Tortellini Carbonara

I'm curious...why does a recipe get a horrible review and things like "I want to light it on fire" when most likely it was human error that may have caused the problem? I see a lot of good recipes and try them out and have usually good results based on the experiences of others. There seems to be a lot of super rated recipes that have one or two bad reviews and it always is to the extreme. I appreciate honest reviews, but perhaps if one person's attempt fails, make an accurate account of what may have happened rather than blame the recipe or make comments on how you went about disposing of the evidence.

This is a great recipe except I added fresh minced garlic. I highly recomend trying this one.

I don't review often because most people hit the nail on the head with these receipes. I just felt this one had been given bad reviews that it didn't deserve. For a busy mother of two on a tight schedule, this receipe is WONDERFUL!!! You do need to be careful on your ingredient choices though. 1) Half-and Half takes FOREVER to thicken. I use heavy cream and cut the amount in 1/2. 2) Fake shaker style parm will separate. It's a bit more expensive, but look for the real grated or shaved parmesan... your results will be much much better. 3) Temperature is everything with this dish. If you have the temp too high when making your sauce it will separate or not thicken properly.. Be patient!! Otherwise a wonderful dish that the family loves! (I also added a bit of garlic to the onion ham mixture for taste.)

Awesome recipe. The kids loved it and it is soooo easy to make. I scored major points with the wife. Absolutely Fan-TAS-tic. However, you may need to add a water flour mix to thicken.

Fantastic! I have used this recipe several times now w/ great results. I did try it w/ fat free half & half & it ended up separating -- I would recommend sticking w/ the recipe!!

very very nice. my husband isnt a big fan of cream-sauce pasta's, but when i served this his eyes went wide like a little child and he asked if there was any left. only differance, i added a good handful of sliced mushrooms and a clove of minced garlic. yum!

We did like this recipe, very easy. I did change this up a bit based on other comments. I used 1/2 of the half and half due to others commenting on this runny. I added in more as it thickened up. I also used pancetta instead of ham due to our preference.

This dish was not to my taste. Four cups of half & half seemed like a lot, maybe I didn't let it thicken for long enough. We were left with ham-flavored half & half soup!

I added garlic, like someone else suggested, and doubled the ham so that it didn't need salt. The extra ham (honey cured) gave it a nice smoky flavor. I also used farfalle since I'm not crazy about tortellini. I sprinkled some extra shaved parmesan on top and it was wonderful. I made this for my sister's birthday and she was surprised at how easy it was, considering it was so yummy.

whole family loved this one, even our picky eaters. thickened just fine, took longer do so than you might expect.

Okay, this was a wonderful, full of flavor meal. I am only giving it 4 stars, though, because half-and-half will never thicken properly. I used 2 cups of heavy cream and 2 cups of half-and-half and it thickened beautifully! My family loved this!

This recipe came the absolute closest to one of my favorite Italian restaurant's. I omitted the onion for personal taste reasons and absolutely loved it! VERY RICH and filling so make this the MAIN meal. A little bread for dipping and you are STUFFED! Well worth it though!

I thought that this was a very good recipe. I modified it like I always do though. I added Mushrooms and 4 oz. of cream cheese. It was very yummy.

The flavor was really yummy. However, my sauce didn't thicken and also seemed to separate. I don't know if it was the temperature I was cooking at or if I didn't wait long enough to thicken.

This is YUUMY! I sauteed garlic with the onions and ham for extra flavour. I tossed the sauce with gnocchi I made from the "Quick Gnocchi" recipe from this site and the combination was delicious!

This was horrible! The sauce never thickened and it was like a noodle soup with peas and ham. I wanted to light the recipe on fire.

This is incredible and very easy. However, I did use more tortellini than the recipe called for.

