As self-proclaimed foodies, we have our celebrity chefs we love to follow for recipe inspiration: Ina Garten, Giada De Laurentiis, Gordon Ramsay, Bobby Flay… the usual suspects. And there are celebrities who surprise you, like Jennifer Aniston. Jen’s favorite salad to eat on set Friends blew up on TikTok last year, so when we came across her carbonara recipe, we couldn’t resist trying this hidden gem. Is her pasta recipe just as good? Is Jen a secret culinary star yet to be truly discovered and appreciated? Let’s find out.
Get the recipe: Carbonara Jennifer Aniston
How to Make Jennifer Anniston’s Carbonara
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. While you wait, cook the turkey bacon slices and a small red onion (both finely diced) in a large skillet. Cook until the bacon and onions are crisp and caramelized, about 10-15 minutes. Add the minced garlic clove and, stirring, cook until the garlic is fragrant — 1 to 2 more minutes.
While cooking, whisk together one large egg, skim milk and grated Parmesan cheese in a small bowl. Set aside.
When the water is boiling, cook 1 pound (16 ounces) of spaghetti. Boil according to package directions. Once cooked, reserve 3/4 cup of pasta water before draining.
Slowly pour 1/2 cup of the hot pasta water into the bowl with the egg mixture, stirring constantly so as not to beat the egg.
Place the hot pasta in the pan with the cooked bacon and onion. Pour in the egg mixture, then reduce the heat and stir the pasta until the sauce thickens. If it seems too dry, add another 1/4 cup of pasta water.
Season with salt, pepper and additional grated Parmesan cheese.
Is Jen a culinary star? For the average working adult in need of a quick, tasty weeknight pasta, I say yes. Overall, I enjoyed this recipe. Carbonara is not the easiest dish to make; it takes a careful hand and a lot of patience to get the sauce only right. Jen’s recipe turns a complicated dish into an easy weeknight meal, which I appreciate.
However, it’s also clear from the ingredients that this recipe was intended to be a lighter version of the classic carbonara by using turkey bacon instead of guanciale, and by lightening the amount of egg yolk and cheese by adding low-fat milk. Although these substitutions worked for this recipe, I knew immediately that this recipe was missing a key ingredient for the cooking process: olive oil.
Carbonara usually uses fatty pork such as guanciale, prosciutto or bacon, so the meat is cooked in its own fat. However, turkey bacon doesn’t have that much cooking fat, so just cooking it in a pan without some sort of fat didn’t work. Besides, onions need some cooking too! So I went ahead and added a tablespoon of olive oil to the pan when I cooked the bacon and onions, which helped tremendously.
After that little tweak, cooking this recipe was a breeze, and I absolutely plan on making it again for dinner soon. Maybe tonight!