One Pot Cacio e Pepe Mac and Cheese

Mac and cheese is genuinely my favorite food of all time, no contest. There is something about that cheesy, comforting bowl that just heals me every single time, no matter how many times I make it. Doesn’t matter if it’s from a box, frozen and microwaved, or made entirely from scratch, I will be eating it and loving it!

On top of that, I have a full blown obsession with black pepper. I put it on literally everything, I’m talking dumping packets of it on my fries at fast food spots. When I went to Japan back in May, I came back with tons of their specialty black pepper because I fell in love with how much more fragrant and flavorful it was compared to what I normally use.

So naturally, combining my favorite comfort food with my favorite seasoning obsession felt like it was meant to be. This one pot cacio e pepe mac and cheese is exactly that.

🤎 Same silky, peppery, cheese-forward sauce you know and love from classic cacio e pepe, but made even easier since everything cooks together in one pot and there’s zero draining involved. It’s the kind of dinner that feels a little fancy and a little nostalgic all at once, and it comes together in under 30 minutes and just a few dishes.

What Makes This One Special

Traditional cacio e pepe relies on starchy pasta water to bring the sauce together and that’s what thickens it instead of a roux or something rich like heavy cream. So in this one pot dish, it’s similar in that the pasta cooks directly in chicken broth and half and half, so by the time it’s tender, you’ve already got a naturally thickened, flavorful base ready for the cheese to melt right into. No separate sauce pan, no babysitting a delicate emulsion, just one pot from start to finish. It’s taking elements of cacio e pepe and turning it into an easy and flavorful weeknight dinner!

The Ingredients

This recipe keeps things simple, which is exactly the point.

• Pasta: Shellbows are my favorite shape for this, but any short pasta that holds onto sauce works great.
• Butter: 3 tablespoons divided, 2 tablespoons for cooking the garlic and 1 tablespoon stirred in at the end for that glossy, rich finish. For extra richness, add 2 tablespoons at the end.
• Garlic: Just a little to build flavor right from the first step. Not authentic to cacio e pepe but delicious nonetheless.
• Chicken broth and half and half: These cook the pasta and become the base of your sauce at the same time.
• Black pepper: Also divided, some cooked into the broth and some stirred in fresh at the end. For even extra flavor, you can toast the peppercorns before putting it in a grinder to freshly crack it.
• Parmesan and pecorino: The heart of any cacio e pepe. Buy these in block form and grate them yourself right before cooking, it melts so much smoother than pre-shredded and gives you that authentic, silky texture. Keep in mind both these cheeses have high salt content so I didn’t need to add any into the recipe between that and the broth.

How To Make It

Build the Base

Melt 2 tablespoons of the butter in your pot over medium heat, then add the garlic and cook for 1 to 2 minutes, until fragrant. Garlic isn’t traditionally part of cacio e pepe, but I love adding it in for extra flavor. If you want to keep things more classic, you can always leave it out. If you want to go a step further, dice up a shallot and saute it for more flavor. Once again, not traditional.

🤎 TIP: Don’t rush this part. Garlic can go from fragrant to bitter fast, so keep the heat at medium and give it a stir here and there.

Cook the Pasta Right in the Sauce

Pour in the broth, the half and half, and a teaspoon of black pepper, then bring it all to a boil. Add the pasta and drop the heat to a simmer, stirring here and there. Traditional cacio e pepe sauce is built using reserved starchy pasta water to help the cheese emulsify into something smooth and glossy, and you kind of get that here too, since the pasta is cooking directly in the broth and releasing all of its starches right into it as it goes. By the time it’s tender, the sauce has already thickened up on its own. This is the real magic of the one pot method, you’re essentially building the sauce and cooking the pasta at the exact same time.

🤎 TIP: Stir often during this step so the pasta doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pot. If it looks like it’s absorbing too fast before the pasta is tender, just add a small splash of extra broth or water to loosen it back up.

Melt in the Cheese

Once the pasta is done, add the parmesan and pecorino all at once. Since you grated it fresh off the block, it melts in smoothly without needing to be added gradually the way you’d have to with pre-shredded cheese, which is coated in anti-caking agents that can make the sauce grainy. That’s on top of the sauce already being thickened from the pasta starch, which helps too.

🤎 TIP: Make sure the heat is on the lower side here. Cheese added over high heat can seize up and turn grainy instead of silky.

Finish It Off

Stir in the remaining 1 tablespoon of butter along with the black pepper right at the end. This is where the sauce gets that glossy, restaurant-quality shine. Taste and add more pepper if you want an extra kick, since this is really where you can lean into how peppery you want it to be, then serve immediately while it’s hot and silky.

🤎 TIP: This dish waits for no one. Cacio e pepe sauces tend to tighten up fast as they cool, so have your bowls ready and serve it the second it’s done.

Tips & Variations

• Grate your cheese fresh off the block instead of using pre-shredded. It melts so much smoother and gives you that authentic cacio e pepe texture.
• Low sodium chicken broth works great here since the parmesan and pecorino already bring plenty of salt on their own. I used regular broth and needed no salt but if you use low-sodium, taste at the end after cheese is added and add salt if it needs.
• Want it vegetarian? Swap the chicken broth for vegetable broth without losing much depth.
• For extra richness, sub the half and half for heavy cream. To make it lighter, sub for whole milk.

Make Ahead & Storing Leftovers

This one is really best made fresh since the sauce is at its silkiest right off the stove, but leftovers still reheat well. Store any extra in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days. When reheating, warm it gently on the stove over low heat with a splash of milk or broth to loosen the sauce back up, since it will thicken as it sits in the fridge.

Craving More Pasta? Try These Recipes Out!

• Creamy Romesco Pasta — a smoky, rich pasta tossed in a roasted red pepper and toasted walnut sauce that feels fancy but comes together easy.
• Carbonara Pasta — a classic Italian favorite made silky smooth with eggs, parmesan, and crispy beef bacon.
• Creamy Truffle Mushroom Pasta — an elegant, restaurant-style pasta with a rich truffle cream sauce and earthy mushrooms.
• Cajun Chicken Pasta — bold, creamy, and packed with Cajun spice, a total weeknight favorite.
• Spicy Vodka Pasta – Gigi Hadid Pasta — the most popular recipe on the blog, a creamy tomato pasta with just the right amount of heat.

If you make this recipe, make sure to leave a comment below and let me know how it turns out — I love hearing from you! And if you snap a photo, don’t forget to tag me over on Instagram or TikTok so I can see your creations too. 

You can also find this recipe and so many more on my Pinterest — perfect for saving to your board for later. And if you’re more of a visual learner, check out my YouTube channel, where I walk you through recipes step-by-step just like this one.