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Tomato Pasta with Bacon, Onions, and Cheese

A pasta dish of spaghetti tossed with bacon, onion, tomato sauce, and Parmesan cheese.

From the Wikibooks Cookbook · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Olive and tomato are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 15,539 recipes. Both carry 3-hexenal, which smells apple, fruity. The science ↓

Tomato Pasta with Bacon, Onions, and Cheese

serves 4
Total1 hr

Ingredients

Directions

Cook the pasta

  1. Boil spaghetti for 6 minutes or so, just until al dente. Drain when ready.

Make the sauce

  1. While the water is boiling, heat olive oil in a medium saucepan and sauté the bacon until the fat is just clear.

  2. Add the onion and sauté until soft.

  3. Add crushed red pepper and cook 2–3 minutes more.

  4. Add the tomato sauce and heat through.

  5. Remove from heat and add Parmesan cheese.

Serve

  1. Serve immediately over spaghetti, garnishing with additional Parmesan cheese if desired.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

346Calories
16 gProtein
25 gFat
17 gCarbs

Counts 6 of 7 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 6 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Olive Oil1 tbsp (14g)119
Parmesan Cheese1 oz (28g)110
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Bacon1 slice cooked (8g)43
Tomato1 medium (123g)22
Chili1 tsp (2.7g)8
Waternot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Wikibooks Cookbook.

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Olive + tomatotop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,539 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  2. Pepper + tomatotop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,923 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  3. Onion + tomatotop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,633 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  4. Olive + oniontop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together29,779 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  5. Tomato + parmesan cheesetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,490 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Bacon
Renders fat that carries flavour through the oil and sauce base.
Onion
Softens into a sweet base that adds body to the sauce.
Tomato sauce
Provides moisture and acidity that form the body of the sauce.
Parmesan cheese
Melts into the warm sauce, adding saltiness and richness.
Spaghetti
Forms the starchy base that the sauce clings to.

The step that matters

Drain the spaghetti just until al dente. Pasta keeps softening after draining, so overcooking leaves it mushy once tossed with the hot sauce. Pulling it at al dente keeps a firm bite.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (olive, pepper, tomato, sauce, parmesan cheese):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Spinachfits better
  3. Eggplantfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against olive, pepper, tomato, sauce, parmesan cheese. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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