Recipe

Dairy-free carbonara

The authentic way!

Jul 05, 2022 2:00pm
  • 25 mins cooking
  • Serves 4
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This authentic carbonara sauce is thickened with eggs and doesn't use cheese, creating a light and healthy option that's naturally dairy-free. You can even use this sauce to create a dairy-free version of our famous pappardelle carbonara.
Looking for more carbonara recipes or our entire pasta collection?

Ingredients

Dairy-free carbonara
  • 375 grams casarecce or other pasta
  • 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
  • 2 cloves garlic, sliced thinly
  • 1 bunch kale, leaves picked, torn
  • 1 cup (120g) frozen peas
  • 4 egg yolks
Dairy-free parmesan
  • ¾ cup (115g) raw cashews
  • ⅓ cup (25g) nutritional yeast flakes
  • ¾ teaspoon sea salt flakes
  • ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
Pick-your-protein
  • 4 rindless bacon slices (260g), chopped finely OR
  • 1 cup (150g) frozen broad (fava) beans, thawed, peeled OR
  • 150 grams smoked salmon slices

Method

Diary-free carbonara
  • 1
    To make dairy-free parmesan, process cashews, nutritional yeast, sea salt and garlic powder into a fine meal, similar in consistency to finely grated parmesan cheese (see tips).
  • 2
    Cook pasta in a large saucepan of boiling salted water until tender. Drain; reserve ¼ cup cooking liquid. Return pasta to pan.
  • 3
    Meanwhile, heat oil in a medium frying pan over medium heat. If your choice of protein is bacon, cook for 5 minutes or until starting to crisp. Add garlic and kale to pan; cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Add peas. If your choice of protein is broad beans, add to pan too. Cook, stirring, until heated through.
  • 4
    Combine egg yolks and ¾ cup of the dairy-free parmesan in a small bowl.
  • 5
    Add kale mixture, egg mixture and reserved cooking liquid
    to pasta; stir over medium heat for 1 minute.
  • 6
    Divide pasta mixture among plates or bowls. If your choice of protein is smoked salmon, divide among plates too. Serve with remaining parmesan.

Notes

If you'd prefer to use regular parmesan, use ¾ cup (100g) finely grated parmesan in step 4, then serve with regular parmesan
in step 6. Store dairy-free parmesan in an airtight container in the fridge
for up to 2 months. Use as you would regular parmesan.

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