25 Cacio e Pepe Recipes You’ve Never Tried Before (Because Cheese and Pepper Work with Just About Everything) (2024)

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25 Cacio e Pepe Recipes You’ve Never Tried Before (Because Cheese and Pepper Work with Just About Everything) (1)

By Taryn Pire

Published Oct 2, 2022

It doesn’t matter the occasion: A bowl of cacio e pepe (meaning “cheese and pepper” in Italian) is always a good idea. While you might be used to preparing it with traditional pasta, there are limitless ingredients that lend themselves to this salty, savory treatment. Read on for 25 cacio e pepe recipes that you’ll be salivating over in no time, ranging from riffs on the classic noodle dish to mouth-watering sides and snacks.

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Photo: Liz Andrew/Styling: Erin McDowell

1. Cacio e Pepe Pasta

  • Time Commitment: 20 minutes
  • Why We Love It: <30 minutes, <10 ingredients, vegetarian, kid-friendly

Let’s start with the O.G., shall we? All the comfort classic requires is five pantry staples and 20 minutes of your time to come together.

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Photo: Liz Andrew/Styling: Erin McDowell

2. Cacio e Pepe Cauliflower

  • Time Commitment: 20 minutes
  • Why We Love It: <30 minutes, crowd-pleaser, <10 ingredients, vegetarian

All of the flavor, minus the carb-loaded noodles. This creamy, dreamy side pairs well with just about everything, but our fave match is roast chicken.

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Photo: Liz Andrew/Styling: Erin McDowell

3. Cacio e Pepe Brussels Sprouts

  • Time Commitment: 35 minutes
  • Why We Love It: crowd-pleaser, <10 ingredients, vegetarian, special occasion-worthy

If the kids' table leaves their veggies untouched every Thanksgiving, there's a good chance this autumn side could change that.

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Linda Pugliese/Salad Freak

4. Asparagus, Peas and Cucumber ‘Cacio e Pepe’

  • Time Commitment: 20 minutes
  • Why We Love It: <30 minutes, <10 ingredients, vegetarian, gluten free

Crisp asparagus, refreshing cukes and spring peas take over for pasta in this citrus-kissed main. Might we suggest topping it with prosciutto to make it more filling?

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Katherine Gillen

5. Cacio e Pepe Zucchini

  • Time Commitment: 15 minutes
  • Why We Love It: <30 minutes, <10 ingredients, vegetarian, sheet pan recipe

Beware: Serve this four-ingredient breeze of a side dish once and you'll be asked to make it for every barbecue you ever host.

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6. Cacio e Pepe Pasta Pie

  • Time Commitment: 1 hour and 40 minutes
  • Why We Love It: crowd-pleaser, vegetarian, special occasion-worthy, kid-friendly

Add some crunch to your cacio e pepe with the help of a trio of cheeses (Parm! mozz! Asiago!) and your oven.

7. Cacio e Pepe Popcorn

  • Time Commitment: 5 minutes
  • Why We Love It: <30 minutes, <10 ingredients, vegetarian, kid-friendly

Movie night just got a lot more exciting. If you don't have a microwave or air popper, go the route of the recipe's ingenious paper bag method.

8. Cacio e Pepe Risotto

  • Time Commitment: 40 minutes
  • Why We Love It: beginner-friendly, special occasion-worthy, vegetarian

How does this already decadent dish get its drool-worthy creamy consistency, you ask? Chalk it up to mascarpone cheese.

9. Pumpkin Cacio e Pepe

  • Time Commitment: 30 minutes
  • Why We Love It: beginner-friendly, special occasion-worthy, vegetarian

Consider this our new favorite way to use canned pumpkin puree. Grated nutmeg drives the autumn theme home.

10. Grilled Romaine Salad with Cacio e Pepe Chickpeas and Herb Dressing

  • Time Commitment: 35 minutes
  • Why We Love It: vegetarian, crowd-pleaser, beginner-friendly

The garlicky dressing is yogurt-based and packed with fresh lemon and three types of herbs, yet somehow the cheesy chickpeas just might be our favorite part.

11. Oven Roasted or Air Fryer Crispy Cacio e Pepe Chickpeas

  • Time Commitment: 20 minutes
  • Why We Love It: vegetarian, crowd-pleaser, beginner-friendly, <10 ingredients, <30 minutes

You're only four pantry staples away from this irresistibly tasty snack. Make it ahead of any dinner party you host and serve it once your guests arrive as an easy-yet-elegant app.

12. Zucchini Cacio e Pepe with Brown Butter

  • Time Commitment: 30 minutes
  • Why We Love It: vegetarian, crowd-pleaser, special occasion-worthy

Brown butter—or as we like to call it, liquid gold—makes everything a million times tastier with its sultry, nutty flavor, including summer squash.

