Quick Cacio e Pepe Potato Soup Recipe (30 Minutes)

Cacio e pepe, or cheese and pepper, is one of my favorite Italian pasta dishes. It combines just three ingredients—spaghetti, Pecorino Romano cheese, and black pepper—with the starchy pasta cooking water to create a luxurious, velvety dish that is so much more than the sum of its parts.

Whether it makes the Italians angry or not, this classic Roman pasta has risen in worldwide popularity over the years, and so has the number of “cacio e pepe-d” recipes out there. From green beans and creamy beans to smashed potatoes, to versions made without the cheese and another with brown butter, the interpretations that play on the “cheese and pepper” pairing are nearly endless.

Inspired by the flexibility and adaptability of the much beloved combination, I’ve developed an incredibly easy cacio e pepe potato soup recipe that uses frozen hash browns as its base. With just a handful of ingredients and 30 minutes, this soup can be dinner tonight or lunch tomorrow, and is just another delicious way to eat and love cacio e pepe.

Tips for Making Cacio e Pepe Potato Soup

Since there are so few ingredients in cacio e pepe, it’s important to find and treat each ingredient properly. Here are a few tips that are worth keeping in mind:

• Pecorino Romano is the classic cheese for cacio e pepe, but they aren’t all created equal. When shopping, choose a Pecorino that’s aged between two and six months; an older Pecorino won’t melt as nicely into the soup. 
• If you don’t like sheep’s milk cheese, you can use parmesan cheese instead, but I recommend grating it fresh for this soup (skip the green can here!) to get the best flavor and texture.
• You need to start with whole black peppercorns for this recipe. Use a pepper grinder on a coarse setting or a mortar and pestle to crush or grind the peppercorns; they should be cracked and coarsely ground, not finely ground for this recipe.