Wicked Serious Carbonara

Wicked Healthy

Wicked Serious Vegan Carbonara
Prep Time: 10M
Cooking Time: 45M
Serves: 4

Carbonara, an Italian classic, is now a plant-forward masterpiece. We’re banging it out with cashews for creaminess, mushrooms for meatiness and pasta because, PASTA!

Serves 4-6
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cooking Time: 45 minutes

Recipe courtesy of Wicked Healthy, for Veganuary
Imagery © Derek Sarno
Find more great-tasting recipes on the Wicked Healthy website.

There's more where this came from!

Ingredients

FOR THE ALFREDO-STYLE CREAM SAUCE:

  • 1 Cup / 200g raw cashews, soaked for a few hours and rinsed (If you’re short on time, boil the raw cashews with the cauliflower in the first step in the directions below.)
  • 400g Cauliflower (roughly 1 head) cleaned and dismembered into large pieces
  • 5 garlic cloves, peeled
  • pinch of salt
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 3 cups water
  • 1/4 cup / 50g pine nuts, toasted (optional)
  • 1 Tbsp white miso paste (optional)
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 32 oz / 900ml unsweetened soy milk (or your favourite non-dairy milk)

FOR THE MUSHROOMS:

  • 2 cups / 400g shiitake mushrooms, sliced
  • 3 Tbsp olive oil
  • 3/4 tsp smoked paprika
  • 1 tsp black pepper

FOR THE CARBONARA:

  • 1 lb / 450g fresh fettuccini
  • 3 Tbsp olive oil
  • 1/2 large onion, medium diced
  • 2 cloves garlic, sliced thin
  • 1/2 cup / 100g peas, fresh or frozen

GARNISH:

  • Small bunch of flat-leaf parsley, leaves picked, lightly packed
  • cracked black pepper
  • coarse salt

Carbonara, an Italian classic, is now a plant-forward masterpiece. We’re banging it out with cashews for creaminess, mushrooms for meatiness and pasta because, PASTA!

Serves 4-6
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cooking Time: 45 minutes

Recipe courtesy of Wicked Healthy, for Veganuary
Imagery © Derek Sarno
Find more great-tasting recipes on the Wicked Healthy website.

Method

  • In a large sauce pot add cashews (if you didn’t soak them), cauliflower, garlic, a pinch of salt, bay leaf and 3 cups of water. Cover and bring to a slow boil over a medium-high heat.
  • Cook for 10-15 minutes or until the cauliflower easily breaks apart. Strain and remove bay leaf.
  • Transfer mixture to a high-speed blender (add cashews at this point if you pre-soaked them). Add pine nuts, miso and salt. Begin blending on low-speed while slowly adding the soy milk. Once incorporated, blend on high for couple minutes until the mixture is silky smooth.
  • Set aside half of the mixture for this recipe and save the remaining mixture in a closed container in the fridge for up to a week for other use.

To make the mushrooms

  • Preheat oven to 375.
  • Add sliced shiitakes to a small bowl and toss with 1 T of the oil, smoked paprika and pinch of black pepper. In a large oven-safe skillet, heat 2 Tbsp oil on the stovetop over medium-high heat. Add shiitake mushrooms and sauté for 2 minutes, then transfer pan directly to oven and finish roasting for 10 minutes. Remove and transfer the mushrooms to a paper towel to allow to drain and crisp up.

To complete the dish

  • Cook fettuccine al dente according to the package instructions, set aside.
  • Heat large sauce pot on medium heat until hot, then add oil, onions and sliced garlic cloves and sauté for 3 minutes until they begin to brown. Add a splash of water (or white wine if handy) to loosen, then half of the alfredo-style sauce, peas and mushrooms.
  • Heat for 1 minute then add pasta and stir to coat.
  • Remove from heat and garnish with the parsley, black pepper and salt, to taste.

Helpful Tip: while preparing this, we cooked the pasta ahead of time, and when it was time to add the pasta to the sauce we boiled a small pot of water and poured it over the cooled pasta to loosen and bring it up to temp before adding to the heating sauce.

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