Gastroplant logo

Cheese

Dinner

Vegan Carbonara with King Oyster Bacon

This Vegan Carbonara Spaghetti has a silky, umami sauce and smoky, chewy “bacon” made from king oyster mushrooms.  It tastes like it’s loaded with egg and cheese but contains neither. Takes just 20 minutes to cook.

Easy Creamy Vegan Carbonara Spaghetti for Dinner

An Intro to Vegan Carbonara

A few weeks ago I developed and shared a recipe for Primavera Pasta. It has a light and tangy cream sauce made from silken tofu and miso. My wife and I both enjoyed that one a lot so I wanted to continue experimenting with tofu-based pasta sauces. 

I actually used a carbonara recipe as my starting point for that recipe, so I went ahead and developed this recipe from it as well.

Vegan Carbonara Pasta with Mushrooms

Why Make this Vegan Carbonara?

I made some tweaks to the recipe to emphasize the things I really like about carbonara pasta – the richness of the sauce and the smokiness of the “pork”.

The sauce is really rich and almost eggy-tasting due to the addition of “black salt” (aka kala namak) which is actually light pink in color. The original carbonara relies heavily on egg yolks so I used black salt to bring the dish closer in line with the original.

Traditional carbonara recipes use some type of cured pork product (guanciale, pancetta, bacon). It adds an oily mouthfeel, some umami, sometimes smokiness, and a fatty-chewy texture to the dish. I adapted my shiitake bacon recipe to be made with king oyster mushrooms and used here. 

The king oyster bacon is smoky, slightly sweet, umami, and closely mimics the fatty-chewy texture of cured pork.

Cooking Vegan Carbonara on the Stove

The Cooking Process

There are four basic components to this recipe:

  1. Boiling the pasta
  2. Make the king oyster bacon: this involves cutting and marinating the mushrooms, then frying them in a skillet on the stove
  3. Blending the sauce ingredients together
  4. Combining everything, mixing it, and heating it through before serving

The easiest and quickest way to make this dish is to start heating the pasta-boiling pot, then prep and marinate the mushrooms. While the water is heating and the mushrooms marinating, blend the sauce ingredients together. You can boil the pasta and fry the “bacon” (once it’s done marinating) at the same time.

Multitasking like this allows you to really speed this recipe up.

Smoky Vegan King Oyster Mushroom Bacon

Cooking King Oyster Mushroom “Bacon”

A Few Notes Before You Start

If you’re not familiar with black salt (aka kala namak), it’s available in Indian grocery stores and on Amazon. It adds a subtle sulfurous “eggy” taste to dishes. It goes nicely in tofu breakfast scrambles for this reason.

On the topic of black salt, don’t freak out when you blend the sauce ingredients together and the sauce smells super eggy. This is normal and not representative of the actual flavor of the sauce. The sauce will be much, much milder.

In this dish, it’s best to use a fairly thick, long pasta, such as this artisanal spaghetti from Italy. For affordable quality, you can’t go wrong with the thick spaghetti from Barilla which is available at most grocery stores. And for a lower-carb protein boost, I really like black bean pasta, even if the texture is a bit different.

Two Plates of Quick Vegan Carbonara Spaghetti with Mushroom Bacon

More Tasty Plant-Based Italian-Inspired Pasta Recipes

Vegan Spaghetti Carbonara

If you try this recipe out, let me know! Leave a comment, rate it (once you’ve tried it), and take a picture and tag it @gastroplant on Instagram! I’d love to see what you come up with.

Easy Vegan Spaghetti Carbonara with Mushroom Bacon
Print Recipe

Vegan Carbonara with King Oyster Mushroom Bacon

This Vegan Carbonara Spaghetti has a silky, umami sauce and smoky, chewy “bacon” made from king oyster mushrooms. It tastes like it’s loaded with egg and cheese but contains neither. Takes just 20 minutes to cook.
Prep Time5 mins
Cook Time20 mins
Course: Dinner
Cuisine: Italian
Servings: 4
Author: Thomas

Ingredients

  • 8-12 ounces long pasta thick spaghetti or similar (230-340 grams)

King Oyster Mushroom Bacon

  • 8 ounces king oyster mushroom
  • 2 Tablespoons liquid smoke
  • 2 Tablespoons soy sauce
  • 2 Tablespoons natural unsalted peanut butter
  • 4 Tablespoons maple syrup
  • 2 Tablespoons olive oil

Sauce

  • 8 ounces soft silken tofu (230 grams)
  • 1/4 cup nutritional yeast
  • 1/2 cup sauerkraut brine
  • 2 teaspoons black salt aka kala namak
  • 1 Tablespoon white miso
  • 1/4 cup olive oil

Garnish/topping

  • 2 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice
  • Black pepper to taste
  • Vegan parmesan cheese

Instructions

Set the pasta water to boil

  • Cook the pasta according to the instructions but for 1 minute less than advised for al dente. You can work on the other steps while waiting for the water to boil. Drain and rinse the pasta with cold water when finished. Reserve 1 cup of the boiling water for later.

