This paleo zucchini carbonara has a savory creamy sauce that you won’t believe is dairy free! Tossed with crisp bacon and low carb zucchini pasta, it’s a healthy meal you’ll want to make over and over again. Paleo, Whole30 compliant, low carb, dairy free.
Spaghetti carbonara used to be my absolute favorite – one of those dishes that I remember eating for the first time and then NEEDING to make on my own.
I mean, let’s just say I was a bacon and egg fan long before I knew what paleo was – so bacon, eggs, cheese, and pasta just seemed like the ultimate combo and tasting it for the first time did not disappoint!
Now of course since doing my first Whole30 and then eating 95% paleo, all that dairy is out of the question. And yup, the pasta too! So what’s a Paleo gal to do to get the carbonara fix?
Well, for a long time I did nothing because I couldn’t imagine trying to replicate one of my favorite pasta dishes without major disappointment.
I needed to shift my mindset away from replacing my beloved spaghetti carbonara and over to making something that’s similar (not a “copycat”) and delicious in its own right. Still, it took me quite a while to actually attempt it, due to all those tough decisions I needed to make!
Decision 1 – the “pasta.” Since I wanted something really neutral, it seemed like zucchini was the way to go. I like that you can make thicker noodles for the sauce to cling to, since the sauce is really supposed to be the star.
Decision 2 – the sauce, of course! Now with paleo, bacon and eggs are a-okay, but I needed to figure out how to replace the creamy, cheesiness that the parmesan provides. Again – not a copycat, but something 100% clean and super tasty.
I knew coconut cream had to be incorporated in there along with nutritional yeast – my go-to ingredient when I want to add “cheesy” flavor to my recipes. It’s Whole30 compliant and paleo, and you can add as much or as little as you want to suit your tastes.
Decision 3 – how to thicken the sauce?! Traditionally carbonara isn’t cooked, but rather tossed in a hot bowl/with hot pasta.
Since my sauce needed to be thickened, I decided to cook it over low heat on the stovetop for just about a minute – not long enough to scramble the eggs, but long enough to thicken the sauce to a great consistency.
Even though you’ll be “sweating” the zucchini before beginning to remove lots of water, the zucchini will still contain enough water to thin down the sauce after tossing, so the thicker the better, in my opinion! For this reason, I added a bit of tapioca to the sauce for that extra creamy thickness.
I was SO happy with the result! Hot zucchini noodles tossed with loaded of bacon, garlic, and a creamy “cheesy” sauce. You can’t go wrong here! I hope you’re ready to get started – let’s cook!
Paleo Zucchini Carbonara {Whole30, DF, Low Carb}
Paleo Zucchini Carbonara {Whole30, DF, Low Carb}
This paleo zucchini carbonara has a savory creamy sauce that you won't believe is dairy free! Tossed with crisp bacon and low carb zucchini pasta, it's a healthy meal you'll want to make over and over again. Paleo, Whole30 compliant, low carb, dairy free.
Ingredients
- 3-4 medium zucchini spiralized*
- 1 tsp salt - to “sweat” the zucchini
- 6 slices nitrate free bacon sugar-free for Whole30, cut into small pieces
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 2 large eggs preferably pasture raised
- 2-3 Tbsp nutritional yeast (For a "cheesy" flavor")
- 1/2 tsp arrowroot starch
- 1/4 tsp fine grain sea salt or up to 1/2 tsp to taste
- 1/4 tsp black pepper or to taste
- 1/2 cup coconut cream or full fat coconut milk
- Chopped parsley for garnish
- Crushed red pepper optional
Instructions
First, “sweat” the zucchini noodles:
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Place zoodles in a collander over a large bowl. Sprinkle the 1 tsp salt all over evenly and allow it to sit for 30 minutes to allow the salt to draw out water.
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After 30 minutes, use paper towels to squeeze the zucchini thoroughly to remove water. Much of the salt will come out with the water, though if you’re sensitive to saltiness, you can rinse the zoodles prior to squeezing water out.
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Once zoodles are squeezed, set them on paper towels while you prepare the sauce.
Prepare the Sauce:
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Whisk together the eggs, nutritional yeast, arrowroot, salt and pepper in a med bowl. Pour coconut cream into a small saucepan set heat to medium low.
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Whisk coconut cream until melted, then whisk in the egg mixture. Continue to whisk for about 45 seconds or until sauce just begins to thicken, then immediately remove from heat (or the eggs will scramble!) Set aside while you prepare the bacon and zoodles.
