Lightened Up Chicken Carbonara

August. Back-to-school season again. The cycle continues: Luc to 8th grade (his last year of middle school — when did that happen?), Colette to 4th grade, Rémy to 2nd grade. Danielle is back at school prepping, and the house transitions from summer noise to school-year structure with the speed of a roux going from blonde to brown: faster than you expected, impossible to reverse.

I've been thinking about Luc. He's thirteen in March — a teenager, or nearly. He's taller than Danielle now by three inches, his voice cracks occasionally, and he has opinions about his hair that I don't understand but respect. He's still the quiet one, the studious one, the boy who reads engineering books and wants to know how bridges work. But he's also becoming someone I don't entirely recognize — someone with a phone and a social life and a world that exists beyond our kitchen table. This is normal. This is right. This is the job: you build them strong enough to leave, and then they leave, and you pretend you're fine.

Made a back-to-school gumbo — chicken and sausage, the standard, the anchor. I make gumbo at every transition: start of school, end of school, holidays, heartbreaks, Tuesdays that feel like they need something. Gumbo is my default. Gumbo is my answer to the question "what should we do?" The answer is always: make gumbo. The roux will tell you what comes next.

Mama's fig tree had its best year yet. She sent twelve jars of preserves — twelve. I have more fig preserves than I know what to do with, which is a problem I hope to have every year for the rest of my life. I've been putting fig preserves on everything: toast, biscuits, grilled cheese, pork chops (glazed with fig preserves and balsamic — try it, trust me), and a particularly experimental batch of fig-glazed chicken wings that Colette declared "weird but good," which is the motto of this kitchen.

The gumbo carried us through the first few days — that’s always the plan, cook big so you don’t have to think. But by midweek the pot was empty and school-year reality had set in: Luc at his desk with homework, Colette asking what’s for dinner before she’s even put her backpack down, Rémy underfoot. I needed something fast, something that felt like a treat without being a project. This lightened-up chicken carbonara has become the answer to that exact Wednesday-night question — creamy enough to feel like a reward, simple enough that I can have it on the table before anyone loses patience, including me.

Prep Time: 10 minutes | Cook Time: 20 minutes | Total Time: 30 minutes | Servings: 4

Ingredients

12 oz spaghetti or linguine
1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch pieces
4 strips turkey bacon or center-cut bacon, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 large eggs
1 large egg yolk
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese, plus more for serving
1/4 cup low-fat Greek yogurt
1/2 cup reserved pasta cooking water
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp black pepper, plus more to taste
1/4 tsp kosher salt
Fresh parsley, chopped, for garnish

Instructions

Cook the pasta. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook pasta according to package directions until al dente. Before draining, reserve 1/2 cup of pasta cooking water. Drain and set aside.
Make the sauce base. In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, egg yolk, Parmesan, Greek yogurt, and black pepper until smooth. Set aside.
Cook the bacon. In a large skillet over medium heat, cook the chopped bacon until crisp, about 4–5 minutes. Transfer to a paper-towel-lined plate, leaving about 1 tsp of drippings in the pan.
Cook the chicken. Add olive oil to the same skillet over medium-high heat. Season chicken pieces with salt and pepper and cook until golden and cooked through, about 6–7 minutes. Add garlic and cook 1 minute more until fragrant.
Combine and finish. Reduce heat to low. Add the drained pasta to the skillet and toss to combine with the chicken. Remove the pan from heat and pour the egg-Parmesan mixture over the pasta, tossing quickly. Add reserved pasta water a few tablespoons at a time, tossing constantly, until the sauce is creamy and coats the pasta without scrambling the eggs.
Add bacon and serve. Fold in the crispy bacon. Taste and adjust seasoning. Divide into bowls and top with extra Parmesan and fresh parsley.

Nutrition (per serving)

Lightened Up Chicken Carbonara — When the Gumbo’s Gone and There’s Still Dinner to Make