Joy the Baker

Breakfast Pasta with Bacon and Poached Eggs

by 123 Comments

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You inspire me every day.

You inspire me to turn my lasagna into a sandwich.  You inspire me to turn my bananas into bread.  You inspire me to turn my nachos into breakfast.

As long as we’re eating chips and cheese for breakfast… I mean, come on.  We’re just a step away from pasta.

This pasta feels a bit like a classic Carbonara.  We’re skipping the cream in the pasta and adding it to our coffee.  We’re keeping the egg whites and learning how to poach eggs.  We’re also adding lots of fresh parsley, lemon juice, and too much cheese (as per usual).  Best of all, we’re calling it breakfast (!!), because we can.

breakfast pasta with bacon and poached eggs

If you’re wondering what my past holiday weekend looked like (and you’re probably not), well… you’re looking at most of it.  Not pictured:  the couch, the dishes, and the fact that this photo was styled to look like two servings when, in fact, I ate both plates because whatever.

I’m sure you did more interesting things with your holiday that probably involved boats, and barbecue, and adventures in Big Sur. I congratulate you… and come bearing pasta.

breakfast pasta with bacon and poached eggs

Let’s get all up in this!

Let’s just deal with the fact that I tied my pasta up with twine to try to make it look cooler for this picture.  Clearly it really paid off!

This pasta has some classic lemon, olive oil, herb, and garlic notes.  With a mega amount of Parmesan Cheese, it’s basically a fancy, grown-up mac and cheese.

… I shouldn’t have mentioned anything about the twine.  I should have just played it cool.

breakfast pasta with bacon and poached eggs

Pasta is cooked to al dente.

Bacon is baked to a crisp in the oven.

Olive oil is warmed with sliced garlic.

Coffee is nice to sip on while cooking.  It’s morning.  Wine would be weird.

More cheese, please.  Let’s not be shy.

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Who says you have to mix big bunches of pasta in a bowl?

A rimmed sheet pan will do!  No rules.

I love the bright lemon and salty bacon in this pasta!  The parsley notes are fresh and the cheese in plentiful.

breakfast pasta with bacon and poached eggs

Can we talk for a moment about poaching eggs?  Believe it of not, these are the first two poached eggs I’ve ever made.  These are them!

I used this technique from Serious Eats.  It’s not about vinegar water, salted water, or simmering water vortexes. There’s a straining method that I think really paid off!  I’m into it!

This pasta is like a deconstructed Carbonara: minus the cream, extra lemon.  Pasta is breakfast when we say it is.  Conversely, you can also totally eat pasta and poached eggs for dinner.  Maybe add peas to the mix at dinnertime?  This is an anyway WIN!

Breakfast Pasta with Bacon and Poached Eggs

serves 2 and is easily doubled

Print this Recipe!

8 ounces dried spaghetti

4 slices thick-sliced bacon

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 cloves garlic, thinly sliced

1 to 2 tablespoons unsalted butter

juice of 1 lemon

small handful coarsely chopped parsley

1/3 cup shredded parmesan cheese, plus more for topping

salt and crushed red pepper flakes, to taste

2 large eggs, poached

Place a rack in the upper third of the oven and preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Line a baking sheet with foil and place uncooked bacon on a single layer atop the foil.  Place in the oven and allow to cook until  bacon is crisp, 8 to 12 minutes depending on how crisp you like your bacon.  Remove from the oven and placed the bacon on two paper towel atop a dinner plate.  Allow to rest until cool enough to handle.  When cool, chop coarsely.

Bring a large pot of water to a boil.  Add a large pinch of salt to the boiling water and add dry spaghetti.  Cook until al-dente then drain.

While the pasta cooks, heat olive oil in a small saucepan.  Add the sliced garlic and cook over low heat until the oil is fragrant and the garlic is just slightly golden.  Remove from the heat and add butter.  Stir to melt.

In a large bowl, toss together warm drained pasta, garlic oil with butter, lemon juice, parsley, bacon, parmesan cheese, and salt and pepper to taste. Poach eggs, according to your own genius.  (Link to egg poaching tips in the post above.)

Divide between bowls and top with egg.  Sprinkle with a bit more cheese and crushed red pepper flakes.  This breakfast is best served the day it is made.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. elisanakamura@gmail.com

    I think you are wonderful. I’m sitting here listening to both my kids play with their friends and when I read your posts, I feel like I’m having a playdate with my friend! Thanks for a lovely morning ;)

    Reply

  2. Gina

    Okay, so I made this for our dinner tonight. Love, love, love, the hit of lemon juice. Perfect, and I have some left for breakfast tomorrow…the best of both worlds.

