Today we are making Veggie Carbonara with Vegan Bacon & Peas. Except, this isn’t really carbonara at all. Its kind of just creamy pasta made with veggies for extra health benefits. But you know what? Real carbonara is kind of weird to me! The sauce is mostly egg and cheese. Which, honestly, is kind of hard to make vegan. So we’re just doing a vegetable-based sauce that’s creamy, salty and a little bit cheesy and topping it with fun toppings like vegan bacon and green peas for a pop of colour.
This sauce is a similar idea as my Roasted Vegetable Pasta, but quite different in flavour! The veggies are roasted all together in the oven, then blended with some vegan cream (or coconut cream) and spices to create a luxuriously smooth and creamy sauce that is lower in fat and high in nutrients!
Veggies blended into pasta sauce is such a great sneaky way to get more vegetables into your daily diet. Its also a great sneaky way to get kids to eat more veggies without them knowing or caring!
For the bacon, I used our local vegan butcher shop Real Fake meats. You can buy vegan bacon at most well-stocked grocery stores, or you can substitute a different meat alternative if that’s more your style.
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Veggie Carbonara with Vegan Bacon & Peas
- Total Time: 50 minutes
- Yield: 4 servings
Description
Creamy vegetable-based sauce that tastes great and makes you feel great too.
Ingredients
- 2 cloves garlic, whole
- 1/2 onion, chopped
- 1 cup peeled and diced squash or sweet potato
- 1 carrot, peeled and chopped
- 1 cup cauliflower florets
- 1 tbsp oil
- 1/2 cup vegan cream or coconut cream (I use Earth’s Own Oat Cream)
- 1/2 tsp salt
- black pepper to taste
- 1 tbsp nutritional yeast
- 300g pasta of choice
- 1/2 cup chopped vegan bacon
- 1/2 cup green peas
- 1/4 cup shredded fresh basil (optional, for garnish)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Add garlic, onion, squash, carrot and cauliflower to the pan and drizzle with oil. Bake for 30 minutes, flipping halfway through, until fork-tender.
- Meanwhile, cook pasta according to package directions, and before draining, reserve 1/2 cup pasta water.
- Remove from pan and allow to cool a few minutes. Place into a blender with the vegan cream, salt and pepper and nutritional yeast and blend until smooth and creamy. Add splashes of pasta water as needed if it seems too thick.
- Add pasta back to pot along with the sauce and heat on low, stirring to coat, until pasta is hot.
- In a small frying pan on medium heat, add a drizzle of oil, the vegan bacon and peas. Cook a few minutes until bacon starts to brown.
- Serve pasta. Top with the bacon & peas and basil, if using. Add more salt and pepper as needed. Enjoy!
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 40 minutes
