The Trendy Pasta Queen Dish Instagram Is Calling Perfection

Italian film director Federico Fellini once said, "Life is a combination of magic and pasta." Nadia Caterina Munno, known to the internet as TikTok's The Pasta Queen, personifies that sentiment. With an appearance similar to Sophia Loren and an energetic demeanor like Sofía Vergara, Munno entertains viewers with her signature catchphrases, pasta-making skills, and enviably stylish wardrobe and kitchen. Born and raised in Rome, the Pasta Queen comes from a long lineage of food lovers in Southern Italy, known locally as the Macaroni family, a proud title earned after generations of pasta making, per her website.

A self-proclaimed "party animal," Munno spent a few years trying to capitalize on her love of entertaining and cooking when the pandemic forced the world into lockdown. Inside her home every day with her brother and cousin, Munno began filming short TikTok cooking videos. Like the telenovelas Munno grew up watching with her nonnas, the Pasta Queen's channels on social media are filled with drama, hair flips, and suspenseful moments, all while teaching you Italian cooking techniques (via Leite's Culinaria).

Munno says her mission is to record "ancient techniques and recipes that would otherwise be forgotten." With 1.5 million followers on Instagram, 2.4 million on TikTok, and over 600,000 on YouTube, the Pasta Queen has certainly captured our attention. Causing the internet to drool, Munno's recent post on a creamy new pasta dish has hungry viewers taking notice.

In a modern approach to a classic Roman cacio e pepe recipe, the Pasta Queen created homemade fettuccine with cacio, pepe, and ricotta (cheese, black pepper, and ricotta). While TikTok and Instagram feature a "hyper-digestible" summary of the recipe, a 10-minute version can be found on YouTube. Munno's silky voice and descriptive dialogue give the video a highly sensory experience.

Munno begins by making the pasta dough, starting with a flour "volcano of love" before demonstrating her expert rolling and cutting skills. She makes it look so easy! Next, she assembles the sauce, which is just a "scrunch" of black pepper, a "flurry" of pecorino cheese, and the critical pasta water, which Munno stresses as the glue that holds it all together. The sauce gets "whipped with joy" as the ricotta is added to complete this creamy masterpiece. 

To plate the dish, Munno collects the pasta with a service fork named "Antonietta the Forchetta" and twirls those glossy strands of fettuccine into a ladle she calls "Bruno" (via Parade). This technique achieves that restaurant-looking mountain of pasta we all love to dig into. Followers on all platforms commented on how delicious the fettuccine looked and how badly they wanted to try it for themselves.

Fans of the Pasta Queen will be excited to hear that she has a cookbook coming out titled "The Pasta Queen: A Just Gorgeous Cookbook" and a line of copper pots and pans that are also "gorgeous, just like you are!"