    Reply

  7. Heather

    Never poached an egg in my life. However, I did tonight, and using that method, it was soo easy! Ha, Julie & Julia really got be afraid of poaching.
    Not anymore! :)

    Reply

  11. Kasey

    Not gonna lie… as soon as I read “and the fact that this photo was styled to look like two servings when, in fact, I ate both plates because whatever.”, I died laughing. Up until that point I was all “ooOOOooo who is she making breakfast for, hmm???” (probably because I’m a 12 year old middle schooler on the inside and I like knowing these sorts of things.

    You get it girl. Eat that breakfast pasta. You’re owning it all over the place.

    Happy weekend to you!
    Kasey

    Reply

  14. stellastarlite

    I just watched a great PBS program about Atlanta restaurants, past and present. One called Alfredo’s heats olive oil with garlic and basil and carries the pan throughtout the restaurant before opening to enhance the smell! Gotta try at my little townhouse!

    Reply

  15. Jess

    Your writing is hilarious. Your styling is GORGEOUS. And your food is probably some magical combination of both those things. This looks fab!!

    Reply

  16. JUNE

    Dear JOY!

    I made this for dinner last night, and added some spinach that I sauteed in the bacon grease (ugh, love. bacon. grease.) Spinach on the bottom, then some fresh pasta, a mountain of cheese, gooey drippy egg yolks…it was DELISH!

    Thank you so much for inspiring my dinner!

    Reply

  19. elizabeth

    When you post things like this, it makes me feel like maybe we are culinary soul mates. I’ve always needed an excuse to eat pasta for breakfast. Thanks <3

    Reply

  28. Sarah

    First of all, I love the way you think. Pasta for breakfast? Yes.

    Trouble is, I always want something sweet so my mind instantly went to chocolate spaghetti…and also to that scene in Elf where Buddy shoves all that sweet stuff on his pasta and eats it? You know what I’m talking about?? …Yeah? No? I’m weird…aaanyways…

    Secondly, I don’t know if you’ve gotten the heads up (or if it’s just me) but about half of the pictures didn’t show up. They just had the “This image isn’t currently available” thing from flickr.

    Reply

  31. Kaitlin

    I’ve been trying to get my friends on the egg-and-pasta bandwagon for forever…fried egg on spaghetti is one of my go-to’s. If this awesome-looking dish of yours doesn’t convince them, nothing probably ever will!

    Reply

  33. YoungMild&Free

    I’ve never thought of a breakfast pasta before. And now it’s all I’m thinking about. I’m going to have to try this out soon! Thank you for sharing!

    xx
    youngmildandfree.wordpress.com

    Reply

  35. cherrys69

    Ms. Sara you were so reading my mind…Hubs loves carbonara and I learned to make the traditional recipe sans cream (TG because hubs is also lactose-intolerant).

    Anyway, Joy, I enjoy your blog so much and even though I’m wheat/gluten intolerant I still read it because, well, it gives me so much joy! Keep up the beautiful work!

    Reply

  37. annie

    Your writing is addicting. Love the way I feel like I’m talking to a friend – and your honesty is A+ … who doesn’t want pasta for breakfast?! Have a great day & thanks for doing what you do!!

    Reply

  44. Lauren

    Oh this looks delicious! I used to make polenta with poached eggs all the time. I love how the yolk runs in to the rest of the dish and makes it so creamy! Have you ever heard of Hugo’s in Hollywood? They serve a killer pasta dish for breakfast.

    Also, I love your snarky but playful writing style. You’re easy to relate to!

    Reply

  47. Trista

    Loved this post. I don’t know if I’m the wagon with pasta for breakfast, but, hey.. I laughed out loud..while at work! ( thank you for the laughs). Even though you were couch bound and washing dishes, at least you were doing what you love, and what you’re good at! And for that, that deserves a Atta girl! hehe xx

    Reply

  49. Sini

    This has to taste amazing. I love to have a poached egg on top of my pasta! Comfort food it is. AND I immediately noticed that you tied your spaghetti up with twine…that was a good one, Joy!

    Reply

  50. Deena

    Evidently carbonara is a common hangover breakfast in Italy — I talked to a chef who said that when the runny yolks emulsify with the hot pasta water, it’s sort of a quick hollandaise. Fine instincts, my friend.

    Reply

  52. bakerkat

    I love the idea of breakfast pasta but I’m going to have to wait since I just started a juice cleanse. Can I put bacon in a blender ? LOL

    Reply

  56. Bethany in China

    I just moved to Wuhan, China… Definitely saving this gem of a post for a day I’m needing a hearty (non Chinese) breakfast, lunch, or dinner. I’m thinking ingredients wouldn’t be too hard to come by.

    Reply

  58. Allie @ The Nutritional Epiphany

    Yes, I totally agree with that strategy for poaching eggs! I discovered it a couple of years ago and it changed my life… not exaggerating. I love also how you say we’re “skipping the cream and adding it to our coffee”! Very clever, Joy, per the usual!

