Every time we eat at Buca di Beppo, we order a couple different things, and one is always the Chicken Carbonara. It’s my daughter’s favorite item on the menu. The problem is that we don’t go there often — we don’t eat a lot of pasta and the family style servings just aren’t conducive to how we typically like to eat — and Natalie really wanted their Chicken Carbonara.
So I decided to try to make the Buca di Beppo Chicken Carbonara at home. She was skeptical at first, but the final result was fantastic. With a few modifications to simplify things, our Chicken Pasta Carbonara was just as good as the dish we love at Buca!
The Buca di Beppo Chicken Carbonara is made with chicken breast, prosciutto, peas, and garlic in Alfredo sauce. We however, made a couple substitutions and simplified things to make this a faster weeknight meal I could cook after my workday ended:
- Prosciutto is a bit expensive for an everyday pasta dish I’m making for my kids, so we switched to bacon that I cooked in the oven.
- For my husband who doesn’t eat pork, I chopped half of a red bell pepper and sauteed it up to replace the bacon.
- Instead of making our alfredo sauce from scratch (who has time for that?!), we started with a jar of garlic alfredo sauce we already had in the pantry.
While the bacon was cooking in the oven, I tenderized the chicken breasts, chopped them into small pieces and tossed them in olive oil, salt, and pepper, and then sauteed the chicken pieces.
When the bacon was done, I coarsely chopped about half of the bacon, began cooking the pasta, and poured the garlic alfredo sauce into a sauce pan to heat it up.
I added three large cloves of fresh pressed garlic, one-third cup butter, and salt and pepper to taste to the alfredo sauce, stirring periodically as it simmered.
I tossed the peas into the pasta about a minute before it was done cooking, drained the pasta, and combined the cooked pasta and peas, chicken, alfredo sauce, and 2/3 of the chopped bacon. I kept the remaining 1/3 of the bacon out to use as a garnish when serving the pasta.
And as good as it looked, it tasted even better!
While my husband didn’t get the full yumminess factor without the bacon, he did have a rave review for his version of the chicken carbonara dish with red bell peppers.
I’m sure we’ll still visit Buca di Beppo with family or when we have larger groups eating out together, but now that we’ve got our own super simple Chicken Carbonara recipe, I’m sure we’ll be dining at home just a little more often.
Chicken Pasta Carbonara Inspired By Buca di Beppo
Love Buca di Beppo's Chicken Carbonara? So do we and this pasta recipe will have your family wondering if you ordered takeout!
Prep Time
Cook Time
Total Time
Ingredients
- 1 pkg fettuccine
- 1 cup frozen peas
- 1 pkg bacon
- 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
- 1 jar garlic alfredo sauce
- 1/3 cup butter
- Salt and pepper
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and lay bacon slices flat across the sheets. It's okay if they are touching as they will shrink up while baking. Place baking sheets in the oven for 15-20 minutes.
- When finished baking, transfer cooked bacon from baking sheets to a paper towel lined tray. Coarsely chop bacon.
- While the bacon is cooking, tenderize the chicken, chop into small pieces, and toss in olive oil and salt and pepper. Saute over medium heat until cooked through.
- Put the alfredo sauce and the butter into a sauce pan and bring to a slow boil, stirring occasionally.
- Cook fettuccine according to the package, adding the peas about 1 minute before the pasta is done cooking. Drain pasta and peas and return to pot. Add the cooked chicken, half of the chopped bacon, and the alfredo butter sauce and combine.
- Transfer to a serving dish and top with remaining chopped bacon.
Notes:
After 10–15 minutes of baking or when the bacon is close to being done, peek at it every few minutes. Bacon can go from almost done to burnt very quickly.
Have someone if your family that doesn't eat bacon? No problem! Saute up some chopped red bell pepper and add it instead.
