Vegan Pasta Carbonara Recipe (2024)

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Vegan Carbonara sauce recipe made with cashews, spices, seitan bacon and black salt or Kala Namak that isn’t even black in color actually, go figure..but it gives the ultimate Carbonara flavor. Toss with spaghetti or your favorite pasta noodles like fettuccine or bucatini. Easy, creamy, dairy free sauce that is insanely delicious!

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Vegan Carbonara

Carbonara is a white Italian pasta sauce from Rome traditionally made with cholesterol loaded raw eggs, cheese, guanciale or pancetta and freshly cracked black pepper. Scary stuff but not anymore you guys because I made us the ultimate meatless and dairy free carbonara!

Super creamy
Luscious
Cruelty free
No cholesterol
Meatless
Fast & easy
Incredibly tasty.

The Bacon / Guanciale / Pancetta

I’ve experimented with a few vegan options here, from mushrooms to coconut bacon to smoky tempeh to finally the seitan bacon. They are all delicious but the seitan hits every single checkmark: chewy, smoky and salty, absolute perfection.

I used the store bought Benevolent Bacon from Sweet Earth but of course you can make your own from scratch if you prefer.

The Vegan Carbonara Sauce

It has to be rich and silky and creamy with just a little bit of eggy flavor.
Enter black salt Kala Namak known for its magical property to make dishes taste eggy. I don’t know exactly how but it really works, especially when combined with a little dijon mustard and creamy cashews. Alchemy at its finest and not one drop of oil is required.
This sauce is totally oil free and raw, you don’t even need to heat it up in a skillet, unless you want to of course. It’s made in the blender and tossed with your hot pasta of choice and sprinkled with the vegan bacon.
Turmeric for color is optional. I only used 1/8 of a teaspoon anyways, that’s the tiniest pinch ever and you need to keep it that way or leave it out altogether. Trust me, you don’t want your Carbonara to taste anything like turmeric but you want to take advantage of its natural color to give your sauce a little golden boost.

The Pasta

There’s always whole grain spaghetti in my pantry so I’ll usually reach for a box of those but any long noodles work great here. Egg free fettuccine and bucatini are some of my favorites but i can see this sauce work with smaller shapes like orecchiette or penne if that’s what you have in the kitchen.

how to make it:

5 from 2 votes

Vegan Pasta Carbonara

Vegan Carbonara sauce recipe made with cashews, spices, vegan sietan bacon and black salt or Kala Namak for the ultimate Carbonara flavor.

Print Recipe

Prep Time:5 minutes mins

Soaking Cashews:20 minutes mins

Total Time:25 minutes mins

Ingredients

3/4 cup raw cashews
1 cup hot water
4 tbsp nutritional yeast
1 tbsp dijon mustard
2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/8 tsp turmeric (optional, for color)
1/4 tsp Kala Namak black salt (or to taste)
1/3 cup fresh Italian parsley chopped
5.5 oz vegan sietan bacon (I used the Benevolent bacon from Sweet Earth)
1/2 lb spaghetti (whole grain)
freshly cracked black pepper to taste

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Rinse the cashews and add them to a powerful blender together with the hot water, nutritional yeast, mustard, garlic, turmeric, onion powder and black salt. Allow to soak for 20 minutes then process until completely smooth. Set your sauce aside until needed!
Cook the vegan bacon according to the package instructions. I like to cook mine in the toaster oven so no extra oil is needed. You can pan sear it then cut it into small pieces.
Meanwhile boil the spaghetti until al dente. Drain and add to a large mixing bowl together with the Carbonara sauce, half of the cooked vegan bacon and half of the parsley. Give everything a good toss to coat and adjust seasonings.
If you prefer your Carbonara with a little tang this is the time to hit it with a squeeze of lemon. I prefer it without but you are the boss of your kitchen.
Divide between bowls and serve sprinkled with the reserved sietan bacon, parsley and freshly cracked black pepper.

Notes

Don't worry if you do not have black salt (Kala Namak) make the recipe anyways using regular sea salt, it will still taste amazing.

Nutrition

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: Italian

Keyword: plant based, vegan carbonara, vegan,

Servings: 2 people

Calories: 915kcal

Author: Florentina

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