The Spicy Spatula

What do you do when your latest order of vegan food arrives in the mail and vegan bacon is inside? You make some version of vegan carbonara, but you don’t call it carbonara because all the Italian food purists will throw a giant hissy fit.

My partner made a simple request, vegan pasta carbonara and I got a little creative with the ingredients, including broccoli and my own vegan bechamel-style cheese.

The ingredients for this vegan pasta (not) carbonara is pretty simple: pasta (I used linguine), broccoli, nutritional yeast, vegan bacon, plant milk, garlic, shallots and peanut oil.

And the best thing about this vegan pasta dish is that it is quick and easy to make. Just heat the oil and add the shallots and vegan bacon until crisp. Full disclosure, the vegan product I used was more like ham than bacon and it did NOT crisp up, no matter how long I cooked it so if you’re looking for that…look elsewhere.

Add the broccoli and cook until tender. If you feel like a few more germ-fighting properties, add garlic as well.

At the same time, make the cheesy vegan bechamel and mix it with the noodles and vegetables. Toss together and serve.

It’s just that simple.

I was really in the mood for linguine pasta, that’s why I used it but the great thing about vegan pasta recipes is that you can use pretty much any pasta you want. Use what you have or try something new, the choice is yours.

Do you have a favorite brand of vegan bacon? Drop links in the comments, I’m always looking for new vegan products to test out.