This classic Italian Pasta dish is literally composed of it’s name: cheese and pepper pasta. The first time I tried this dish was a few weeks ago at a new restaurant that opened up near our house. I went out with a few girlfriends, and one of them raved about how amazing and simple this dish was. Normally, I’m not a big fan of spaghetti, but this dish is absolutely delicious. I knew I had to try and re-create it at home, especially since the ingredients seemed very simple.
I kept the ingredients pretty basic to the name and made a sauce composed of oil, pasta water, Parmesan cheese, and lots of freshly ground black pepper. I recommend you get blocks of cheese and freshly grate them before making the sauce. If you cannot find Pecorino or Grana Padano without animal rennet, you can easily substitute them both for Parmesan Cheese (the Parmesan cheese found at Trader Joe’s does not contain animal rennet).
Gluten-free Option: Use gluten-free pasta or SPAGHETTI SQUASH! The restaurant where I first ate this dish also serves gluten-free pasta as an option for their pasta dishes. When my brother came down one weekend, he wanted to try this pasta dish with the gluten-free pasta option and he loved it! The restaurant had served it with gluten-free penne instead of spaghetti. I had tried the dish as well and it tasted exactly the same (maybe even better because the pasta had absorbed the sauce really well)! I’ve made this dish gluten-free by using quinoa pasta, brown rice pasta, and spaghetti squash and all three versions tasted absolutely delicious. I actually found myself preferring the gluten-free version at times!
Cacio e Pepe
INGREDIENTS
- 6 oz. spaghetti pasta , gluten-free option: use quinoa or brown rice pasta, or cooked spaghetti squash
- 3 tbsp butter
- 1 teasp freshly ground black pepper
- 3 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
- 2/3 cup vegan parmesan , I use Follow Your Heart
- salt
INSTRUCTIONS
- In a pot of boiling, salted water (slightly under sea water salty), cook the pasta al dente. Be sure to reserve the pasta water for cooking after draining the pasta.
- While the pasta is cooking, start preparing the sauce. Heat a stainless steel pan to medium heat. Add the coarsely ground fresh black pepper and toast slightly for a minute.
- Start the cooking process by adding about 1/2 cup reserved pasta water and simmer for 1-2 minutes.
- Add 2 tbsp olive oil and 2 tbsp butter and bring everything to a simmer.
- Reduce the heat and add the pasta.
- Add vegan parmesan. Toss the pasta until the cheese melts and the sauce coats the pasta. Feel free to add more of the reserved pasta water if the sauce feels too dry (I usually end up having to add more pasta water).
- Serve immediately while hot!
Tina Patel Doshi
Made this and absolutely LOVED it! All the measurements were right on…didnt need to add or put in less of anything! It was a very different way to make spaghetti, but probably one of the most flavorful I have ever had!
Gastronomers - Amman & Anjali
Glad you enjoyed the dish as much as we did!!
Avani
I made this with spaghetti squash like you recommended in a blog post and it was delicious! It was the first time I have ever had spaghetti squash and I think I might have fallen in love!
Sheena
This was amazing-followed recipe exactly and was so delicious! Thank you!
anjali
You’re welcome! This is one of my favorites…so simple and easy to make yet light and very flavorful. It’s also great with spaghetti squash instead of pasta! Thanks for the comment and thanks for visiting my site.
fiamma
*** This recipe might not be vegetarian ***
Both Grana Padano and Parmesan cheese are NOT vegetarian cheeses, as they are both made with rennet – which is absolutely NOT a vegetarian ingredient.
Most Pecorino cheese is also made with rennet, so check label to make sure the coagulant is vegetarian.
See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rennet to see where rennet comes from.
anjali
Yes, I know all about rennet…the brands of parm and pecorino i used to buy did not contain rennet. Regardless, since then I’ve been vegan for the past 5 years and use follow your heart vegan parm for this recipe now. I have a lot of older recipes I need to go back and update/modify to fit my content. Thank you for the info though!