So, technically, carbonara sauce is made with bacon or some other form of pork fat. No need for that to get in our way - any non-vegetarians can easily add bacon bits to it at the table. Without bacon, it’s another quick and delicious vegetarian keto dish featuring eggs and cheese and a great serving of healthy zucchini nutrients to add to your weekly meal planning. And it’s actually not hard to make once you know how to avoid having scrambled eggs in your carbonara sauce.
I have a spiralizer so I make my own zoodles (zucchini noodles), but my local grocery store sells them in the vegetable section. Trader Joe’s sells them frozen which would be convenient if you needed to bring them to work and add sauce for a fast lunch. If you’re going to make zoodle dishes on the regular, a spiralizer might be a good investment to make since then you can zoodle it up whenever you want for only the cost of the veggies themselves. Put some zucchini in your garden this year and you’ll end up with enough for you and your neighbors.
INGREDIENTS
- 3-4 zucchini, spiralized
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 3-4 cloves garlic, diced
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup shredded parmesan or blended Italian cheese, more to serve
- Salt & pepper to taste
TO MAKE
Boil a saucepan of water for your zoodles. Once boiling, cook the zoodles for about five or six minutes so they are al dente (still a bit crunchy) and not all mushy.
Meanwhile, heat the oil in a frying pan and sautee the garlic.
In another bowl, beat the two eggs and then mix in the parmesan (or other) cheese.
Drain the zoodles and shake out the extra water, but don’t rinse them. The heat from the zoodles is key for what’s next.
Add the strained zoodles to the frying pan with the garlic and oil. It’ll steam a little as the wet zoodles meet the hot pan. Let this moment happen, and remove the frying pan from the heat. Wait until the sizzle subsides, but you want the pan to still be warm and ready.
Next, add in the eggs and cheese mixture, stirring to incorporate. I use cooking tongs for this. It'll take a minute for the cheese to melt as you stir, and this will also transform the eggs into part of the sauce. You might be tempted to add a little cream, but try to avoid that temptation – save the cream for an alfredo sauce. KEEP STIRRING so you don’t end up with scrambled eggs in the zoodles. Half of the secret to avoiding scrambles is removing the pan from heat, and the other half is the stirring.
Add salt and pepper to taste, and serve with a bit more cheese (and bacon if you’re my husband). Enjoy!