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This recipe reminds me so much of the amazing meals we ate in Rome. Full of flavor, easy to prepare, and best made with the highest quality of ingredients you can get your hands on. The good news is that there’s only 5 ingredients in this recipe, so it’s totally worth it to splurge on good cheese, pasta, and pepper – if possible. If you can only spend big on one item, I highly recommend buying the best cheese you can afford. And fresh cracked pepper! It makes all the difference. My grocery store sells the “grind-it-yourself” pepper mills for like 3 bucks, so keep an eye out 😉
Cacio e Pepe is a classic Italian dish known for its simplicity and ease. I’ve gone ahead and made this recipe even easier by transforming it into a one-pan situation. Yep! All this, and only one dirty dish. Can I hear an amen, my friends?! Cause ain’t nobody got time for mountains of dishes. Pssh.
Also, a few step by steps photos. Just because I love you!
First you want to add your oil and pepper to the pot. You’ll place the pot over medium-high, simmer until it shimmers…
then add your pasta! I used bucatini in this recipes, and highly recommend it, if you can find it. I know not all grocery stores carry it, but Barilla came out with a new line which included the thick, tube noodle, so it may be easier to find than I think.
Once your pasta is in, add your water (and a dash of salt, if you want), and boil!
Once it’s boiled for about 11 minutes, you’ll toss in the cheese (hooray!), stir like a madman, and that’s it. Dinner is done! How easy is that? xoxo
You can top this with extra cheese if you’re a hardcore cheese head (meeeee), or serve as is! Just be sure to plate it and get it out right away, as this dish is best hot from the pan 😉
One-Pan Cacio e Pepe
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup Olive Oil
- 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 4 1/2 cups water
- 1 pound bucatini pasta (you may sub spaghetti here if you can't find bucatini)
- 1 cup parmesan cheese
- *salt and additional pepper to taste
Instructions
- In a large pot or dutch oven heat the oil and pepper over medium-high. Cook for 2 minutes, then add water and pasta.
- Cook on high, stirring frequently, until the only about a 1/2 cup of liquid remains; about 11 minutes.
- Add the cheese into the pasta/water mixture and stir like crazy! Cook for another 30 seconds, then remove from heat. Add more salt and pepper to taste, and serve at once! Enjoy 😉
How many people should it serve? Also, do you have any nutritional stats?
It depends on their appetites! But 4 to 6! I don’t have nutritional information.
This has been my go to for years- thank you!
Hey! Have made this the traditional way before -tonight tried the one pot version and it turned out so glutinous/starchy as to be inedible. I used from the box linguine …. any thoughts?
Ran across a traditional recipe for Cacio e Pepe a couple weeks ago, tried it and loved it. Then I found your recipe and we tried it tonight. Wonderful! Seemed just as tasty as I remembered the other one and I appreciated the super-simple way to make it. So thank you! And perhaps those who took issue with the recipe going against the “right way” to do things should get their own blogs. 🙂
Totally just air hugged you, Becky 😉 So happy this was a hit in your home! xoxo
I made this pasta last night and while it was good and flavorful, the amount of olive oil is so excessive and the pasta just drowned in it. I could barely finish one plate because every noodle was dripping of oil! I really don’t see why this recipe needs the amount of oil that it does.
Hi Danielle. I’m happy to hear you enjoyed the pasta! As far as the amount of oil called for, a 1/4 cup olive oil is actually quite standard in Italian cooking, and many cacio e pepe recipes call for up to a 1/2 cup. However you may absolutely cut down the oil to fit your taste.
I’m sure this dish is amazing…but in response to Tiffany, I’m looking for a good pasta base for a grilled shrimp and scallop dish….any thoughts on how this would be?
hi thank you for the comport recipe!
I wonder how many peolple can have this cook when make with your recipe.
This seems way too easy! I make this a few times per month for an easy and classic Italian dish but I’ve always done the traditional method of boiling the pasta in salted water and reserving a cup of the water after. I think I should try this way and see what the husband thinks. Not traditional but saving me a pan (I’m the one cleaning up after usually) can be a life saver on a busy week night.
Also – to anyone that thinks this dish sounds too plain and suggests adding meat or veggies, then go right ahead, if you absolutely must. However, you are then not making Cacio e Pepe any more. You are truly missing out on the simple, classic dish that this is. Adding in veggies or shrimp to give it a kick means you aren’t tasting this dish how it was meant to be tasted. While I’m all for getting in your veggies, this once, just this once, allow yourself to taste this pasta with the simple, traditional ingredients. And eat your salad on the side.
Hi Tiffany. This is definitely not the traditional way of making cacio e pepe, which I know, is already so easy 😉 But it does save you dishes and time, and sometimes we all need an insanely quick meal that doesn’t sacrifice flavor, right? Also, I am so with you on keeping the cacio e pepe pure; everything else on the side please. xoxo
just a couple of tips from Rome 🙂 :
– pasta needs to be put in boiling water, then cooked for the 11-12-whatever mins written on the pack. First get water to boil, then put pasta in. Most important, you will be denied entry to Italy if you don’t follow this rule 🙂
– take pasta out and keep some of the water used to cook pasta. In another dish (you can wash two dishes, come on I know you can) you mix the Pecorino with the pasta and the cooking water. It’s the hot water that will melt Pecorino creating that lovely cream.
– pepper is best added fresh when mixing at the end.
Follow these simple rules and we will welcome you as part of the roman population. 🙂
Hi Gianluca. Thank you for your tips and tricks. xo