Cacio e Pepe Pizza
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Meet my new favorite pizza ever. This cacio e pepe pizza is inspired by the classic Italian pasta for a cheesy, rich, cozy dinner situation. With chewy crust, garlic butter, Pecorino Romano cheese, black pepper, and creamy ricotta, this is about to be your new go-to for casual get-togethers.
If I had to choose to eat one pizza for the rest of my life, I think it would have to be white pizza. Maybe some of you pizza purists out there would be utterly shocked by pesto, BBQ sauce, or béchamel on a pizza, but I’m here for it.
Don’t get me wrong, I love classic Sicilian pizza and this bee sting pizza with soppressata but white pizza basically tastes like cheesy garlic bread and that’s really what I’m about in this life.
In this version, we’re doing a cacio e pepe thing because I’ve been obsessed with the cheese and pepper combo ever since I learned how to make it in culinary school years ago. This is the kind of pizza where, even if I’m so full that I’m questioning my life choices, I will have just one more slice. The ingredients are simple but the flavors are absolutely unreal.
If you’ve never had cacio e pepe, you’re totally missing out. It’s a pasta dish that originates from Rome and translates literally to ‘cheese and pepper’. The dish is made with spaghetti, Pecorino Romano, black pepper, and butter. In this recipe, we’re pizza-fying the dish cause like, what’s not good in pizza form?
Pecorino Romano + black pepper
The two most important ingredients are the ones that make cacio e pepe what it is – Pecorino Romano and freshly-cracked black pepper! Make sure you’re freshly grating the cheese. Pre-grated cheese will clump up.
You will also need a good pizza dough. I like to make my husband’s Sicilian-style pizza dough and stretch it into a circle rather than a sheet pan. But store-bought works too.
Then, you’ll need garlic, unsalted butter, whole milk mozzarella, whole milk ricotta, fresh basil, and flour or cornmeal for dusting. Cornmeal will give the pizza that signature ‘pizza parlor’ crunch on the bottom, but if you don’t have any, flour will be fine!
Recipe instructions
Dust the pizza peel with a generous amount of flour and/or cornmeal. The pizza should easily slide around when you give the peel a good shake.
If you’re not a fan of ricotta, feel free to leave it off! The pizza will be just as good with just Mozzarella + Pecorino Romano.
Pizza tools hack
If you don’t have a pizza stone, no worries! You can just place a sheet pan in the oven while it’s heating. You want a very hot surface to bake the pizza on so that the bottom crisps up. If you don’t have a pizza peel, you can use a wood cutting board instead! Make sure it’s flat (no ridges) so the pizza easily slides off of the board and onto the pizza stone or sheet pan.
Pizza oven
Feel free to make this recipe in a pizza oven too! Just follow the manufacturer’s directions for the best results. In my Ooni Fyra 12, it’s about 950°F (510°C) for 60-90 seconds.
Refrigerate & reheat
Place any leftover slices of pizza in a single layer in an airtight container. Refrigerate for up to 3-4 days. To reheat the slices, you can use the microwave or oven.
- Microwave – heat slices of pizza for about 1 minute at full power.
- Oven – place a sheet pan in then oven and heat it to 350°F (177°C). Carefully place the pizza slices on the hot sheet pan and bake for 7-10 minutes.
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The Best Cacio e Pepe Pizza
Ingredients
- All-purpose flour and cornmeal, for dusting
- 2 pounds pizza dough, homemade or store-bought
- 2 Tablespoons unsalted butter
- 4 large garlic cloves, finely minced (about 2 Tablespoons)
- 8 ounces whole milk mozzarella cheese, shredded
- 2 ounces grated Pecorino Romano cheese, plus more for serving (1/2 cup)
- 2/3 cup whole milk ricotta cheese
- Freshly-ground black pepper, to taste
- Fresh basil, for serving (optional)
Equipment
- Pizza stone, (optional)
- Pizza Peel (optional)
Instructions
- Place a pizza stove in the oven and preheat it to 500°F (or the highest temperature it will go). Generously dust a pizza peel with flour and cornmeal. Set aside.
- Divid the pizza dough into 2 balls. Starting with 1 ball, use your fingers to press a 1/2'' rim around the ball for the crust. Then, gently stretch the dough, turning it about 45° after each stretch, until you have a thin 10-12'' circle with a slightly thicker crust. Place the stretched dough on the prepared pizza peel.
- Melt the butter in a small bowl in the microwave (or in a small saucepan on the stove). Add the minced garlic and stir to combine. Brush half of the garlic butter on the pizza dough, leaving a 1/2'' border for the crust.
- Sprinkle 4 ounces of the mozzarella and 1 ounce of the Pecorino Romano over the garlic butter. Use a spoon to dollop 1/3 cup of ricotta cheese all over the top of the pizza. Generously sprinkle the pizza with freshly-ground black pepper.
- Gently slide the pizza off of the peel and onto the heated pizza stone. Close the oven and bake for 9-10 minutes, rotating it halfway, until the cheese is bubbly and bottom of the crust is crisp and has light char marks.
- Carefully remove the pizza from the oven and place it on a wire rack. Let it cool for about 5 minutes. Meanwhile, repeat the above process with the remaining ingredients to make two pizzas.
- Sprinkle the finished pizzas with more Parmesan and black pepper, to taste. Garnish with fresh basil if desired, slice, and enjoy!
