Creamy vegetarian carbonara served with spaghetti and smoky mushrooms. Plus, a secret tip how to make this vegetarian mushroom carbonara sauce recipe smell like the original one with bacon.
The classic Italian spaghetti carbonara is one of my favorite meals since my childhood. I love the creamy texture of the carbonara sauce and the smoky flavor of the bacon. But since I am vegetarian, I had to create another alternative recipe which tastes as good as the original.
Let me teach you how to prepare a vegetarian carbonara without meat but with its typical smoky flavor. If you are vegetarian, make sure to buy a vegetarian parmesan or any other vegetarian cheese alternative. Sidenote: The original Italian parmesan is made with animal rennet, which is taken from the stomach of baby cows, and therefore not suitable for strict vegetarian diets.
Smoky Mushroom Carbonara
If you cook your mushrooms with a mixture of spices and a few drops liquid smoke, you will end up with smoky flavored mushrooms which are delicious in combination with carbonara sauce. I prefer to use a mixture of button and king oyster mushrooms, but you can use any of your favorite mushrooms for this vegetarian carbonara recipe.
How To Make Vegetarian Carbonara Sauce Recipe
- Cook the spaghetti al dente, drain them and set aside.
- Cook onion, garlic in butter until translucent.
- Add the sliced mushrooms (button and king oyster mushrooms are a great choice here) and the smoky sauce. Cook for a few minutes.
- Meanwhile, prepare the creamy carbonara sauce. You need to mix eggs, heavy cream, parmesan cheese, and chives.
- Add the spaghetti and the sauce to the mushrooms and mix until the sauce starts to thicken. But make sure to switch off the heat, you don’t want that your eggs start to get cooked.
- Season it with salt and pepper. Serve with grated parmesan cheese.
More Pasta Recipes
- All Vegetarian Pasta Recipes
- Spaghetti with Tomato Creme Fraiche Sauce
- Vegan Bolognese with Mushroom and Walnut
- Cashew Tomato Pasta
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Vegetarian Spaghetti Carbonara
Ingredients
- 7 oz (200g) spaghetti
Smoked Mushrooms
- 2 tbsp butter
- 1 onion, minced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 3 cups (200g) mushroom, button mushroom, king oyster mushroom
- 2 tbsp tamari, or soy sauce
- 1 tbsp oil, coconut oil, peanut oil
- 1 tsp maple syrup, or another liquid sweetener
- 1 tsp liquid smoke
- 1/2 tsp mustard
- 1/2 tsp ground smoked paprika, or regular ground paprika
Carbonara Sauce
- 2 eggs
- 1/4 cup (60ml) heavy cream
- 1/3 cup (40g) grated parmesan cheese
- 1-2 tbsp chives, minced
- salt, pepper, nutmeg for seasoning
Instructions
Spaghetti
- Cook the spaghetti in a large pot of boiling salt water until al dente. Drain them and set aside.
Smoked Mushrooms
- Peel and mince the onion and garlic. Cut the mushrooms in slices. Heat a non-stick frying pan, add the butter, onion, and garlic and cook for 3 minutes.
- Meanwhile, mix all the spices for the smoked mushroom sauce and add it with the mushrooms to the pan. Cook for 5 minutes until the mushrooms are light brown and have soaked up all the sauce.
Carbonara Sauce
- Mix all ingredients for the carbonara sauce, season with salt, pepper, and nutmeg and set aside.
Assemble Everything
- When the mushrooms are ready, switch off the heat, add the spaghetti and carbonara sauce. Leave it in the pan for about 2 minutes and stir constantly. When the sauce starts to thicken, your pasta is ready.
Recipe Video
Aline’s Suggestion
- Make sure to buy vegetarian parmesan if you are following a strict vegetarian diet.
- Use any of your favorite mushrooms to prepare this recipe.
- Eat your pasta fresh the day you make them. If you reheat them, the egg gets cooked, and it doesn’t taste the same. Still delicious, but not as creamy as eaten fresh.
It’s the first vegetarian carbonara which really tastes like carbonara with bacon 🙂 I used some season salt with smoke flavour instead of the liquid smoke. Thank you.
Dear Corinne, I am delighted to hear that you like my recipe. The smoky mushrooms perfectly substitute the bacon flavor, and they are very nutritious too. Using salt with a smoke flavor sounds like a great alternative to me if you don’t have the liquid smoke at home (it’s sometimes hard to find it in a supermarket). Thank you for your honest comment Corinne 💜
All the best,
Aline
Thank you for this recipe! It’s the first vegetarian carbonara which really tastes like carbonara 🙂 I used some season salt with smoke flavour instead of the liquid smoke.