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.
This is literally divine and way way WAY! better than any dairy version I’ve had in my non vegan past. I made it on Monday and my kids have been pestering me for it ever since. So it’s now Friday and I’m making it again. I used half the amount of cashews for less saturated fat but apart from that I followed the recipe exactly. When using raw nuts in recipes I tend to grind the nuts in a small grinder first and then soak in a little water. It helps speed up the process, for me at least. Thank you Alison!
Awesome! Thanks so much Satin!
Loads of flavor!! Love that you don’t need to soak the cashews like so many other recipes, truly takes 20 minutes. I boiled pasta while cooking mushrooms and making sauce.
Awesome! Thanks so much Jennifer!
Thank you for the awesome recipe. I liked it even better than traditional pasta carbonara! This vegan variant is so flavourfull!
Thanks so much Daan!
One of my go to meals! So easy and quick to prepare! Absolutely delicious!
Yay! Thanks for the great review!
Is the butter SUPER necessary? I always try to stay oil free.
You can certainly leave it out if you prefer and use a little veg stock or water instead to fry the mushrooms.
I made this on a whim and it was so quick and delicious. Flavor was great (even though I used salt instead of black salt). Yum!
Awesome! So glad you enjoyed it!
My husband and I are obsessed with this recipe it is sooo delicious and so easy to make. We use fresh coconut and water to make our milk in the blender and we used Seeded mustard as didn’t have any Dijon in and it was delish!
Awesome! Thanks for sharing Elz!
I used lava salt with chilli .. 1/2 the amount of Dijon and added spinach to the mushrooms absolutely delicious even my meat eating partner loved it.
Awesome! Thanks for sharing Zena!
I LOVE bacon, but I love this recipe as much as I love traditional carbonara, and have shared it with so many friends who are looking to make adjustments to eating healthier. This is a great segway recipe into vegan-cooking, as it honestly is delicious! I love how smooth, creamy, and flavourful this recipe is. Thank you for sharing it!! Maybe one day I WILL be vegan!
So happy to hear that Aditi! Thanks for the wonderful review!
Delicious!! Highly recommend
Thanks Tye!
This was sooo delicious!! I was sceptical at first aince the recipe calls for tumeric and dijon mustard but oh my! This was incredible. Even my husband enjoyed it and he’s very picky.
I add in some broccoli and peas as a bonus.
Awesome! So happy to hear that! 🙂
WOW, I have been trying different carbonara recipes and this one is amazing! Will be making this weekly!
Awesome, thanks Connor!
Love it 🙂
Thanks Karol!
This was SO delicious! I added a few ingredients, which for me, brought it all together …
I used Beyond Meat ground crumbles & added Liquid Smoke to it while it was cooking… so yummy, giving it that smoky flavor you would get using cured meat… I also added peas and some broccoli for additional nutritional content. Absolutely delicious!
Sounds awesome! Thanks for sharing Jennifer!
Absolutely delicious…totally decadent! Followed recipe exactly. Only variation was adding peas to the mushrooms…just because! So good. Thanks for the recipe.
Awesome! Thanks Kevin!