Description
This creamy vegan pasta carbonara is deliciously satisfying and comes together in just 30 minutes for an outstanding meal any night of the week.
Ingredients
For the Carbonara Sauce
- 1 cup raw cashews (125 g)
- 1 cup boiling water (125 ml)
- 1 cup almond milk, unsweetened (250 g)
- 4 cloves fresh garlic (20 g)
- 2 tbsp nutritional yeast (10 g)
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tbsp lemon zest
- 1 tsp fresh cracked black pepper, or more to taste
For the Pasta & Mushrooms
- 450 g linguini pasta (or other pasta of choice)
- 2 tsp olive oil (10 ml)
- 2 cups white or brown mushrooms, chopped (250 g)
- 1 tbsp soy sauce (15 ml)
- 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar (15 ml)
- ¼ cup chopped parsley, optional for serving
Instructions
- Soak Cashews: Place raw cashews in a medium sized bowl, and cover with 1 cup of boiling water. Let the cashews soak for 10 minutes. While the cashews are soaking, chop up the mushrooms and start bringing a large pot of water to a boil on the stovetop to cook the pasta.
- Blend Carbonara Sauce: Once soaked, place nuts and water into a blender and add almond milk, cover with lid and blend on medium high for 1-2 minutes. Once cashews are smooth, add the garlic, nutritional yeast, lemon juice, lemon zest, smoked paprika, salt and pepper. Cover with lid and blend until completely smooth and combined, approximately 1 minute. Once the sauce is smooth, set aside for later.
- Cook Pasta: Cook linguine pasta according to package instructions. Once the pasta is cooked, reserve 2 cups of the pasta water for later use before draining. Drain the pasta and set aside.
- Heat Oil: Once the pasta is cooking, heat 2 tsp oil over medium-high heat in a large non-stick pan.
- Cook Mushrooms: When the pan is hot add the chopped mushrooms and cook for 5 minutes. The mushrooms will release a small amount of water while they are cooking. Continue to cook until all that liquid has been absorbed, stirring occasionally.
- Add Vinegar and Soy Sauce: Once mushrooms are cooked add both soy sauce and balsamic vinegar to the pan. Cook for an additional 1 minute, stiring often.
- Mix Pasta: When mushrooms are cooked and the pasta is drained, add the ‘carbonara sauce’ to the mushrooms, mix together until fully incorporated. Add your cooked pasta and mix thoroughly, adding the reserved pasta water ¼ cup at a time until you have reached a creamy texture. You will likely add the full 2 cups.
- Serve: Fold in chopped parsley if desired and divide evenly into bowls and enjoy!
Notes
The pasta stores well in the fridge for up to 4 days but will thicken and stiffen considerable. It will loosen after reheating but won’t be as creamy as when it’s fresh. If will still taste good after storing, but you can stir in a little water, broth or almond milk to help loosen it up a bit, if desired.
The recipe can be halved if you only need a few servings and prefer to enjoy it freshly made rather than store leftovers.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1/6th of recipe
- Calories: 430
- Sugar: 4 g
- Sodium: 502 mg
- Fat: 12 g
- Carbohydrates: 65 g
- Fiber: 4 g
- Protein: 16 g