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Cacio e pepe is the ultimate comfort food—simple, quick, and bursting with flavor. With just four ingredients—spaghetti, Pecorino Romano, butter, and black pepper—this Roman classic proves that great food doesn’t have to be complicated. My recipe adds a little modern twist with butter for extra silkiness, creating a foolproof dish that’s ready in under 30 minutes. This pasta is a timeless favorite that never disappoints, perfect for busy weeknights or when you’re craving something indulgent yet uncomplicated. Follow my step-by-step guide for the creamiest, most delicious cacio e pepe every time!
This 25-minute meal is so easy to make. Cacio e pepe is a distinctive Italian recipe made with spaghetti, pecorino Romano cheese, butter, and simple seasonings.
Love those wonderful Italian flavors? You might also like chorizo rigatoni, pasta e fagioli soup, pasta amatriciana, or creamy Tuscan sausage pasta.
Why You’ll Love It
Simple ingredients: You only need spaghetti, butter, cheese, and seasonings to make this tasty dish.
Tastes so good: You’re going to be amazed how delicious this recipe is, despite having so few ingredients.
Easy to prepare: The instructions for cacio e pepe are straightforward to follow. You cook the spaghetti in a pot and make the sauce in a skillet, and then combine them.
Authentic Italian flavors: If you’re a devotee of Italian cuisine, you have to try this delicious and famous spaghetti dish. Close your eyes for that first mouthful and I bet you can imagine yourself in a restaurant in Rome!
Cacio e Pepe Pasta Ingredients
A complete list of ingredients and amounts can be found in the recipe card below.
Spaghetti: Make sure you use a nice thick pasta variety like spaghetti, not something thin like angel hair or linguine which don’t have as much bite.
Unsalted butter: It’s easier to cut your butter into cubes if it’s chilled, not at room temperature.
Finely ground black pepper: Freshly ground black pepper is a must!
Pecorino Romano: A salty, hard Italian cheese made from sheep’s milk. Finely grate your own; don’t use pre grated cheese.
Salt: A pinch of salt goes into the pasta cooking water.
How to Make Cacio e Pepe
For more detailed instructions with weights and measurements, jump to the printable recipe card.
Cook the spaghetti: Bring a pot of water to a boil and add sea salt or kosher salt. Add the pasta and cook over a medium heat, stirring occasionally, until al dente. Take the pot off the heat and drain, saving some of the pasta water.
Make the cacio e pepe sauce: Melt the butter in a large skillet and add the black pepper. Cook briefly, then turn off the heat. Add the spaghetti to the butter pepper sauce then, with the heat on low, add some pasta water. Add the cheese and more pasta water to make a creamy sauce.
Serve the dish: Serve immediately, offering extra black pepper and grated cheese at the table.
Substitutions and Variations
Gluten-free option: If you need a gluten-free version, use gluten-free spaghetti.
Extra-virgin olive oil: Add a drizzle to the cacio e pepe sauce if you like.
Pecorino Romano: Although some home cooks prefer parmesan or parmigiano reggiano, I strongly recommend sticking with pecorino Romano, as it’s so much more flavorful.
Spaghetti: Tonnarelli pasta (an egg pasta from Lazio, Italy) is often used for cacio e pepe in Italy but spaghetti is easier to find and also works really well. Another option would be bucatini pasta.
Serving Suggestions
Appetizers: Begin dinner with minestrone soup, antipasto skewers or giardiniera.
Side dishes: Traditional cacio e pepe is good just as it is but if you want to add sides, consider Italian bean salad or a simple green salad with vinaigrette. For a protein, shrimp scampi would be good, or perhaps pancetta or grilled chicken.
Desserts: Finish the meal with limoncello Bundt cake or pistachio tiramisu.
How to Store Spaghetti Cacio e Pepe
Store: Keep leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator and eat within 2 days.
Freeze: This isn’t a recipe I’d recommend freezing, as the pasta would get soft and the sauce would separate.