After reading other reviews, I used 1 pound tortellini, extra parmesan cheese and 3 1/2 cups half and half...it still made waaaaay too much sauce, and it wasn't thick at all. I had to thicken with corn starch and let it set for a good twenty minutes before eating it, but even then, there was just way too much sauce for the pasta ratio, even with me using extra pasta. The taste was good though so I'm giving it 3 stars. If I make this again I'll definitely be reducing amount of liquid used!

didn't care for the flavor.

Very delicious. Will make again.

I'm not sure what I did wrong, but the creamy sauce seperated. It looked AWFUL but tasted great.

I did not like this dish. I have made a lot of cheese sauces and this one was abominable. The parmesan did not break down and the sauce didn’t thicken so I used cornstarch to set. With a different sauce I believe that this would be a wonderful dish.

Awesome and easy!

This isn't really carbonara. I'm not basing my star rating on that fact, but please be aware that carbonara contains beaten egg tossed with hot pasta to lightly cook the egg. This isn't that dish. My rating is based on the following facts: 1. There is way too much sauce for this recipe. 2. The recipe desperately needs more flavor. I added extra cheese and grated garlic. 3. As soon as the sauce started to bubble, it started to break. The resulting texture was not great. My husband picked out and ate just the tortellini. The 1/2 inch chunks of ham seemed strange to us as well. I liked the idea of a tortellini carbonara, but this isn't really what I had in mind.

This recipe is so easy to make. With the whole meal in one serving!

Awesome Tortellini dish!

This recipe needs way more instruction. I followed the basics, but the sauce, as others have stated did not thicken after 20 mins after it began to bubble.

Deeelishious! I made it nearly to the recipe. This is a great recipe and would be delicious with pretty much any meat, tortellini, or veg. My alterations: I used a package of bacon (cut up into 1/2 inch slices) instead of ham, used a whole onion, used chicken prosciutto tortellini, and used a whole package of frozen mixed veg. The only thing I would do differently would be to add about 1/4 c of flour to the onion and ham/bacon mixture after cooking and before adding the cream and cook it until it forms a nice bubbly roux. This would thicken the sauce and make for a better Alfredo, I think. Anyways, love the recipe! Thanks for the great idea!

Really good. Used bacon instead of ham. My husband loved it. Will definitely be making it again.

This was very good! I made a couple of minor adjustments by adding 1 clove minced garlic and I did need to add a little thickening of flour in water. There is a lot of sauce so when I served it, I served it in a bowl. If you don’t want it that saucy then I would say you can easily use the larger 20 oz tortellini package with more of the peas and ham as well.

Yummy, really rich, I even used a oat-based cream substitute! I had to add some flour to the sauce as it was a bit too thin even after waiting extra long for the thickening process, but all in all it was a big hit with the family, kids included!

Excellent! I used bacon, heavy cream and 1% milk. I also added some minced garlic and flour to help it thicken. I forgot the parmesan cheese, but no one missed it. Served with Cheddar Biscuits (also on this site). The family loved it.

Made this dish today very tasty and I did not stray far from the recipe. I used 2.5 cups of half/half, bacon cooked and crumbled after (no ham on hand), a dash of garlic powder for taste. next time I think I'll sprinkle a Lil cayenne for a kick but taste fine as described.

Way too much liquid and kind of flavorless.

I would give this a 4.5 rating. I added some fresh mushrooms and garlic to the onion and ham mixture. My frozen tortellini came in a 19 oz. bag...not a 9 oz. bag. Maybe this is a typo on the recipe, that would explain why everyone states there's too much sauce. Even so, because of all the reviews complaining of too much sauce, I only used 2 cups of liquid instead of the 4 cups in the recipe. I used a combination of the milks I had on hand...whipping cream, 2% milk and fat free milk to make up the 2 cups. I also blended grated parmesan and shredded parmesan cheese in the sauce. Over all, it was quite good and I would make it again. The ratio of sauce to tortellini was perfect.

This was, of course, very delicious! I'll have to check the comments to see if anyone made it a little lower in fat. Having said that, I'll probably include some bacon the next time I make it for a more authentic carbonara flavor. Thanks for sharing!

