Paleo Zucchini Carbonara – zucchini noodles with healthy dairy-free carbonara sauce made from cauliflower! The creamy cauliflower sauce can be used to replace any cream-based or alfredo sauce for a dairy-free alternative!
This easy healthy dinner recipe is sure to please!
You’re never going to believe the trickery that went into these noodles. I made cream-less, cheese-less pasta carbonara using cauliflower of all things!
Okay, I guess using cauliflower to make a creamy sauce isn’t that revolutionary…in fact, we’ve done it multiple times on The Roasted Root, but healthifying carbonara was a bit of an ego inflator for this girl right here.
What is Carbonara?:
Let’s back up. In case you’re unfamiliar with pasta carbonara, it is an Italian classic made by cooking up guanciale (or pancetta, bacon or other fatty meat), then whisking up eggs, cheese, and cream on the stove top into a ridiculously delicious sauce.
Pasta is then tossed in this sauce of dreams and served with that tasty meat.
So to lighten the thing up, we’re cutting out some of the eggs, and all uh-duh cheese and cream, to be replaced with half a dang head of cauliflower. It’s fool’s gold, I tell ya.
But we keep the fatty meat, because: duh.
How to Make Zucchini Carbonara:
The sauce requires a lot of steps, but don’t worry: we’ve got pictures to guide us.
So here’s what we do for that cauli sauce I’ve been telling you about:
We steam up half a large head of cauliflower, then stick it in a blender. #SteamShot:
We gather our guanciale, pancetta or whatever fat-tabulous meat we’re using. I used thick-cut bacon. We cube up the meat, cook it in a skillet, then stick it on a plate.
Because we have all this delicious bacon fat for the cooking, we use it to saute our onion and garlic.
Stick said sauteed onion and garlic in the blender with the steamed cauli, along with a few egg yolks and some almond milk. We blend. We’re golden.
We heat the spiralized zucchini noodles in the same skillet we used to cook the bacon. Cook for just 2 to 3 minutes until the noodles are just slightly softened, but still super al dente.
Then we add the cauliflower carbonara sauce to the skillet with the zucchini noodles and continue cooking until the whole mixture is steamy, hot, and thick, about 5 minutes. Since we have cooked bacon bits, we serve the zucchini carbonara with the cooked bacon.
And that’s all she wrote! It may sound complicated at first, but it’s simple once you get the hang of it. And the whole meal is gluten-free and paleo-friendly!
As a side note, I’ve been collecting spiralizers the way my dad collects postage stamps, no joke. My newest spiralizer is this handheld spiralizer, but I also own a countertop spiralizer.
Spiralize up some zucchini and enjoy the this healthy pasta carbonara!
My cookbook, Paleo Power Bowls, is now available! CLICK HERE to check it out. Thank you for your support!
If you make this recipe, please feel free to share a photo and tag @TheRoastedRoot on Instagram!
More Zucchini Noodle Recipes:
Dairy-Free Zucchini Carbonara (Paleo)
Ingredients
- 3 to 4 large zucchini squash spiralized
- ½ large head cauliflower steamed
- 4 slices thick-cut bacon or 4 to 6 ounces guanciale or pancetta
- ½ large red or yellow onion chopped
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 3 egg yolks
- 1/4 cup unsweetened almond milk or coconut milk, + more if needed
- 1/8 teaspoon red pepper optional
- ½ teaspoon sea salt or to taste
- cracked black pepper
Instructions
- Chop the tip and tail off the zucchini squash and use a spiralizer to make noodles. Set aside until ready to use.
- Steam the cauliflower for 6 to 8 minutes, or until tender. Place the cauliflower in a blender.
- Chop the bacon and cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally until crispy, about 5 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the bacon to a plate and set aside until ready to serve.
- Add the chopped onion to the skillet with the bacon drippings and saute until browned, about 5 to 8 minutes. Add the garlic and saute about 3 minutes.
