Bucatini cacio e pepe
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This creamy, dreamy bucatini cacio e pepe is a classic Italian recipe that uses only 3 ingredients and will blow you away with its simplicity and BIG flavor.
A no-frills, bold, silky pasta ready in less than 15 minutes.
I’ve shared several Italian pasta recipes on the blog, including penne arrabbiata, pasta fazool and garlic olive oil spaghetti. Today, I’m back with another easy yet scrumptious Italian pasta recipe for you!
Bucatini cacio e pepe.
But what on earth does cacio e pepe mean? It means cheese and pepper and refers to the Pecorino cheese and the black pepper used to make the dish.
In fact, for an authentic and truly delicious cacio e pepe, you need only bucatini pasta, starchy pasta water, loads of freshly ground black pepper and pecorino cheese.
Nothing else. No butter, no olive oil, no garlic, no parmesan.
This no-frills dish takes about 10 minutes – maybe a bit longer if you account for the time it takes to grate the cheese.
And you need lots of Pecorino cheese, not just a few tablespoons. Because bucatini cacio e pepe is not for the faint-hearted. It’s bold, salty, spicy and absolutely amazing.
All you have to do is cook, drain, and stir the pasta with black pepper, starchy water and cheese in a skillet until bucatini are coated in a wonderfully silky and glossy cheese sauce.
Easy as can be and absolutely delicious!
If you love Italian pasta recipes that are fast to make and delicious, you’ll want to try bucatini cacio e pepe!
List of the ingredients
- Bucatini
- Pecorino Romano
- Black pepper… and starchy pasta water!
How to make bucatini cacio e pepe
(Note: this is a quick description, the full recipe is at the bottom of the page)
- Cook bucatini per the packet time minus 3 minutes.
- Reserve the starchy pasta water!
- Toast the freshly ground pepper in a large skillet (no butter, no olive oil!).
- Add some pasta water and cook a couple of minutes to deepen the flavor.
- In a bowl combine pecorino cheese and pasta water.
- Drain the pasta, add it to the skillet, and stir and cook for a few minutes.
- Turn the heat off and scatter the cheese mixture over the pasta.
- Stir until the cheese melts and the bucatini pasta looks well coated, juicy and creamy. Add an extra touch of pasta water if needed.
- Serve straight away and enjoy!
Recipe notes
Bucatini: you can make cacio e pepe with any long or short cut pasta shape, but bucatini or thick spaghetti are traditionally used when making this recipe, and for good reason. The creamy, emulsified sauce coats each strand of pasta beautifully that all you want is twirling the bucatini around your fork!
Pecorino Romano: the only cheese. Many recipes use both Parmesan cheese and Pecorino cheese, but traditionally bucatini cacio e pepe uses only salty and sharp Pecorino Romano. And the flavor is immense.
Black pepper: freshly coarse ground black pepper is the key. No pre-ground black pepper in a shaker, use peppercorns and a pepper mill instead.
Pasta water: the starchy pasta water is your best friend for this bucatini cacio e pepe. It works like magic and makes your cheese sauce smooth, glossy, and emulsified without using any butter.
Tips for the best bucatini cacio e pepe!
Below a few basic troubleshooting steps to get the best result.
Good-quality pasta: you’ll finish the pasta in a separate skillet stirring constantly like making a risotto. For this reason, I recommend using quality bronze-cut pasta that retains its bite and has a better texture.
Starch is the key: using less water to cook your pasta creates a higher concentration of starch making the pasta water thicker and super starchy, perfect to to emulsify the cheese.
Grate the cheese finely: to incorporate and to melt the cheese smoothly.
Cheese mixture: you’ll want to make a paste, not a cream.
Stir, stir, and stir: finish the pasta in the skillet with the pasta water and black pepper. Cook and stir constantly to release more starch.
Turn the heat off! When you add the cheese mixture to the skillet, make sure to remove the skillet from the heat (I usually lift the skillet!). Overheating the cheese makes a sticky, clumpy mess! The sauce should be creamy and velvety, not stringy.
More quick pasta recipes for you!
This terrific collection of 13 Super Quick Pasta Recipes ready in less than 15 minutes is for you! But you might also want to check my vegan pastas and Italian pasta recipes or penne pasta recipes or meatless pastas for more cooking inspirations!
Check out these:
- White wine pasta
- Spinach pesto pasta
- Creamy tomato pasta
- Mushroom ricotta pasta
- Penne arrabbiata
- Creamy spinach tomato pasta
Lastly, I hope you’ll love this luscious bucatini cacio e pepe, and if you have any questions, let me know! Leave a comment, send me a message, or rate it. I would love to hear from you!
10-min Bucatini Cacio e Pepe
Ingredients
Bucatini
- 8oz (220 grams) bucatini or spaghetti
Cacio e pepe sauce
- 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper*
- 1 ½ cup (150 grams) freshly grated pecorino, plus more to serve if you wish
- 1 ½ cup (360 ml) starchy pasta water
Instructions
- Cook pasta in salty boiling water per packet instructions minus 3 minutes.
- Just a couple of minutes before draining (and not at the beginning of the cooking time), scoop out 1 ½ cup pasta cooking water, then drain the pasta.
Cacio e pepe
- While the pasta is nearly done, place the grated pecorino cheese to a bowl, add 4-5 tablespoons of the reserved pasta water and with a spoon stir until well combined (it resembles a paste, not a cream).
- Coarsely grind the black pepper, add it to a large skillet over medium heat, and gently toast it for about 1 minute. Then add ½ cup of the reserved pasta water and cook for another minute.
- Drain the pasta, add it to the skillet, and finish to cook it until al dente. Make sure to have enough pasta water in the skillet, add more if needed, and stir constantly to release more starch and to make the pasta silky and glossy.
- Finally, turn the heat off (if the stove retains some heat, move the skillet away). Scatter the pecorino mixture all over it, toss until well combined and creamy, adding more of the reserved pasta water until the sauce is creamy and coats the pasta nicely.
- Serve immediately with extra grated pecorino cheese if you wish. Enjoy.
