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Lemon Basil Cacio e Pepe with Bacon – a simple, creamy lemon pasta tossed with crispy bacon, rich brown butter, peppery arugula, and fresh basil. A few freshly cracked black pepper grounds and high-quality cheese—come together to create the silkiest sauce. Give it a good toss, and you’ve got a bright, flavorful pasta that’s anything but ordinary.
I know I say this often, but I’m so excited to share this pasta. I worked hard to get the lemony sauce just right. It’s always the simplest recipes that prove to be the most challenging to perfect—but that’s also what makes them so rewarding.
This recipe is inspired by three of my favorites: carbonara (bacon, eggs, parmesan), cacio e pepe (butter, black pepper, parmesan), and pasta al limone (lemon zest, lemon juice, parmesan). In the end, it’s a beautiful blend of all three.
Simple, flavorful, and easy to make—this pasta is sure to become a favorite!
Here are the details
Ingredients
- thick-cut bacon
- long or short pasta – though I prefer a longer cut
- salted butter
- lemon zest
- garlic
- fresh cracked black pepper
- lemon juice
- parmesan cheese
- pecorino cheese
- baby arugula
- fresh basil
Tools
For this pasta, you will need a large skillet, a large pot (for cooking the pasta), and the everyday cooking basics.
Steps
Step 1: cook the bacon and get it crispy
Start with the bacon. Cook it in a big skillet until it is crispy. Then set the bacon aside and discard the grease in the skillet.
Step 2: boil off the pasta
While the bacon is cooking, I like to boil the pasta. I use Pappardelle Pasta, but you can really use any cut of pasta you like.
Cook the pasta, then remove a couple cups of the pasta cooking water. Reserve the water for creating the sauce. There is no milk or cream in this recipe.
Step 3: make the sauce
Add some butter to the skillet you cooked the bacon in. Then add the garlic, lemon zest, and pepper. Get the pepper toasted.
Add the remaining butter and lemon juice. Whisk this all together until you have a smooth sauce. Add 1 cup of the reserved pasta cooking water. Add the cheese, stir again until smooth. Now add the pasta toss until the sauce coats the pasta.
Step 4: finish the dish
Add both cheeses, and the arugula, plus plenty of fresh basil. Toss it all together until the pasta is well sauced and the arugula is wilted.
Now plate the pasta and top with bacon, plus additional cheese, and fresh basil.
It’s delightful!
Serve this with a simple arugula salad. The perfect pasta dinner, and we love how quickly this comes together too!
Looking for other simple pasta dinners? Here are a few of my go-to’s.
One Pot Lemon Butter Ricotta and Zucchini Pasta
Pesto Cheese Zucchini Ravioli with Burst Tomatoes
Spicy Zucchini Ricotta Lasagna with Oregano Breadcrumbs
Cherry Tomato Pasta Alla Vodka
Roasted Tomato Basil and Feta Orzo
Lastly, if you make this Lemon Basil Cacio Pepe with Bacon, be sure to leave a comment and/or give this recipe a rating! Above all, I love to hear from you guys and always do my best to respond to each and every comment. And of course, if you do make this recipe, don’t forget to tag me on Instagram! Looking through the photos of recipes you all have made is my favorite!
Lemon Basil Cacio e Pepe with Bacon
Ingredients
- 6-8 slices thick-cut bacon, chopped
- 1 pound long or short-cut pasta, (I use long)
- 6 tablespoons salted butter
- 2 tablespoons raw pine nuts , (optional)
- 3 cloves garlic, chopped
- 1 tablespoon lemon zest
- 1-2 teaspoons freshly cracked black pepper
- 1/4 cup lemon juice
- 1 1/2 cups freshly grated parmesan cheese
- 1/2 cup freshly grated pecorino cheese
- 2 cups fresh arugula
- 1 cup fresh basil
Instructions
- 1. Cook the bacon in a large skillet set over medium heat until crispy, 5-8 minutes. Remove the bacon from the skillet. Set aside. Discard any excess bacon grease.2. Meanwhile, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and cook the pasta according to package directions, until al dente. Just before draining, reserve 1 1/4 cups of pasta cooking water. Drain.3. Working in the same skillet used to cook the bacon, add 2 tablespoons of butter, the pine nuts, if using, garlic, lemon zest, and pepper. Cook 1-2 minutes, until toasted. Add 4 tablespoons of butter, and lemon juice, whisking until smooth. Whisk in 1 cup pasta cooking water, the parmesan, and pecorino. Toss vigorously to melt the cheese. Add the pasta, the remaining 1/4 cup of water, the arugula, and basil. Then season with salt. Toss well.4. Plate the pasta. Then add the bacon and top with fresh parmesan, cracked pepper, and basil. Eat!
Nutrition
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Did you make this recipe? Please rate & comment below.
I am not a very good cook, but I am learning to cook finally in my 50s thanks to your recipes. I followed your directions to the letter and to my surprise it turned out! It had great flavor and creaminess. The family enjoyed it as well.
Thanks for being a great teacher and inspiration!
