No-Bake Cheesecake
This No-Bake Cheesecake features a homemade graham cracker crust with a creamy and fluffy cheesecake filling. This recipe is simple to make and perfect for an easy dessert!
If you’ve been following me for a while, you know I absolutely love cheesecake. In fact, I’ll always pick a slice of cheesecake over a slice of regular cake any day. The only thing – sometimes I don’t feel like baking something in the oven for an hour during the spring and summer months when I’m craving cheesecake.
That’s why I absolutely adore this no-bake cheesecake recipe! The bottom of this cheesecake is made with a simple three-ingredient homemade graham cracker crust and the topping is super creamy and fluffy too. This cheesecake is also incredibly easy to throw together and you don’t even have to turn on the oven to make it.
I love to make this recipe in a springform pan because it’s easier to slice and serve. If you don’t have a springform pan, I’ve included instructions for how to make this in a pie plate too!
How To Make This No-Bake Cheesecake
To make this no-bake cheesecake, you’ll start out with the homemade graham cracker crust. If you’ve never made one before, I have a tutorial here for how to make a graham cracker crust here. Here’s a quick break-down of how to make the crust:
- Stir together graham cracker crumbs and sugar: If you want to make this recipe a bit easier, you can use store-bought graham cracker crumbs. If you’re crushing your own graham cracker crumbs, you’ll need about 11-12 full-sheets to get 1 and 1/2 cups of crumbs.
- Add the melted butter: Stir in the melted butter until all of the crumbs are moistened.
- Press the mixture into your pan: I like to use the bottom of a measuring cup to firmly press the graham cracker crust into the pan.
- Refrigerate the crust: Transfer the pan with your graham cracker crust to the refrigerator to chill while you prepare the filling.
Quick Tip: If you’re using a springform pan, place a sheet of parchment paper on the bottom before you add the graham cracker crust. This will make it much easier to remove the cheesecake from the pan.
Next, you’ll gather all of your ingredients for the cheesecake filling. For the filling, we’ll be using some cream cheese, powdered sugar, fresh lemon juice, vanilla extract, and heavy whipping cream. Let’s break down each ingredient for the filling:
- Cream Cheese: I highly recommend using full-fat cream cheese so that the no-bake cheesecake sets up properly. It’s also best to use the blocks or bricks of cream cheese and avoid using cream cheese spread in a tub.
- Powdered Sugar: There’s 1 cup of powdered sugar in this cheesecake to help sweeten it and keep the filling nice and thick.
- Fresh Lemon Juice: The lemon juice helps to brighten up the flavor of the cheesecake.
- Vanilla Extract: For a little extra flavor.
- Heavy Whipping Cream: Make sure to use a heavy whipping cream with at least 36% fat. While the cream cheese should be at room temperature, you want to make sure the heavy whipping cream is cold when you whip it.
Quick Tip: When you’re whipping your heavy whipping cream, it’s best to use a chilled bowl and beaters. I like to set my mixing bowl and beaters in the freezer for 5-10 minutes, then use them. This will help your whipped cream thicken much better and quicker!
To make the filling, you’ll start by beating the cream cheese in a large mixing bowl for 1 to 2 minutes or until it’s nice and smooth. Then, mix in your powdered sugar, fresh lemon juice, and vanilla extract. At this point, I suggest stopping and scraping down the sides of the bowl and then giving it another good mix.
Next, you’ll add the heavy whipping cream to a separate bowl and whip it until it reaches stiff peaks. In other words, when you lift the beaters out of the bowl the whipped cream should stand straight up. If it’s curling or falling to the side, you’ll need to mix it just a little longer.
Once the whipped cream is thickened and reaches stiff peaks, you’ll fold about 1/3 of the whipped cream into your cream cheese mixture to help lighten it. Then, you’ll fold in the rest of the whipped cream until just combined like the picture above.
Once the filling is ready, remove your prepared graham cracker crust from the refrigerator and scoop the cheesecake filling on top. I like to use an angled spatula to help smooth it out and make it look prettier, but the back of a spoon works just fine too.
Then, cover the cheesecake tightly and let it chill for at least 6 hours. If possible, I suggest letting the cheesecake chill overnight so that it has time to really firm up. The longer you let it chill the easier it will be to slice into and serve.
I also topped this no-bake cheesecake with my homemade whipped cream and some fresh raspberries. Here are some other great options that would work too:
Baking Tips
- Want to make the crust a bit easier? You can use store-bought graham cracker crumbs instead of crushing your own.
- Before getting started, make sure to soften your cream cheese to room temperature. This will ensure a much smoother and creamier cheesecake filling.
- Only fold in the whipped cream until just combined, over mixing the whipped cream can cause the cheesecake to deflate and not be as fluffy.
