Spaghetti Cacio e Pepe

This is a classic Italian recipe. My family is from the Italian Alps and use Dairy products profusely in cooking. This is a go to for me when I have left over pasta. Use SALTED BUTTER and FRY pasta in butter until crispy (takes about 10-15 mins) and then add black pepper. It’s a great stand alone or side dish. BTW, I freeze our extra pasta over time and when I have enough saved I fry it up. This doesn’t require all of the pasta to be the same (linguine, penne, spaghetti, etc) all marry well and are used in one simple and delicious dish.

Super simple and quick to make! If you're a college student like I am, this is a thousand times better than ramen! I just added a pinch or two of red pepper flakes to add some heat and voíla!

This dish is easy to make, and it's delicious! I bought a Kitchenaid Pasta Press, and I have been experimenting with a variety of recipes. This one is a keeper! I added Aleppo pepper at the end for a bit of heat. A good quality olive oil is a must for this recipe. I use extra virgin olive oil from California Olive Ranch. For this recipe, I used the mild and buttery profile. I buy a wedge of pecorino romano and grate it myself. The recipe is really good with store bought spaghetti, but fresh spaghetti takes it over the top!

I made a huge mistake when I made this. I made it with thin wheat spaghetti. I should have used regular so unless you want a mucky mess, use regular spaghetti.

This is a variation on the classic Roman dish except the Romans don't add garlic. The name is cacio e pepe: cheese and pepper. The addition of garlic changes the dish but it is still tasty. This was a Friday night meal in our house growing up. It is meatless and inexpensive. Thanks for submitting your rendition.

Very tasty. Easy & quick to make. Goes good with a nice Pinot Grigio. Note: When adding the Romano, add only a little at a time, allowing each addition to melt. Otherwise it melts into a big glob.

We're Italian. This is the way an Italian recipe should be: simple with the right ingredients. Don't add or subtract anything, just use genuine oil and cheese. Butter in not in the original recipe.

Thank you for this recipe! I'm having one of those, no money till payday what can I make with stuff already in my kitchen, type of days. I wasn't able to make this exact. But it turned out great. I had penne not spaghetti. I didn't have any garlic. I had grated parmesan and shredded parmesan. I added some leftover sautéed peppers and onions to the oil. Then I added in the noodles, cheese, garlic powder, Italian seasoning, and more black pepper. I ate this with some leftover chicken and steamed broccoli. I wasn't able to make exact but this recipe saved the day!

Added butter to oil and parsley and red flakes for more flavour

Simple goodness on a plate. I have made this as a quick dinner for myself and wife a few times and it never disappoints. Sometimes I add some extra vegetation, but as a whole, this recipe is great as is.

Used linguini instead of spaghetti. This is a very simple recipe that demands high quality ingredients, so I would recommend using freshly-ground black pepper and fresh pasta. We both really enjoyed this dish. While it was certainly rich, the cheese sauce wasn't overpowering. I did add some additional pepper at the table.

So fast and easy! And delicious! I added some shrimp because I had some.

It's quick, easy, and delicious. I remember making this while I was in a bad mood. Usually cooking while stressed just makes me angrier, but this dish was so simple and easy, it actually made me less stressed. And it's absolutly to die for. I have to say, though, if you make this, please, please PLEASE use a pepper grinder. The sawdust you buy preground at the store will not to it justice. You can use the cheapest noodles, oil, and cheese if you want. A pepper grinder may be a bit pricey, but it lasts such a long time and you'll save money by refilling it! Just please use a pepper grinder. PLEASE! Fresh pepper is the only way! Edit: My boyfriend gave this a try, and we found adding a mixture of cornflower and water (to a thick liquid constancy, not a paste) to the pasta with the cheese turns it into a wonderful sauce, especially if you add too much cheese. If you have cornflower laying around the house, and are finding that the cheese is too clumpy, try it out.

An Italian classic. I left out the garlic and oil. Thank you for the recipe.

SO much greater than the sum of its parts! This blew me away. Make sure you save plenty of pasta cooking water, mine needed a lot more than the recipe calls out in order to make a proper "sauce".

Very good dish. I think it definitely calls for red pepper flake and next time I make it, I think that I will add some chicken. Not sure if that changes it to be an entirely different dish, but I feel like it needs a protein.

A pound of dried spaghetti was way too much! And, the cheese just clumped up when I stirred it in until I finally broke it apart to make create a sauce (which broke my spaghetti into unappealing shards). It tasted amazing, though! I think that the next time, I'll use just 1/2 pound of spaghetti, add the spaghetti water first and then stir the cheese into the hot mixture that already includes the water.

This was easy and very fast. The only change I made was the cheese. I only had fresh parmesean cheese so I used that. It was tasty and fast so what more do you want? When I rewarmed it the next day, the cheese was sticky so I added some water and some marinara sauce to compensate for the extra water. But great!

