This Cacio e Pepe is a traditional, authentic Italian dish that needs only 4 simple ingredients and about 20 minutes of your time to cheesy noodle heaven! Dinner couldn’t get any easier!
When it comes to making pasta dishes, this cacio e pepe is as easy as it gets. It’s a classic Italian recipe where the main ingredients are cheese and pepper. Super simple, super quick and this is guaranteed to be an instant favorite.
Classic Italian pasta dishes are all about a few simple but great ingredients, simple sauces with a handful of ingredients. Pasta is not usually smothered in sauces but are kept simple where the ingredients have a chance to shine.
Why Make This Cacio e Pepe?
- Easy to Make!
- Requires only 4 Ingredients!
- Takes only 20 minutes, start to finish!
- Comfort food at its finest!
Ingredient Notes
- Pasta – You can use either spaghetti for this which is probably the more common ingredient, or the other great pasta to use for this is bucatini! Bacatini, at first glance, looks just like spaghetti, but upon a closer look, you’ll notice it’s a bit thicker than your regular spaghetti, and has a hole going through the middle which makes it great because that little hole gets filled with sauce.
- Parmesan cheese – Lots of it, as a matter of fact, double the cheese. Don’t let me tell you how much cheese to put on your pasta, this is something you do with your heart. But I will tell you that you must use freshly grated, none of the packaged stuff. Trust me on this. Pecorino is also traditionally used in this dish, so use whichever one you have.
- Pepper – This is the other main ingredient in this dish so be free with it. The more the pepper the better, also only use freshly ground pepper. It makes all the difference.
- Butter – This ingredient is more optional than anything. Traditionally there’s no butter in this dish but I love a little butter in my sauce, it just gives it a little extra flavor.
How To Make Cacio e Pepe
- Cook the pasta: Fill a large pot with water and generously salt it, use at least 1 to 2 tbsp of salt. Bring it to a boil then add the pasta and cook it until just barely al dente. Do not overcook the pasta as it will continue cooking a bit more in the sauce itself. Reserve 1 1/2 cups of water, then drain the pasta.
- Make the sauce: While the pasta is cooking and has been cooking for 5 minutes, start on the sauce. In a large skillet, large enough to hold your pasta, melt the butter over medium-high heat. Once melted add the pepper and saute the pepper for a good 1 minute. We just want to “bloom” the pepper to deepen the flavor. Add about 1 cup of the pasta water to the skillet. You’ll notice it will immediately bubble up. Stir it to combine with the butter. Remove the pan from heat.
- Finish the pasta: Add the pasta to the skillet and about 1 cup of the cheese. Toss everything together well and add remaining pasta water if the pasta starts looking a little dry. Sprinkle with remaining cheese and more freshly ground pepper.
FAQs and Expert Tips
FAQs
When translated Cacio e Pepe literally translates to cheese and pepper which is why this dish is just about the cheese and pepper. We want lots of freshly grated Parmesan cheese, or Pecorino, none of the packaged kind, and lots of freshly ground pepper.
Cheese that’s been grated on larger holes will clump because it takes the cheese longer to melt and the larger amount of surface area allows for more clinging potential, which is why pasta water is so important. It’s what will make your sauce smooth and glossy, and it emulsifies with the butter and cheese and just makes everything delicious.
Tips
- The pepper should be toasted in with the butter or olive oil. Don’t just add it to the finished dish, you want to toast it with that butter to ensure the flavor is as deep as possible. Freshly ground the pepper, do not use pre ground, makes a world of difference.
- Use the best cheese that you can afford here. This dish is all about the cheese and pepper after all, so you want to make sure you’re using a good sharp Parmesan cheese or Pecorino Romano. Don’t forget to grate it yourself, don’t buy the pre grated cheese, not for this dish.
- The pasta water is the secret. Not only is this pasta water a magic ingredient in this dish, but it really is what makes this dish creamy. Don’t reserve the pasta water too early, we want to make sure there’s enough starch in that water, it really is the secret to a rich and saucy consistency. Also, don’t be stingy with the water, use the full 1 1/2 cups of it, if needed.
Leftovers
Let’s be serious here, this recipe doesn’t make a lot, I say 3 servings, but if you’re hungry you get 2 nice servings out of it. So unless you’re making this for yourself only, you probably won’t have any leftovers.
But if you are making this for party of one, the good news is that you can store leftovers in the fridge for about 3 days. However, this is one of those dishes that really is best served fresh.
