Vegetarian ‘Carbonara’ With Spinach Recipe (2024)

Smoked sun-dried tomatoes are a good substitute for the bacon found in the traditional version.

Very tasty but I made a few adjustments, which worked better for me. I added the spinach to the onion garlic mixture at the last minute before adding to the pasta, which helped it wilt better for me. Also, I added sliced baby portobellos because, well, I just love mushrooms with pasta. Overall, I was surprised as to how tasty this was with minimal spices added to it.

make it vegan by using yummy nutritional yeast....vegan butter....some soy for umami....dairy free half and half ......soy milk powder.....who needs parmesan and cream....v tasty indeed....no eggs or dairy.....

This is probably counter to the spirit of this recipe, but I added two fried eggs along with the wilting spinach and thought it was an excellent decision. It’s also important to use very large pot, or else you’ll end up with spinach overflowing everywhere like I did!

I love this dish! I made it exactly as written the first time, which I usually do. It's very satisfying and rich if you follow the directions. No, 2 cups of pasta water is NOT too much; you'll need and use it all. No, a full pound of fresh spinach is NOT too much; it cooks down to perfection. The traditional carbonara probably got its name from the fact that the copious black pepper in the dish looks like flakes of coal dust. This dish has that, too. Just make it and enjoy it!

Also want to say congratulations on the recognition! The NYT What to Cook This Week is my favorite email:-). I love experimenting and trying new ways of cooking familiar dishes. Thank you!

In order for this to be a truly vegetarian dish be sure your Parmesan (and any other cheeses) are not made with animal rennet.

why leave out the egg? With the egg, it would still be vegetarian but not vegan. Without the egg, it's vegetarian but not vegan (butter and cheese)?

Baby arugula for the spinach is a nice substitution. Love this style of "white sauce" pasta dishes!

This dish is only good if it's hot, so warm the plates in an oven and hold off on cooking until everyone is ready to eat. Otherwise, great dish and there will be no left overs.

I added diced mushrooms and small cherry tomatoes (cut its half) to the first step. And with the lemon juice I added some lemon zest.It was delicious.

I would have modified the spinach - less! It takes way too long to wilt all that spinach (a lb is an enormous amount!) and the pasta was cold by the time it was ready. Possibly, I would even wilt the spinach in a separate pan (use the onion/garlic pan) and wilt it in advance. But the flavors were delicious and a nice, healthy alternative to the carnivorous version!

Not a very interesting dish....lots of noodles and not a lot of flavor.

It sounds like a deconstructed spinach pesto. A handful of toasted chopped nuts would add more protein. I have arugula. Would that work?

Watch out; I haven’t made this yet but a favorite nyt pasta combo used only 1/4 cup pasta water.

This definitely has the potential to be bland. We added an anchovy. Agree with the commenter who added white wine and would try this next time. Would probably make again and add some more flavour enhancers.

I think it’s a great idea to sauté with spinach with the onion and garlic! Takes a lot of effort to wilt it with the pasta. But overall, the pasta is delicious.

This was delicious thanks to my fellow subscribers! Used arugula and basil instead of spinach, added sun dried tomatoes and roasted pine nuts and finished with 3 eggs whipped with pasta water pecorino. This was a wonderful weekday veggie dish!

This was delicious thanks to the notes from my fellow subscribers! Used arugula and basil instead of spinach added sun dried tomatoes and roasted pine nuts. Used 3 eggs blended with pasta water and finished with pecorino 😋

I thought this was very basic and I used a LOT of cheese. Wouldn’t make it again.

I've made this a few times now. It's a really delicious dish. As others have said, it's not a carbonara, but whatever, it's very good. I made it as written, except I'm not a fan of smoked cheese so I used a good Fontina. Very nice.

Still tastes great without the onion if you are sensitive to them.

I cut out the parm and added a bunch of nooch because we are cutting back on cheese (kept the butter, though), doubled the lemon juice, and also added some diced tomatoes that we needed to use up - so good!

used 1/4 lb. pasta and a full bunch of spinach--enough for two people or two meals for one. Delicious!

Mae this twice now. The first time exactly as written, and i liked it very much. Tonight I replaced the spinach with asparagus and some mushrooms, since it's May and I have a ton of Asparagus from the garden. It was just as good. I agree that it's not really a Carbonara, but it is a very nice dish. I used about half as much pasta in both cases

Loved the Recipe. But perhaps edit the steps as I am in college, saw a 20 minute meal, :) completed step one for 10 minutes only to realize that during that time I need to cook the pasta. : (

This is a good pasta dish, but calling it carbonara is a bit silly.

Great recipe as-is, however, tonight I made it with the “traditional” carbonara egg/parmesan sauce (added egg/cheese/pasta water to the pasta immediately after draining). Once I was happy with the consistency, I proceeded with the recipe and added the spinach (which I also increased to 18oz). Perfect!

I followed the recipe -- except I cut the pasta in half. I still didn't think it was very flavorful, so before I served it, I threw in some shrimp and vegetarian sausage. My husband covered it with Crystal and said it was good. Me, I still found it bland.

I've made this recipe a number of times as written, and other times added crisp crumbled bacon as topping instead of the smoked cheese. All are delicious!