Udon Carbonara
Udon Carbonara is comfort food. With thick chewy Udon noodles, bacon and mushrooms smothered in a cheesy sauce. Dinner done in 15 minutes!
Prep Time5 minutes mins
Cook Time10 minutes mins
Total Time15 minutes mins
Course: Dinner
Cuisine: Japanese, Western
Keyword: carbonara udon, udon carbonara
Servings: 4 See note 1 re adding extra noodles for large portions
Calories: 674kcal
1 1 Sauté pan Fry pan or wok
1 Colander to drain the noodles
1 Large mixing bowl or saucepan, to cook the noodles
1 Heatproof jug to reserve the cooking water (from noodles)
2 Chopsticks to stir and unfold the noodles as they cook
- 200 grams/8 oz bacon diced
- 200 grams/8 oz mushrooms (optional) chopped in half
- 400 grams/14 oz udon noodles Note 1
- 4 large free range eggs whisked
- ½ cup parmesan cheese
- cracked black pepper to serve
- parsley chopped, to serve
- 1 cup reserved noodle water Note
Cook the bacon: add the bacon to the fry pan, turn to medium heat and fry for 2 to 3 minutes. Note 2
Add the mushrooms: add the mushrooms to the bacon and fry for 2 - 3 mins. Note 3
Cook the noodles: read the instructions on the noodle packet and follow those to cook the noodles. Drain using a colander with a heatproof jug underneath to reserve the cooking water.
Combine and make the sauce: turn the heat off and add the cooked noodles to the pan with the bacon and mushrooms. Pour the cheese mixture over the noodles, followed by ½ cup of the reserved noodle water. Stir to combine then add another ½ cup of this noodle water. Stir till carbonara sauce is consistently mixed throughout the dish.
Garnish: add some more grated cheese over the top of the noodles. Liberally add some cracked black pepper. Sprinkle the chopped parsley of the top of the dish to finish.
Serve and enjoy: portion into bowls and serve with forks or chopsticks.
- Note 1 - Udon noodles: you can use either frozen udon noodles or vacuum packed udon noodles. I am using vacuum packed from the Asian foods section. Most stores from Walmart to Tesco, Safeway, Aldi, Woolworths and Coles will sell these without the need to go to a specialty Asian grocer. This is a great ingredient to add bulk to the recipe so you could increase the noodles (add 2 more 200 gram/8 oz packets) without having to alter the rest of the recipe, although you might want to add a splash more of the reserved noodle cooking water for the sauce.
- Note 2 - Cooking the bacon: there is no need to add oil, salt and pepper when cooking the bacon. Use a non stick pan.
- Note 3 - Cooking the mushrooms: some of the fat from the bacon will be in the pan by this stage, so again no oil, salt or pepper is necessary to cook this.
Calories: 674kcal | Carbohydrates: 69g | Protein: 32g | Fat: 31g | Saturated Fat: 10g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 4g | Monounsaturated Fat: 11g | Trans Fat: 0.1g | Cholesterol: 228mg | Sodium: 1805mg | Potassium: 180mg | Fiber: 6g | Sugar: 9g | Vitamin A: 386IU | Calcium: 180mg | Iron: 1mg