Prepare bacon and zoodles:
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Heat a large heavy skillet over med-high heat, then add bacon pieces. Cook until crisp, stirring to evenly brown. Remove with slotted spoon to a paper towel lined bowl.
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Reserve at least 1 Tbsp bacon fat and turn heat to low. You might have to wait a minute for your skillet to cool down. Add minced garlic and cook until softened, careful not to burn it, about 45 seconds.
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Add in the zoodles and toss to coat with the fat and garlic, then raise heat to medium. I like to cook my zoodles until just heated through, but feel free to sauté them longer if you prefer them soft.
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Once done, transfer zoodles and garlic to a serving bowl and toss with the bacon and sauce. Garnish with chopped parsley and crushed red pepper if desired. Enjoy!
Recipe Notes
*I used this spiralizer to make my zucchini noodles
Nutrition
Want More Paleo and Whole30 Zucchini Recipes? Try one of These!
Zucchini Pasta with Chicken and Scallion Avocado Sauce
Spicy Shrimp Marinara with Zoodles
Sesame Almond Butter Zoodles {Vegan}
Zucchini Pasta with Chicken and Sun Dried Tomato Cream
Zucchini Noodle Breakfast Bake with Spicy Sausage and Eggs
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How do you spiralize zucchini?
Small kitchen tool called a “spiralizer”
sounds good!!! going to try this! and doesn’t seem to take much time to prepare! thanks for your recipes! have tried several, and we love them!
Yes this one is generally very simple! So happy you’re enjoying the recipes 🙂
I can’t wait to try this! I just bought my first package of nutritional yeast and have been anxious to use it in a recipe (because I really miss cheese sometimes ??)
It’s great and adds the perfect amount of flavor!
This sounds like it could be a really cool breakfast option for those of us doing Whole30! If I was to spiralize the zucchini and cook the bacon and sauce the night before do you think the sauce would reheat okay if I just tossed it all in the skillet in the morning?
Yes – I think that would work just fine!
No, the sauce is an emulsion of tempered eggs — it will break (separat) when being reheated unless you use a double boiler setup and whisk constantly
Have you made this ahead of time and reheated it or heated up leftovers? I’m wondering how the eggs will heat up in the microwave. Thanks!
The sauce is not as creamy after being heated up as leftovers, however the flavor is still good. I do recommend eating it right away though for best taste!
Thanks for getting back to me so quickly! I am looking for some new recipes for the week to be able to have leftovers. Busy mom life – you know what I mean. ?
Yup I totally get it! You can always make the components ahead of time (zoodles, sauce, bacon) and then reheat and toss together when ready to eat 🙂
Michelle,
Did you do a post on what food you packed for traveling to Paleo FX? What crossbody bag did you wear? I loved the color.
Thank you,
Diana
Hi! No post on the food I packed, I actually just brought rx bars with me and figured I’d have a ton of paleo stuff to eat once I got there! Here’s the bag: https://rstyle.me/~cz-arPb1 – the picture looks more purple but it’s really a blush color 🙂
Would an egg substitute, like flax egg, work here? We have egg allergies in the house but would love to try this.
That photograph made me hungry. It looks super duper yummy. Carbonara was always my guilty pleasure before Paleo. I am putting this on my meal plan for this week!!!!
I am making this right now and am pregnant. I’m realizing that the eggs never are actually cooked all the way. Am I reading something wrong?
Sounds yummy! Are the nutritional facts for the entire recipe?
My sauce is more of oa light brown than yellow….help!!!
And chunky. The yeast never blended with the other ingredients
Sounds like it’s chunky maybe because the eggs started to scramble? Not sure!
In the article you mention you added tapioca for more creaminess but you don’t have it listed as an ingredient. Also I’ve been to two different stores looking for arrowroot flour and haven’t found it. Can I substitute cornstarch for it?
If I wanted to use cheese instead of the nutritional yeast (can’t have due to MTHFR), about how much would you recommend? Looks ymmy! 🙂
Hi! I’d probably use maybe 1/3 cup?
I was thinking about trying this for a group that is some paleo, some vegetarian. Any ideas on something that would add to the dish that I can sub for bacon for the vegetarian folks?
Hi! You can probably add some sauteed eggplant maybe? Or even roasted peppers. Or both!