Great meal! Simplicity at its best. Toddler approved.

Delicious! I really love pasta dishes like this...simple and full of flavor! The whole family enjoyed this one...a definite keeper~YUM, YUM, YUM!!!!! Thanks for sharing. :)

This is so freaking good. It’s a great weeknight hack for when you don’t have time (or patience) to make mac n’ cheese. Super easy to make and I always have the ingredients on hand. The garlic and olive oil really make this dish (and the cheese too, obviously.) I didn’t have enough grated cheese, so I added some shaved Parmesan and it was wonderful. Next time I’ll add red pepper flakes!

It was so good that my daughter just asked for it again, simple and quick to make. A good cheap meal.

Easy to make and my pasta lovers really liked it. Leftovers didn't last long. I added some fresh basil, a chopped Roma tomato and some real bacon bits.

Simple does not mean bland! This recipe is so easy, and the simple flavors just work so well!

We make it with fresh, chopped parsley as my husband, who lived in Milan for several years learned. Adding the water makes it more moist.

This is a good dish. In stead of just plain pasta water, add 1 Table spoon of Chicken Better than Bouillon to 1 1/2 C hot pasta water, add to the already cooked garlic and pepper, simmer then add pasta, cheese and shredded Basil. It’s a meal!

The key to this recipe, I think, is the freshly grated cheese. I made this as written , came out absolutely delicious for such a simple recipe. Thanks for sharing.

I think that this was a easy and quick recipe, not easy to mess up, but I did anyways! I added oregano, parsley, pepper flakes, and basil. I added a little too much pepper flakes, so it was a little spicier than I expected. But it was good anyways. I also added a little extra cheese, not that it needed it, just my opinion. Would make again, it was tasty!

Delicious! I added two additional cloves of garlic, crushed red peppers, a little truffle oil and dry white wine. Those additions elevated this side dish from really good to absolutely perfect!

i really liked this dish.....next time i would brown some cut up boneless chicken ..and serve with a cream sauce....I'd use one of the sauces all recipes suggest for chix cordon blue

This was an easy meal to make. Since the premise is to use what you have handy, I used some rotini and small penne shells. I also added sautéed kale to the pan. This was delicious and I look forward to making it again and adding some other mystery ingredient/s.

I cut the recipe in half, and substituted feta for 1/4 of the traditional cheese. Added sautéed fresh shrimp just before serving. My partner couldn't get enough. Good stuff:-)

Added venison steak, browned in olive oil with fresh basil and crushed garlic. Had to reduce the pepper, and screwed up the cheese, but it was still delicious!

I made this exactly as written except I only used half the amount of pepper and angel hair instead of spaghetti. We really liked the flavor but it was tough to use the long noodles. I will make this again but with a different noodle.

Delicious and easy!! Followed recipe exactly!

So simple and delicious. I didn’t have Romano, so used Parmesan.

Always a great recipe. Simple and tasty. Instead of water, I add chicken broth for more taste.

The premise is good. Recipe states simple is not bland. This recipe is nothing but bland. Pasta and olive oil. Increase garlic from 2 cloves to about 10, add in a little basil, marjoram, oregano and crushed pepper flakes and you will have something.

Such an easy dish and so delicious! I call it Italian mac and cheese

I had a terrible time making this meal. I heated the oil over medium heat and the garlic immediately burned. I threw that out and started over. I didn’t even try to sauté the garlic this time. I only used half the cheese. It all clumped together and was impossible to stir into the pasta. Never again!

The amount of oil is twice as much as you need. If you like the flavor of buttter, you can use it instead, or maybe half butter and half olive oil. You also don’t need but a cup of cheese. It is good with red pepper flakes, and you can add pancetta, prosciutto, sautéed chicken or shrimp, add a salad and there’s a complete meal.

It was wonderful. I followed the recipe exactly. Could not believe how delicious it turned out. Only problem is the leftovers reheated did not taste as well.

Wonderful base recipe. My husband's Italian family does a little variation. A combination of oil and butter and black olives, sometimes adding fresh mushrooms. I'll have to try the Panchetta. Always good! Thanks

I saw this recipe and thought this is easy to cook this morning and have my cooking out of the way. I had a half box linguini, some Cabot Sharp cheese, organic garlic from Wal-Mart that is already chopped up. I did not grate that much cheese because it was smelling so good and I was getting hungry. I added about a cup of the linguini liquid, stirred and ate breakfast. I don't usually do that, but myohmy! DELICIOUS!

super simple, use this as a baseline for all your creations. I'm lazy, so I tend to make the pasta, while it's boiling saute the garlic, some frozen onions, frozen broccoli florets, scoop out some water while the pasta is still cooking, throw it in with the other stuff sautéing , drain most of the water out of the pasta when it's done, and throw everything in the pot used to boil the pasta, stir it up, ready to go...if I were cooking for company I would take more time, use fresh, but for me, works great, taste close to the same. i also throw a scoop of giardeneria in my bowl of pasta...

