Cheesecake Factory Pasta Carbonara: Price & Calories (2026)
Cheesecake Factory Pasta Carbonara is not the carbonara most people picture, and that is the first thing to know: spaghetti in a garlic-parmesan cream sauce with smoked bacon and green peas, $22.95 to $25.95 and 2,030 calories at dinner. Those numbers come from 21 official location menus checked on November 10, 2026, and the brand's published Summer 2026 nutrition guide, and the cream sauce is the detail that matters most, because copycat recipes keep adding egg and pancetta that the restaurant never puts in the dish.
No egg, no pancetta: what this carbonara actually is
It is spaghetti with smoked bacon, green peas and a garlic-parmesan cream sauce, and that is the whole official description, word for word. The sauce is cream-based, not the Roman egg version, so there is no egg in the dish, and the pork is smoked bacon, not pancetta or guanciale. The green peas are part of the plate too, which is the detail most copycat recipes drop. The cream and the Parmesan mean it contains milk, and the official allergen guide lists the dish as free of eggs. If you came here expecting a traditional carbonara, this is a different dish wearing the same name.
Dinner runs $22.95 to $25.95, and chicken adds $7 at the median
The $23.95 median is the middle of a $22.95 to $25.95 spread across 21 official location menus. Five stores charge the $22.95 low end, seven charge $23.95, six charge $24.50, and two charge the $25.95 top end, so most of the country pays the median or a dollar below it. The 50-store dataset lands on the same $22.95 to $25.95 range and the same $23.95 median, so the dinner price is double-checked. Adding chicken takes dinner to $29.95 to $32.95, with a median of $30.95, which is $7.00 more than the plain plate at the median. There is no Happy Hour price, because carbonara does not appear on any Happy Hour menu in the feeds.
| Source | Price |
|---|---|
| 21 official location menus (range) | $22.95–$25.95 |
| 21-menu median | $23.95 |
| 50-store check (range) | $22.95–$25.95 |
| With Chicken (dinner) | $29.95–$32.95 |
| Lunch Pasta choice | $17.95–$19.95 |
2,030 calories, and the sodium does the real damage
A dinner plate has 2,030 calories, which makes it the second-heaviest pasta on the menu, behind only Louisiana Chicken Pasta at 2,270. The fat is 139g with 1,250 calories from fat, so 61.6% of the plate's calories come from fat, and the saturated fat is 68g. The number to watch is the sodium at 3,480mg, 145% of the 2,400mg daily reference amount, and the cholesterol is 315mg, above the 300mg daily reference. The protein is 50g, the carbohydrates are 141g with 10g of fiber and 11g of sugar. Adding chicken takes dinner to 2,220 calories, with the protein jumping to 90g and the sodium to 3,860mg. Everything behind the plate is on the nutrition page: pasta carbonara nutrition numbers, fat through protein.
| Measure | Per plate |
|---|---|
| Calories | 2,030 |
| Calories from fat | 1,250 |
| Total fat | 139g |
| Saturated fat | 68g |
| Trans fat | 3.5g |
| Cholesterol | 315mg |
| Sodium | 3,480mg |
| Carbohydrates | 141g |
| Fiber | 10g |
| Sugar | 11g |
| Protein | 50g |
Lunch is one price for nine pastas, until 5 p.m.
Yes, but not as its own smaller plate. Lunch Pasta is a choice item on the lunch menu: one price, $17.95 to $19.95, buys any of nine lunch-sized pastas, and Pasta Carbonara is one of them at 1,430 calories, 600 lighter than dinner. The other eight are Fettuccini Alfredo at 1,450, Four Cheese at 950, Pasta da Vinci at 1,050, Spaghetti and Meatballs at 1,390, Louisiana Chicken at 1,380, Spicy Chicken Chipotle Pasta at 1,290, Evelyn's Favorite at 940 and Spicy Rigatoni Vodka at 1,080, so the lunch price is the same whichever pasta you pick. Lunch is served until 5:00 p.m. Even the lunch portion is not light: it carries 2,630mg of sodium. The lunch version with chicken is 1,540 calories in the nutrition guide, but there is no lunch with-chicken price to publish, because the lunch item has no chicken add-on in any feed.
