Easy Cacio e Pepe Recipe - only 4 ingredients! | Spoon Fork Bacon (2024)

FAQs

What is the secret of cacio e pepe? ›

Tips for Making Cacio e Pepe

Let the pasta cool slightly—Ripping hot pasta plus finely shredded or grated cheese inevitably yields a clumpy sauce. Letting the pasta cool for 2 minutes before tossing ensures a perfectly creamy sauce.

Traditionally, cacio e pepe (pronounced: kaa-chee-ow ee peh-pay) is made with just three ingredients: aged pecorino Romano cheese, freshly ground black pepper, and pasta, usually spaghetti; plus the starchy water from cooking the noodles. You don't have to go to Rome to enjoy cacio e pepe.

Opt for Parmesan: You can use Parmesan instead of Pecorino Romano, or even combine the two for a unique cheese profile. However, Parmesan isn't as salty or tangy as Pecorino Romano, so you may need to add more to get the sharpness that cacio e pepe is known for.

Finely-grate the cheese by hand.

I recommend using a microplane or your preferred grater to finely grate the cheese just before adding it to the recipe.

Only use finely grated cheese

Go for finely grated cheese to get that smooth blend. Moreover, If you're not a fan of using all pecorino Romano? No worries! Instead mix it up by adding Parmigiano Reggiano in too – try 50/50 – for a bit of a twist.

Pecorino Romano is a hard, Italian sheep's milk cheese. It has sharp, rich nutty flavor, making it the perfect cheese for this simple pasta dish. If you don't have it or can't find it Parmigiano-Reggiano is a totally acceptable alternative.

- Add a little more pasta water than you think you need (the pasta will continue to soak it up and the sauce will thicken on your plate).

An iconic dish of the 'Eternal City' Roma, cacio e pepe or pasta de pepe simply translates to cheese and pepper pasta. While this dish is definitely not as well known as other Roman classics like spaghetti alla carbonara, it is cheesy indulgence at its finest.

An Italian classic meaning “cheese and pepper” – our take brings you restaurant-quality dishes at home with Pecorino Romano PDO, black pepper and fresh cream.

Spaghetti: Cacio e Pepe is traditionally made with some kind of long pasta (noodle); I like to use spaghetti but I've also seen it with bucatini, linguine, fettuccine, and even tagliatelle. You can use either dry or fresh pasta.

Why does my cacio e pepe clump? ›

These include pecorino romano as well as parmesan, which Giada De Laurentiis adds to her cacio e pepe. These cheeses can also clump when they're not grated finely enough, so grate your pecorino using the smallest holes on your box grater or the finest blade on your food processor.

The internet loves an only-three-ingredient recipe. This (which makes Cacio e Pepe deceptively simple) and the cheese + carbs combination are essential parts of the secret of its media success, along with the fact that it can be made anywhere in the world with any pepper and any cheese.

Mozzarella: Capable of melting into a stringy, smooth texture, mozzarella possesses a mild flavor that blends well with other flavors in dishes. Low-moisture mozzarella and fresh mozzarella are among the most popular melting cheeses to use in recipes for pizza and pasta dishes.

Beef tenderloin, grilled or roasted to perfection, adds a touch of luxury to your Cacio e Pepe meal. The beef's robust, savory flavor complements the creamy pasta, and its tender, juicy texture offers a satisfying contrast to the al dente pasta.

But it is extremely hard to execute well because you need to control the heat. The cheese will become stringy if you heat up your pan too much (above 70 °C or 158 °F). I tested all the methods, so you do not need to! Cacio e Pepe is rare in restaurants because it is hard to serve warm without the corn starch trick.

But what makes cacio e pepe so special, you might ask? It's all in the technique. The key to a perfect cacio e pepe is getting the right consistency for the sauce. It should be creamy and smooth, but not too thick - the cheese and pepper should coat the pasta, but not clump together.

One factor in getting the cheese to emulsify properly which is usually where cacio e pepe fails is the amount of starch in the water.