I did make some changes, however none major Added adtl garlic, ham, used "gasp" whipping cream" and it was amazing.

This was delicious! Definitely a cold, rainy day kind of meal. I read through some of the reviews and made a few modifications of my own. We bought a 9 ounce package of bertolli pasta, which made things easier. When making the sauce I only used 2 cups of half and half, added some garlic powder and pepper (I like to taste everything while I'm cooking so I just added until I was happy) I didn't have any trouble getting the sauce to thicken up. My boyfriend loved it! "Definitely a bowl scrapper" he said! Excited to make it again and experiment a bit more. Yum!

I made this last night for dinner. It was fast and easy, which is what I need with my busy schedule. The only thing I changed was that I only used 2 cups of half and half. I used Boars Head Honey ham. I doubled the amount of peas. I love peas! Excellent recipe!

This is a very good meal, but very rich. I made this as directed and added some chopped red, yellow and orange peppers that I needed to use up. I sautéed them right along with the onion and ham. I served this with a simple green salad and fresh fruit. I would make this again; adding the peppers again and maybe adding some fresh ground black pepper.

Follow the directions. I overcooked the tortellini and did not get al dente pasta. This dish really surprised us in simplicity and flavor. lots and lots of flavor. This is now added to one of my quick and easy favs.

Decreased the half and half to 3 cups, had to add a little flour/water mixture to thicken. This is one of those meals where we really stuffed ourselves. SO good - just too hard to stop eating. Easy and delishious.

nothing like Carbonara

Family favorite, often requested. I sometimes swap in heavy cream for the half and half (for no real reason). Also because one son doesn’t like peas, I sometimes substitute broccoli.

I made Tortellini Carbonara yesterday and it was a hit. I served broccoli as a side. This will definitely be saved in my recipe box.

So easy to make and tasted great!

This recipe is great and is spot on if you take the care to stir the half and half and cheese until it is thick and bubbly. I used heavy whipping cream once and that didn't work so well. Stick with the half and half and stir, stir, stir. Nice flavor with the ham and peas. I have a picky eater and he loved it!

This is amazing ! Salt and peppered the onion well. Cut the half in half down to 2 cups. It thickened wonderfully. So wonderful

This was a really easy, quick meal! I changed s few small things... Used bacon instead of ham because we didn't have any, milk rather than cream (only 2 cups), added fresh minced garlic and a little extra Parmesan into the sauce. Fantastic recipe!

My family gobbled this up! Made it exactly as recipe stated except used bacon instead of ham. Took awhile for sauce to thicken.

I have made this several times for my family and we really enjoy it. I always just use whatever I have in the fridge for it. I have found that I like it better with milk (1 or 2 % is fine) instead of cream- it's not quite so rich. Just add a little flour to thicken it. I have also made it with bacon intead of ham which was really yummy! Streak cut bacon if your grocery store carries it works great!

My husband said it's his new favorite meal :D

Delicious!!

12/8/20 - sounded great but didn't work out for me. The flavor combination was great and the sauce was very good but the texture was clumped. I did used the grated parm from the store (not fresh or block) but definitely cooked it long enough, it just never smoothed out. Other than the appearance, it tasted good. Gave four stars since it's likely my error.

Good recipe! It was a bit liquidy and I would reduce the amount of cream or cook longer. I omitted the onions. Next time I would add some nutmeg and parsley. Will make again!

My family loved this recipe. I only tweaked it a little bit based on other reviews. I added a dash of garlic powder and used heavy whipping cream instead of half and half. Excellent for leftovers too (maybe even better the second time around). A keeper for sure!

This recipe is quick, easy, and delicious. Its yummy and kids like it. I doubled it the recipe for leftovers for SO to bring to work. Everyone liked it, it was easy, win/win. Maybe not fancy, but prefect for what it is.

Very good. Can't believe this is the first time I have used tortellini, love it. This was a little thin for my taste - butloved it.

