Garlic scapes are available only for a short time in spring. Used in this Garlic Scape Carbonara recipe, the result is a creamy, flavorful pasta.
Creamy, rich, delightful ... this Garlic Scape Carbonara is the pasta recipe you want to make in June when garlic scapes are abundant.
Garlic scapes, the curly, flowering shoots of garlic, are available only for a short time in spring. They have a garlic flavor without the bite of mature garlic, which lends a lovely flavor to this Garlic Scape Carbonara recipe.
Let's chat about garlic scapes first.
Last year, while trolling a local farmers market, I discovered some curly green shoots that were unlike anything I had ever seen. Vibrantly green and mostly firm, save a slight grassy portion at the top, I took a few garlic scapes home and cooked with them and promptly fell in love.
What were the strange, unfamiliar things? Garlic scapes.
But garlic scapes have a sadly short season (they are, after all, the flowerings shoots that come off of young, immature garlic and are cut off on purpose), so I didn't get a chance to have them again last year.
I waited — and waited and waited.
When the farmers' market that I went to last year didn't open earlier this month (it seems that a lack of popularity has shuttered the hit or miss event), I thought I had missed another season of my delicious garlic scapes discovery altogether.
But I didn't.
Last week, Will and I tried a different farmers' market in the pouring rain. The first thing I spotted as we snuck in between two booths was (yesssss!) bunches of garlic scapes bound with rubber bands.
Of course, I immediately purchased some, with visions of this garlic scapes recipe already dancing in my head. Last summer, I started working on a Garlic Scape Carbonara pasta recipe. Now, it's time to share.
Carbonara is a traditional Italian pasta with a rich, creamy sauce made from a fatty cured pork like guanciale, eggs, hard cheese like pecorino romano and salt. For this version, I've used bacon instead of guanciale, which is more accessible, and added garlic scapes for complexity. The resulting garlic scapes pasta is delectably creamy with lots of garlic taste (but without the bite of matured garlic).
It's divine, delicious and delovely. I suggest you try this garlic scapes recipe too.
June 2024 update:
I first shared this recipe 15 years ago in 2009 and have made it dozens and dozens of times since. On my latest make, I decided to update the photos and captured the creaminess better than it ever has been before. I'm pretty excited about the update (I've left one of the original photos in the post too for posterity). Since 2009, this post has been viewed thousands and thousands of times. I've heard from many readers who love this pasta dish. What's more is that Saveur loved this dish as well. It was featured on the Saveur website not long after it appeared here. If you love it, I hope you will come back and comment. Or, better yet, share with your friends via social media, email or old fashioned word of mouth. Thanks so much for reading. - Sarah
Garlic Scape Carbonara
This pasta is fantastic as a meal served with a big garden salad and some crusty bread. If desired, add a half-cup of fresh, lightly cooked peas to the mix for a little added nutrition (and sweetness).
Ingredients
- ½ lb campanella pasta, or sauce-grabbing shape of your choosing
- 4 slices bacon, (about 3 ¼ ounces), chopped
- ¼ cup garlic scapes, cut into ¼ inch coins
- 2 large eggs
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
- ½ cup freshly grated Romano cheese
Instructions
- Set a pot of water to boiling on the stove and cook the campanella pasta (or desired shape).
- While it's cooking, cook the bacon over medium heat until browned. Remove the bacon pieces with a slotted spoon and add the garlic scapes. Cook until soft (2-3 minutes). Remove from the pan with a slotted spoon. (Drain both the bacon and the garlic scapes on a paper towel).
- Whisk together the eggs, salt and red pepper flakes.
- When the pasta is done, quickly remove it from the stove and set a different burner to low heat. Drain the pasta and add it back to the pot, on the burner set to low. Stir in the garlic scapes and bacon. Add the egg mixture and stir feverishly for 3-4 minutes until sauce is thick and creamy. Don't let it overcook or it will be gloppy. Sprinkle the Romano cheese in, a little at a time, and stir to combine. Don't add it all at once or it won't mix throughout the pasta as well (since it will clump).
- Serve immediately.
More garlic scape recipes:
- Garlic Scape Marinated Roasted Red Peppers
- Garlic Scape Risotto
- White Bean and Garlic Scapes Dip at New York Times
- Octopus with Fingerlings and Garlic Scapes at Foodista
- Grilled Garlic Scapes at FoodieTots
- Pickled Dilly Garlic Scapes at Becky and the Beanstock
Oh my gosh, yum. I made this with guanciale and it was stellar! I used peas, but I love the commenter's idea of using corn!
Sarah,
Thank you for sharing this recipe with me for my Garlic Scape Recipe Round Up! It's now live, and I'm so inspired I cannot wait for my scapes to appear.
Thanks!
Any ideas for an egg substitute in this recipe? My son is severely allergic to eggs and I would love to make just one dish that we can all eat. This recipe looks amazing!
Hi Farrah, thanks for the comment! That's a hard one, since eggs are an important part of carbonara. You could try skipping the egg and using heavy cream (not too much) instead -- but you will likely need additional seasoning since the yolk adds flavor to the dish as well as creaminess.
Every year at around this time, I go online and look for ideas to cook garlic scapes. I find it cute and funny that all the comments on this recipe are dated June 2009, 2010, 2013, etc.
I made the garlic scape carbonara recipe yesterday for dinner. I've never had success with making carbonara because I always end up scrambling the egss. This one however, turned out perfectly and beautifully. Very good instructions. Love this recipe. Love, love, love.
This was MAGNIFICENT! I have a ton of scapes from our garden so doubled the amount to great effect. I used rice linguine (gluten intolerant) and they didn't hold their shape so added butter along with scapes & bacon to help it all blend together. So the look wasn't perfect, but the flavor was fabulous. I will use this again during scape season! Thanks.
Planting a head of garlic is great but, you would want to separate each clove, and plant them individually. Plant them in the late fall, at least a month before first frost to ensure they sprout. Next spring that clove will grow into a head of garlic. This is when you get to harvest the scapes.
@Rick, Is it true that it’s the hard neck varieties that put off the garlic Scapes?
Yes, that is true. Soft neck garlic also tends to be larger and to have more cloves to their bulbs. But you'll only get scapes from hardneck varieties.