Easy Cacio e Pepe Recipe | Julie Blanner (2024)

FAQs

What can I use instead of Pecorino in cacio e pepe? ›

Cacio e Pepe Variations

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.

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.

Traditionally Cacio e Pepe is made with: Pecorino Romano. Coarsely ground black pepper.

Freshly-grated Pecorino Romano is a MUST in this Cacio e Pepe recipe. If you use pre-grated cheese, your sauce will by clumpy. Pre-packaged cheeses are coated with anti-clumping chemicals which inhibit them from melting beautifully.

Parmesan Cheese: Parmesan cheese is a common substitute for pecorino in carbonara. It offers a salty and nutty flavor profile that complements the dish well. You can use it as a one-to-one replacement for pecorino. Grana Padano: Grana Padano is another hard Italian cheese that is similar to Pa.

Parmesan can step in for Pecorino, but keep in mind that it won't have the same salty, tangy flavors as Pecorino, so you may need to adjust seasoning accordingly.

Tips for Making Cacio e Pepe

Letting the pasta cool for 2 minutes before tossing ensures a perfectly creamy sauce. Develop a rich black pepper flavor—Toasting the pepper in oil and butter awakens its flavor. Your pepe will taste pepperier.

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.

Classic versions call for just pasta, salted water, freshly ground pepper, and Pecorino Romano, a Roman sheep's milk cheese. Ours tosses a bit of Grana Padano or Parmesan into the mix for a more rounded cheese flavor that melds warmth, nuttiness, and sharpness.

That said, as simple as the cacio e pepe ingredient list may be, this dish is famously finicky when it comes to technique. If the cheese is overheated or the starchy pasta water isn't emulsified properly, the sauce can turn into a sticky, clumpy mess, which I can vouch from experience is always such a tragedy.

Should cacio e pepe be salty? ›

But when we're learning How to Make Authentic Roman Cacio e Pepe, we need to take care not to get crazy with the salting of things. Pecorino Romano basically makes up the whole sauce, and y'all – that cheese is SALTY.

Cacio e pepe is made by emulsifying pasta water with grated cheese and black pepper. It clumps so easily. Alfredo has an image problem. Americans think of it as pasta draped in a cream sauce made of heavy cream and cheese, but the original version is thinner and creamy from an emulsion of butter and grated cheese.

You might not suspect this, but the way the cheese is grated is key to making perfect Cacio e Pepe. Indeed, if the cheese is grated too coarsely, it won't emulsify into a smooth sauce, and you'll end up with blobs of coagulated cheese.

Add pepper and cook ('bloom'), until fragrant and toasted. Use tongs to pull pasta into the pan (this way you are reserving all the pasta water), then add ½ cup pasta water. Using a wooden spoon, stir the pasta, using the pasta as a whisk to emulsify the butter and pasta water into a sauce.

1. Pick a curved pasta shape that'll grab hold of the sauce. Customarily, Cacio e Pepe is made with hand-made tonnarelli pasta, which is about double the thickness of classic spaghetti.

Pecorino Romano has a stronger flavor than parmesan and should be used in traditional Roman foods like pasta all'amatriciana, carbonara and spaghetti cacio e pepe.

Speaking of which, Pecorino Romano is the hollowed-out wheel preferred for Roman pasta dish cacio e pepe, and is also frequently used in other Roman pasta dishes such as spaghetti alla carbonara.

Cacio e pepe is traditionally made from black pepper, aged Pecorino Romano cheese, spaghetti or tonnarelli pasta, and, most importantly, pasta cooking water. Authentic cacio e pepe does not include butter or oil, but we're willing to break a few rules for flavor.

Black Pepper – Thick flakes of black pepper add immense flavor to this simple dish. Use freshly ground or coarsely ground pepper. Cheese – Grana Padano and Pecorino – the cheeses are interchangeable, you can use one or both. Grate the cheese finely so that it melts quickly and easily into the pasta.