    Reply

  59. Sandra

    Dear Joy!
    Thank you from Germany for this wonderful recipe. It seems to be exactly the right pasta for my entire family, so I will try it tomorrow. But not for breakfast – we will have it for lunch ;-) Although the guys in here would love to stay in bed and have it there. Tomorrow, it’s our first day in school after 6 weeks of summer vacation……
    I love you blog with all the posts, pictures and your special sense of humor.

    Reply

  61. Emmy

    I love that you took a picture of a well-used, well loved sheet pan and made it look totally appetizing. And kind of badass. Makes me feel better about the appearance of my sheet pan!

    Reply

  63. Annie

    Hate being this girl, but you’ve got a typo in the recipe directions in the garlic / olive oil neighborhood. Just before “Stir to melt” you mean add Butter not Garlic.

    Looks delish, btw, and so wish I had the poaching tips this weekend when I attempted to make proper Eggs Benedict for my girlfriends.

    Reply

  65. Laura (Blogging Over Thyme)

    I would be happy to eat this at ANY time of the day! I’m more than guilty of eating leftover pasta for breakfast–pesto, tomato, you name it, if its in the fridge, I’ll eat it. Somehow seeing pasta on a baking sheet makes it sound even more appealing to me!

    Laughed out loud at the pasta + twine comment. Oh the silly things we do for photos–I once poured sushi rice on a tabletop and used my fingers to spell out “sushi”. –> Ridiculous.

    Reply

  67. Lily @ Life, Love, and Cupcakes

    This sounds awesome!! The only time I’ve had pasta for breakfast was when I was in China and the hotel we stayed in made up a breakfast buffet of pretty much everything they thought our group of Americans would like…which included Spaghetti! I couldn’t bring myself to eat that, but this sounds so much better!! I’m pretty sure it would be the perfect hangover breakfast (although I’m not sure I could handle poaching an egg while hungover…)

    Reply

  68. Lissi

    Joy, I think I love you more every time I read a posting! The twine was an inspired touch. :) I like things like that, too!

    Reply

  69. Liz B

    I’m glad I’m not the only one who like pasta with eggs. Egg yolk is like sauce for lazy people and I love that.

    If you want a touch more green with your dish, I often make a little wilted frisee with my eggs, bacon, and pasta, and it is certainly delicious! It is especially tasty if you fry the frisee in bacon fat, which I suppose would make just about anything taste good…

    Reply

  71. amy @southern sweets and eats

    I love this idea. A few years ago there was a scrambled egg pasta concoction on that show “the best thing i ever ate”. My husband and I ate that about a hundred times before we had to just stop ourselves. This may just be the next pasta addiction.

    Reply

  75. Jessica

    I am on a juice cleanse for 3 days and this post just made it that much harder!!!
    Thanks for the link to poached egg perfection! I can’t wait to try it out!

    Reply

  76. Ann

    I do a similar breakfast but I use ramen noodles (Sapporo Ichiban brand). I don’t use the flavor packet, but just use water or chicken broth. Topped with the poached egg and fresh grated parmesan or romano cheese. Different yes, but good is good, it beats the heck out of cold cereal. Smash those breakfast stereotypes JOY!

    Reply

  81. Sara

    Hi! Interesting approach on traditional carbonara. Not trying to sound like a know-it-all but I am Italian and traditionally carbonara does not require cream. Just eggs, pecorino romano, guanciale (similar to pancetta), and salt and pepper. Italian cuisine is much more simple than most american takes on it. Ciao!

    Reply

  84. Magar

    Oh Joy you are speaking my language. Pasta for ALL THE MEALS! Not to mention you’re hitting my soft spot for salty breakfasts! Yep yep, you lady are living life right.

    Reply

  85. Kezia

    This is the breakfast/lunch/dinner I’ve been waiting for! Could definitely eat pasta for breakfast – after all we eat bread and they are both made with wheat right? I love that you ate both photos!

    Reply

  87. SeattleDee

    Deeeeelicious idea, but I’ll plop (oops, I mean plate) it all on top of some julienned kale or spinach. Just ‘cuz. And yes, my weekend did involve a boat, a potlatch and a car show, but not all at the same time.

    Reply

  89. Averie @ Averie Cooks

    I am in love with the plate that’s got the floral pattern around the edge. So pretty, Joy! You have the best dishes. And styling two plates and getting to have both? That’s the reward for being the cook and the photographer!

    Reply

  94. Tieghan

    Oh my gosh! Wow, so creative and such a genius idea! I love how different this is and also how amazing! Who would not want pasta for breakfast?!?

    Oh and the pasta for breakfast in bed sound pretty darn awesome!

    Reply

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