What is cacio e pepe?
In Italian, cacio e pepe simply means cheese and pepper. It’s the base of a lot of Italian pasta. By adding various ingredients to this one, we can either end up with Pasta alla gricia, amatriciana or carbonara. There will be veganised versions of these coming soon! But for now, we’ll make a vegan cacio e pepe.
This is the first faux cheese recipe that I have made where I can honestly say that it’s really tastes like cheese! I was a huge cheese fan before I went vegan, and this one hits the spot so perfectly that you will barely notice.
I know you probably hear that all the time with vegan recipes. Trust me, if you try this one, you’ll see that it actually holds up this time.
Making it vegan
Just before I went vegan, I spent quite a while trying to perfect cacio e pepe. It’s one of those recipes that is deceptively difficult to master. You need to get the perfect creamy texture by emulsifying the fat with the water. This is made possible with the starch from the pasta, as that is acting as our emulsifier.
In the traditional version, this is done with pecorino which has a strong salty and umami flavour to it. So, that’s the flavour we need to replicate here. I’ll be using nutritional yeast and miso paste.
A lot of vegan cacio e pepe recipes I have seen online call for cream or cashews to make the sauce. That’s unnecessary and goes against what cacio e Pepe is all about. As the name suggests, it is meant to be pepper and cheese, and not a lot else. In this recipe, I will use a few extra ingredients, but there will be no cashews or cream in this one. Just an emulsion made with the fat from vegan butter and the starchy pasta water. Flavoured with black pepper, nutritional yeast and miso.
Ingredient notes
The pasta – It is really important that you use high-quality dried pasta. You want one that has been extruded through bronze dies, as this leads to tiny little imperfections in the pasta. Looking like it has a rough texture. This means that when it cooks, more starch is released, and this is what is needed to bind our sauce together. Allowing us to make it creamy with no cream. If you don’t, you will not get enough starch released as the pasta cooks and the sauce will not come together.
I used to use ‘de Cecco linguine’ as it was recommended in this excellent breakdown of pasta here by Alex on YouTube. But I recently came across a Lidl alternative that is just as good but costs half the price!
Pepper – As it is in the name, we know it’s important! I always recommend using whole black peppercorns. The best ones you can find and grind them for the dish when you’re ready to make it.
Nutritional yeast – When making vegan cheese anything this is on of the most important ingredients. It adds some complex cheesy flavours that are hard to get anywhere else. An essential for any vegan kitchen.
Miso – This is going to add an umami depth that we couldn’t get with just the nutritional yeast. Make sure you use a light miso and be careful not to use too much as it will turn the dish brown. But it’s essential to adding the funky cheesiness!
Vegan butter – This is going to help us cheat a little. As not only do we need the fat from the butter, but there are also emulsifiers in there already being used to form the butter. When it melts, they will help us bind the fat, with our flavourings and the pasta water together.
How to make vegan cacio e pepe
- Start by boiling just enough water to cover the pasta. We want to end up with the water as concentrated with starch as possible. Then cook your pasta for two minutes less than instructed for al dente on the packet.
- Grind the peppercorns in a pestle and mortar.
- Add in your vegan butter to the pan and melt, then add the ground peppercorns.
- While the butter is melting, add the nutritional yeast into a pestle and mortar and grind it into a powder. This will help it melt into the sauce quickly enough. Otherwise, we will end up with little flakes in the finished dish.
- Once the butter has melted in, add your miso paste and mix until combined. We don’t want to cook it too much here, just make sure it’s incorporated fully.
- Add in a ladle or so of the starchy pasta water and mix well.
- Now add the ground nutritional yeast. It should dissolve fairly well, but it will need to be mixed in. If it thickens it up too much, just add some more starchy pasta water to loosen it up. It should resemble a sauce at this point.
- When the pasta is just shy of al dente, move it into the pan with tongs. This way, the starchy water is reserved.
- Add more of the pasta water until it looks a little too wet. We want the pasta to finish it’s cooking in this pan, surrounded by the sauce we have made.
- When the pasta is cooked, and it is still a little too wet, serve and eat immediately. The longer it sits, the more it will stiffen up.
Tips for success!
Once everything comes together, you will need to adjust the liquid a fair bit. How much you pasta can suck up will determine how much you need to add to end up with a velvety sauce.
Make sure that when you add the pasta to the sauce, it’s cooked less than al dente. For my pasta, I normally cook it for about 8 minutes. If it’s cooked too much, it will end up sludgy. When it’s undercooked, there’s more capacity to absorb the sauce.
Potential variations
If you add some vegan bacon to this we will end up with something similar to Pasta Alla gricia.
Then if we add a tomato sauce to Pasta Alla gricia, we will end up with something close to all’Amatriciana.
Then traditionally if eggs are added to Pasta Alla gricia then you get a carbonara. For that one I do use a vegan cream to end up with the closest texture.
Frequently asked questions
You can, but it may not come together as easily. As we are using the emulsifiers in the butter to cheat a little, it will be harder. It does work, it just takes a little more work!
You can make something similar. However cacio e pepe is really supposed to be super simple and the base for the dishes previously mentioned.
Cacio e pepe
Equipment
- 1 Wide saucepan With a wide pan you can use less water
- 1 Non stick wok Any pan will do really
- 1 Ladle
Ingredients
- 250 g Quality linguine
- 1 Tbsp Black peppercorns
- 4 Tbsp Vegan butter
- 1 tsp White miso
- 1/2 cup Nutritional yeast
Instructions
- Put a pot of water on to boil with just enough water to cover the pasta. When boiling, add pasta and cook for 2 minutes less than the time directed for al dente.250 g Quality linguine
- Grind the peppercorns in pestle and mortar and set aside. (If you don't have one or just can't be bothered, then just use fresh ground pepper)1 Tbsp Black peppercorns
- Now grind the nutritional yeast and set aside. (Again, you don’t have to. But you the final sauce will be smoother of you do)1/2 cup Nutritional yeast
- In your other pan, melt the vegan butter, then add the pepper and fry until fragrant.4 Tbsp Vegan butter
- Turn the heat off and add the miso paste. We don't want to cook it here, just dissolve it in.1 tsp White miso
- When the pasta is a minute away, turn the heat back on and add a ladle or two of the pasta water to the pan. Then add the nutritional yeast and mix to form into the sauce. Add more pasta water if necessary1/2 cup Nutritional yeast
- Using tongs, transfer the pasta into the pan with the sauce. This pasta still has a bit to go before it's al dente, so as long as it's being absorbed keep adding that starchy pasta water a few spoons at a time. When it's cooked you will have a creamy sauce.
- Serve with extra cracked black pepper on top.