Creamy Tortellini With Bacon and Corn

My mind and my tastebuds are thinking about warm days and easy dinners lately, like this Creamy Tortellini with Bacon and Corn. My garden is full of fresh herbs needing to be picked, like sage, parsley, oregano, and basil, so I love incorporating them into dinner whenever I can. We also have happily laying chickens with days getting longer, so eggs are another ingredient I like to put to good use. Though we love to live the faux farm life in our urban neighborhood, we draw the line at keeping pigs, so the bacon is from Walmart!

This tasty recipe is inspired by Half Baked Harvest’s 20 Minute Easy Ramen Carbonara. It’s so delicious! I modified the recipe with ingredients I had on hand, and this is what I came up with. It’s definitely a recipe that lends itself to modifications very easily. You could use fresh thyme and basil (skipping the frying step), or you could even add a couple of tablespoons of pesto instead. Sun-dried tomatoes would be another option that would really bring the flavor.

Especially these days as we are trying to stay home, my goal is to provide you with the inspiration and the framework for a recipe, and then you can make it work with the ingredients that are available to you. The more you take little risks here and there in the kitchen, deviating from the recipe and putting your own touch on it, the more confident you will become in your own intuition. It’s a beautiful thing!

Fresh corn cut off the cob is the best here, but no worries if you need to open up a can or use frozen. I made it with all kinds. There are so many wonderful flavors layered and working together. The corn adds a touch of sweetness to all the savory, and a nice crunch.

This Creamy Tortellini With Bacon and Corn is rich and filling. If you’d prefer a lighter version, you could use an unfilled pasta like farfalle or rotini. It will definitely serve four people easily. I’d recommend serving it with a nice, crisp cold green salad with a light acidic dressing, like this everyday dinner salad from The Faux Martha.

If you’ve never had the chance to fry sage leaves before, the flavor becomes milder, and the leaves will become crisp and crumbly. They are quite a treat and compliment the salty bacon and sweet corn so well.

I like to add a bit of fresh pepper to this dish at the very end, but I do not find that it needs any additional salt. The bacon, pasta water, and parmesan cheese take care of that element in this recipe.

A word of advice when making a new recipe: Always read the recipe through before beginning. Have your ingredients and bowls, skillets, and pots prepped and ready to go. This is not a difficult recipe, but it goes quickly and you’ll want everything nearby.

I hope this Creamy Tortellini With Bacon and Corn recipe will find it’s way into your dinner plans and fill your kitchen with its amazing aroma! As soon as you start cooking the bacon and sage, see how quickly everyone gathers around to ask what’s for dinner!

Did you make this recipe?

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Creamy Tortellini With Bacon and Corn

★★★★★ 5 from 1 review

• Author: Julie
• Prep Time: 15 minutes
• Cook Time: 20 minutes
• Total Time: 35 minutes
• Yield: 4 1x
• Category: Dinner
• Method: Cook
• Cuisine: Italian

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Description

This Creamy Tortellini With Bacon and Corn has so many wonderful flavors layered together. The corn adds a touch of sweetness to all the savory.

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Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

• 2 eggs
• 1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
• 5 strips bacon (I used center cut)
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 8 fresh sage leaves
• 1 cup corn kernels (fresh off the cob if you can)
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1.5 lb package fresh cheese tortellini
• freshly ground pepper

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Instructions

1. Prepare a large pot of well-salted water to boil for the tortellini on high heat.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together eggs and parmesan cheese.  Set aside.
3. Cut bacon into bite sized pieces, and cook until golden and crisp over medium high heat in a skillet.  Remove bacon to drain on a paper towel, and add 1 tablespoon of butter to the skillet with the bacon drippings.
4. Fry the fresh sage leaves in the butter and bacon drippings on medium heat, about one minute per side.  Remove the crispy leaves from the skillet and place on the paper towel with the bacon.
5. Add the corn and garlic to the remaining oil in the skillet, and cook on medium high heat for 2 minutes or until garlic is soft and fragrant.  Turn the heat off.
6. In the meantime, when the water is boiling, cook the tortellini for about 2 minutes, or according to directions.  Then drain the pasta, reserving about 1/2 cup pasta water.
7. Add the hot pasta to the bowl with the egg and parmesan, stirring vigorously to create a creamy carbonara sauce.  Add a bit of pasta water to thin the sauce a tablespoon or two at a time, being careful to keep the pasta moving as you stir briskly so that the egg mixture will not scramble.  I used about 1/4 cup of the reserved pasta water.
8. Divide the creamy tortellini onto serving plates.  Add the bacon and fried sage to the corn mixture and stir to crumble and combine.  Top each plate of tortellini with the herbed bacon and corn.  Add freshly ground pepper if desired.  Enjoy right away!

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Nutrition

• Serving Size: 1 Serving
• Calories: 717
• Sugar: 3.4g
• Sodium: 1105mg
• Fat: 25g
• Saturated Fat: 11g
• Unsaturated Fat: 10.6g
• Trans Fat: 0.2g
• Carbohydrates: 90g
• Fiber: 4.3g
• Protein: 34g
• Cholesterol: 192mg

Keywords: tortellini, bacon, corn, pasta, carbonara sauce