Have you ever had spaghetti carbonara? I have not. It’s a dish that’s also often referred to as “bacon and eggs pasta,” which means it’s basically not my jam. I didn’t even like bacon and eggs back in my omnivore days when I was a kid. I learned about the dish when a customer requested it at an Italian restaurant I waited tables in during college. She had to explain what it was. And frankly…it sounded terrible. But I guess I filed it away somewhere in the totally irrelevant-to-me-at-the-time portion of my brain, and then retrieved it, years later when I was trying to come up with recipes to veganize. Even though I can’t stand bacon or eggs, I LOVE vegan bacon and eggs, so I was totally keen to get working on this one. We’re using smoky mushroom “bacon” and a silky tofu/cashew sauce for this dish. I had to run the final version by my husband, because I’ve never had non-vegan carbonara. He said this version is better. Wow.
Ingredients You’ll Need
Soy sauce. Gluten-free tamari or liquid aminos can be substituted if needed.Maple syrup.Liquid smoke. Look for this near the barbecue sauce at your supermarket. Smoked paprika.Cremini mushrooms. This might also be labelled as baby bella or baby portobello mushrooms at your store. Use regular button mushrooms if you can’t find themOlive oil.Dried spaghetti. Feel free to substitute with another pasta shape, although spaghetti is traditional for pasta carbonara. Gluten-free pasta can be used if needed.Raw cashews. This is one of the main components of our vegan carbonara sauce. They definitely need to be raw (not roasted) for the sauce to taste right.Non-dairy milk. Use something unsweetened and unflavored such as soy, almond, or cashew milk.Silken tofu. I used firm silken tofu to make this recipe, but you can use soft if that’s what you have on hand. Cut back on the amount of non-dairy milk if you do this.Nutritional yeast flakes. Look for these in the natural foods section of your supermarket, and feel free to leave them out if you’re not a fan of them.Lemon juice. Use freshly squeezed juice to give your vegan carbonara sauce the best flavor.Salt. You can use regular table salt, or a product known as kala namak for extra eggy flavor. Kala namak is also known as black salt. It has a high sulfur content, so it tastes like eggs. Look for it in Indian markets or online.Garlic.Frozen peas.Fresh parsley.Vegan Parmesan cheese. This is totally optional and just for topping our pasta. Feel free to use store-bought or homemade vegan Parmesan.Red pepper flakes. These are optional — just use them if you’d like your vegan spaghetti carbonara with a little kick!
How It’s Made
The following is a detailed photo tutorial on how to make this dish. Scroll all the way down if you’d like to skip right to the recipe!
To make your mushroom bacon, start my mixing your soy sauce, maple syrup, liquid smoke and smoked paprika in a small bowl.Heat the oil in a large nonstick skillet and add roughly chopped mushrooms. Cook them for a few minutes, letting them sit on the hot surface in order to properly brown, then flip and cook them a few minutes longer.Carefully pour the sauce over the mushrooms and continue cooking them until the liquid has dried up and caramelized.
Tip: Avoid crowding the mushrooms in the skillet, as each one needs contact with the hot cooking surface. You can cook them in batches if you don’t have enough space.
Start cooking your pasta. Refer to the package directions and just cook it until al dente, then drain it into a colander. Reserve a bit of the pasta cooking water when you drain it.While the pasta cooks, make the sauce by blending the cashews (soaked in water to soften up first), milk, tofu, nutritional yeast, lemon juice and salt. I’m using a blender, but a large food processor will also work.
Heat some olive oil in a skillet and briefly sauté minced garlic, until it becomes very fragrant.Add your cooked pasta to the skillet, along with the sauce and (thawed) frozen peas. Toss everything well to distribute all the sauce. If the sauce seems too thick, thin it with a bit of your reserved pasta water.
Take the skillet off of the stove and season the sauce with salt or kala namak. Adjust any other seasonings to suit your taste, then top the pasta with vegan bacon as well as some vegan Parmesan cheese, red pepper flakes, and fresh parsley if you’d like.Enjoy!
Leftovers & Storage
Leftover vegan spaghetti carbonara will keep in an airtight container in the refrigerator for about 3 days or in the freezer for about 3 months. The sauce may thicken during storage. Simply add a splash of water when reheating if needed!
More Classic Vegan Pasta Recipes
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