Easy Cacio e Pepe Recipe

This is our absolute favorite cacio e pepe recipe. Make this restaurant-worthy pasta with a silky cheese and black pepper sauce in 15 minutes!

Cacio e pepe, which translates to “cheese and pepper,” is the perfect dish for a cozy night in, and I promise you’ll be amazed by how something so simple can taste so unbelievably delicious. When visiting Rome, Italy, this was Adam’s favorite dish to order. It’s simple, but so good with a velvety, rich sauce that isn’t at all heavy.

This classic Roman pasta is the perfect weeknight meal! For another classic pasta, we also love this recipe for pasta carbonara made with egg yolks.

Key Ingredients

• Pasta: For a traditional cacio e pepe, you’ll want a hearty, long pasta. Tonnarelli, spaghetti, and bucatini are all great choices. (We used bucatini for the photos in this post.) Tonnarelli is similar to spaghetti but has a square shape instead of a round one. Bucatini is similar, too, but it has a cylindrical shape with a hole down the middle, making it perfect for holding onto the sauce. Short pasta shapes work, but choose something that holds onto sauce easily, like rigatoni. For homemade, see our fresh pasta recipe.
• Pecorino Romano Cheese: This classic, Italian aged sheep’s milk cheese is a must-have for an authentic cacio e pepe. It’s similar to Parmigiano-Reggiano but has a sharper, saltier, and more grassy flavor. You can typically find it right next to the parmesan in the cheese section. While you can use Parmigiano-Reggiano as a substitute, your sauce won’t have the same classic, bold flavor. Skip pre-grated cheese for this recipe (it won’t melt as well).
• Black Pepper: The name of the dish literally means “cheese and pepper,” so a generous amount of black pepper is essential. For the best flavor, use freshly ground pepper. A coarser grind works really well, adding a bit of texture and a spicy kick. You can also use a mortar and pestle to crack whole peppercorns.
• Olive Oil and Butter: A small amount of olive oil and cold, unsalted butter is the secret to a perfectly emulsified sauce made at home. They help the cheese and pasta water come together into a silky, glossy sauce and prevent it from clumping.

Find the full recipe with measurements below.

My Tips for Homemade Cacio e Pepe

Tip 1: Prep is everything. Since this recipe goes quickly, you want to have everything ready before you start. Finely grate your Pecorino Romano, grind your black pepper, and have your cold butter measured out. Once the pasta is cooked, there’s no time for any of these things.

Tip 2: Use a wide skillet for tossing. While some cacio e pepe recipes suggest using a bowl, we’ve found that a warm, wide skillet is the best tool for the job. It gives you plenty of room to toss the pasta and sauce ingredients, just like we do when we make carbonara.

Tip 3: Build a base with olive oil, butter, and pasta water. As your pasta cooks, heat olive oil with ground black pepper until it’s fragrant and sizzling. Then turn off the heat and wait until the pasta is ready. This step serves two purposes: it toasts the black pepper, bringing out more flavor, and it warms the skillet, making it ready for tossing the pasta and sauce. When the pasta is ready, add a bit of the hot, starchy pasta water and the cold butter to the skillet before tossing in the pasta to create the perfect base for your sauce.

Tip 4: Finely grate your cheese. This is the most important tip! After adding your pasta to the skillet, top it with a generous amount of finely grated Pecorino Romano. The fine grating is essential because it allows the cheese to melt quickly into a creamy, emulsified sauce. If the cheese is too coarse, it will clump and turn into a sticky mess. A microplane is ideal for this, but the smallest holes on a box grater will also work.

Tip 5: Don’t be afraid to add more water. The starchy hot pasta water is what makes cacio e pepe sauce so magical. As you toss the pasta with the cheese, if you see it clumping or looking too thick (like the photo below), add another tablespoon or two of hot pasta water. Continue tossing, and you’ll see the sauce transform, thickening as it perfectly coats every strand of pasta.

More Simple Pasta Dishes