This was simple, delicious and a perfect weeknight meal!

Used whiter pepper and parmesan cheese, with a small spoon of cream cheese to make it a tad thicker. It was absolutely delicious! At first, I thought I had things a bit wrong and had to add a lot more of salt than I'm used to (used pink salt), but in the end, it was cheesy and spicy, everything was perfectly harmonized! My first recipe from this website and it did not disappoint!

It was a simple tasty recipe which can be modified depending on what you have on hand. I will definitely make it again. Really a go to recipe.

I did a half recipe and it worked very well. So well that I shared my thoughts with a friend who first told me about this recipe after she vacationed in Italy.

Made this tonight and my husband asked for seconds. Easy and delicious! Thanks

This is great as is, but add toasted pine nuts! Knocks it up to a 5 star!

NICE

this was a hit with the kiddos

Very simple. Great flavor perfect as a side dish as well.

I remember my grandmother making this years ago. Never used butter, just a great olive oil and used 4 or 5 garlic cloves. While the garlic was sautéing in the hot oil, she would add anchovies to the oil. A small amount is all that is necessary...or more if you like. All very good. Great recipe!

Easy and great delicious for all members of the family.

This is a perfect recipte for Spaghetti Cacio e Pepe. I ate this all though Italy so have tasted it many times. This is spot on and really is a nice and flavorful compliment to any entree. Glad to have found it. Simple but perfect!

Yes I will make again, so simple but easy, fast and good. My mom uses to make it when I was young.

The problem with the cheese here is it clumps. I would use mostly grana padano. Use 1/4 cup of pecorino romano after taken off of heat... this will make it more flavorful.

Tried it twice. All I get is clumps of cheese and flavored spaghetti water.

Everybody loves it. So simple to make

My mother made this when I was growing up as one of my favorite comfort foods, but never knew what it was called. It's so satisfying on it's own, but is also great with small additions like fresh tomatoes, basil or chicken. Makes a great side dish as well.

Be sure when making this dish, that you add liquid and spaghetti to garlic oil before adding the cheese. I noticed another cook had same experience I had by adding cheese first and it seezed up into a big clump and I had a heck of a time melting it into a sauce. I used angle hair pasta and it was ready in a snap! And yes, it took double the pasta water to make a nice sauce. I also doubled the garlic. It was delicious!

Good recipe, word of Italian

I used a rosemary and garlic linguine instead of regular spaghetti noodles. Turned out pretty well

Wow---Dinner can be ready in a flash. So easy & so tasty. Thanks,

easy. very good

Quick any easy. Tastes good too!

I will definitely make this again! It was delicious.

Made it exactly as the recipe suggested. I thought it was pretty tasty for basic pasta. My husband loved it.

Really, really yummy. Made this as written. Only change was more cheese. All I had on hand was the bagged parmesan-italian cheeses mix, and this got eaten all up by 4 hungry boys.

Good recipe, easy to make

So delicious! I Love garlic, so I added a little bit more. Otherwise made as is. Used as side dish to a shrimp dish.

I loved this, but as I have a bad habit of not being able to follow a recipe exactly, I substituted red pepper flakes for half of the black pepper. Otherwise, I followed the recipe to the letter.

A quick supper or as the author indicated... wonderful side dish. Simple recipe that goes with just about anything.

I made this for m and my family and since we have such a big family I had to double. I recommend that you make it twice in separate pots because there was to much noodles and it was hard to stir around. It was also pretty peppery so you might want to add less pepper. Other then that it was pretty tasty.

Nice pasta side. Probably good with red pepper too! Thank you

I have made this for years! It's great for that pasta craving!

Great recipe. Quick and easy. It my go to.

was very tasty. little to peppery for my taste so I will be cutting that back a little next time

I will definitely be making this again. It was super easy to make and so delicious.

I did not make any changes in this recipe. My family enjoyed it!

No changes. We will have it often.

Very good you need to add more liquid or it’s too dry

Here’s my simple addition to an already simply delicious recipe. Just add bouillon, either chicken, beef or vegetable flavored, to the pasta water. The added flavor is an incredible boost to this.

awesome; i did add more pepper

sweet and simple

I did not make any changes. I do like the simplicity of this recipe.

We didn’t add as much cheese and used white pepper

This was simple and delicious!! I grilled some chicken tenders and served them sliced on top of the pasta and my husband loved it!

I like it its good and easy to make

Amazing!

yummmmmmmmm

I added three tablespoons of pesto & chopped mushrooms.

Too easy to be awesome!

We did everything in half because of time.

My daughter LOVED this dish. We added chicken and peas. Delish!

Easy to make. Family love the taste of the cheese. Something new to taste.

Made it without the garlic to get the more classic feel, and it was still awesome. I think the quality of the cheese will make a big difference since it is the star of the dish!