- Make sure to let the cheesecake chill for at least 6 hours, overnight is even better!
- It’s best to keep this no-bake cheesecake refrigerated as much as possible. If it’s not too warm, you can let it sit out for about 30 minutes but keep in mind that it will soften some at room temperature.
- Don’t have a springform pan? You can also use 9-inch pie plate that’s at least 2-inches deep for this recipe. If you use a pie dish, I suggest pressing the crust into the bottom and up around the sides of the dish.
More Cheesecake Recipes To Try!
- Mini Lemon Blueberry Cheesecakes
- Cheesecake Brownies
- Classic Cheesecake Recipe
- Mini Cheesecakes (with several different topping options)
Recipe Video
No-Bake Cheesecake
Ingredients
For the crust:
- 1 and ½ cups (180 grams) graham cracker crumbs
- ¼ cup (50 grams) granulated sugar
- 6 tablespoons (85 grams) unsalted butter, melted
For the cheesecake filling:
- 16 ounces (452 grams) brick-style cream cheese softened
- 1 cup (120 grams) powdered sugar
- 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 and ½ cups (360 ml) cold heavy whipping cream
Instructions
To make the crust:
- Line the bottom of a 9-inch springform pan with parchment paper. Set aside.
- Combine the graham cracker crumbs and granulated sugar in a medium-sized mixing bowl and stir until well combined. Add the melted butter and mix until all of the crumbs are moistened.
- Scoop the mixture into the prepared 9-inch springform pan and firmly press it into the bottom of the pan. Transfer to the refrigerator to chill while you prepare the filling.
To make the cheesecake filling:
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or in a large mixing bowl using a handheld mixer, beat the cream cheese for 1-2 minutes or until smooth. Add the powdered sugar, fresh lemon juice, and vanilla extract and mix until fully combined, stopping to scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed. Set aside.
- Add the heavy whipping cream to a separate mixing bowl, using a handheld mixer or stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, mix on low-medium speed for 30 seconds to 1 minute then increase the speed to medium-high and continue mixing until stiff peaks form.
- Gently fold one-third of the whipped cream into the cream cheese mixture until just combined, then fold in the remaining whipped cream until fully combined.
- Remove the springform pan with the crust from the refrigerator and scoop the filling on top of the crust. Spread the filling into one even layer and smooth out the top.
- Cover tightly and transfer to the refrigerator to chill for at least 6 hours or overnight. Carefully release from the springform pan (slice a knife around the outside if needed), then slice, and enjoy!
This is by far the best no bake cheesecake I have ever made. Came out perfect. Made as written the only thing I did add was I had just made homemade blackberry Jam and swirled is around half of it. Will definitely keep this recipe. Thank you.
Hello This is
CHEESECAKE PERFECTION!!!!!
This was the HIT of the BBQ Celebration 🎉. Thank you so much for the recipe !! It was so easy to make. I topped mine w/ a few heaping tbl of Blueberry pie filling right from the can. I have never made any type of cheesecake before & this was so Delicious. I’m going to make it again soon. this time I will take photos.
I have no heavy cream.but I have half and half can I use it
No, unfortunately that won’t work for this recipe. You do need heavy cream.
Wonderful! Thanks for sharing.
Absolutely delicious and so easy to make. I swapped chocolate crumbs instead of graham wafer crumbs. Huge hit!
Hello! Would a store bought crust be too small for this recipe?
You will probably have some left over. You could use it to make mini cheesecakes or maybe even a second one.
Really like this recipe! I was able to reduce the powdered sugar to 1/2 cup without a problem. This was sweet enough for us and cuts out 60 carbs from the entire recipe.
Made this recipe today and it was super simple. Doubled the recipe andFor my convenience I used two prepared pie crusts. When measuring the cream, I only used two cups, we’ll see later how well that worked out. I chilled the glass bowl and the whisk before beating and it whipped easily. Next time I will add more lemon.
Made this no-bake cheesecake recipe this weekend and it was delicious. Thank you!
Made this last Summer and plan to make again! It also worked well with Non dairy products! My one elevation is changing equal parts ground biscoff cookies for the crust! Over all this recipe pleases the masses and is pretty fool proof.
This is amazing, I did not leave myself enough time to bake something for my neighbors birthday. This was the perfect answer. Brilliant recipe and I did use whipped topping because there was no whipping cream. The result was beautiful.
Can I make this ahead of time and freeze it?
I don’t recommend freezing this cheesecake, but you can make it one to two days ahead of time and refrigerate it.
Can I add peppermint extract to give it a mint taste flavor? If so would I not use the lemon.
Yes, that would be fine! I would start with 1/2 teaspoon and add more as needed.