Prepare and marinate the mushrooms

  • Slice the king oyster into bite-sized pieces about 1/8 inch (3 millimeters) thick. Combine the liquid smoke, soy sauce, peanut butter, and maple syrup in a medium-sized bowl. Stir until well-combined. Add the sliced mushroom. Stir well to coat. Use a spoon to scoop marinade over the mushroom pieces periodically as they marinate for the next 10 minutes.

Blend the sauce

  • Combine all the ingredients for the sauce in a blender. Blend on medium until well-combined, 30 seconds or so. Don’t be alarmed if the sauce has a strong eggy aroma when you remove the lid. You can also use an immersion blender and glass for this step.

Cook the mushrooms

  • When the mushrooms have finished marinating, heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. When hot, add the mushrooms and all the marinade. Spread the mushrooms into a single layer.
  • Cook until all the liquid has evaporated and the mushrooms are browned, crispy, and cooked through, about 10 minutes. As you saute the mushrooms, use a pair of tongs or chopsticks to “wipe up” the crispy bits as if the mushrooms are tiny sponges. The goal is to coat the mushrooms in the crispy dried marinade.

Combine everything

  • Add the pasta and sauce to the skillet with the mushrooms. Stir to coat well. Cook until the pasta is heated through and al dente, 1-2 minutes. Add a few spoonfuls of the boiling water if the sauce becomes too thick.

Serve

  • Dish the pasta onto plates, taking care to distribute the mushrooms evenly among them. Garnish with a splash of lemon juice, a few grinds of black pepper, and shredded vegan parmesan. Enjoy immediately.

Notes

The amount of pasta you use depends on personal preference. Less pasta means a saucier dish.
Easy Vegan Carbonara Spaghetti with King Oyster Mushroom Bacon

Breakfast

Vegan Cheese Grits

These vegan cheese grits are creamy and fulfilling, yet simple and quick to make. In just 10 minutes, you can whip up these versatile grits for your brunch spread.

Easy vegan cheese grits

The cheese grits of my childhood

Having grown up in Georgia, a lot of the food from my childhood was Southern. My family wasn’t exactly from the South, but we were quick to adopt some Southern foods into our everyday meals.

Cheese grits were one of those foods. My mom would cook a gallon or so of plain grits, then pack it up in containers and freeze them. She would reheat the grits each morning, usually adding a slice of American cheese and stirring it in, before serving them to my sister, my brother, and me. This was meal prep for kids, early 90s style.

The grits were very simple, but a hot bowl of them was a comforting way to start each day. The consistency was thick enough to stay hot down to the last bite and the flavor was cheesy and savory.

This was before “shrimp and grits” was a dish on menus of fancy restaurants around the country, when grits were more of a humble dish that was cheap and filling.

Vegan cheese grits on the breakfast table

Making a childhood memory plant-based

I wanted to recapture the elements of this childhood staple in a way that stays true to the flavor and simplicity of the original. Using a combination of plant-based milk, butter, and cheese, plus nutritional yeast, I was able to match the original pretty closely.

The recipe included in this post is only slightly more complicated than the original, as it uses vegetable broth and plant milk instead of water for boiling the grits. These two liquids lend some savoriness and creaminess to the dish without much extra effort.

Vegan cheese grits plated

What to serve with vegan cheese grits

There are traditional accompaniments to grits that go well with this version, but there are also some other, less common ones you should consider.

Grits are often served alongside some kind of greasy animal protein (bacon, sausage, eggs) and these grits go well with plant-based counterparts of those. Beyond Meat’s Italian and brat-style sausages might be the most delicious plant meats I’ve tried, and they are perfect with the grits.  When I made my shiitake bacon, I served it with these grits and the smokiness created a great contrast. There are even plant-based scrambled eggs from Follow Your Heart and Just that accompany the cheese grits beautifully as well.