Hey Ang,
Happy Sunday! So glad to hear this recipe turned out nicely for you! I appreciate you making it and your feedback! xx
When I click the button to print the recipe it doesn’t include mayonnaise but it does include pine nuts which doesn’t show up in the recipe above. Am I using mayo?
Hi Wendy,
The mayo is optional. A lot of readers did not enjoy the mayo addition, but it’s something my family and I really love. Please let me know if you give this recipe a try! xx
It was very delicious! Loved it! We’ll definitely make it again but will double the lemon juice for more lemony goodness. Thank you!
Thanks so much, Wendy!
I did the lemon in peels like you did on Instagram and it was awful, really bitter.
Hi Ruth,
Very sorry to hear this. Next time, I would just try grating your lemon zest or just skipping it altogether if that is not something you enjoy. I hope this helps! xx
Then why did you do it that way on Instagram? I am confused. Could you please explain?
Hi Ruth,
It’s just something that my family and I enjoy, if you don’t like as much lemon then grated zest or skipping the zest altogether is just fine too!
I love lemon, that isn’t the issue. I don’t like bitter, so I’ll just need to not peel as you did next time.
Hey girl, you have a typo… “black pepper gronds” & hyphen following.
Thanks, Sarah!! It’s fixed now:)
I was really excited about this recipe, but it just didn’t seem to work. I followed the recipe to a T, and made sure I used fresh ingredients. As soon as I put in the arugula and the basil, though, the cheese clumped up all around it and formed a ball in the middle of the pasta. Not sure what I did wrong.
Hi Ashley,
I’m sorry to hear this recipe did not turn out for you, thanks for making it and sharing your feedback. Have a nice Sunday!
I see this was updated today, could you tell me what the update was please? Just want to make sure I’m not missing anything. Thank you!
Hi Serena,
A lot of readers were having issues with the mayo, so I removed it:) The recipe is still great as written. Please let me know if you give it a try! xx
Thank you!! It looks like the temp changed from 450 to 400 & a few spices removed also. Should I stick to the 450° degrees that was in the original recipe?
It’s really up to you and how you like your salmon cooked:)
I skipped the pine nuts and arugula. I did not use mayonnaise because my pecorino/pasta water/pepper sauce was beautiful. But, heads up to anyone trying to make this— look up another recipe to make the sauce. Tieghan doesn’t do hers right. I added lemon zest closer to the end. The pepper should not be an after thought as a finishing ingredient, it should get toasted early on and added to pecorino. No Parmesan needed. The bacon I cooked separately and added with lemon zest. This recipe took a lot of effort to remake. I can’t recommend.
Thanks for sharing your feedback, Rita.
I did the lemon zest peel like you showed on Instagram (where you had it in strips not zested) & it was awful. So bitter.
Hi Danielle,
Thanks for trying the recipe and your feedback, sorry to hear you did not enjoy the lemon peel. Next time, I would just use grated lemon zest next time or skip it:) Have a nice Sunday! xx
Then why did you show it that way on your stories? Could you clarify?
Hi Danielle,
My family and I really enjoy the extra lemon flavor, but you do not have to do it like that:)
Can you make this without the bacon? Or another meat?
Hey Julie,
Totally, you could skip the bacon, you could also use turkey bacon or pancetta! I hope you love this dish! xT
I didn’t love the mayo addition, it didn’t help the sauce come together at all. I also don’t understand why cheese & pepper are mentioned as unexpected choices, when cacio e Pepe is cheese & pepper in Italian.
Thanks for sharing your feedback, Stacey. Sorry to hear you did not enjoy this dish. I hope you are having a nice weekend! xx
This did not turn out for me at all
Hi Gracie,
Sorry to hear this. Can I ask what happened? Is there anything that I can help with? Please let me know! xx
I have never heard of a pasta sauce that contains mayo. Can you share how you came up with that? What made you add mayo to a pasta sauce?
Hi Alexandra,
I know it’s unconventional—and definitely not traditional—but it helps the sauce come together effortlessly and stay silky smooth. It adds creaminess and keeps things from getting clumpy. A little unexpected, but totally worth it. Please let me know if you have any other questions! xx
I don’t know where I went wrong but this was inedible here. The cheese all seemed to stick together and be stringy and it didn’t seem like there was enough sauce for the pasta. Was super dry. I’m so bummed as cacio is one of my favorite dishes.
Hi Kerry,
So sorry to hear this. Was there anything you may have adjusted in the recipe? Did you use the mayo and pasta cooking water? Did you use freshly grated cheese? That always melts better. Let me know how I can help! xx
So many of your pictures are so shadowy & it makes it challenging to see what’s going on in the shot.
Thanks for sharing your feedback, Benjamin. Sorry for any issues when viewing the photos, I will take this into consideration!
I thought your photo and this dish look amazing!
Thanks so much, Steph:)
While that may be true for you, it’s no reason to rate the recipe with 3 stars. That rating helps people decide if they want to try the recipe or not. This leads to people thinking it’s not a great recipe. You can brighten the screen on your phone or computer in the settings, so that may help you.
What’s your opinion on using a little cream in place of the mayo? Dealing with an egg allergy.
Hey Keesha,
I think that sounds like a great idea! Let me know if you give this dish a try, I hope you love it! xx