happily ignoring the rulebook. Hope you try it!

6 servings

Ingredients (12)

Bacon(8 strips)
about a whole pack of bacon
Garlic(4 cloves, minced)
White onion(½ small, chopped)
canned mushrooms(8 oz, sliced )
drain the water
Heavy cream(1 pint)
Evaporated milk(12 fl oz, canned)
Black pepper(¼ tsp, ground)
or white pepper
Chicken paste(1 Tbsp)
or chicken powder

Instructions

Cook spaghetti noodles according to packaging. Don't forget to add salt to the boiling water.
On a preheated pan, add bacon strips (8 strips). Let it cook until crispy. Drain on paper towels and chop into small pieces. Set aside in a bowl.
You'll end up with about 1 cup of chopped bacon and a lot of rendered fat in the pan.
Remove the bacon grease and leave 2 tbsp in the pan.
Sauté garlic (4 cloves) and onions (½ small) over medium-high heat until fragrant.
Add mushroom (8 oz) and saute for 1 minute.
Add chicken paste (1 Tbsp)waterand black pepper (¼ tsp). Stir and scrape the bottom of the pan with a wooden spatula.
Add mozzarella cheese and stir until cheese melts and the sauce thickens a bit.
Leave it uncovered and let it come to a simmer for 5 minutes. Add cooked spaghetti noodles and 1/2 of the chopped bacon, and toss in the sauce until well-coated.

Notes

I didn’t add salt because I used chicken paste, and the bacon is already salty.
You can use fresh sliced button mushrooms instead of canned mushrooms. Cook it down until it shrinks for about 7 to 10 minutes.
The longer the pasta sits on the pan, the thicker the sauce gets.

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