Vegan Carbonara Style Spaghetti with Crackd

Hello! I’m back from my break, I hope 2022 is treating you well so far. So, obviously this isn’t a traditional carbonara recipe. There’s no dairy hard cheese, cured meat or eggs, but part of veganising non-vegan dishes is having to swap animal products for plant based versions.

To potentially add insult to injury, for some reason most shop bought carbonara sauces in the UK contain cream, I don’t know why we do that, but we do. So that’s why I include dairy free cream in this carbonara inspired sauce, I realise this isn’t traditional. I already have a recipe for a creamy carbonara style spaghetti, but it didn’t have any egg replacement element. So as I’ve been cooking with Crackd for a little while now, I wanted to tweak my recipe to include this. The end result is a tasty, rich, creamy cheesy sauce, which coats the spaghetti beautifully

Yield; Two servings Cook time; 10-15 minutes

You’ll need;

15g dairy free butter/oil, I used salted plant butter by Flora
100g meat free bacon/gammon, diced. I used Vbites Gammon Style Roast
150ml dairy free cream, I used my homemade tofu cream, read more about how I make it here
100ml Crackd no egg egg replacement, you can buy this from M&S, Morrisons, or online from The Vegan Kind Supermarket, to read more about Crackd and find stockists Click Here
50g dairy free cheese, grated
150g (this is the dry, uncooked weight) spaghetti
Salt and black pepper to taste

Method;

Start by bringing a large pan of salted water to a boil, add the spaghetti and cook as per the instructions on the packet
While the pasta cooks, heat the butter/oil in a frying pan over a low-medium heat, once melted add in the meat free bacon/gammon
Fry for around six or seven minutes, or until the edges start to crisp up, turning every now and then
Next, in a mixing bowl add the cream, crackd and cheese. Whisk them together until well combined
Once the spaghetti is cooked, drain it but retain around a ladle full of the pasta water. Add the pasta into the frying pan, then pour the sauce over the top. Stir the pasta water through the sauce to thin it down a little. Season the sauce to taste with a little salt and plenty of black pepper
Cook for a couple of minutes, stirring often. Once the sauce is bubbling and the cheese has melted, it’s ready to serve