Name: Vegan Carbonara with Pumpkin
Prep time: 12 min
Cook time: 10 min
Total time: 20 min
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: Water, as needed; 1 pound long, thin pasta (i.e., linguini, spaghetti, or bucatini); 1 1/2 cups reserved pasta cooking water; 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil; 1 medium onion, diced; 3 cloves garlic, minced; 5 ounces mushrooms, sliced; 6 ounces tempeh bacon (or make it yourself; see below), sliced into small pieces, about ½-inches; 2 teaspoons fresh or dried thyme; ½ teaspoon black pepper; ¼ teaspoon red chili pepper flakes; 1/2 teaspoon salt (optional); 1 (15-ounce can) pumpkin puree (or homemade pumpkin puree); ½ cup Vegan parmesan cheese (or make it yourself here)

Sharon Palmer RD

Published on November 18, 2024

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You can make the most amazing Italian carbonara recipe ever, based totally on plants. Yes, that’s right! This rich Vegan Carbonara with Pumpkin calls upon canned pumpkin puree, mushrooms, and tempeh bacon to create a rich, creamy pasta main dish that is both hearty and satisfying. It only takes about 20 minutes to whip up this easy carbonara recipe as the main event of your meal, which is amazing served along with a crisp side salad. You can even serve the vegan pasta dish right out of the pan to cut down on dishes and cleanup time. While you can use canned pumpkin puree, try homemade pumpkin puree to make this recipe even fresher. Learn how to make scratch pumpkin puree from fresh pumpkins here. You can make this recipe gluten-free by using gluten-free tempeh and pasta.

What is Carbonara?

It is a simple, rustic Italian pasta dish, which originates from Rome dating back to the 20th century. Its trademark ingredients are a long thin pasta, such as spaghetti or linguine, eggs, cured pork (bacon), hard cheese, and black pepper. To make this recipe vegan, I took a spin off the original roots of carbonara recipes to remove the meat, eggs, and cheese, and replace them with tempeh bacon and pumpkin for creaminess, flavor, and color.

How to Make Carbonara

You start by cooking your pasta in boiling water until al dente. Then you reserve some of the pasta water for later. While this is cooking, you can sauté the tempeh bacon and mushrooms, and add the pumpkin, creamer, reserved pasta water, and seasonings. Then top with vegan parmesan cheese. Yum!

Watch Sharon make this recipe in this Instagram video here.

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Vegan Carbonara with Pumpkin

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Author: The Plant-Powered Dietitian
Total Time: 20 minutes
Yield: 8 servings 1x
Diet: Vegan

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Description

Make the best carbonara recipe ever with this Vegan Carbonara with Pumpkin, which is filled with the flavors of tempeh bacon, pumpkin, mushrooms, and pasta. This vegan carbonara is a healthy, easy one-dish meal you can get on the table in 20 minutes!

Ingredients

Scale

Water, as needed
1 pound long, thin pasta (i.e., linguini, spaghetti, or bucatini)
1 1/2 cups reserved pasta cooking water
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 medium onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
5 ounces mushrooms, sliced
6 ounces tempeh bacon (or make it yourself; see below), sliced into small pieces, about ½-inches
2 teaspoons fresh or dried thyme
½ teaspoon black pepper
¼ teaspoon red chili pepper flakes
1/2 teaspoon salt (optional)
1 (15-ounce can) pumpkin puree (or homemade pumpkin puree)
½ cup Vegan parmesan cheese (or make it yourself here)

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Instructions

Add water to a large pot until it’s about half full. Cover, place on burner, and bring to a boil on high heat.
Add pasta, reduce heat to medium, cover, and cook until al dente, following manufacturer’s instructions for pasta (i.e., about 7 minutes for many types of pasta). Remove cooked pasta from the water, drain, and set aside, reserving 1 ½ cups pasta water for later.
While pasta is cooking, heat a large sauté pan over medium heat and add olive oil.
Add onions and garlic and sauté for 5 minutes.
Add mushrooms, tempeh bacon, thyme, black pepper, red chili pepper flakes, salt (optional), and ½ cup reserved pasta water, and sauté for 4 minutes.
Add pumpkin puree and stir well. Add 1/2 cup reserved pasta water and stir well.
Add cooked, drained pasta and stir gently until well coated. Add additional reserved pasta water as needed to create a moist, creamy texture.
Top with vegan parmesan cheese and serve immediately.
Make 8 servings (about 1 ½ cups pasta per serving)

Notes

Learn how to make your own smoky tempeh bacon here—follow the recipe, except for omit the step of pan-frying or baking it. Just marinate the sliced tempeh bacon, drain it, and use the tempeh in step 5.

Learn how to make your own pumpkin puree here.

To make this recipe gluten-free, use gluten-free pasta and tempeh.