Red Wine Spaghetti Carbonara (Spaghetti all’Ubriaco)

Traditional Italian red wine spaghetti is good. Turning it into a carbonara-style red wine spaghetti recipe is great. Have your wine pairing and eat it, too, with this special — and very easy — pasta dinner. 

Carbonara, meet Spaghetti all’Ubriaco (Drunken Spaghetti)

I have always been intrigued by Italian “drunken spaghetti,” an easy red wine spaghetti dish made by cooking pasta in a seasoned red wine sauce. The rich color of the spaghetti and flavor of the wine, combined with pancetta and a few other ingredients into a sauce, seemed hard to resist.

And of course, spaghetti carbonara is one of life’s perfect pasta dishes: a silky — when done right — and salty bowl of al dente pasta tossed in an eggy, cheesy, bacon-y sauce.

So why not combine the two? Drunken spaghetti, or spaghetti all’ubriaco, often incorporates pancetta. This recipe just takes things one step further, combining red wine with pasta with carbonara sauce into an amazing new red wine pasta recipe for dinner. This makes it the best red wine pasta dish you will ever have, a truly next-level take on an Italian classic.

Ingredients You’ll Need

Specific quantities and measurements are in the recipe card, below, but here’s what you’ll need:

• Pasta: I recommend spaghetti or bucatini, but rigatoni would be good, too
• Bottle of red wine, such as Chianti or Montepulciano (you can drink the rest with dinner!)
• Olive oil
• Yellow onion, small diced
• Diced pancetta (uncured bacon works, too)
• Grated cheeses: Aged, grated Parmigiano-Reggiano (go for the “real stuff” if you can) and grated pecorino-Romano
• Eggs: You’ll use a combination of egg yolks and one whole egg
• Salt and fresh-cracked black pepper

Recipe Steps for This Red Wine Pasta Carbonara

This red wine spaghetti recipe is very straightforward. Because a carbonara sauce cannot cook in a pan without scrambling the egg, the red wine is incorporated exclusively into the pasta water. (The alcohol boils off during cooking, don’t worry.)

To make this drunken spaghetti recipe:

1. Cook the pasta. Bring a pot of salted water and wine to a boil. Drop the spaghetti and cook until a couple minutes shy of al dente. Note: the cooked red wine pasta color will not be fully wine colored, but a rich deep-pink or ruddy hue.
2. Cook the onion and pancetta and prep the egg sauce. While the pasta cooks, heat the pancetta and onion over medium-low in a skillet until the fat renders and the onion turns translucent, about 5 or 6 minutes. During this time, you will also whisk the eggs and cheese into a large mixing bowl.
3. Transfer the pasta to the skillet, then into the egg sauce. Use a pair of tongs to drag the spaghetti into the pancetta skillet, along with a little pasta water. Toss to coat. Now transfer the bacon-tossed pasta into the mixing bowl and toss and stir, maybe with a little pasta water, until the spaghetti is coated in a silky sauce.
4. Serve. Sprinkle with grated cheese, and don’t forget to serve the rest of the wine along with the pasta! This traditional pasta carbonara, combined with the special addition of red wine, makes a fabulous pasta dinner worth toasting.

*Consuming raw or undercooked eggs may increase your risk of food-borne illness, especially if you have certain medical conditions. This recipe makes no temperature guarantee.

Pro Tip: How to Make Silky Carbonara (No Scrambled Eggs!)

Scrambled eggs are a common issue when making a carbonara. This occurs when the eggs overcook in the last step of the dish, when the pasta comes together with the sauce.

But this method troubleshoots this carbonara issue. Transferring the pancetta-tossed spaghetti to a separate bowl filled with the egg and cheese virtually guarantees that the sauce will stay silky smooth, while the eggs still cook in the residual heat of the egg and cheese.*

If ramp season has arrived, this spring ramp pasta carbonara is the other carbonara worth making.

What are the best red wine pairings for this red wine spaghetti recipe?

This red wine spaghetti carbonara lends itself to a number of excellent wine pairings. You will want a little acid to cut the salty richness of the sauce. And of course, there is the red wine in the actual sauce to consider.

I suggest keeping your wine pairing in the Italian family, since this is an Italian dish. For this carbonara-inspired red wine pasta, choose a red wine that you would drink as well; never, ever use “cooking wine.” The fun part of this recipe (other than all of it) is that there will be just enough red wine leftover to pour two glasses of wine.

I like to cook and pair this red wine spaghetti carbonara with:

• Chianti Classico
• Montepulciano
• Soave
• If you want something not-Italian, pinot noir makes an excellent choice. But note: Pinot noir has a lighter color, so cooking with this will result in a lighter red pasta color.

How to Reheat Red Wine Pasta Carbonara

Pasta carbonara can be reheated. Carefully. A carbonara is a temperamental sauce held together by a few eggs. Eggs can overcook very, very easily. So it is essential to control the reheating process and raise the egg temperature very slowly.

• DO NOT use a microwave to reheat spaghetti carbonara
• DO NOT put the leftover carbonara directly into a hot pan
• DO use a double boiler method, or bain marie

To reheat pasta carbonara over a double boiler:

1. Heat a pot filled with an inch or two of water until simmering. Do not let the water boil; just simmer.
2. Put the leftover pasta, along with a tablespoon of water, in a heat-safe bowl, and nestle the bowl atop the pot. The bottom of the bowl should not touch the water. The steam heats the bowl, not the water.
3. Cook, stirring frequently, until warmed through. Add water bit by bit as necessary to keep the sauce creamy.

Love a creamy pasta dinner like this red wine spaghetti recipe? You will also love:

• Pasta With Feta Sauce
• Pasta Alla Vodka Sauce
• Authentic Fettuccini Alfredo