Gluten-free? The menu and the guide tell two different stories
Not as a menu item. The dish carries no Gluten Free Upon Request marker on any of the 21 menus checked, so do not order it as a gluten-free plate. The nutrition guide does list a gluten-free preparation, at 2,120 calories for dinner and 1,500 for lunch, and the allergen guide lists the dish as free of gluten and wheat, but the standard plate is wheat spaghetti and the restaurants are not gluten-free environments. If you need the gluten-free preparation, ask your server about it before you order. On the dairy question, the answer is settled: the dish contains milk, from the cream sauce and the Parmesan.
Where Carbonara lands on the pasta ladder
Second-heaviest, and third-saltiest. Carbonara sits at 2,030 calories, with only Louisiana Chicken Pasta above it at 2,270, and every other pasta on the menu is at least 100 calories lighter. On sodium it is third, at 3,480mg, behind Louisiana at 4,660mg and Four Cheese at 4,110mg, and on cholesterol it is third too, at 315mg, behind Louisiana at 555mg and Cajun Jambalaya at 455mg. The cheapest pasta on the list is not the lightest, and the heaviest is not the priciest, so price tells you nothing about the numbers here. All seven sit on the pasta menu, and the gap between the lightest and the heaviest is a full 1,000 calories.
| Pasta | Dinner price | Calories |
|---|---|---|
| Evelyn's Favorite Pasta | $21.95–$26.50 | 1,270 |
| Four Cheese Pasta | $23.95–$25.95 | 1,280 |
| Pasta da Vinci | $25.50–$28.95 | 1,540 |
| Spicy Chicken Chipotle Pasta | $25.50–$27.95 | 1,770 |
| Fettuccini Alfredo | $22.95–$25.95 | 1,930 |
| Pasta Carbonara | $22.95–$25.95 | 2,030 |
| Louisiana Chicken Pasta | $25.50–$29.95 | 2,270 |
Frequently asked questions about Pasta Carbonara
A dinner plate has 2,030 calories, a lunch portion has 1,430, and adding chicken takes dinner to 2,220, all from the official Summer 2026 nutrition guide.
Dinner is $22.95 to $25.95, $23.95 in the middle across 21 official location menus, and chicken takes it to $29.95 to $32.95.
Not as a menu item. It carries no Gluten Free Upon Request marker on the official menu, but the nutrition guide lists a gluten-free preparation at 2,120 calories for dinner, so ask your server about it. The standard plate is wheat spaghetti.
No. The official description is a garlic-parmesan cream sauce with smoked bacon and green peas, and the official allergen guide lists the dish as free of eggs. It does contain milk, from the cream and Parmesan.
Yes, as part of Lunch Pasta: $17.95 to $19.95 buys your choice of nine lunch-sized pastas, and Pasta Carbonara is one of them at 1,430 calories, served until 5:00 p.m.
Dinner with chicken has 2,220 calories, and the lunch version with chicken has 1,540, both from the official nutrition guide. There is no lunch with-chicken price published, because the lunch item has no chicken add-on in the feeds.
They cost the same at dinner, $22.95 to $25.95, but Carbonara has 2,030 calories against Alfredo's 1,930, and the difference on the plate is the smoked bacon and green peas in a garlic-parmesan cream sauce, served over spaghetti.
Should you order Pasta Carbonara?
The trade is simple: bacon, peas and a cream sauce that is not a Roman carbonara, on the second-heaviest pasta on the menu. At $22.95 to $25.95 and 2,030 calories, it is priced like Fettuccini Alfredo and carries 100 more calories, and the sodium, 3,480mg, is 145% of a day's reference amount on its own. Evelyn's Favorite is 760 calories lighter when a light pasta is what you actually want.