This super easy vegan carbonara is rich and creamy and ready in less than 30 minutes! It’s the perfect weeknight meal.
This vegan carbonara is on the money!
I asked Jaye to take the lead on this recipe and he created something really fantastic.
A classic carbonara recipe usually has bacon or pancetta in it, and an egg sauce that is poured over the top.
So we decided to use mushrooms to replace the bacon and to use the ‘eggy’ sauce from our vegan tofu scramble along with some cashews (for thickening) to create the egg effect for the sauce.
And it worked so well. This is seriously delicious and has heaps of flavor as well as being really easy and quick to make.
And if you love super quick and easy vegan pasta recipes like this one then you’ll also love our hummus pasta and our vegan vodka pasta.
How To Make Vegan Carbonara Pasta
You will find full instructions and measurements in the recipe card at the bottom of the post. This is a summary of the process to go along with the process photos.
The vegan carbonara sauce is made in the blender, and it’s a mix of raw cashews, nutritional yeast, turmeric, dijon mustard, garlic powder, onion powder, black salt aka kala namak and non dairy milk.
Blend until smooth and you have your ‘egg’ sauce!
Set that aside until you need it later.
Get some spaghetti on the boil and cook it up according to the package instructions.
Then melt some vegan butter in a pan. Add sliced mushrooms, crushed garlic and smoked paprika and fry until the mushrooms are softened.
Add in the cooked spaghetti and toss that in with the mushrooms.
Pour in the blended sauce and then add in some sea salt and black pepper and toss together until everything is coated and heated together.
Serve with chopped parsley and a sprinkle of black pepper.
Ingredient Notes
- Black salt, also called Kala Namak (and not actually black in color at all) creates the ‘egg’ flavor in the sauce. It’s a salt that tastes just like eggs. It’s pretty crazy! You don’t need to use a lot to get a lot of flavor. We used half a teaspoon and got heaps of flavor. If you don’t have it you can use regular salt instead, but it is definitely recommended.
- Turmeric is used just for color, so if you don’t like it for any reason, you can easily omit it.
- You can use any non-dairy milk you like, we used soy milk, but any milk will work great.
- The mushrooms we used are the large flat brown mushrooms. But button mushrooms or cremini mushrooms (also called portobellini or baby bella) would also work great here.
Make It Gluten-Free
If you want to make this meal gluten-free, just use a gluten-free spaghetti and that’s all there is to it.
Storing Tips
Keep leftovers stored in the fridge and enjoy within a few days. You can reheat it in the microwave.
More 30 Minute Vegan Pasta Recipes
- Vegan Mushroom Pasta
- Vegan Mushroom Stroganoff
- Vegan Alfredo
- Vegan Pesto Pasta
- Hummus Pasta
- Vegetable Linguine
Did you make this recipe? Be sure to leave a comment and rating below!
Vegan Carbonara
Ingredients
For the ‘Egg’ Sauce:
- ⅔ cup Raw Cashews (100g)
- ¼ cup Nutritional Yeast (15g)
- ½ tsp Turmeric
- 1 Tbsp Dijon Mustard
- ½ tsp Garlic Powder
- ½ tsp Onion Powder
- ½ tsp Black Salt Kala Namak*
- 1 cup Soy Milk (240ml) or other non-dairy milk*
For the Pasta:
- 8 ounces Spaghetti (226g) Dry Weight
For the Mushrooms:
- 1 Tbsp Vegan Butter
- 2 ½ cups Mushrooms (240g) Sliced
- 2 tsp Crushed Garlic
- ½ tsp Smoked Paprika
- ¼ tsp Sea Salt
- ¼ tsp Black Pepper
For Serving:
- Fresh Chopped Parsley
Instructions
- Add the ingredients for the ‘egg’ sauce to the blender and blend until smooth. Set aside.
- Put the spaghetti on to cook and cook it according to the package instructions.
- Add the vegan butter to a pan and heat until melted. Add the sliced mushrooms, crushed garlic and smoked paprika and fry until the mushrooms are softened.
- Add the cooked spaghetti into the pan with the mushrooms and toss them together.
- Pour the blended sauce over the top of the spaghetti and mushrooms and toss together. Add the sea salt and black pepper and toss together until everything is coated and heated together in the pan.
- Serve with chopped parsley and a sprinkle of black pepper.
Video
Notes
- If you can’t get hold of black salt (kala namak) then you can just use regular salt. But black salt is highly recommended.
- We used large flat brown mushrooms, but you can switch this for cremini mushrooms (also called portobellini mushrooms, baby bella) or even white button mushrooms.
- Keep leftovers stored in the fridge and enjoy within a few days. You can reheat it in the microwave.
One of the best carbonara’s
Thanks Mark!
JUST made this and it was divine. I loved the richness of the flavor and I added another 2 cups of mushrooms because I’m obsessed with mushrooms;)
I encourage adding the non diary milk before the nutritional yeast for a creamy consistency.
Thank you for sharing and for your great review Victoria!
I made this for dinner tonight & it was absolutely delicious. My carnivorous other half was shocked that he enjoyed the carbonara more than he expected. I added a bit of miso paste to the mushroom for a bit of umami, and it didn’t disappoint. The cashew cream is devine & I still have a bit leftover that I’d savour.
Sou happy to hear you enjoyed the recipe Azlina! Thanks so much for your wonderful review!
Yum! This is so good, I’m putting this in the regular rotation.
I don’t eat mushrooms though so I just used mock bacon bits, I might use tofu next time.
Thank you Athena! I think tofu will work perfectly!
Wow 👌 10/10 delicious!! Reminds me exactly of carbonara pasta. And so quick and easy. will be making this often and sharing the recipe with others. Thank you!!
Awesome! Thanks so much for your amazing review!
A super easy and quick, not to mention delicious, recipe for a midweek meal. I halved the amount of dijon in the recipe as to me it sounded like a lot, and the sauce came out very tasty.
I wholeheartedly recommend this recipe to any vegans missing carbonara, and for non-vegans to give it a go!
Thank you so much for sharing and for your excellent review Anne! Happy to hear you loved the recipe!
After being disappointed with store bought vegan carbonara sauce, I decided to give this recipe a try.
Luckily I already had all the ingredients (except onion powder which I replaced with diced onions). I have to say I was pleasantly surprised at the depth of flavour and how easy it was to make.
It was also great to know exactly what I was putting in my body as the sauce is made with all natural ingredients.
This is a great recipe and I recommend any vegan or non-vegan to whip up a batch for a quick healthy alternative to traditional carbonara.
So happy you liked it! Thanks for the great review!