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This vegan carbonara features spaghetti tossed in a creamy, cheesy, and garlicky sauce made with plant-based cream, vegetable broth, and nutritional yeast. The vegan bacon bits add smokiness and a satisfying chew, making this dish hearty and so comforting. No eggs, no dairy, nut-free, and ready in under 30 minutes!
Vegan carbonara has been on my to-do list for an embarrassingly long time. Every time I thought I had a solid plan, something wasn’t quite right. Not creamy enough, not smoky or meaty enough, or missing that savory depth that makes the original so good. So I kept pushing it back until I could get it right.
Here’s the honest version: this is not a 1:1 copy of traditional carbonara. The original relies on eggs, cheese, and guanciale (a salt-cured meat) for its richness, and nothing replicates that exactly. What my version is, though, is rich, savory, and creamy in all the right ways. The kind of pasta that disappears from the bowl faster than you planned.
It also comes together in under 30 minutes. Quick romantic dinner for two? Done. Double it and feed the whole family on a weeknight? Also done. You’re going to love this one.
⭐️ What Makes It So Good
- Smoky, creamy, and meaty. Chewy bits of smoky vegan bacon, an ultra creamy sauce, and tender spaghetti, what’s not to love!
- Generously sauced. Every strand of spaghetti is coated with a rich, creamy sauce – no dry pasta here! It’s savory, cheesy, and garlicky, with a depth of flavor that comes from an unexpected combination of ingredients. Plus, it comes together in one pan while the pasta cooks!
- Ready in 30 minutes. Assuming you have prepared the lardons (bacon bits) ahead of time, or picked the store-bought option, you’ll just need about 30 minutes from pan to plate to make this carbonara!
🥓 Ingredient Notes
- Vegan butter – Butter is what gives the sauce its richness and buttery depth. Don’t skip it. I use Flora Plant Butter, but any other vegan butter works.
- Garlic – Fresh garlic only here. 2 cloves, minced, make the aromatic base of the sauce.
- Nutritional yeast – Adds a savory, cheesy flavor. Don’t reduce the quantity, it’s doing a lot of work in this sauce.
- Plant-based cream – Makes the sauce smooth and creamy. I suggest using soy or oat cooking cream with a 15% fat content – both are neutral in flavor and stable under heat.
- Vegetable broth – Adds depth and prevents the sauce from being too rich. Use either regular vegetable broth or Better Than Bouillon No Beef base.
- Vegan bacon bits – To replace the guanciale used in the traditional dish, I rely on my homemade vegan bacon bits. Pan-fry them until the edges are golden and crispy, then add them to the pasta.
- Ketchup and mustard – Two small additions that do a lot. Ketchup adds a subtle sweetness that rounds out the sauce. Mustard adds sharpness and a slight tang, keeping it from tasting flat. Together, they season the sauce in a way that’s hard to pinpoint but noticeable if you leave them out.
- Cornstarch – To thicken the sauce. Dissolve it in a small amount of water before adding to prevent lumps.
- Pasta – Spaghetti is the classic choice. Linguine also works well.
🥣 How to Make It
- Sauté the bacon bits. Heat the oil in a non-stick pan. Once hot, add the bacon bits.
- Sauté for 2-3 minutes, stirring regularly, until golden brown. Remove from the heat.
- Sauté the garlic. Sauté the minced garlic in the butter for 2 minutes, until fragrant.
- Add the seasonings. Next, add the nutritional yeast, ketchup, mustard, pepper, and salt.
- Pour in the liquid ingredients. Then, pour in the vegetable broth, plant-based cream, and diluted cornstarch.
- Cook for two minutes. Cook the sauce for about 2 minutes or until it has slightly thickened.
- Combine. Add the cooked spaghetti and sautéed bacon bits.
- Toss well to coat with the sauce and serve immediately!
📔 Tips for Getting It Right
Make the lardons ahead. If using homemade lardons, make a full batch in advance and store them in the refrigerator (they also freeze well for up to 2 months).
Salt the pasta water generously. Use about 3/4 tsp salt per 4 cups of water. Undersalted pasta will make the whole dish taste flatter, regardless of how well-seasoned the sauce is.
Reserve some of the pasta water. I recommend saving about 1/4 cup of the pasta cooking water before draining. Use it to loosen the sauce if it has thickened too much when tossing.
Plating. For a restaurant-style presentation, use kitchen tweezers to take a portion of spaghetti, place it inside a ladle, and twirl until it forms a nest. Then, carefully transfer to a plate and garnish with chopped chives and black pepper.
Serve immediately. Like most pasta dishes, this one is best served right away. The longer it sits, the more the pasta absorbs the sauce, and the drier the texture becomes.
💬 FAQs
Yes. You can use store-bought vegan bacon bits or smoked tofu cut into small cubes and pan-fried until crispy.
Any neutral-flavor vegan cream will work. I’ve tried this recipe with Flora 15% cooking cream and regular soy cream. Both yielded similar results. Avoid coconut cream as it would add a distinct flavor and overpower the other seasonings.
I don’t recommend it. What you can do, though, is make the sauce and lardons ahead and store them separately in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. Cook the pasta, reheat the sauce, and combine just before serving.
For a lighter option, reduce the butter to 2 tablespoons and use a light plant-based cream.
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Creamy Vegan Carbonara
Ingredients
- 5.3 ounces (150 g) uncooked spaghetti
- 1 tbsp (15 ml) oil
- 1/2 cup (67 g) vegan bacon bits
- 3 tbsp (42 g) vegan butter
- 2 cloves of garlic minced
- 2 tbsp (24 g) nutritional yeast
- 1 tbsp (14 g) ketchup
- 1 tsp (5 g) Dijon mustard
- 1/2 cup (120 ml) plant-based cream
- 1/2 cup (120 ml) vegetable broth
- 1/4 tsp ground black pepper
- 1/8 tsp kala namak salt
- 1 tsp (4 g) cornstarch (diluted in 2 tsp water)
- 1/8 to 1/4 tsp salt adjust to taste
Instructions
- Cook the pasta. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Once boiling, add the spaghetti and cook according to the package instructions. In the meantime, prepare the bacon bits and the sauce.
- Sauté the bacon bits. Heat the oil in a non-stick pan over medium heat. Once hot, add the bacon bits and sauté for 2-3 minutes or until the edges are golden brown and crispy. Remove from the heat and set aside.
- Sauté the garlic. Heat the butter in a deep non-stick skillet. Once melted, add the garlic and sauté for about 2 minutes.
- Add the remaining ingredients. Then, add the nutritional yeast, ketchup, Dijon mustard, plant-based cream, vegetable broth, ground black pepper, kala namak salt, and diluted cornstarch. Cook the sauce for 2 minutes, stirring regularly, until it has slightly thickened. At this point, taste the sauce and add more salt if needed. I ended up adding a bit more than 1/8 tsp salt.
- Combine. Drain the spaghetti and add it to the sauce along with the sautéed bacon bits. Toss until well combined and serve immediately!
Notes
About the Author
Thomas Pagot is the founder, photographer, and recipe developer behind Full of Plants. He created the blog in 2016 as a personal cookbook for vegan recipes. Through years of recipe development, Thomas has successfully grown Full of Plants into a trusted resource for plant-based recipes.
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Wowza! These photos look unreal. I made this as a quick test run before serving it for family on Sunday, and now I already know it’s gonna be a hit. The sauce was so creamy and flavorful that I ended up eating way more spaghetti than I normally do.😅
I also tried your trick for getting the spaghetti to hold that pretty shape on the plate and it worked so well. Such a cool technique. Really excited to make this again tomorrow for everyone!!