13. Cacio e Pepe Roasted Cauliflower

  • Time Commitment: 50 minutes
  • Why We Love It: vegetarian, crowd-pleaser, special occasion-worthy, beginner-friendly

The trick to this take on cacio cauli is going foil-free on the baking sheet. This helps it get as crunchy as possible, plus results in tiny petals of golden-brown cheese (aka the best part).

14. Creamy Lemon Cacio e Pepe

  • Time Commitment: 15 minutes
  • Why We Love It: <30 minutes, <10 ingredients, beginner-friendly

Pasta limone x cacio e pepe, the remix. Heavy cream, pasta water and grated Parm and Pecorino cheeses turn the sauce impossibly rich.

15. Shaved Brussels Sprouts Salad with Lemon and Parmesan

  • Time Commitment: 20 minutes
  • Why We Love It: no cook, <30 minutes, <10 ingredients, beginner-friendly, make ahead

Yup, raw Brussels sprouts are a thing—and they deserve your undivided attention. Since they're shaved, they'll be tender and easy to chew, even without cooking them.

16. Lemon, Parmesan and Black Pepper Popcorn

  • Time Commitment: 10 minutes
  • Why We Love It: <30 minutes, <10 ingredients, beginner-friendly, kid-friendly

Lemon zest offers the seasoning mix its brightness, but you can always substitute lemon pepper for extra punch. (We're adding crushed red pepper flakes to ours, too.)

17. Vegan Cacio e Pepe

  • Time Commitment: 15 minutes
  • Why We Love It: vegan, dairy free, <10 ingredients, <30 minutes

All it takes is a few key substitutions, like vegan butter and dairy-free Parmesan. (You could use olive oil and nutritional yeast in their place if you'd prefer.)

18. Tomato Confit Cacio e Pepe

  • Time Commitment: 55 minutes
  • Why We Love It: <10 ingredients, vegetarian, special occasion-worthy

Tomatoes are cooked on the stovetop in olive oil until jammy and blistered, then transformed into a bright, luxurious sauce when combined with cheese and pasta water. Drooling yet?

19. One Pot Cacio e Pepe Israeli Couscous

  • Time Commitment: 25 minutes
  • Why We Love It: <30 minutes, special occasion-worthy, <10 ingredients, vegetarian

The ingredients couldn't be any simpler for this brag-worthy side dish. The only fussy one on the list is chopped parsley, which makes for a fresh finishing touch.

20. Creamy Cacio e Pepe Greens and Pasta

  • Time Commitment: 35 minutes
  • Why We Love It: beginner-friendly, vegetarian

Take your pick of collards, kale, spinach or Swiss chard for this veggie-heavy pasta. (Don't worry, it's still packed with mascarpone, ricotta, Parmesan and Romano cheeses for good measure.)

21. 4-Ingredient Cacio e Pepe Udon

  • Time Commitment: 5 minutes
  • Why We Love It: beginner-friendly, vegetarian, <10 ingredients, <30 minutes

A simple swap of noodles totally changes the classic dish. Udon noodles are not only chewier, but they also cook to toothsome perfection in five minutes flat.

22. Zucchini Noodle-Bacon Cacio e Pepe

  • Time Commitment: 20 minutes
  • Why We Love It: <10 ingredients, gluten free, low carb, keto-friendly, <30 minutes

Balance is everything, and this take on cacio e pepe—which trades pasta for spiralized zucchini, but also includes bacon—is proof.

23. Instant Pot Cacio e Pepe with Crispy Garlic-Basil Chickpeas

  • Time Commitment: 15 minutes
  • Why We Love It: crowd-pleaser, Instant Pot recipe, <30 minutes

This might be the easiest crispy chickpea recipe you've ever tried. Instead of being roasted in the oven, they're cooked in a large skillet with garlic, oil and fresh basil until crunchy.

24. Cacio e Pepe Pie

  • Time Commitment: 1 hour and 10 minutes
  • Why We Love It: crowd-pleaser, kid-friendly, special occasion-worthy, <10 ingredients

Instead of traditional Pecorino or commonly substituted Parmesan, this baked masterpiece stars provolone, mozzarella and Parmigiano-Reggiano.

25. Cacio e Pepe with Arugula and Lemon

  • Time Commitment: 25 minutes
  • Why We Love It: crowd-pleaser, beginner-friendly, <10 ingredients, <30 minutes

Arugula, lemon zest and torn basil cut right through the creamy, cheesy pasta with their vegetal freshness and acidity.

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For even more great recipes, check out our first cookbook,Only the Good Stuff.

Taryn Pireis PureWow’s associate food editor. A former bartender and barista, she’s been writing about all things delicious since 2016, developing recipes, reviewing restaurants and investigating food trends at Food52, New Jersey Family Magazine and Taste Talks. When she isn’t testing TikTok’s latest viral recipe, she’s having popcorn for dinner and posting about it on Instagram@cookingwithpire.

