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Mushroom Spaghetti Carbonara

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This is a vegetarian-friendly alternative to the classic dish Spaghetti Carbonara, it is a delightful twist on the Italian dish that substitutes the meat for delicious crispy and chewy mushrooms

Combining the rich flavors of creamy carbonara sauce with umami filled, earthy mushrooms. This recipe offers a satisfying and comforting meal that will make sure to impress family and friends.

So, lets dive into to the steps to create this mouthwatering Mushroom Carbonara!

What you’ll need

Mushroom Carbonara

A delicious twist on the classic Spaghetti Carbonara, with crispy smokey mushrooms instead of guanciale or pancetta
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Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes
Servings 4

Ingredients
  

  • 8 ounces Spaghetti (or fettucine)
  • 1 tbsp Olive oil extra virgin
  • 1 big Onion (or shallot)
  • 4 Cloves Garlic
  • 1 tbsp Butter
  • 8 ounces Mushrooms (or portabella mushrooms)
  • 3 Eggs
  • ½ cup Parmigiano-Reggiano Grated

Spices

  • 1 tsp Smoked paprika
  • 1 tsp MSG (Mononatriumglutamat)
  • Salt to taste
  • Pepper to taste

Instructions

The trick behind making this dish taste as good as a regular Carbonara lies in perfecting the mushrooms, I have cultivated what I deem to be a very great recipe and technique to make your mushrooms a worthy replacement for the Guanciale or pancetta.

Guanciale is a very salty and fatty piece of meat, it also has a smoky taste to it, which can be hard to achieve from vegetables, the solution I have come up with includes smoked paprika and MSG to give the mushrooms that smoky and “meaty” umami flavor.

Finally lets take a look at the step-by-step instructions!

  1. Heat up the olive oil in a Stainless Steel Pan over medium heat
  2. When the pan is hot put the sliced mushrooms in the pan, make sure its sizzling, cook for a couple of minutes
  3. Salt and season the mushrooms with the smoked paprika and MSG cook for another 2-4 minutes
  4. In the meantime bring a pot of heavily salted water to a boil, start boiling the pasta once the water is bubbling
  5. After the mushrooms have accumulated a nice crust put a bit of butter in the pan and put the diced onions and garlic in and mix
  6. In a separate bowl mix together two egg yolks and one whole egg, mix it around as if you’re making scrambled eggs, then add the grated parmesan and a couple cracks of freshly cracked pepper
  7. Once the pasta is cooked to al dente, put the pasta in the pan, reserve a cup of the salty and starchy pasta water, add in gradually make sure not to add too much to not make the dish wet
  8. Turn the pan down to a very low heat, mix the egg and cheese mixture in the pan, make sure to move the sauce and pasta around to emulsify the sauce with the mushrooms and pasta, add more pasta water if needed – make sure to not overheat the egg mixture, or else you’ll make spaghetti scrambled eggs
  9. Once the pasta has emulsified with the sauce and you have a cohesive dish, make sure to give it a taste and give it salt and pepper to taste, you might not necessarily need to salt it any more since the pasta water contained salt. Serve on a plate or in a shallow bowl, decorate with fresh cracked pepper and a little drizzle of olive oil and Enjoy!