Cacio e Pepe
Total Time
30 minutes
Prep Time
10 minutes
Cook Time
20 minutes
Rating
4.8 out of 5 stars
(82)
Ingredients
2 to 3 servings
- 8 ounces uncooked pasta (I recommend bucatini)
- 2 tablespoons butter, diced into 1-tablespoon chunks*
- 1 teaspoon freshly-ground coarse black pepper*
- 2 ounces finely-grated Pecorino-Romano cheese
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Preparation
Chef’s notes
Butter:
Feel free to use less butter, if you prefer. Or you can also omit the butter entirely and just use extra starchy pasta water in its place, which is the traditional way to make cacio e pepe.
Black pepper:
I like my cacio e pepe heavy on the “pepe” (black pepper) and always add extra as a garnish. If you are sensitive to black pepper, however, you may want to use less than the recipe suggests. Also please note that the 1 teaspoon measurement is for coarsely-ground black pepper. (So if you are using finely-ground pepper, you will need to use less.)
Tong alternatives:
If using a shorter pasta shape (such as rigatoni), I recommend transferring the pasta with a spider strainer instead. Or if you do not own either, you can scoop out a few cups of the starchy pasta water and reserve the water in a heat-safe bowl, then drain the rest of the pasta in a colander and transfer it to the sauté pan.
Recipe edit:
This recipe was edited in 2022 to include 2 instead of 3 tablespoons of butter, and the instructions were updated and clarified as well.