However, given the rich, creamy, cheesy, and salty flavor profile of the grits, you can create greater contrast by pairing items that are not also rich (i.e. not greasy) and use other tastebuds than the salty/savory ones. I found that collard greens, very lightly steamed and dressed with vinegar, are phenomenal with these cheese grits. Combining the gentle bitterness of the greens and sourness of the vinegar, you take breakfast from one dimension to three. I can’t overstate the value of these other flavors, not to mention the nourishment you get from greens. Try it with collards, chard, kale, or spinach. A formula for these optional greens is included in the recipe.

Two bowls of vegan cheese grits for breakfast

Some notes before you get started

This recipe uses plain, untreated, non-hominy corn grits or coarse cornmeal. It has a yellow color. Some grits are traditionally made from another type, nixtamalized cornmeal (“hominy grits”), which has been treated with an alkali solution. It has a white color. That type of grits takes much longer to cook and should not be used for this recipe unless you’re prepared to experiment with different ratios and cooking times.

This recipe produces a fairly thick porridge, almost thick enough to eat with a fork. Grits can and are often made much thinner, closer to a soup. If you like your grits thinner, you’ll need to add more liquid. See the notes in the recipe for more information.

The two liquids included in the recipe, vegetable broth and plant milk, are interchangeable with each other. They can even be replaced by water if you want to simplify the recipe. Using water will alter the flavor profile and you may want to add more salt or nutritional yeast if you make this change.

If the grits become too thick, you can add liquid (broth, plant milk, or water), stir well, and (re)heat.

Vegan cheese grits in a bowl with greens
Print Recipe
5 from 1 vote

Vegan Cheese Grits

These vegan cheese grits are creamy and fulfilling, yet simple and quick to make. In just 10 minutes, you can whip up these versatile grits for your brunch spread.
Prep Time5 mins
Cook Time10 mins
Total Time15 mins
Course: Breakfast
Cuisine: American
Servings: 4

Ingredients

  • 2 cups vegetable broth
  • 2 cups unflavored unsweetened plant milk
  • 1 cup cornmeal
  • 1/2 cup nutritional yeast
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt plus more to taste
  • 1/4 cup plant-based shredded cheese
  • 1 Tablespoon plant-based butter optional

Collard greens

  • 6 leaves collard greens shredded
  • 1/2 Tablespoon vinegar
  • salt to taste

Instructions

  • Combine vegetable broth and plant milk in a medium saucepan. Bring to a gentle boil over medium heat. Add cornmeal and stir well with a fork or whisk. Reduce to low heat.
  • Simmer for 5 minutes, stirring frequently to prevent buildup and scorching on the bottom of the pot. It can be helpful to use a stiff spatula for this.
  • Stir in the nutritional yeast, cheese, and salt.
  • If the consistency is too thick for your liking, stir in more vegetable broth, plant milk, or water, 1/4 cup at a time, until it is thin enough. Each time you add liquid, stir for 30 seconds over low heat, so that the consistency is even and the grits are heated through.
  • If the consistency is too thin for your liking, continue to simmer over low heat until the desired consistency is reached.
  • Taste the grits and add salt to taste. You can add more cheese if you like, as well.
  • Serve hot, topping with 1/4 tablespoon of plant-based butter (if using) on each serving.

Prepare collard greens

  • Place collard greens in a large microwave-safe bowl. Cover bowl with a plate. Microwave on high for 1 minute. Taste a piece of collard green stem. If it is tender enough to eat and the greens are an even bright color, they are ready to serve. 
  • If the greens are not ready, cover the bowl, return it to the microwave and heat for 15-second intervals until the greens are cooked.
  • Add vinegar onto the cooked greens. Add a few sprinkles of salt. Mix well. Taste. Add more salt or vinegar as needed.
  • Serve immediately.

Notes

The two types of liquid in the recipe, vegetable broth and plant milk, are interchangeable. You can replace all of one with the same amount of the other, based on your preference or what you have on hand. Using more plant milk will make the dish creamier, while more stock will make it more savory.
You can also use water in place of the broth and milk. If you do, you may want to add more salt and nutritional yeast.
This recipe follows a general ratio of 4:1, liquid:cornmeal and results in fairly thick grits. Some recipes use as much as 5:1 (and cook as long as 30 minutes).
The grits will keep for 5 days in an airtight container in the fridge. You may need to stir in more liquid when reheating.
Vegan cheese grits collage