The cacio e pepe chips are a quick and tasty recipe, very popular here in Rome lately, so much so that restaurants, pizzerias, and pubs often offer it as an appetizer alongside the classic suppli and fried mozzarella bites. Very easy to prepare at home, the cacio e pepe potato chips can also be served as an original and appetizing snack to accompany the aperitif. Obviously, the recipe of cacio e pepe chips is inspired by the classic cacio e pepe pasta of the Roman tradition: the potato chips are fried in boiling oil and, when golden, drained and seasoned with grated Pecorino Romano and plenty of pepper. To have crunchy potato chips, it is essential to cut them very thin – if you have a mandoline – and fry them in hot oil. A little more flavor and crunch? Leave the potatoes with the skin after carefully washing them: they will give the cacio e pepe chips a more rustic taste!
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- Difficulty: Easy
- Cost: Very cheap
- Preparation time: 10 Minutes
- Portions: 4 servings
- Cooking methods: Frying
- Cuisine: Regional Italian
- Region: Lazio
- Energy 140.78 (Kcal)
- Carbohydrates 17.65 (g) of which sugars 0.82 (g)
- Proteins 3.15 (g)
- Fat 6.71 (g) of which saturated 1.77 (g)of which unsaturated 3.96 (g)
- Fibers 2.16 (g)
- Sodium 372.95 (mg)
Indicative values for a portion of 64 g processed in an automated way starting from the nutritional information available on the CREA* and FoodData Central** databases. It is not food and / or nutritional advice.
* CREATES Food and Nutrition Research Center: https://www.crea.gov.it/alimenti-e-nutrizione https://www.alimentinutrizione.it ** U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central, 2019. https://fdc.nal.usda.gov
Ingredients for Cacio e Pepe Chips
- 14 oz potatoes
- 1/8 cup Pecorino Romano (approximately, grated)
- to taste black pepper
- 1 pinch salt (optional)
- to taste peanut oil
Tools
- 1 Brush with hard bristles
- 1 Mandoline
- 1 Tea towel
- 1 Pan with a thick bottom
- 1 Slotted spoon
- Kitchen paper
How to prepare Cacio e Pepe Potato Chips
To prepare cacio e pepe chips, if you decide to leave the potatoes with the skin, you need to clean them very well from any dirt: get a brush with medium-hard bristles and scrub them very well under running water (1).
Dry them and slice them very thin. The best way is to use a mandoline (2) that guarantees you obtain very thin slices all of the same thickness. If you don’t have it, you can use a very sharp knife. You should get slices about 1/25 inch (1 mm) thick (3).
After slicing, rinse them well to remove most of their starch and dry them with a clean tea towel or kitchen paper (4).
In a large, thick-bottomed pan, pour plenty of peanut oil. When it’s hot, throw in the potatoes a few at a time (5) so as not to lower the oil temperature too much. Fry them for about 3 minutes, stirring occasionally until the edges start to turn golden (6).
Drain them with a slotted spoon and place them on a couple of sheets of kitchen paper (7). Pat them dry with the paper to absorb excess oil and lightly salt them. Since Pecorino is already quite salty, you might not want to salt the chips at all, but if you decide to, use just a pinch.
As you fry the potato chips and while they’re still hot, layer them on a plate or tray and season each layer with some grated Pecorino and pepper (8). Finish the last layer with plenty of Pecorino and pepper (9).
Serve the cacio e pepe chips immediately, as an appetizer or as a snack to accompany beer or various aperitifs.
Storage
Cacio e pepe chips are best when freshly made, while they’re still hot, and the cheese just melts on contact with the heat of the chips. If any are left over, you can store them at room temperature for a few hours.
Tips and Variations
The success of this recipe is essentially linked to the cooking of the potatoes: to obtain crispy and dry chips, it is essential that the oil is hot and that you fry only a few chips at a time. Rinsing and drying them before frying also helps remove starch, which makes fried chips soft and not very crispy.
