290

Creamy, smoky, and completely plant based, this spaghetti squash carbonara is a delicious twist on a classic! It’s easy, healthy, and packed with flavor.

This vegan spaghetti squash recipe makes 4 servings.

Table of Contents

(click the links below to skip to the section you’re looking for)

• Vegan Carbonara Recipe
• Ingredient Substitutions
• Nutritional Information
• Contact Me with Questions
• Similar Recipes

This recipe was inspired by the spaghetti squash at the Butcher’s Daughter in Venice Beach. They make theirs with adzuki bacon, which I also recreated. Other than the spaghetti squash, The Butcher’s Daughter also has a beautiful juice flight that I highly recommend. This vegetarian spaghetti squash, roasted and seasoned with sauteed garlic, kale, and vegan bacon, is a filling and healthy fall or winter dinner idea.

This makes 4 servings.

Cooking mode

Keep your device from going to sleep while you cook

Ingredients for this Vegan Spaghetti Squash Carbonara Recipe

(jump to the substitutions section to see ingredient details and suggestions for substitutions)

• 1 medium spaghetti squash, halved
• 2 tablespoons (26g) extra virgin olive oil
• 8 ounces (227g) mushrooms, sliced
• 3-4 cloves (12g) garlic, minced
• 2 shakes of cayenne
• 1 bunch of kale, washed, destemmed, and chopped (~126g)
• ¼ teaspoon thyme
• 1 teaspoon (1g) basil
• ½ cup (56g) vegan cheese
• sea salt & fresh cracked pepper, to taste
• 1 package (~170g) vegan bacon
• 4 sundried tomatoes, soaked in water, and chopped finely (optional)

How to Make Spaghetti Squash

prep time: 15 min | bake time: 45 min | sauté time: 15 min

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Cut the stem off the spaghetti squash and toss it into the compost.

Place the cut end on the cutting board to stabilize it, and cut it in half lengthwise, starting from the other end.

Scrape the insides out of both sides using a strong spoon, and compost the guts. If you like roasted pumpkin seeds, you can save the seeds from the squash to bake them later when the squash is done. Here’s a recipe for how to do that.

Fill a pyrex lasagna pan with a half an inch of water and place the squash cut side down in the pan.

Bake the spaghetti squash for 45-60 minutes until you can pierce the skin with a fork and have it easily go in. Make the rest of the dish while you wait for the squash to bake.

Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a medium saucepan over medium high heat.

Add the sliced mushrooms and cook, stirring occasionally until brown: 5-6 minutes.

Add a pinch of cayenne and all the garlic, cooking for about a minute.

Add the chopped kale and continue to stir as it cooks.

Turn the heat off, and cover with a lid if you get to this step and the squash is still baking or cooling.

Cool the roasted spaghetti squash for 5 minutes outside of the oven once it’s done baking.

Use a fork to shred the cooked spaghetti squash out of the skin. This should be easy to do. If it’s not easy, you may not have baked it long enough.

Place it directly into the pan of veggies.

Add the basil, thyme, salt, and pepper. Stir well.

Add the vegan cheese.

Stir until cheese starts to melt.

Add finely chopped pieces of bacon and optional sun-dried tomatoes last.

Serve immediately or garnish with watermelon radish flowers or some cute radish mice.

Ingredient Details and Substitutions

• Spaghetti Squash: I buy organic spaghetti squash, but you can buy whatever you can find. I like to use a medium-large one so I will have leftovers, but if you don’t like leftovers, find a small one.
• Olive Oil: In lieu of olive oil, I recommend safflower, sunflower, or avocado oil. You can also other oils such as vegetable oil, canola oil, grapeseed oil, etc.
• Mushrooms: I buy the organic baby bella mushrooms from Costco because they’re a very good deal, and I use a lot of mushrooms when I cook. You can use any mushrooms you like.
• Garlic: If you don’t buy or use fresh garlic, you can replace the 3-4 cloves of minced garlic with 1 teaspoon of garlic powder.
• Cayenne Pepper: The cayenne pepper is optional, so you can omit it.
• Kale: I have made this green kale, purple kale, and dino kale. All work well. If you don’t have kale, you can use any greens you have.
• Spices: Instead of dried thyme and basil, feel free to use fresh if you have it. 8-10 leaves of fresh basil is a good amount to replace the teaspoon of dried basil.
• Vegan Cheese: You can use homemade vegan cheese if you have some on hand. I’ve used all kinds of vegan cheese for this, and they all taste delicious. Violife is exceptionally good, and they sell it at Costco for a great price. You could omit the cheese, but it won’t be a cheesy garlic vegan spaghetti squash that resembles carbonara.
• Vegan Bacon: Upton’s and Sweet Earth are both good packaged vegan bacon brands if you’re buying it. If you’re gluten-free, there are 2 brands that make tempeh bacon. Turtle island (aka. tofurkey) and Lightlife are both delicious. You can also make your own gluten-free tempeh bacon. If you’re soy-free, make my homemade adzuki bean bacon that replicates the one used at Butcher’s Daughter.
• Sundried Tomatoes: I usually omit this ingredient because they’re expensive, and I don’t really love them. But if you want your dish to closely resemble the one at The Butcher’s Daughter, you should use them.

Nutrition Facts for this Easy Vegan Spaghetti Squash Recipe

I calculated this nutrition information without the addition of salt and pepper, since the amount is up to each person.

• Servings: 4
• Calories per serving: 290
• Calcium per serving: 193mg
• Cholesterol per serving: 0mg
• Dietary Fiber per serving: 8g
• Folate per serving: 45mcg
• Iron per serving: 3mg
• Potassium per serving: 639mg
• Protein per serving: 12g
• Total Carbohydrate per serving: 34g
• Total Fat per serving: 14g
• Total Sugars per serving: 11g
• Sodium per serving: 605mg
• Vitamin C per serving: 41mg
• Vitamin D per serving: 7mcg
• Vitamin K per serving: 129mcg

Comments or Questions?

If you make this recipe, I would love it if you’d snap a pic, post to instagram, and tag me @vegandollhouse. It seriously makes my day/week/month!

Please message me (instagram or email) if you have any questions or feedback about the recipe.

Similar Recipes

If you like making copycat recipes of restauarant dishes, you might also like my Panera 10 veggie soup recipe. Like this recipe, it’s packed with veggies and is super healthy and comforting. Link to similar recipes. Mention keywords.

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

This post links to items I mention. If you click on one, you will go to a website (like Amazon) where you can buy the product. Sometimes, the store you purchase from (Amazon, Etsy, etc.) will pay me for referring you. This costs you nothing extra, and I would never recommend a product that I don’t use. These affiliate programs help me buy ingredients to create recipes for you. Read more about this in my privacy policy.

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