Pasta makes the world go round, and this creamy and delicious Vegan Carbonara Pasta is brimming with flavor and healthy feel-good ingredients. This comforting pasta yumminess boasts a beautiful creamy nut-free sauce that is packed with tasty sun-dried tomatoes, sweet peas, earthy asparagus, and chewy ziti pasta. It is totally satisfying and utterly delicious. You’ll find the whole family seated at the table in a flash!
Whole Food Plant Based, vegan, plant based, oil free, refined sugar free, no highly processed ingredients, and gluten free.
Hi there, Ameera here!
We can’t get enough pasta! I am just so happy that there are so many great gluten free pastas on the market today that taste as good as regular pasta.
Before I recognized my gluten issues, I was never a huge fan of whole wheat pasta. Thank goodness for brown rice pasta, it tastes AH-MAZINGGGG (can you hear me singing that?) LOL
If you are looking for a Whole Food Plant Based compliant brown rice pasta, check out our Whole Food Plant Based Compliant Products list. You might find it helpful locating brands that are WFPB compliant.
If you haven’t tried a great brown rice pasta, you are totally missing out. Guess what, you can’t even taste the difference between regular pasta and some brands of brown rice pasta, even the texture is fantastic and authentic.
Sundried Tomatoes
The sundried tomatoes totally make this dish, they add some tomatoey goodness with a hint of sweetness to the sauce. I love absolutely them. That wasn’t always the case, I never really enjoyed them all that much until I gave them a second chance, now I love them!
They are amazing in this pasta dish – A must try!
This post contains affiliate links, and we may receive a very small commission if you purchase through those links at no additional cost to you. Thank you for supporting Monkey and Me Kitchen Adventures! For more information, see our disclosures here.
Vegan Parmesan Cheese
Have you tried our Vegan Parmesan Cheese yet? It is life! LOL We always have some in our fridge! It tastes completely and utterly delicious with our Carbonara pasta, so much yum!
I’ll let Mom tell you more!
Hi! Robin here.
When Monkey wanted to make this dish, I was only half onboard because Chris always hated Carbonara pasta. I never made it myself, but he had it one too many times when he was in college and learned to hate it. Evidently the cafeteria made a lot of Carbonara pasta! LOL
I didn’t even know what to expect because I had no frame of reference, but the end product that Monkey served up was fantastic. I loved it, and TP109 loved it too! He was practically licking his plate clean.
We hope you give this deliciousness a try! We just know you are going to love it!
If you try this comforting pasta, we would love to know if you enjoy it as much as we do! Please leave us a review! Post a picture on Facebook or Instagram and tag us! We would love to hear from you.
Products Used:
- Stock pot to boil pasta
- Colander to drain pasta
- Large ceramic/enamel lined Dutch oven/skillet or similarly large stock pot
Vegan Carbonara Pasta
- Prep Time: 20 Minutes
- Cook Time: 25 Minutes
- Total Time: 45 Minutes (+10 Min. Rest)
- Yield: 3-4 Servings 1x
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Italian
Description
Pasta makes the world go round, and this creamy and delicious Vegan Carbonara Pasta is brimming with flavor and healthy feel-good ingredients. This comforting pasta yumminess boasts a beautiful creamy nut-free sauce that is packed with tasty sun-dried tomatoes, sweet peas, earthy asparagus, and chewy ziti pasta. It is totally satisfying and utterly delicious. You’ll find the whole family seated at the table in a flash!
Whole Food Plant Based, vegan, plant based, oil free, refined sugar free, no highly processed ingredients, and gluten free.