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Cacio e Pepe
Equipment
Ingredients
- 8 ounce pasta such as bucatini or spaghetti
- 4 tablespoon butter unsalted, cubed
- 1 teaspoon black pepper freshly ground
- 1 ½ cups Parmesan cheese or Pecorino or Grana Padano, freshly grated
Instructions
- Cook the pasta: Fill a large pot with water and generously salt it, use at least 1 to 2 tbsp of salt. Bring it to a boil then add the pasta and cook it until just barely al dente. Do not overcook the pasta as it will continue cooking a bit more in the sauce itself. Reserve 1 to 1 ½ cups of water, then drain the pasta.
- Make the sauce: While the pasta is cooking and has been cooking for 5 minutes, start on the sauce. In a large skillet, large enough to hold your pasta, melt the butter over medium-high heat. Once melted add the pepper and saute the pepper for a good 1 minute. We just want to "bloom" the pepper to deepen the flavor. Add about 1 cup of the pasta water to the skillet. You'll notice it will immediately bubble up. Stir it to combine with the butter. Remove the pan from heat.
- Finish the pasta: Add the pasta to the skillet and about 1 cup of the cheese. Toss everything together well and add remaining pasta water if the pasta starts looking a little dry. Sprinkle with remaining cheese and more freshly ground pepper.
Video
Recipe Notes
- The pepper should be toasted in with the butter or olive oil. Don’t just add it to the finished dish, you want to toast with that butter to ensure the flavor is as deep as possible. Freshly ground the pepper, do not use pre ground, makes a world of difference.
- Use the best cheese that you can afford here. This dish is all about the cheese and pepper after all, so you want to make sure you’re using a good sharp Parmesan cheese or Pecorino Romano. Don’t forget to grate it yourself, don’t buy the pre grated cheese, not for this dish.
- The pasta water is the secret. Not only is this pasta water a magic ingredient in this dish, but it really is what makes this dish creamy. Don’t reserve the pasta water too early, we want to make sure there’s enough starch in that water, it really is the secret to a rich and saucy consistency. Also, don’t be stingy with the water, use the full 1 ½ cups of it, if needed.
- Store leftovers in the fridge for up to 3 days.
As a child (i am 75) we had this dish every good Friday..(Sometimes Mom would also add an egg at the end and bake it for a short time) for the children to get more nutrition. Bur I definitely remember the black pepper…
Recipe brought back memories…thank you.
My pleasure! 🙂
Yummy, Jo!
I made this as a side dish with your lemon garlic drumsticks (used chicken thighs instead tonight) and it was perfect! Had lots of “yums” and “this is a delicious dinner” comments… 🙂 Thank you Jo. You are my favorite cooking blogger, ever. Thanks for sharing your brilliance with us!!! <3
Aw, you’re so welcome. 🙂
SO SIMPLE AND YET SO DELICIOUS
Hi, I am Italian, and I live in Rome. This recipe is indeed a traditional recipe of Rome and central Italy. The traditional recipe is even simpler. The ingredients are only Pecorino cheese (do not use Parmigiano/Parmisan(*) or Grana) and pepper. Butter or oil are used by some restaurants but are not in the traditional recipe and more skilled cookers avoid them: in Milan probably people add butter but it is not a recipe from Milan. You are 100% right that the pasta water is the secret ingredient!
In Rome the way to do it is: 1) cook the pasta; 2) when pasta is almost done (“al dente”) drain the pasta and keep a bowl of pasta water 3) add a lot of freshly grated pecorino (about 50g each 100g of pasta, you can use more), the pasta water and stir until it is creamy. Add a lot of freshly ground pepper while stirring.
Try this way. For the leftover, usually there are not any leftovers, but in case the day after you can add whisked eggs and cook it in a pan, it is the so called “frittata di pasta”.
Good luck.
(*)About the English translation of Parmigiano, I was reading Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island in English, and in the XIX century he called it Parmigiano, not Parmisan. Just curious when the name was tranlsated.
Bravo Claudio!
can you use angel hair pasta? Or does have to be thicker pasta? Thank you
It should be fine.
Question about gluten free pasta?
You said the secret is the starch in the pasta water but I’m not sure about the GF pasta…has anyone done this recipe with GF?
I haven’t myself, Julie and I want to say you can use gluten free pasta and there are recipes out there for cacio e pepe that use gluten free pasta. While it will still taste ok, I think you won’t have that creaminess that the starch water brings.
I am anxious to try this- you recommend doubling the cheese so I want to know if the 1 1/2 Cups listed is already doubled or do I add 3 Cups? Thanks,
Ha! That was more of a joke, but feel free to add as much as you like. I did add 1 1/2 cups and found it cheesy enough for my taste. 🙂