Ramp Pasta Carbonara

Fresh spring ramp season lasts about three weeks. This silky, rich easy ramp pasta carbonara recipe — silky egg sauce, pancetta, and two full bunches of sautéed wild ramps — is the best way to enjoy them. Ready in under 30 minutes, with tips for buying, cleaning, and cooking ramps.

There are the usual signs of spring: cherry blossoms! Tulips! Birds! April showers! Pollen! And then there is an even better sign of spring: Ramps. And this ramp pasta carbonara recipe is what you should be doing with them.

Why This Ramp Pasta Recipe Works

On the spectrum of mild (chives) to sharp and pungent (red onion), ramps fall in mid-mild allium territory, after chives but before scallions. The lovely fragrance and softness of cooked ramps make them a perfect complement to silky, creamy, saltier pastas, which enhance the ramp flavor and aroma instead of burying it amid a bunch of other flavors.

That’s why carbonara-style ramp pasta is the best way to eat ramps. The sauce — just eggs, grated Italian cheeses, pancetta, pasta water — is rich and savory without being heavy.

This recipe works because it is:

• Quick and easy: Ready to serve in 25 to 30 minutes and comes together in just a few straightforward steps
• Teaches you techniques for prepping and cooking ramps and making silky carbonara
• Tastes restaurant-level good: fragrant, fresh ramps and savory, silky carbonara sauce enhance one another to make an over-the-top good pasta

What Are Ramps?

Ramps are a wild spring allium native to the forests of eastern North America that appear mostly in April and early May. They look somewhat like a flat, double-leafed scallion, with slender white-and-pink bulbs at the base and broad green leaves at the top. Ramps taste somewhere at the nexus of leeks, chives, with maybe a hint of garlic, and are mellowed with cooking. 

Sometimes called wild leeks, ramps have a short growing season (just a few weeks). Southern Appalachia gets them first, sometimes as early as late February. The mid-Atlantic and Midwest peak in April. New England and Canada may not see them until late April or May. I usually buy mine at the Dupont Circle farmers market in D.C. in mid- to late April, or in the N.Y.C. Union Square Greenmarket in early May.

Ramps usually are foraged and harvested in the wild. This makes them a little bit elusive — and very exciting to get a hold of while they last. Look for bright, perky, unwilted leaves with no yellowing or slime.

Also check out how to store fresh ramps — they’re delicate and don’t keep long without some attention.

One ramp sustainability note worth mentioning: Ramp populations in some regions have been stressed by over-harvesting. If you’re buying from a farmers market vendor, it’s reasonable to ask how they source them. Responsible foragers harvest selectively and leave root systems intact.

Ingredients: What Goes Into This Ramp Pasta Recipe

You can make this ramp pasta recipe in under 30 minutes with just a few basic ingredients plus the ramps. You will need (full quantities in the recipe card below):

• Fresh ramps: two bunches. Use both the bulbs and leaves.
• Diced pancetta: Pancetta is unsmoked Italian cured pork belly and generally easy to find. Guanciale — cured pork jowl, and the traditional carbonara meat — is an excellent upgrade if you can find it. Avoid smoked bacon; the smoke overpowers the other flavors.
• Eggs: two yolks and one whole egg. The yolks enrich the sauce and help it emulsify. Don’t worry; they cook with the heat of the pasta.
• Equal parts (50/50) grated pecorino-Romano and Parmigiano-Reggiano cheeses: Pecorino contributes salt and sharpness; Parmigiano adds depth and a nuttier undertone.
• Fresh chives: Two tablespoons minced, plus more for garnish. These enhance the ramp flavor and make a lovely garnish.
• Spaghetti or linguine: Long, thin pasta is the right shape for carbonara. It picks up the sauce efficiently and keeps the dish cohesive. Rigatoni works, too, in a pinch but the thickness isn’t my favorite here.
• Olive oil, kosher salt, and freshly cracked black pepper: the recipe’s key support staff

Ingredient Substitutions, Additions, and Notes

How to Substitute Ramps: This is, granted, a ramp pasta recipe. But say you can only get one bunch instead of two, or yours accidentally wilt before you can use them and you have your heart set on making this. Here’s what to do: Substitute the white and light green parts of a bunch of scallions, sliced thin, plus two cloves of garlic. Add a few large handfuls of baby spinach at the very end to approximate the greens and add color. The dish will be less distinctly spring, but still very good.

Gluten-Free: Check out my guide to the best brands of gluten-free pasta, each tested and vetted

Additions: A small handful of frozen peas stirred in at the end adds sweetness and color. Lemon zest over the finished dish brightens everything. Neither is traditional, but both will taste lovely.