25 Cacio e Pepe Recipes You’ve Never Tried Before (Because Cheese and Pepper Work with Just About Everything) (27)

Taryn Pire

Food Editor

Taryn Pire is PureWow’s food editor and has been writing about all things delicious since 2016. She’s developed recipes, reviewed restaurants and investigated food trends at...

read full bio

25 Cacio e Pepe Recipes You’ve Never Tried Before (Because Cheese and Pepper Work with Just About Everything) (2024)

FAQs

Why Cacio e Pepe is so hard to perfectly execute? ›

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.

What makes Cacio e Pepe so good? ›

Translated from Italian, cacio e pepe means cheese and black pepper. The allure of a dish made with so few ingredients is indeed rooted in its simplicity, in its intensity of flavors and textures. When made just right, the cheese melts into the reserved pasta water and clings to the pasta, creating a creamy sauce.

Is Cacio e Pepe really Peppery? ›

Recipe At a Glance

Cheesy and Peppery: With creamy Pecorino Romano and a dash of heat from the black pepper, this feels like elevated comfort food. Family Friendly: Cacio e pepe makes a great meal for adults and kids alike.

What is Cacio e Pepe secret? ›

The secret, in addition to the chemical combination of water and Pecorino proteins to obtain a cream without lumps, lies in the flavor: whole peppercorns crushed the same day and plunged into the pan to toast releasing all their pungent aroma; the pasta whisked slowly and in a controlled way to absorb all the taste of ...

Why is my Cacio e Pepe always stringy? ›

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.

How do you keep cheese from clumping in Cacio e Pepe? ›

How to avoid clumping in Cacio e Pepe Sauce
  1. Use high quality ingredients. ...
  2. Grate cheese yourself. ...
  3. Grate cheese first. ...
  4. Use finely grated cheese. ...
  5. Do NOT adjust the amount of water for cooking the pasta. ...
  6. Don't reserve pasta water early. ...
  7. Let pasta water cool. ...
  8. Don't add cheese all at once.

How do you thicken cacio e pepe? ›

- Add a little more pasta water than you think you need (the pasta will continue to soak it up and the sauce will thicken on your plate).

Should cacio e pepe be salty? ›

Authentic Cacio e Pepe DIRECTIONS

Bring to a boil and season lightly with salt – not too much, as the pecorino is quite salty.

Why is Cacio e Pepe so salty? ›

The word 'cacio' is Roman dialect for cheese. In this case, the cheese is Pecorino Romano, a salty, aged sheep's milk cheese that dates to the Roman Empire. The finely grated cheese is mixed with freshly ground black pepper—lots of it—and starchy pasta cooking water.

Why does my Cacio e Pepe break? ›

The trick is to toss the cheese with starch before heating it. As the starch heats up and gels, it stabilizes the cheese so it won't break. I tried the method for this Cacio e Pepe, which makes for a durable sauce that doesn't break even after raising the temperature until the sauce boils (usually a mortal sin).

Can I use Parmesan instead of pecorino for Cacio e Pepe? ›

Cheese– Aged Pecorino Romano is a MUST when making Cacio e Pepe. It is made from sheep's milk and has a strong and tangy flavor. I also use Parmesan cheese because I like the flavor of the two cheeses together.

What does Cacio e Pepe mean in english? ›

Cacio e pepe literally translates to “cheese and pepper." These two ingredients are usually thought of as small components to a dish but in this pasta recipe, they take center stage.

Where did Anthony Bourdain have Cacio e Pepe? ›

Unfortunately for the restaurant's quiet charm, it didn't take long for people to find out that it was Ristorante Roma Sparita on Rome's Piazza di Santa Cecila. (The episode was shot in black and white in a nod to '60s Italian cinema.)

What is a good substitute for Cacio e Pepe cheese? ›

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.

Should Cacio e Pepe be spicy? ›

It has a very rich and strong flavor due to the Pecorino Romano sharp cheese as well as the heavy amount of pepper. Warning: some might find this dish spicy.

How do you emulsify Cacio e Pepe sauce? ›

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.

Why is my Cacio e Pepe sauce not combining? ›

Cacio e Pepe Troubleshooting: Emulsifying the sauce
  1. The Pecorino Romano is very finely grated. ...
  2. The pasta water and pasta can't be too hot when adding to the cheese. ...
  3. I'm using less water than I usually would so there is more starch to aid in emulsification.
Apr 11, 2022

How is Cacio e Pepe supposed to taste? ›

The translation of Cacio e Pepe literally means cheese and pepper. This pasta dish is incredibly simple, but packs a lot of rich flavor with pecorino Romano cheese and freshly ground pepper. It has a very rich and strong flavor due to the Pecorino Romano sharp cheese as well as the heavy amount of pepper.

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