Reheat: Slowly warm the cacio e pepe in a skillet with a little butter over a low-medium heat for 3 to 5 minutes.
Top Tips
Dried spaghetti is best: I recommend dried pasta instead of fresh pasta, as it has a better texture for this spaghetti with black pepper and pecorino romano recipe, and it has more of a “bite.”
Use a microplane: A microplane grater is perfect for finely grated cheese. (I use this one!) The cheese melts faster and doesn’t clump like shredded or thickly grated cheese would.
Don’t skip toasting the pepper: This boosts the flavor, adding more complexity to the flavor of the dish.
Use the skillet: The reason for finishing the dish in a skillet, not in the pasta cooking pan, is residual heat from the pasta pot can cause cheese clumping, which you don’t want in your classic Roman pasta dish.
Spaghetti Cacio e Pepe FAQs
Actually, no. As long as the noodles are submerged in the water, you can opt for a medium sized pot. Not only does this cook the pasta just as well, but using a smaller pot and therefore less water, means you get the starch more concentrated to get the best starchy pasta water for cacio e pepe success.
Pecorino Romano is an aged, hard cheese, which means it’s low in moisture. Adding starchy pasta water blends with the cheese component of the dish to create the perfect sauce for this peppery pasta. The starch helps to emulsify and thicken the sauce consistency.
The cheese likely seized due to excessive heat. Ensure the pasta water is hot but not boiling when combined with the cheese.
Best Cacio e Pepe Recipe
Cacio e Pepe
Equipment
- Pot Medium
- Skillet Large
- Cheese Grater or Microplane Grater
Ingredients
- 8 Ounces spaghetti, dried, uncooked
- 3 Tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into cubes
- 1 Teaspoon black pepper, freshly ground
- ¼ Cup pecorino romano cheese, freshly grated
- salt, as needed
Instructions
- Cook the pasta in salted water for 8 minutes or until al dente. Around the 8-minute mark, remove the pot from the stove but do not drain it, leaving the pasta in the pot of water.
- Set the cooked pasta in water near or next to the skillet. Reserve about ½ cup of the pasta water before draining the spaghetti.
- In a large nonstick skillet, melt the butter over a medium heat, add the freshly ground black pepper, and cook for about 1 minute until fragrant. Turn off the heat.
- Using a pasta fork, start to add the cooked pasta to the skillet, twirling it with the butter and pepper. Turn the heat back on to low and add ¼ cup of the pasta water.
- Add the cheese and stir with a pasta fork or tongs, adding some more of the reserved pasta water a little at a time if needed to form a creamy sauce thick enough to coat the spaghetti.
- Serve immediately with extra cheese and fresh ground pepper.
Notes
Use a microplane: A microplane grater is perfect for finely grated cheese. The cheese melts faster and doesn’t clump like shredded or thickly grated cheese would.
Don’t skip toasting the pepper: This boosts the flavor, adding more complexity to the flavor of the dish.
Use the skillet: The reason for finishing the dish in a skillet, not in the pasta cooking pan, is residual heat from the pasta pot can cause cheese clumping, which you don’t want in your classic Roman pasta dish.
Nutrition
This cacio e pepe recipe is a simple dish with cooked pasta, a silky sauce made with reserved pasta water, butter, black pepper, and pecorino cheese. Although it’s a simple recipe, the flavors are really good. If you’ve tried this dish in Italy, you’ll already know how special it is and, if not, get ready for a mouthwatering spaghetti dish you’re going to fall in love with for sure.
Other Recipes to Try
Bella Bucchiotti
Bella Bucchiotti is a Canadian-based syndicated food, travel, and lifestyle writer, photographer, and creator at xoxoBella. She founded xoxoBella in 2015, where she shares her love for food, dogs, sustainability, fitness, crafts, outdoor adventures, travel, and philanthropy to encourage others to run the extra mile, try new recipes, visit unfamiliar places, and stand for a cause. Bella creates stress-free and family-friendly recipes for weeknight dinners and festive feasts.
Cacio e pepe never fails. That silky, peppery sauce is pure comfort!