How To Make Cacio E Pepe In 15 Minutes (With Only 4 Ingredients)
Learn how to make the MOST glossy, cheesy cacio e pepe that rivals any restaurant, in just 15 minutes, using 4 simple ingredients. The perfect pasta for date night, girl's night or a solo night in.
Before you start cooking, make sure you have all your ingredients - and the equipment you need (tongs, a whisk and a spatula) - prepped and ready to go as once you add the pasta to the sauce, things need to come together quickly.
Servings: 2 servings
Calories: 763kcal
Ingredients
- 7 oz/200g pasta spaghetti, linguine, bucatini or try making your own pici
- 2.5 oz/70g butter cubed
- 2 teaspoons black pepper
- 2.5 oz/70g pecorino cheese very finely grated (or use parmesan)
Instructions
- Cook your pasta. Bring a large pot, filled about 1/3 of the way up with water to a boil, then add a pinch of salt. Add your pasta and cook until al dente (use your packet as the guide here).
- Toast the pepper. Melt the butter in a large, high-sided frying pan over medium heat, then add the crushed black pepper. Cook for a couple of minutes, until smelling lovely and fragrant, then turn the heat off.
- Add pasta water to your pepper. Once your pasta is almost cooked, transfer about ¼ cup of pasta cooking water to the pan with the butter and pepper, turn the heat to low and whisk VIGOROUSLY to create an emulsified sauce. You’ll want to essentially shake the pan with one hand while whisking with the other - it will end up looking like a more opaque, glossy sauce. Repeat with another splash of pasta water, then let it simmer for a minute or two as it thickens up.
- Add the pasta. Once your pasta is cooked, use tongs to transfer it straight into the pan with the sauce (don’t worry if more pasta water goes in too). Try to arrange the pasta on an even layer in the pan, if you can. Turn the heat RIGHT down, and scatter the grated pecorino all over the pasta, as evenly as possible. Leave it there for about 30 seconds so it starts to melt from the residual heat on the pasta. This is key for creating a silky smooth sauce.
- Toss the pasta through the sauce. Once it’s started to melt, use the tongs to toss the pasta vigorously again, until you have a lovely thick, emulsified cheesy, peppery sauce. If it’s a bit thick, you can add a splash more pasta water. Divide between plates, then enjoy right away.
Notes
Make sure your cheese is grated VERY finely for the best result. It's key for the cheese to melt easily and quickly into the pasta, and having it finely grated will help hugely.
It's not traditional, but using butter makes it A LOT easier to make that lovely sauce. It helps the starch in the pasta cooking water emulsify the sauce more easily, and it's much more stable.
You need to work quickly and confidently when you're tossing the cheese through the pasta. I'm talking VERY vigorous shaking of the pan and mixing of the pasta through the sauce at the same time. This will help the cheese mix evenly through the pasta and create that silky sauce we're after.
Use less pasta cooking water than usual. One of the key elements in that silky sauce is starch pasta water, and to get it very starchy (and therefore easier to make into an emulsified sauce), I like to cook the pasta in a lot less water than I would normally. You want just enough water to cover your pasta.
INGREDIENT NOTES: Pecorino is traditional, but can be tricky to find. You can absolutely use Parmesan and it'll still be wonderful. Just make sure you grate it yourself. I love to throw in pink peppercorns when I can find them for a pop of colour (this is especially fun for date nights!) so I recommend giving that a go if you come across them.
Nutrition
Serving: 350g | Calories: 763kcal | Carbohydrates: 77.4g | Protein: 24.7g | Fat: 39.4g | Saturated Fat: 24g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 12.9g | Cholesterol: 111.7mg | Sodium: 511.9mg | Fiber: 3.8g | Sugar: 3g