Vegan Carbonara

This Vegan Carbonara Pasta is the easy, insanely delicious, tastes-just-like-the-real-thing recipe that you need in your life. It's creamy, rich, and has the characteristic salty, chewy bites from easy mushroom "bacon" that makes carbonara so delicious. No dairy, no eggs, no meat – but just as mouthwatering.

Jump to:

• 🍝 Why We Love This Recipe
• 🥓 Ingredients
• 📋 Ingredient Notes
• 🔪 Step-by-step Instructions
• 💭 Expert Tips and FAQs
• 📖 Related Recipes
• 📖 Recipe

🍝 Why We Love This Recipe

• Tastes just like the real thing: Traditional carbonara contains egg, cheese and meat, so veganizing it was definitely not the easiest task. After several tries, we nailed the perfect recipe that retains the same flavors and textures as the original!
• Quick and easy: This vegan carbonara looks (and sounds) fancy, but it comes together in just about 30 minutes!
• Delicious weeknight dinner: Once you try this vegan carbonara, you'll want to make it over and over again. It's a definite crowd pleaser and something that both kids and adults will enjoy!
• No cashews: This vegan carbonara is made with no cashews, meaning it's much quicker to make (no soaking time) and allergy friendly for those with nut allergies.

🥓 Ingredients

Here are the key ingredients you'll need to make this vegan carbonara:

📋 Ingredient Notes

• Black salt: The most unusual ingredient in this recipe is black salt, aka Kala Namak. It's a rock salt that has a sulfuric, pungent smell and taste that's similar to egg, which is why we use it in this recipe. Traditional carbonara gets its creaminess not from heavy cream, but beaten eggs. This is (of course) a bit hard to replicate with vegan ingredients, but we found that a small pinch of black salt really made up for that lack of eggy flavor. It can be purchased at most speciality food stores like Whole Foods, and is commonly used in vegan egg substitute recipes like omelettes, frittata and more.
  • If you don't have black salt: it's perfectly fine to substitute in regular kosher salt, but you won't get that eggy flavor that makes this vegan carbonara taste a bit more traditional. That being said, we totally get that it can be a pain to buy an ingredient just for one recipe, so it's up to you!
• Pasta: Spaghetti is traditional for carbonara, but this vegan carbonara will also work well with linguine, fettuccine or even something like rigatoni. If you're gluten free, simply sub in your favorite alternative pasta.
• Mushrooms: Basic cremini or white button mushrooms are perfect in this vegan carbonara. If you want to get a bit more fancy, you can use wild mushrooms, or something a bit more flavorful and meaty like shiitake mushrooms.
• Liquid smoke: To mimic the smoky, meaty flavor of guanciale (Italian cured pork), which is an essential ingredient in carbonara, we use a small amount of liquid smoke and soy sauce to add flavor to the mushrooms. It's cheap and available at most grocery stores near the barbecue sauce section. We use it all the time in vegan recipes to add depth of flavor!
• Nutritional yeast: This is another essential for mimicking the cheesy, eggy flavor of traditional carbonara. Nutritional yeast (aka "nooch") is an inactive form of yeast that has a buttery, cheesy flavor and is an excellent source of B vitamins. It's easy to find in just about any grocery store and comes in handy for so many vegan recipes!
• Vegan parmesan: Feel free to use your favorite brand in this vegan carbonara. We personally love Follow Your Heart shredded parmesan in this recipe.
• Milk: Just about any dairy free milk will work here, but we prefer using full fat oat milk, which is super creamy and neutral in taste. Whatever kind you use, just make sure that it's unsweetened and unflavored!

🔪 Step-by-step Instructions

PREP: To cook the pasta, add 12 cups of water to a large pot with 1 tablespoon of kosher salt and bring to a boil. Cook pasta according to package directions until al dente and reserve at least 1 cup of pasta water when you drain. This will be used to loosen up the pasta sauce before serving.

(1) To make the mushrooms: in a medium-sized mixing bowl, whisk together olive oil, soy sauce, liquid smoke, apple cider vinegar, agave, onion powder and pepper. Add in mushrooms and toss well to coat.

(2) Heat a large skillet (big enough to toss the pasta) over medium heat. Add the mushrooms and sauté over medium for 6-7 minutes, until the mushrooms start to soften, then increase heat to medium-high and continue cooking for a few more minutes until the mushrooms start to brown. Remove from heat and set aside. 

(3) To make the sauce: While the mushrooms are cooking, heat olive oil in a small pot over medium heat. Add flour and whisk until a smooth paste forms. Add in the milk ½ cup at a time, whisking well between each addition, until it starts to thicken. 

(4) Whisk in the lemon juice, nutritional yeast, parmesan, black salt and pepper. Reduce heat to medium-low and let simmer for 5 minutes, stirring often. The sauce should be thick enough to coat a spoon. 

(5) Assembly: Add the cooked pasta and the sauce to the mushrooms and use tongs to coat well. Add in ¼-3/4 cup of reserved pasta water to loosen up the sauce if needed. 

Serve your vegan carbonara topped with freshly parsley and enjoy. 

💭 Expert Tips and FAQs

• Don't forget to save some pasta water! Reserved pasta water is great for loosening up the vegan carbonara sauce before serving, which tends to thicken up pretty quickly if it's not kept warm. Since it's salted and starchy from the pasta, it's much better than using regular water.
• If you don't like mushrooms, you can also make our tofu bacon bits to use in this vegan carbonara. They have a fantastic meaty texture, but take a little bit longer to make than the mushroom version in this recipe.
• Use a skillet big enough to toss the pasta. To avoid cleaning an extra skillet, use an extra large one to cook the mushrooms in. It will seem huge with just the mushrooms in there, but it comes in handy when you need to toss in the pasta and sauce without making a big mess. If you don't have a big skillet, you can also use a dutch oven.
• Storage: store leftovers in an airtight container for up to a 4 days. Reheat in the microwave and stir well until heated through.
• What to serve with vegan carbonara? A few of our favorite side dishes include:
  • Italian Chopped Salad
  • Arugula Caprese Salad
  • Garlic Bread
  • Roasted Parsnips or another vegetable of choice
  • A glass of red wine, of course! 😉 Chianti and Pinot Noir are especially great paired with vegan carbonara.

📖 Related Recipes

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