Cacio e Pepe (Pasta in Black Pepper Parmesan Sauce)

Cacio e pepe is one of my favorite quick weeknight dinners. First of all, it’s SO flavorful, fast and easy. (It’s incredibly comforting too because it’s pasta and cheese.) Second of all, I always have these 3 ingredients on hand. It’s like a fancy Italian mac and cheese with an even fancier name.

Quick Overview

• Cacio e pepe is like an Italian mac and cheese but very flavorful and not creamy. It’s a zesty pasta dish coated with smooth and flavorful cheese sauce and all you need are three ingredients. 
• Cacio e pepe (pronounced [kaˈtʃo e ˈpeːpe] or “kah-cheeoh eh peh-peh”) literally means “cheese and pepper” and that is essentially all that goes into the pasta.
• The big SECRET to keeping the cheese from clumping is the starchy hot water used to cook pasta. This is a trick to avoid dry pasta in so many dishes (like pesto pasta). Stick around and I’ll show you!
• It will only take you 20 minutes to make but there is a technique to it, so READ THE TIPS! 

There Are Only 3 Main Ingredients

• Pasta – the best choice for this dish is bucatini pasta. It’s thicker than spaghetti and has rough surface, which is perfect for the cheese sauce to stick to evenly. You can also use artisan linguine, it usually has a rough surface. If you’re not having any luck with either, go with the simple spaghetti. 
• Pecorino or Parmesan – Pecorino is the best cheese of choice for this pasta recipe because of the strong, tangy, and salty flavor. Of course, if you don’t have any Pecorino on hand, go with Parmesan cheese. The most important thing is to get the block of cheese and grate it by hand. Use the box grater side that has rough holes protruding from the grater to grate the cheese into fine dust. This fine grate on cheese will be the key for melting it into the smooth sauce.
• Peppercorns – whole peppercorns is what you need. For the greatest flavor, toast the peppercorns in a hot skillet and then grind it on a coarse setting in a pepper grinder.

Tips For The Best Caio E Pepe

• Grate the cheese by hand – don’t buy grated cheese, even if it’s from the deli section. Get a block of cheese and grate it by hand on the rough, protruding side of the grater. Just please, watch your knuckles and use a holder if you have one.
• Don’t drain off pasta first – don’t drain off the pasta, just start to preheat the cooking pan a couple minutes before pasta is done. This way pasta will be piping hot and a little wet when it goes into the pan and then mixed with cheese sauce.
• Instead of draining off water, spoon the pasta out of the water either with a pasta ladle or tongs and add it to the pan with pepper mixture.
• Cook side by side – for your comfort, cook pasta and peppercorns on the side-by-side burners so the pasta will go right from the pot to the pan easily. 
• Use starchy pasta water – use the starchy pasta cooking water to mix the cheese sauce and mix some in with the crushed pepper in the pan. Simply ladle some hot water out of the pot where pasta is cooking.
• Toast peppercorns – toasting peppercorns seems like an extra step but it will give you rich, smokey flavor and aroma. When there are only 3 simple ingredients in a dish, you want to get the most flavor possible. 
• Mix grated cheese and pasta water – this is the secret weapon to keep the cheese from clumping when mixing it with hot pasta. 

How To Keep The Sauce From Clumping

• The two main secrets to keep the sauce in Cacio e pepe from clumping is the finely grated cheese and mixing it with hot, starchy pasta water.
• You want to have the finest, almost dust-like, grate of cheese. It will easily melt and mix into the smooth sauce. 
• Second trick is to use hot starchy cooking water from pasta to mix with the finely grated cheese. It will help melt the cheese and introduce a little bit of starch for thicker and smoother coating. 

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More Easy Recipes To Try

• Shrimp Pesto Pasta
• Instant Pot Spaghetti
• Lobster Pasta
• Peppercorn Sauce
• Lemon Pepper Seasoning

Originally published on Will Cook For Smiles in July 2020.