Ingredients
Carbonara Ingredients:
- ½ cup yellow onion, fine dice
- 1 Tablespoon minced garlic
- 1 Tablespoon gluten free flour (or flour of choice)
- ½ cup unsweetened plain plant milk
- ¼ cup vegetable broth *
- ½ to 1 cup hot pasta water
- 1 Tablespoons tamari *
- 1 Tablespoon tahini
- 2 teaspoons white miso *
- ½ teaspoon liquid smoke
- 6 sundried tomato halves, finely chopped *
- 3 Tablespoons nutritional yeast
Spices/Herbs Ingredients:
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 2 Tablespoons dried minced onion flakes
- Pinch dried ground mustard powder
- Pinch nutmeg
- ½ teaspoon sea salt (+/- to taste) *
- Pinch black pepper (+/-)
Other Ingredients:
- 10 oz. ziti pasta (or pasta of choice)
- 1 cup frozen peas
Other Optional Ingredients:
- ½ bunch fresh asparagus, cut into bitesize pieces, steamed, broiled, or roasted *
- Vegan Parmesan Cheese *
Instructions
- Place the Spice/Herb Ingredients in a small bowl, set aside.
- Start boiling water to cook the pasta. Cook the pasta according to package directions until al dente, do not overcook. Pull out 1 ¼ cups of hot pasta water – this will be used in the recipe, set aside. You won’t use the full 1 ¼ cups of the hot pasta water; you are only reserving this amount just in case you need it.
- In the meantime, in a large ceramic/enamel-lined Dutch oven, skillet or similar stock pot, add the finely diced onions; sauté over medium heat until they begin to soften, approximately 5 to 7 minutes. Add a tablespoon or so of water (or broth) if they start to stick and/or to prevent burning.
- Add the minced garlic, and sauté for 30 seconds, then add the flour and sauté for about one minute stirring constantly. The mixture will look like flour covered lumps that is fine. Then add all the remaining Carbonara Ingredients and Spice/Herb mix. Start with only ½ cup of hot pasta water. You may find that you need to add more later to thin out the sauce to fit your preference. Bring to a boil, then immediately lower to a simmer. Simmer for 7 minutes. If you prefer a thinner sauce, then add more hot pasta water about 1 to 2 Tablespoons at a time until the desired consistency is achieved. We added an additional ¼ cup of pasta water (we ended up using ¾ cup hot pasta water in total.) Taste test to see if additional spices are needed. Add them at this time, if needed.
- Add the cooked pasta, frozen peas, and roasted/steamed asparagus to the Carbonara sauce, mix well to thoroughly heat through.
- Serve with Vegan Parmesan Cheese.
Notes
*Vegetable Stock: We use Pacific Organic Low Sodium Vegetable Stock. We love this brand because it is Whole Food Plant Based compliant, as it does not contain MSG, has no oil, and does not contain any highly-processed ingredients.
*Tamari:We used San J Tamari Soy Sauce, Gluten Free, Reduced Sodium. You can substitute the tamari with reduced sodium soy sauce, Braggs Liquid Aminos, or Braggs Coconut Liquid Aminos.
*Sundried Tomatoes: Be sure to select oil free sundried tomatoes. They are typically dried like dates. We use Mediterranean Organic Sundried Roman Tomatoes.
*Miso: We usedMiso Master Organic Mellow White Premium Lite Miso, Certified Gluten Free. Miso really lends itself to balancing flavors when you don’t use oil. You can also use chickpea miso for a soy free version.
*Sea Salt: Please adjust the sea salt based upon your family’s sea salt preferences and/or based upon dietary needs.
*Asparagus: You could also use steamed/roasted green beans, broccoli, or just about any veggie in place of the asparagus.
*Makes: 3-4 servings
*Storage: Refrigerate and use within 5 days.
This post contains affiliate links, and we may receive a very small commission if you purchase through those links at no additional cost to you. Thank you for supporting Monkey and Me Kitchen Adventures! For more information, see our disclosures here.