I’m not able to print for no bake cheesecake. Also I would be very interested of getting more of the recipes thank you
I just tried to print it and it worked fine for me. Are you getting an error message?
Can I use Cool Whip from the tub instead of Heavy Whipping Cream?
Yes, you could use 3 cups of Cool Whip instead of the heavy whipping cream. I would probably reduce the powdered sugar slightly too.
Easiest, best recipe EVER
This is the best tasting cheese cake ever. I will make this again and again.
I made this cake for my husband’s birthday and it was unbelievably easy and delicious! ? My first time ever making cheesecake and I couldn’t be more thrilled. I’ll be making this again and again ?
Thank you, Belinda! So glad you enjoyed the cheesecake!
My uncle and I LOVE this cheesecake. I took a shortcut and bought a graham cracker crust. First time I made this I put cherry topping on it and it was gone in 2 days! It’s just the 2 of us, lol…I just made another one this evening, I chose blueberry topping this time, so I thought a wee bit more lemon and some lemon zest in it would go great with the blueberry topping. I haven’t tried it yet, it’s still chilling in the fridge, i’m about ready to put the blueberries on top. I did lick the bowl and OMG, that little bit of extra lemon is so refreshing! Thank you SO much for posting this recipe. I looked at several others before picking yours, they all either called for condensed milk or sour cream. Neither of those sound appetizing to me…
Hi Danielle,
Your recipes are always incredible and I am so excited to make this no bake cheesecake! My sister asked if I could make a caramel cheesecake for her birthday. Do you think I could add some caramel sauce to the filling? Would I need to reduce or increase any of the other ingredients? Thank you 🙂
Thank you, Anita! I haven’t tried it, but you could probably either swirl some caramel into the filling or just serve it on top of the cheesecake. To swirl it, I would probably scoop half of the cheesecake filling into the pan, spoon some caramel on top, scoop the rest of the cheesecake filling on top, spoon a little more caramel on that, then use a knife to swirl it. The easiest option would be to just serve it with some caramel sauce on top though. I hope that helps!
Thank you so much. I use to make cheesecake for my late husband back in the ’90s. because it was his favorite. After we lost him, I never made it again until our son got older and loved cheesecake as much as his Daddy did. I forgot my personal recipe but I searched online and out of all the recipes …I liked yours the best because it was so similar to mine. After we made it tonight and taste tested it before it went into the fridge …It was so very delicious You know how a smell or taste can take you back in time to a wonderful memory? Well as soon as I tasted it,…I was suspended in time and had memories swarm my head of my dear late husband. Thank you for giving that back to me. My son who is 31 now …only likes cheesecake for his birthday cake. I made this tonight for tomorrow’s birthday party for him. I use to professionally do cakes but not so much these days but we plan to make this cheesecake with Toppings (strawberries, raspberries, and blueberries…and maybe pineapples) and frosting edging with my pastry bag. I have it envisioned. I know this sounds sappy but this really transported me back to the wonderful life I had with my late husband and my children when they were just toddlers. The best time of his workday was lunch when he knew he had cake or cheesecake waiting for him. Now our son is the same way when I make or send home treats for him to take to work. Anyway, I just wanted to thank you for sharing.
Thank you for taking the time to leave such a kind comment, Beth. I’m so happy that this recipe brought back those wonderful memories for you.
This is the best non bake cheesecake ever! My family loves it and so do I!
My recommendations is that you should add more lemon and vanilla . If anyone has a 6 inch pan I suggest you half the recipe ( if you what your base to go on the sides you don’t need to half the base)
I hope this helps!!!!
I had some leftover filling and crust mix. So I mixed it all together. Scooped it in truffle size balls. Froze them. Dipped them in chocolate. Refrigerated them. Awesome cheesecake bites.
Will this be too runny if I don’t happen to have cream on hand?
I would actually recommend using heavy whipping cream in this recipe so that it turns out right.
How long does the cheesecake filling keep until it needs to be thrown away?
You can store it in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
This is an excellent recipe but for me, I increased the lemon to 4 tsp and 2 tsp of the vanilla. The creamy, fluffy consistency is just perfect.
I’m afraid the cream cheese will melt easily when serve. Can I add in gelatin? How much to add in if can add?
As long as it’s not too hot, it will hold up just fine. If you’re concerned you can mix 1 tablespoon of unflavored gelatin with 1/4 cup of water, warm it in the microwave, let it cool slightly, then mix it into the filling.
can you put it in the freezer to chill faster
I haven’t tried it, but you probably could. I’m not sure how long though and I would just be careful not to leave it in too long so it doesn’t completely freeze.
This looks awemazing. Thank you for this.
Can this recipe be made without the Graham cracker crust?
I would recommend using some kind of crust so that it’s easier to slice and serve.