The Very Best Vegan Spaghetti Carbonara

Smoky marinated cremini mushrooms and peas are tossed with spaghetti in a silky tofu and cashew sauce to create this decadently delicious vegan carbonara.

You’ll Need:

For the Mushroom Bacon

• 1/3 cup soy sauce
• 3 tbsp. apple cider vinegar
• 1 tsp. liquid smoke
• 3 tbsp. maple syrup
• 1 lb. cremini mushrooms cleaned, stemmed and sliced
• 2 tbsp. olive oil

For the Spaghetti Carbonara

• 1 lb. dried spaghetti noodles
• 1/2 cup unflavored soy or almond milk
• 2-3 tbsp. nutritional yeast flakes to taste (optional, but adds a really nice flavor)
• 1 cup raw cashews soaked in water 4-8 hours and drained
• 1 lb. silken tofu
• 2 tbsp. olive oil
• 3 garlic cloves minced
• 1 cup frozen peas thawed
• 1/2 cup fresh parsley
• salt & pepper to taste

For Serving

• cashew Parmesan optional
• red pepper flakes optional
• kala namak optional, for eggy flavor

Instructions:

1. Stir soy sauce, maple syrup, cider vinegar and liquid smoke together in a small bowl. Add sliced mushrooms and toss to coat. Allow to marinate for 30 minutes, tossing occasionally to recoat.
2. While the mushrooms marinate, bring a large pot of water to a boil and cook spaghetti according to package directions, until al dente. Reserve 1/2 cup of pasta water, then drain pasta into a colander. Return to pot and toss with a bit of olive oil.
3. Place cashews, silken tofu, milk and nutritional yeast flakes into food processor bowl and blend until smooth and creamy, stopping to scrape down sides of bowl as needed.
4. Coat the bottom of a large skillet with 2 tablespoons of olive oil and place over medium heat. When oil is hot, add mushrooms in as even a layer as possible. Allow to cook until browned on bottoms, about 5 minutes. Flip and allow to cook 5 minutes more on opposite sides. Remove mushrooms from skillet and transfer to a plate.
5. Add 2 tablespoons more of oil to skillet. When oil is hot, add garlic and cook 2 minutes, until very fragrant. Add spaghetti, cashew mixture, peas, parsley and mushroom bacon to skillet. Toss everything a few times, until noodles are coated and ingredients are well mixed, adding some reserved pasta water to thin the sauce if needed. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
6. Divide onto plates and sprinkle with red pepper flakes, cashew Parmesan and kala namak, if desired. Serve.

NOTES:

• This recipe makes a big batch. I don't recommend scaling down the batch size unless you've got a relatively small blending device for the sauce, otherwise you might not be able to get it to blend fully.