I knew this would be good—turned out it was better than good! It’s like something a fancy restaurant would serve—IF they served WFPB stuff! We had spaghetti squash to use up (I was going to make a puttanesca sauce for it, but when you posted this, changed the menu!). Made as written, including the asparagus but threw caution to the wind and added a few extra sundried tomatoes to use them up (and because I love the taste). (And because I didn’t have pasta water since I hadn’t made pasta, just roasted spaghetti squash, had to add extra boillon.) So… Read more »
Hi there Ellen 🙂
WOO HOO!!! We are super excited that you gave this dish a try and enjoyed it! This delicious sauce all over spaghetti squash sounds heavenly – love the idea! And excited to hear that you paired it with a salad using our Catalina dressing – YAY! Thank you so much for sharing your experiences with us, we truly appreciate you and your awesome feedback! *HUGS*
-Ameera and Robin 🙂
Made this tonight and loved it! So nice to find something that tastes completely different than a marinara. Will definitely make again!
Hi there Nina 🙂
Yaaayyy!!! We are sooooo excited that you loved this recipe! We couldn’t agree more as we love switching up sauces too. So glad you’ll be making this dish again. We truly appreciate your wonderful feedback and for taking the time to write.
-Ameera and Robin 🙂
When do you use the dry spice ingredients, out aside from step 1?
Hi there Sharon 🙂
Thank you so much for reaching out to us. In step 4, please see “add all the remaining carbonara ingredients”. Recently we’ve added the spice/herb mix to add more clarity. Hope you give this recipe a try and enjoy it as much as we do.
-Ameera and Robin 🙂
Just made this and ate it for breakfast ha ha SO. DANG. GOOD!
Hi there Lisa 🙂
Yaaayyy!!! We are so thrilled that you enjoyed this recipe! Thank you so much for your awesome feedback and for taking the time to write.
-Ameera and Robin 🙂
Delicious! You ladies are amazing. I can always count on your recipes being spot on. Thank you!!
Hi there Kassie 🙂
Thank you so much for your kind words, encouragement, and support! We are so glad that you are enjoying our recipes. Thank you so much for sharing your awesome feedback and for taking the time to write.
-Ameera and Robin 🙂
Carbonara has long been my favorite pasta dish and I missed it since I went WFPB – this was excellent – I substituted kala namak (Indian black salt) for the sea salt for more of an ‘eggy’ flavor and it turned out great
Hi there Chris 🙂
Yaaaay!!! We are so thrilled to hear that you enjoyed this recipe. Love the idea of adding kala namak salt – yum! We appreciate you sharing your awesome feedback with us. Thank you so much for taking the time to write!
-Ameera and Robin 🙂
Made this today, using whole wheat penne (I’m not gluten free) and green beans instead of asparagus. Otherwise followed recipe exactly. Absolutely delicious! So creamy and flavorful. I also made the vegan Parmesan, which I have made before and love. Thanks for another great recipe; definitely one I will make again!
Hi there Dorothy 🙂
Woot woot!!! We are so glad you enjoyed this recipe, as well as, our vegan parmesan cheese. Thank you so much for sharing your adjustments and wonderful feedback with us! We truly appreciate you taking the time to write.
-Ameera and Robin 🙂
Got asparagus in our CSA box today, so I really wanted to make this recipe. And I’m so glad I did.
This was such a delicious meal.
Hi there Sandra 🙂
Woo hoo! We are SUPER excited you enjoyed this recipe. We LOVE asparagus. We have a ton growing in our garden. We appreciate you sharing your wonderful review. Thank you so much for taking the time to write.
-Ameera and Robin 🙂
this recipe was deeeeeelicious! absolutely loved it! I had a jar of marinated artichokes that needed to be used so I threw those in too. Will definitely be making again!
Hi there Erin 🙂
Yaaaayyy! We are so thrilled that you enjoyed this recipe. Thank you so much for sharing your awesome review with us. We appreciate you taking the time to write.
-Ameera and Robin 🙂
My one came out darker in color- I used brown rice pasta (? Culprit?) it was good but actually tastes more like stroganoff, so if I make it again, I will probably add mushrooms
Hi there Jeanette 🙂
Thank you so much for the awesome comment. Yes, whole grain pastas tend to vary in color. Glad you enjoyed this recipe.
-Ameera and Robin