In need of some comfort food? This creamy pasta with pancetta and peas is the perfect quick meal to satisfy your craving! Feel free to substitute ham or bacon if you don’t have pancetta. What is pancetta you ask? Pancetta is simply pork belly that is salted and cured just like bacon but without the smoky flavor. You can find it near the deli section at your grocery store.
How do you make Fettuccine Alfredo with Pancetta and Peas?
This pasta with pancetta and peas with cream sauce is super simple to make:
- Cook the pancetta for 7-8 minutes until it is crispy in a large skillet over medium heat. (Pancetta will start smoking a lot if the heat is too high … which will cause you fire alarm to go off … trust me.)
- Turn the heat down to medium-low, and pour in some heavy cream.
- Stir in some garlic powder, salt, pepper, and peas and warm everything through for 5 minutes.
- Add a lot of Parmesan cheese to the creamy mixture, and stir until the Parmesan has melted
- Toss the noodles into the sauce, warm everything through for 5 minutes constantly stirring, and serve!
Do you need oil to cook pancetta? No. In my experience pancetta has a lot of fat. If anything you might want to drain some of the fat rendered … but I don’t.
Here are some substitutions or additional ingredients you could use:
- Use ham or bacon instead of pancetta
- Add more frozen vegetable such as peppers, carrots, broccoli, and cauliflower
- Add some chicken or shrimp for a more substantial meal
- Add some cajun spice for some heat
- Add some sauted mushrooms and onions
Fettuccine Alfredo with Pancetta and Peas is a crowd pleaser, and one of Nolan’s favorite meals! We only eat this rich pasta on special occasions. It beats going out to a fancy Italian restaurant because it’s waaaay cheaper, and you get to watch Netflix.
You can rate this recipe and leave a comment below. If you take a picture tag me on Instagram @hungrywaitress! Here’s the recipe:
PrintFettuccine Alfredo with Pancetta and Peas
Fettuccine Alfredo with Pancetta and Peas is a perfect easy dinner recipe. This creamy pasta recipe is a crowd pleaser!
- Prep Time: 10 min
- Cook Time: 20
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 4 1x
Ingredients
- 1 lb fettuccine noodles, cooked according to package
- 1 cup (4 oz package) pancetta, sub bacon or ham
- 1 1/2 cups heavy cream
- 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper
- 1 cup frozen peas
- 1 1/2 cups Parmesan cheese, grated
Instructions
- Cook the pancetta for 7-8 minutes until it is crispy in a large skillet over medium heat. (Pancetta will start smoking a lot if the heat is too high … which will cause you fire alarm to go off … trust me.)
- Turn the heat down to medium-low, and pour in the cream.
- Stir in the garlic powder, salt, pepper, and peas and warm everything through for 5 minutes.
- Add the Parmesan cheese to the creamy mixture, and stir until the Parmesan has melted
- Toss the noodles into the sauce, warm everything through for 5 minutes constantly stirring, and serve!
Love pasta as much as I do? Here are some of my favorites:
30 Minute Mushroom Orzo Risotto
Or this Easy Chicken Pesto:
Or the best 30 Minute Skillet Mac and Cheese:
Love your recipes
Thank you so much! You have no ideas how much this means to me!
Great recipe. I added a bit of Kerrigold butter to give it a smooth finish; overall fantastic.
Thank you so much!
I’m going to make this for my husband’s birthday dinner. What meat would you pair with this dish?
Thanks
Corinne
Fun! You could add some grilled chicken to the pasta, or have my chicken cutlets on the side: https://thehungrywaitress.com/pan-fried-chicken-cutlets/
Shrimp or scallops would be good as well.
Way to watered down, would not call it sauce
Thank you for the feedback! I have adjusted the recipe to just using heavy cream instead of half and half to keep it from being so runny.