Spaghetti Cacio e Pepe is a simple and classic Italian recipe that doesn’t require many ingredients or time. We will show you a basic recipe and a vegan version.
Spaghetti Cacio e Pepe means spaghetti with pecorino and pepper. Cacio is a special Roman pecorino made from sheep’s milk. You can get it in Italian specialty shops or, for example, at a cheese counter. Pay attention to organic quality in order to guarantee species-appropriate animal husbandry.
Spaghetti Cacio e Pepe: basic recipe
For Cacio e Pepe for three people you need about:
400 grams of spaghetti
200 g Pecorino
Salt
black pepper (freshly ground)
Note: Note that pecorino is usually made with animal rennet. These are enzymes that are taken from the stomach of calves. Accordingly, Pecorino is not vegetarian.
How to prepare Cacio e Pepe
Place the spaghetti in boiling salted water. Don’t use too much salt in the pasta water, as the pecorino is already very salty.
Grate the pecorino.
Put the grated cheese in a cold pan. Now add a few tablespoons of the hot pasta water and stir the cheese into a creamy paste. Caution: In a coated pan, you should use a wooden spoon to stir, otherwise the coating could break.
Generously grind the black pepper, add it to the pan and stir the mixture well again.
About 2-3 minutes before the spaghetti is al dente, drain and reserve the pasta water.
Add the pasta to the pan with the pecorino mixture. Now add enough pasta water by the spoonful so that the spaghetti Cacio e Pepe can simmer gently for the remaining minutes.
At the end, the noodles should have soaked up the water and there should be almost no liquid left in the pan.
To serve, you can grate some fresh Pecorino over the portions of your fresh Cacio e Pepe.
Vegan variation of the spaghetti Cacio e Pepe
If you want to make spaghetti cacio e pepe entirely without animal products, you can make a vegan nut-based cheese sauce.
For 300 to 400 grams of spaghetti you need:
25 grams of almonds
25 g cashew nuts
1/2 tbsp sesame seeds
4-5 tbsp yeast flakes
1/4 tsp salt
60 g sauerkraut brine
120 g unsweetened plant drink
1 tbsp olive oil
freshly ground pepper
This is how the vegan version of Cacio e Pepe works:
Roast the almonds, cashews and sesame seeds in a pan without fat until lightly brown and fragrant.
Put the nuts, yeast flakes, salt, sauerkraut brine and plant-based drink with about 250 milliliters of pasta water in a blender and puree the ingredients into a creamy sauce. If the sauce is still too thick, you can add more pasta water in between.
Heat the oil in a pan and grind in some pepper.
Let the pepper roast briefly and then add the cheese sauce.
As described above, add the almost-cooked spaghetti and pasta water and let the pasta simmer in the pan until done.
Tip: Although almonds, cashews and sesame provide the creamy cheese note of the vegan Cacio e Pepe, they are problematic from an ecological perspective: They have to travel long distances to Germany and therefore have a bad ecological balance. Alternatively, you can replace them with the same amount of walnuts and sunflower seeds from German cultivation. When buying the products, also pay attention to organic goods if possible in order to avoid chemical-synthetic pesticides.