Which Pasta to Use: Carbonara is traditionally made with spaghetti, which gets folded into a silky, rich sauce made from egg yolks, cheese, and guanciale or pancetta — though a non-smoky bacon will work fine.

A note on the cheeses: I call for two cheeses here, equal portions of salty pecorino-Romano and sharp aged Parmigiano-Reggiano. Use the real things, and use both if you can because the combination is more complex than either alone. If you only have one, the carbonara will still be good, just different.

How to Make Ramp Pasta Carbonara, Step by Step

Because pasta carbonara only has a few ingredients, this spaghetti and ramp pasta recipe lives or dies by proper technique. You’ll need a large pot for the pasta, a wide skillet for the pancetta and ramps, and a mixing bowl for the egg sauce. You’ll assemble in that order: pasta > into the skillet > into the egg and cheese sauce.

Read through once before you start and be organized; the last two steps move quickly. The prep time is only about 5 minutes. The cook time is about 15 minutes, making this a perfect, quick dinner.

An important cooking note: The most common technique mistake is overcooking the eggs in the pasta, which happens by dumping the egg and cheese mixture into the hot pan with the pasta, pancetta, ramps, and chives. This results in spaghetti coated with a thousand tiny bits of grainy scrambled egg. It will still taste ok, but does not look appetizing. This method will prevent that from happening.

For another technique-driven Italian pasta, treat yourself to this authentic northern Italian white Bolognese sauce, or ragù bianco.

Here are the ramp pasta recipe steps:

1. Prepare the ramps: Rinse the ramps well (they grow in gritty soil and can trap dirt) and pat dry. Trim and discard the root bottoms. Thinly slice the bulbs and stems; roughly tear or chop the leaves. Keep them separate.
2. Prepare the carbonara sauce: In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the egg yolks, whole egg, both cheeses, minced chives, a pinch of kosher salt, and freshly-cracked black pepper. The mixture should be thick and pale yellow. Set aside.
3. Cook the pasta: Cook in a pot of well-salted water until barely al dente. I suggest a long pasta like spaghetti or linguine. Reserve a cup of pasta water (you won’t need this much), and drain.
4. Cook the pancetta and ramps: While the pasta cooks, set a wide skillet over medium-low heat. Add the diced pancetta and cook, stirring occasionally, until the fat renders and the meat is just cooked through and beginning to brown, about 5 to 7 minutes. Add the olive oil, then the sliced ramp bulbs and stems. Cook for 2 to 3 minutes, until the bulbs are translucent and starting to soften. Add the ramp leaves and cook for one minute more or just until wilted. Remove from heat.
5. Add the hot, drained pasta to the ramp and pancetta skillet. Transfer the pasta into the wide skillet with the cooked bacon and ramps, and give it all a good toss with a bit of pasta water to fully coat.
6. Add the ramp and pancetta pasta to the mixing bowl with the egg sauce. This is the step where most carbonara fails but you will not. A hot pan plus eggs equals scrambled eggs. But adding the pasta to the sauce — and not the sauce to the skillet of pasta — prevents this.
7. Finish the pasta: Toss continuously for a minute or so, until the sauce coats every pasta strand. If it seizes up or looks tight, add a tablespoon of pasta water at a time and keep tossing.
8. Taste for seasoning and serve: Serve immediately in warm bowls, finished with extra grated cheese, cracked pepper, and a pinch of fresh chives.

Here’s a good carbonara pro tip: Temper the eggs by whisking in a tablespoon of hot pasta water before adding the spaghetti. Just a few good ingredients and a few steps are all you need to make the best pasta you’ll have all spring.

For another creamy pasta dish perfect for spring, I suggest this Smoked Salmon Pasta recipe and Marcella Hazan’s Pasta With Pancetta and Peas.

How to Store and Reheat Ramp Pasta

Carbonara is at its best the moment it’s made. The sauce continues to tighten as it sits, and reheating requires some patience.

Leftovers keep in the refrigerator in an airtight container for up to two days. I also have developed a foolproof carbonara reheating method after lots of trial and error: To reheat, add the pasta to a mixing bowl set over a pot of simmering water to form a double boiler. Add a splash of water and stir gently until warmed through. Do not microwave or reheat directly in a skillet; direct heat will scramble the eggs in the sauce. This dish does not freeze well.

F.A.Q.s and Expert Tips

Love spring vegetables like wild ramps? You might also like:

• Red Wine Spaghetti Carbonara
• Fresh Asparagus and Pea Salad
• Italian-Style Baked Artichoke Casserole