An irresistible Creamy Vegan Cacio e Pepe made with a wholesome cashew-based cheese sauce. It’s rich, creamy, and full of bright peppery flavor. Easily made allergy friendly with gluten-free pasta. Perfect for all eaters around your table!

Sometimes you’ve been craving a dish your whole life even before you’ve ever tasted it! That’s how I feel about creamy cacio e pepe. Picture perfectly cooked pasta swirled in a silky, creamy, cheese sauce, all balanced with toasted black pepper. It’s sophisticated mac n cheese, in the best way possible, and it’s *insanely tasty*.

What is cacio e pepe?

Traditional cacio e pepe, which translates to cheese and pepper, is a pasta dish that originated in Rome. The sauce is made with just 2 ingredients, cheese, and pepper. These are combined with starchy pasta water, as if by magic, to create a beautifully creamy sauce.

Cacio e pepe pronunciation:

Kaa-chee-ow ee peh-pay

Now, you may be wondering, with all that cheese, “How can this be vegan?” The answer is cashews. And a little help from our good friends miso paste and nutritional yeast. Just like in my Vegan Lasagna with Cheesy Cashew Cream, these ingredients are blended with lemon and garlic to create a silky sauce with an authentic cheesy flavor that no commercially processed vegan cheese can touch. And, hey, who doesn’t love carbs and cream?

To streamline the recipe, we toast freshly ground black pepper with smashed garlic cloves in good-quality olive oil. The garlic and pepper-infused oil adds incredible depth of flavor to the sauce with minimal fuss. This skips the traditional step of dry roasting whole peppercorns and crushing them in a mortise and pestle.

The first time I made this vegan cacio e pepe pasta it was love at first bite and it’s been in my dinner rotation ever since. It tastes like taking a trip to Little Italy without ever having to leave your kitchen!

Why you’ll love this recipe-

Sophisticated flavor with basic ingredients- thanks to spicy ground black pepper, salty miso paste, and cheesy nutritional yeast.
Satisfying- A whole cup of cashews goes into the creamy cheese sauce which is tossed with hearty pasta.
Weeknight friendly- Have in impressive and comforting dinner on the table in under 45 minutes.
Secretly healthy- This creamy cacio e pepe recipe is dairy-free and egg-free with no commercially processed vegan cheese.
Can easily be made gluten-free- by using gluten-free pasta.

Tips for making this recipe-

Hot soak your cashews- For efficiency, start by soaking your cashews in boiling water. They should be soft enough to blend after 20 minutes, in a high-powered blender.
Use freshy ground black pepper- Be kind to yourself (and your guests) by using freshly ground black pepper! This dignified recipe deserves the extra step of freshly grinding your pepper.
Cook the pasta for 3 minutes less than the package directions- Very al dente pasta will absorb all the gorgeous cheesy flavor of the sauce as it finishes cooking. If you plop perfectly cooked pasta in the sauce and continue to simmer, it will turn to mush before the sauce is fully finished.
Cook the pasta in salted water- This infuses the pasta with a layer of salty flavor. It also seasons the pasta water which will be used as an ingredient in the cheese sauce.
Save the pasta water! This a key ingredient in the sauce. Starchy pasta water adds body to the sauce and helps thicken it, even for gluten-free pasta.

Here’s everything you’ll need to make Creamy Vegan Cacio e Pepe

Ingredients / Makes 4 generous servings

1 cup (140 g) of raw cashews (soaked until soft)
1 lb. of spaghetti cooked for 3 minutes less than package directions (use gluten-free if needed)
2 tablespoons of kosher salt in 3 qts. water (for cooking the pasta in)
1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil
4 garlic cloves, smashed and peeled
2 teaspoons of freshly ground black pepper
½ cup (35 g) of nutritional yeast
2 tablespoons of freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 tablespoon of white miso paste (aka mellow white miso)
1½ cups of pasta water (save the cooking liquid for thinning the sauce)
Kosher salt, to taste (if needed)

How to make this recipe

1. Hot soak your cashews- Tumble the cashews into a small heat-proof bowl. Pour boiling water over them, cover, and let soak for 20 minutes. Drain off the soaking water and give them a good rinse.

2. Cook the pasta- While the cashews are soaking cook the pasta in 3 quarts of water sprinkled with 2 tablespoons of kosher salt. Cook for 3 minutes less than the package directions. Drain the pasta, saving the cooking liquid. (The pasta will finish cooking in the sauce.) Tumble the pasta back into the pot with the heat off.

3. Sautee the garlic- Pour 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a small saucepan over medium-high heat until a splash of water makes a gentle sizzle in the pan. Brown the garlic on all sides, mashing it down with a wooden spoon so that it cooks through the middle. This will take around 5 minutes. Sprinkle in the ground pepper and toast until fragrant, about 1 minute. Set aside to cool.

Step 4

4. Make the cream sauce- Scrape the soaked cashews, nutritional yeast, miso paste, and garlic/pepper mixture into a high-powered blender. Pour 1½ cups of pasta water in next. Blend on high speed for at least 1-2 minutes (or more, if needed) until completely smooth with no cashew lumps remaining. I’ve had good luck with a small cup-style blender like a Nutribullet for this.

Step 5

Step 6

5. Finish cooking the pasta in the sauce- Pour the cream sauce over the pasta and turn the heat back on to medium-high. Toss the noodles with 2 large forks to make sure they’re evenly coated. Simmer until the pasta absorbs all the sauce.

6. Thin the cream sauce- Add reserved pasta water, ½ cup at a time, to thin the sauce, stirring until smooth. You are looking for a silky, creamy sauce that clings to the noodles but is not sticky. Use up to 1½ cups of pasta water as needed.

7. Serve- Pile onto plates and garnish with a sprinkling of vegan parmesan cheese and basil! Serve straight away.

Make it ahead:

If making ahead, store the pasta, pasta water, and sauce separately. Then, when you’re ready to reheat, scrape the pasta and sauce into a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Bring to a gentle simmer. Once the sauce is absorbed into the pasta, add ½ cup of pasta water at a time, up to 1½ cups, to thin the sauce to a silky consistency.