Four cups of cream was too much so we immediately halved that. We also added basil, which was OK but I would not recommend anyone to do. Otherwise, it came out fairly well and will be making it again, probably with some more changes to get the recipe correct.

I made this and it turned out really well! Used spinach and cheese tortellini. I also used heavy cream instead of the half & half based on someone else’s review. Love this and it really was quick and easy.

I made this for a dish to pass supper, and everyone loved it.

This may seem a blasphemy, but they are good! Obviously it depends on what's inside the tortellini, so YMMV, but some generic meat should do. Just avoid cheese.

Loved the sauce. Quick recipe. I would use linguine noodles next time. Too much cheese using Tortellini

It should say that the sauce takes a long time to thicken and how long. I did mine for at least 30 minutes and it ended up a little too thick. I think starting with cream instead of half and half would be faster. As the recipe is, I recommend boiling sauce about 20 minutes and seeing how thick it is.

I made this tonight and it was so easy and delicious. I added some garlic with the onion. It easy to adapt to the number of people you need to feed.

Very easy to make and it come out fantastically. It's a very filling dish.

This is a great recipe for adjusting. I did not have ham so i used Italian meatballs chopped up. I sauteed onion, garlic and fresh mushrooms. Added my meat and cooked it down. Added the peas. I only had 3 cups fat free half and half so i added a cup of plain yogurt. I didn't have the Parmesan but had Asiago so i used it. If your liquid is still too thin after cooking it down you can always add some corn starch. It had a nice flavor, the family liked it. Next time i will used spinach or kale.

This is a great recipe as written, besides the 4C half and half... I find that to be way too much, 2C works just fine.

This is tortellini with some sort of cream sauce not Carbonara. Having said that The recipe was a little bland.. I feel like Ham wasnt the best choice. I would have gone with pancetta or bacon and probably just made an alfredo sauce... But then I guess that a totally different recipe.

This recipe turned out well for me and is delicious I had use half milk and half cream because I didn’t have half and half. It is a little on rich side. To the people that had runny sauce, try letting it cook longer. My sauce cooked for about 15-20 minutes (after it started bubbling) on medium heat before it was the thickness I wanted.

Made this for dinner but used fettucine instead of the tortellini. (Family not fond of tortellini). Will definitely be making this again. The flavors are wonderful. And was very easy to make. I made the sauce in the afternoon, then just boiled the pasta when it was time for dinner, warmed up the sauce made some garlic bread and everyone loved it.

Super easy. Family loved it. Will make again. May try it with pancetta instead of ham. Garnishing with some fresh thyme like on the video sounds like a good idea too

I finally found a recipe that uses reduction as the basis of a Carbonara. I also added 1/2 tsp of red pepper flakes while I sautéed the bacon or ham and amped up the ground black pepper. Garnished with chiffonade of basil.

I just used a cup of 18% cream and 1 cup of 1% milk. It thickened beautifully, and I added a touch more milk just prior to serving. I changed the ham for chopped pancetta and it was perfect. Would definitely make this again!

This was good for a quick weeknight dinner, but it's not stellar, and not something I'd plan for company. The flavor was good, but a touch on the bland side for me, and the dish overall was just heavy. I may try to doctor it up a bit with a few spices and some red pepper flakes, but I may not make again. If I do, it's defitely a winter dish.

Very Good

Super yummy. I replaced the ham with thick bacon and I added 8oz of Philadelphia Kraft Cream cheese. I also sauté some garlic and added the half and half and Parmesan cheese slowly to get the sauce to come out thicker. My family loves it

Amazing!! It was delicious and easy! A tip could be substitute rotisserie chicken for the ham and spinach for the peas!! Have fun making this and enjoy!!

I made this for my husband who loves this type of dish. He was very pleasantly surprised I did not bring it home from the local Italian restaurant! Very good, easy, and will definitely make it again! Thanks!