Paleo Carbonara with Palmini

Tender Palmini noodles, coated in a delicious dairy-free Alfredo sauce, then tossed with chicken and bacon.

Prep: 15

Cook: 20

Total: 35

Yield:4 servings

6 ounces diced, uncooked bacon
½ pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts approximately 1-2 small chicken breasts, diced into very small pieces

Pour 3 14-ounce cans palmini linguine into colander, draining as much liquid as possible. Rinse palmini very well under running water then set aside.
Add 16 cups water to large pot, then place pot on stovetop over high heat and bring to rolling boil. Once water begins to boil, add 1 tablespoon salt and stir well to incorporate.
Bring salted water to rolling boil, then add rinsed palmini noodles. Stir to incorporate, then let palmini boil 10 to 15 minutes or until palmini has softened to desired texture.
Once softened, pour water and palmini into colander and drain well. Set palmini aside.

While palmini boils, add 1 ½ cups raw cashews, ¾ cup water or unsweetened almond milk, 2 cloves garlic, 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast, 1 ½ teaspoons salt, and ½ teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper to high-speed blender.
Blend ingredients together until mixture is completely smooth. If sauce is too thick, add water or unsweetened almond milk in 1-tablespoon increments, blending well after each addition, until desired consistency is achieved. Set sauce aside.

Place large skillet on stovetop over medium heat. When pan is warm, add 6 ounces diced, uncooked bacon. Cook bacon, stirring often, until bacon is just crisp.
When bacon is crisp, add ½ pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts (diced into very small pieces) to skillet with bacon. Increase heat under skillet to medium-high. Let chicken cook undisturbed 1 minute, then stir and cook 1 minute more or until cooked through.
Once chicken is cooked through, add boiled palmini to skillet. Toss or stir to incorporate palmini.
Pour in prepared Alfredo sauce. Toss or stir to incorporate, then reduce heat to low and simmer until sauce is warmed through, stirring occasionally.
Once sauce is warm, portion carbonara into preferred servings and transfer to serving plates or bowls. Garnish with chopped fresh parsley if desired and serve warm.

Boiling Palmini: You can use palmini straight out of the can or pouch! It's ready-to-eat, so just drain it and rinse it well. If you don't boil it first, it'll have a more dense, al dente texture. Boiling the palmini noodles softens them and gives them a texture more like traditional pasta.
Soaking Palmini: Some people feel like hearts of palm pasta tastes sort of acidic. To neutralize that flavor, drain and rinse the palmini, then soak the noodles in unsweetened almond milk for 45 minutes before boiling them.
Alfredo Sauce: For a creamier sauce, use unsweetened almond milk instead of water.
Bacon: Be sure your bacon is completely paleo-friendly (or Whole30-compatible) without any added sweeteners or other off-plan ingredients.
Make it Nut-Free: The cashews combined with the water or almond milk creates a cashew cream that forms the base of the Alfredo sauce. If you need to avoid cashews, you can replace the cashews + liquid with unsweetened, full-fat coconut cream, taken from a can of unsweetened, full-fat coconut milk. Your sauce will likely be thinner without the cashews, so just keep that in mind.
Make it Keto: Check out our recipe for Keto Carbonara (NOT paleo or Whole30).