Easy One Pan Cacio e Pepe Rigatoni
A foolproof recipe for cacio e pepe rigatoni that uses a blend of pecorino romano and parmesan cheeses. And did I mention you only need one skillet? ONE SKILLET!
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoon unsalted butter
- 2 teaspoon black pepper
- 8 ounces rigatoni (or other sturdy pasta shape)
- 3 cups water (plus more as needed)
- 1 teaspoon diamond crystal kosher salt (use half as much if using another brand of salt)
- 30 grams parmesan cheese (1 oz, approx ½ cup, finely grated)
- 30 grams pecorino romano cheese (1 oz, approx ½ cup, finely grated)
Instructions
- Melt butter over medium heat. As soon as butter is fully melted, add pepper. It will fizzle and bubble slightly. Stir until quite fragrant, about 30-60 seconds.
- Add pasta and the salt. Then add the water. You may need slightly less or slightly more than 3 cups of water, depending on the size of your skillet — just enough to barely cover the pasta. It's okay if bits of pasta are poking above the water, as long as most it is covered.
- Crank the heat to high. As soon as the water starts boiling, set a timer for the "al dente" cooking time on the pasta box. Stir frequently to prevent the pasta from sticking to the bottom of the skillet. The water will bubble vigorously and there will be lots of steam as the water absorbs into the pasta and evaporates simultaneously. Just keep stirring. You can add small amounts of water if needed, but try to resist — trust the process.
- When there's about 1 minute left on your timer, taste test a noodle. If it's al dente — just a slight bit of bite to it — remove the pan from the heat and begin adding the cheese a few handfuls at a time. Stir constantly to keep the pasta and cheese from clumping on the bottom of the pan.
- The cheese will look clumpy and stringy at first, but keep stirring and it will melt into a glossy, shiny sauce that clings and evenly coats the noodles. If the cheese is really clumping up or getting stringy on you, you can return the pan to low heat and add small amounts of water as you stir to help smooth it out. If you accidentally add too much water at this stage, you can always cook some of it off or add more cheese to thicken it again.
- Serve immediately, topped with more freshly cracked pepper and cheese.
Each time you add water, you cool the pan down. Add water in small amounts so you can quickly get the pan back to a boil.
If the pasta isn't done when the timer goes off, cook for another minute or so, stirring constantly, before moving on to the cheese. You may need to add more water to the pan if the pasta isn't cooked through by the time the timer goes off.
RECIPE NOTES
- It's hard to say exactly how much water you need as it will depend slightly on the size and depth of your pan. You need enough to just barely cover the pasta in the pan. I usually start with 2 or 3 cups, and then add more in small amounts if the water is boiling away/absorbing faster than the pasta is cooking.
- If the cheese is really clumping up or getting stringy as you stir, you can return the pan to low heat and add small amounts of water as you stir to help smooth it out. If you accidentally add too much water at this stage, increase heat to cook some of it off and add a bit more cheese to thicken it again.
- Pecorino Romano and Parmesan cheese melt very differently (Parmesan melts quickly, Pecorino Romano does not), so if you only have one of the two cheeses just know this will work okay with just Parmesan cheese, but you're more likely to end up with cheese clumps if you use just Pecorino Romano.
- I make no promises for how this will work if you use pre-grated cheeses. They often have starches and anti-coagulants added to prevent clumping that are totally safe to eat but that can affect the way they melt.
- Unfortunately this one-pot cooking method does not work with fresh or gourmet pasta. Fresh pasta cooks too quickly and is so starchy that it will break down in the water creating more of a paste than a pasta water. Even dried fancy pastas tend to be a little too starchy to work really well here. It doesn't mean you can't use them, they just don't always hold up as well to the rigorous boiling and stirring as dried boxed pastas do.
- Storage: Cacio e pepe is best served same day, fresh out of the pan. Store leftover cacio e pepe in an airtight container in the fridge. To reheat, put it back in a skillet over low heat and stir well, or microwave in 20-30 second bursts, stirring in between until reheated.