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.
Super delicious and quick to make!
Yay! Thanks so much!
OMG!!! This recipe is amazing, I made it for my supper, YUM…MY!!, Looking forward to having it also as left overs tomorrow for lunch.
Thanks, Alison, for giving me yet another yummy, meal!!
So glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for the wonderful review Deb!
Do you soak the cashews first? Thanks
No need to soak them first. 🙂
This was a MASSIVE hit, wow, just wow.
I fried the onions and garlic first then blended into the sauce to add extra flavour, among, thanks
Correction – I fried up onion and garlic and then added it to the sauce, blended it and it brought an extra depth of flavour
Awesome! Thanks Andrew! 🙂
Thank for the delicious recipes!!
You’re so welcome! Thanks for the great review Elsa. 🙂
I made this recipe for the third time because it’s fantastic!! Thank you so much.
So glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for posting! 🙂
Great taste.
I used coconut yoghurt instead of non-dairy milk to make it even more creamy.
Thank you for sharing.
Oh great idea! Thanks for sharing and the awesome review. 🙂
I’m following you for some more great recipes ????
Awesome! Thanks so much! 🙂
Wow!!! Fricking loved this – and tastes even better the next day! It’s tastes so creamy that you think it can’t be healthy, but it is! I used olive oil instead of vegan butter to fry mushrooms (I used shiitake – Mmm) and added sundried tomatoes. Omg:.. so yummy! Thanks – going to try your other recipes now 🙂 thanks!
So glad you enjoyed it Miriam! Thanks for sharing! 🙂
Another hit, boys loved it. Easy to make and tasty AF
Yay! Thanks Ali! xo
This was really fantastic! It came together quickly and I had everything I needed to make it. A+
Awesome Chris! So happy to hear that, thanks for the great rating! 🙂
The taste is yummy! The pepper really makes a difference in this dish! Does anyone else feel like a bit more milk would make it more creamy?
So glad you liked it Jan! Thanks for the wonderful rating! I think you can definitely tweak it to your taste and if you want it a bit more saucy then that will also be great. xo
I have a decent blender but not a vitamix type. Would you recommend soaking the cashews before blending?
Hi Christine, it really shouldn’t be necessary because it’s not super thick, so it’s a fairly easy blend. 🙂
New favorite recipe! This was amazing!
Awesome! Thanks Sara! 🙂
Hi! I’d love to try making this but I dont have, or have a shop locally that sells Black Salt (Kala Namak).. what can I replace it with please? Xxx
You can just use regular salt instead. 🙂
this sounds delicious and I am definitely going to try it. Could sunflower seeds work as a replacement for the cashew nuts? Currently you have to take out another home loan where I live to buy cashew nuts 🙂
Hi Deidre, it might work, I’m not entirely sure. Cashews have a thickening effect when heated, and I’m not sure if sunflower seeds would have the same, but even if they didn’t, it should still taste good! 🙂