- Add the sauteed onion and garlic to the blender with the cauliflower, along with the egg yolks, almond milk, red pepper, salt, and pepper. Blend until completely smooth.
- Heat the zucchini noodles in the skillet you used to cook the bacon (add a small amount of oil if necessary) over medium heat. Cook, stirring occasionally for 2 to 3 minutes. Add the cauliflower carbonara sauce to the skillet with the zucchini pasta and cook an additional 5 to 10 minutes, stirring frequently, or until noodles reach desired done-ness.
- Note: If the sauce is thicker than desired, add a tablespoon or two of additional unsweetened almond milk.
- Serve zucchini carbonara with the cooked bacon.
Notes
Nutrition
Use the cauliflower carbonara sauce recipe for any and all of your favorite pasta dishes!
Yeah for keeping the fatty meat! These looks amazing. I’m ready to slurp up all those zoodles!
That sauce looks killer!! Also, those noodles are just calling to me. I love a good pasta, but zucchini noodles are going on my ‘to-make’ list ASAP!
YOU MADE CAULI ALFREDO! YES…I am obsessed with it…and with carbonara. So, I am going to be shoveling this zoodle goodness into my face for all the days I have left on the earth! Pinned!
This looks wonderful! So creamy! Love that you left the bacon in, that’s the best part!
Would you believe I’ve never had carbonara? And I call myself an Italian, pssh.
Using cauliflower in place of dairy is a brilliant idea! I’m sure the bacon grease gives it amazing flavor too, duh. 😉
It looks like creamy low-carb perfection!!
I’m loving this veggie-on-veggie action! You definitely earned your fatty meats by doubling up on the veg.
umm, YUM!!! I am literally drooling over here! Can’t wait to give this one a try!
So happy to hear you’re up for a little veg on veg, Rebecca! Enjoy!
We are going to love this dish! I can’t wait to try it. Carlo will like the vegyness along with his fatty meat!
Oh, what a fun idea, to use cauliflower! Going to try it.
Saw your post on Foodgawker and clicked on it because it looked delicious! Just ordered the Common Sense Goods spiralizer using the promo code. Thank you!! 🙂
You got it, Wei! I’m so happy you ordered one for yourself. It does a most excellent job spiralizing zucchini 😀
Julia, this looks AMAZING, I can’t wait to give it a try. It’s such a pretty article as well, I love your artistry.
Love this recipe, and cauliflower is so unexpected! I checked the pictures before reading, trying to guess what was your secret combo! Should definitely try this with my kids
Lovely photos and I love how healthy this is! Not only did you do zoodles, but ALSO cauli sauce? Yes!
Oh that steam shot sold me on this sexy sauce!!! Good for you for making carbonara healthier!!!
Cauliflower cream sauce is for REAL a favorite thing of mine! Totally genius to sub it in for carbonara. I kind of want to lick that cast-iron pan clean.
Yes! I love that you kept the bacon – DUH! Now I can eat my bacon topped zoodles without any guilt!
It’s an alfredo, rather than a carbonara. BUT. It looks AMAZING and we will be having it for dinner tonight. Thanks!
This looks great!
Why do you omit the egg whites? I’m thinking of making this tonight.
Thanks
Just made this tonight and it is SO delicious. I used an immersion blender and the sauce came out more like mashed potatoes. The flavor is still wonderful and on top of squash and sweet potato noodles it made for some serious comfort food. Thank you so much for this recipe!
If you need to be dairy free what would you suggest to substitute for the egg yolk?
Hi Jen,
Technically eggs aren’t dairy, but if you want to go egg-free, you can simply omit the egg yolks and cook the sauce a little longer to allow it to thicken. I hope you enjoy!
Is there an egg free option?
Hi Victoria! I’ve never tested the recipe without eggs, but I’m sure you can simply omit them and end up with a great dish. I would just cook the sauce a little longer to allow it to thicken to your desired thickness. I bet it will turn out very tasty! xo