I made this last night….and this is definitely going into the summer rotation! We ate all of it in one sitting it was so good! I can’t wait to try other recipes from this blog.
That’s so great to hear!
Made it tonight. It was soooooo good!!!
Definitely keeping this one! I did add a touch of tapioca to it. I also made it not paleo because I did part zoodles and part noodles, and also put parmesan cheese on it. (I live a paleo-ish lifestyle! : ) )
Hi,
Thanks for the recipe is there another flour I can use. I don’t have arrowroot and live in a very remote location.
Thanks again
This recipe is absolutely delicious! You could try tapioca flour, I’m sure it would work the same.
I always use tapioca starch in place of arrowroot, as it’s easier to find at my Kroger down the street. Turned out great!
This was delicious!
I’ll never get that hour and half back! I followed this recipe exactly. I don’t like it at all. However, it’s the first thing that I’ve made from your website that I don’t like. My family’s favorite so far is the Salisbury meatballs with mushroom gravy. Yum!
I made this tonight, as it looked like a special Friday-night-type of meal. The kids wouldn’t be around, so no sharing…which was great because this was awesome! The sauce was so delicious my husband drank what was left in both our bowls. He is a cheese lover through and through, and his stamp of approval seals the deal on this dish! I used 5 zucchini (regular sized), and could have used 6.
Absolutely delicious! And guilt-free! Thank you!
Made this tonight and it was delicious! Served over gluten free pasta with some fresh chilli on top! Will definitely be making again!
I made this tonight and it was delicious!!! I added some spinach and shrimp to it as well. I accidentally scrambled the eggs at the very end but it didn’t matter, it tasted SO good!
1/2 tsp of arrowroot starch can equal how much tapioca flour? Can I even substitute?
Made this tonight. Really good flavor but the sauce was way too thin, very soupy. Not sure what I did wrong
I don’t usually make meals from recipes but this sounded good and I made it last night. It was so super delicious!! Thank you for the recipe!
You are so interesting! I do not believe I’ve read a single thing
like that before. So good to find somebody with a few unique thoughts on this issue.
Seriously.. thank you for starting this up. This site is one thing that’s needed on the internet, someone with
a bit of originality!
Oh man, this is delish! I had fresh asparagus, it was a wonderful addition. I did not have parsley, scallion tops and mint worked great!
Thank you!
What can I use in place of eggs?
can you use regular cream instead of coconut?
Do you think I could make this with spaghetti squash? If so, what would change?
I was so excited for this recipe but unfortunately, the flavor profile was really bad. The sauce was overwhelmingly coconut-y (I used the coconut milk as described in the ingredients). I was also turned off that the eggs didn’t really have much cook time which made me wonder about the safetyz The noodles themselves were also quite salty even after rinsing but that part could have been user error.
I am not sure if the zoodles had too much water retained, but my recipe turned out very soupy like a couple of others. My boyfriend loved it, but it tasted too sweet to be carbonara sauce.
This is really yummy! I added a pan-fried chicken cutlet on top to make it a heartier meal. I also used turkey bacon instead of regular bacon. I agree with other comments that the sauce is a little soupy, but it still made for a tasty meal my hubby and I both enjoyed.
Flavor wasn’t bad, a tad salty… I’m not sure if I did something wrong or it’s just the recipe but it was very runny. I did sweat and squeeze the zucchini so who knows 🤷🏼♀️
I really wanted to like this recipe, but it was just not good. I know the nutritional yeast was supposed to give it a cheesy flavor, but instead it gave it an old flavor that lingered in your month. I even cooked the egg mixture longer than required, and it was still super runny. And because the eggs were cooked all the way it made my stomach rumble as soon as it hit it. I ate it, but only because I had went through the trouble of making it.
This was DELICIOUS!!!! My whole family gobbled it right up
Is there something I can sub for the nutritional yeast? My body doesn’t tolerate any type of yeast.
I think you can just omit it, it won’t have the flavor from the nutritional yeast so maybe add a bit more salt and any seasonings you like.
I love this idea! I’m a huge fan of carbonara but we’ve been trying to eat healthier. I can’t wait to try it.
Not bad at all and definitely didn’t taste like coconut. Made the recipe exactly as written. We tasted as is and then added some rotisserie chicken to it for extra protein. Definitely something different to try! We spiralized our own zucchinis.
Yeah not a fan of this recipe. Definitely not enough to serve 4 people. Barely enough for 2. And didn’t like the coconut flavor in there.