I LOVE a good carbonara and this vegan carbonara is creamy, cheesy and eggy. You’ll never know it is missing eggs and cheese. Traditionally, carbonara has bacon in it. However, I traded the bacon for sausage and now you guys have the most delicious vegan sausage carbonara EVER! The sauce may sound a little strange to you, tofu? Pickle juice? I promise it works and is so rich and so amazing. It is so addictive and extremely easy!
What You Need For This Yummy Carbonara:
- Vegan Sausages: I used Beyond sausages.
- Linguine: Any long pasta will work, but linguine is my favorite for this dish.
- Firm Tofu: I like to use firm tofu, not extra firm. It makes a nice creamy smooth sauce.
- Vegetable Broth: This goes into the sauce to help blend everything.
- Pickle Juice: This helps make that perfect carbonara sauce flavoring. It gives it an eggy feel.
- Nutritional Yeast: For a bit of that cheesy flavor.
- Smoked Paprika, Salt, Red Pepper, Black Pepper: To season the sauce.
- Vegan Parmesan: I used Follow Your Heart.
This vegan sausage carbonara is so comforting and so yummy. You’ll be coming back for seconds and hoping for leftovers. It is even super delish reheated. Just sauté the sausage, boil your pasta, make the sauce in a blender. Then add the pasta and sauce to the pan with the sausage. Add a little vegan Parmesan and pasta water and you’ve got yourself the yummiest pasta ever! You can use your favorite kind of vegan sausage. I used spicy Italian, but most kinds would be really good with this carbonara sauce.
Why Should You Make This Dreamy Pasta?
- It is crazy easy.
- Comfort food at its finest.
- It is creamy, salty, and cheesy AF.
- Another perfect meal to convince those vegan naysayers.
- Carbs forever!
Vegan Sausage Carbonara
Ingredients
- 8 Ounces(about 1/2 a block) Firm tofu (not extra firm)
- 1/2 Cup Vegetable broth
- 2 Tablespoons Pickle juice
- 1/4 Cup Nutritional yeast
- 1/2 teaspoon Paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon Salt
- Pinch of Red pepper
- 12 Ounces Linguine or other long pasta
- 1/4 Cup Reserved pasta water or more if needed
- 1 Tablespoon Olive oil
- 2 Vegan sausages, diced (I used Beyond Meat)
- 1/4 Cup Vegan Parmesan, I used Follow Your Heart, plus more for topping
Instructions
- Make the sauce first. Squeeze as much liquid out of the tofu as possible over the sink. Don't worry if it starts to crumble you will be adding it to a blender.
- Add the tofu, broth, pickle juice, nutritional yeast, paprika, salt and red pepper to a blender. Blend on high until the sauce is completely smooth. It may take a few minutes depending on your blender. Set aside.
- Cook the pasta according to package directions, making sure to reserve some pasta water for the sauce. Drain the remaining water when the pasta is done.
- Now, in a large non-stick skillet, heat the olive oil on medium high. Then add the diced sausages.
- Sauté, reducing heat as needed, until the sausage is brown. About 4-5 minutes.
- Once the pasta is done, add the pasta to the skillet with the sausage. Reduce the heat to low.
- Then pour the sauce you made into the skillet as well as the reserved pasta water and the vegan Parmesan. Toss to combine. Add a little more pasta water if you want it to be a little creamier.
- Taste and adjust seasonings. Serve immediately with extra vegan Parmesan if desired.
Nutrition
As always, this recipe looks amazing. I am wondering, since my husband and I do not eat pickles can we use sauerkraut juice instead?
Yes! I think that will work!
I made this and it was excellent! Literally the first vegan carbonara that tastes the way I remember carbonara – eggy, cheesy and creamy. I did use extra-firm tofu because it was all I had but it still worked great with a bit of extra broth. This will definitely be going into regular meal rotation in my kitchen.. Thanks Lauren!
Delicious, even without the vegan cheese.
Wow! This reminded me sooo much of the real thing. I only made a couple substitutions and it turned out great. I used Sweet Earth bacon instead of sausage and pickled pepperoncini juice instead of normal pickle juice.
I saw this recipe last week and today was my first chance to make it. I love it! In my pre-vegan days, during two trips around Italy, I ate A LOT of carbonara. It was something I had expected to never eat again, which was fine. But thanks to you, once again, no one needs to die for me to eat one of my favorite foods. You have so broadened my culinary horizons. 😊
I made this today using smoked tofu with black salt – oh my goodness, it was the best tasting thing I have had for a long time! Husband and I were moaning and groaning throughout the meal LOL
This was excellent! I was skeptical because I tried the blended sauce by itself and it didn’t taste too good—- but when added to the sausage and pasta and heated up it changed into something magical. Thank you for your recipe!!
Would it make sense at all to try this with silken tofu, instead of firm?
Thank you for this recipe – its so tasty!! Loved it. When I made it I though something was just slightly off with the texture, but I’m realizing four hours later I forgot to add pasta water to the sauce! Lol. Even with the mistake it still was delicious.
I added minced garlic to the skillet while sauteeing the sausages, but aside from that n the mistake I made, I followed the recipe n it came out great. Can’t wait to make again 🙂