This delicious linguine cacio e pepe is a classic Italian pasta dish, made creamy and hot with just pecorino cheese, black pepper and a splash of olive oil.
I once spent an incredible week travelling around Italy sampling the traditional foods of each region.
We started in Venice, where seafood reigns supreme, meandered through Tuscany and Rome before ending our trip in Naples, the birthplace of pizza. It was bliss.
In Rome, I found my culinary homeland. It's where the classic simplicity of Italian food and good quality ingredients meets a more liberal use of condiments than further North, and the pasta starts to take on more bite.
When in Rome, if you're not in the mood for meatier dishes and fancy straying from the myriad tomato based sauces, a classic option is cacio e pepe pasta.
There are very few ingredients in an authentic cacio e pepe recipe: pasta, black pepper, olive oil (or butter), and Pecorino Romano cheese, a hard, salty cheese made from sheep's milk.
Traditionally, thin sauces like this tend to be served with pasta strands such as spaghetti, linguine or pici. A key point is that is much be cooked briefly to maintain bite and texture - no soggy pasta, please!
The method for making linguine cacio e pepe pasta is wonderfully straightforward. You'll put the pasta in a large pot of boiling salted water.
Next, you'll warm a spoonful of black pepper in a pan with olive oil to release those distinctively sinus-clearing aromas!
After that, you'll lift the cooked pasta into the pan with the pepper, add a splash of the pasta water along with a generous heap of pecorino cheese and stir together to create a perfectly creamy, dreamy sauce. This is a dish that needs no garnis!
Here's the full recipe for linguine cacio e pepe.
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tbsp freshly ground black pepper coarse
- 300 g (11 oz) dried linguine
- 160 g (1⅔ cups) Pecorino cheese vegetarian, if required, finely grated
Instructions
Put the pasta on to cook in plenty of salted, boiling water. It's only going to need about 7-8 minutes. You want it very firmly al dente, almost chalky, not soft and slimy.
Warm the oil in a pan over a medium heat.
Add the pepper (if you like a milder heat, just use 2 tsp).
Heat through for a couple of minutes until you can smell the aroma releasing.
When the pasta is ready, lift it out of the water and into the pan.
Stir through.
Grab a cup of the pasta water and add that to the pan too, then sprinkle in the cheese.
Stir until everything has melted together.
If it seems dry, add a little more of the pasta water and stir through but remember that Italian sauces should coat rather than drown the pasta.
Season further, if desired, and serve immediately.
Linguine cacio e pepe is such a delicious, quick dish to enjoy and makes a great change from tomato pasta dishes.
Don't forget to come back and let me know how you got on!
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Linguine Cacio E Pepe Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tbsp freshly ground black pepper coarse
- 300 g (11 oz) dried linguine
- 160 g (1⅔ cups) Pecorino cheese vegetarian, if required, finely grated
Instructions
- Put the pasta on to cook in plenty of salted, boiling water. It's only going to need about 7-8 minutes. You want it very firmly al dente, almost chalky, not soft and slimy.
- Warm the oil in a pan over a medium heat, then add the pepper (if you like a milder heat, just use 2 tsp) and heat through for a couple of minutes until you can smell the aroma releasing.
- When the pasta is ready, lift it out of the water and into the pan, stirring through.
- Grab a cup of the pasta water and add that to the pan too, then sprinkle in the cheese and stir until everything has melted together.
- If it seems a little thick or dry, add a little more of the pasta water and stir through but remember that Italian sauces should coat rather than drown the pasta.
- Season further, if desired, and serve immediately.
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More Italian-inspired recipes to try
Discover more delicious pasta dishes in my recipe index. Here are some of my favourites.
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Becca @ Amuse Your Bouche says
I've never had this dish before but always think it looks incredible! Good job it's nearly dinner time...
Elizabeth says
My mouth is watering looking at that image! Off to read the recipe now!
Stuart Vettese says
I love the simplicity of this pasta dish. Sometimes sauces can kill the whole dish, this lets the pasta be the star. Lovely.
Kavey says
Yeah simple is often best...