No Bake Cheesecake is a silky smooth dessert made with a cheesecake filling over a buttery graham cracker crust with no need to turn on your oven! It can be flavored in a variety of ways, including with fruit, chocolate, or caramel, and can be topped with whipped cream or fresh fruit for a delicious and elegant dessert. If you prefer a baked version, check out my Perfect Cheesecake Recipe!
Ingredients & Substitutions
Crust: When making the graham cracker crust, be sure all of the crumbs are coated with butter. This is the ‘glue’ that keeps the crust together. You could also use a store-bought crust if that is what you have on hand.
Lemon Juice: For best results, use freshly squeezed lemon juice. I don’t recommend using store-bought lemon juice as it doesn’t work as well and you can almost taste the difference.
Filling: The filling for this no-bake cheesecake recipe is made with a special ingredient, heavy whipping cream. I have made several no-bake cheesecakes with the traditional sweetened condensed milk and always find that it tastes a bit different, or noticeable. Using heavy cream makes this no-bake cheesecake stand up to classic baked cheesecake.
How to Serve No-Bake Cheesecake
When it comes to how you serve this cheesecake, the sky is the limit! You can add pie fillings like strawberry, blueberry (from my blueberry pie bombs), cherry, lemon, and raspberry. You could also drizzle chocolate syrup on top and a healthy dollop of whipped cream for some extra richness. My favorite way to eat this no-bake cheesecake is with fresh fruit. I love it with blueberries and kiwi and my kids grab fresh strawberries.
Chocolate No-Bake Cheesecake
To make this a chocolate no-bake cheesecake, simply add 8 ounces of your favorite chocolate. Start by melting the chocolate in a microwave-safe bowl. Then, set it aside to cool a bit. Add the cooled melted chocolate to the cream cheese mixture and continue making the cheesecake as directed below. Make it with an Oreo cookie crust for even more chocolate in every bite!
Why Didn’t My Cheesecake Set Up Properly?
There are a few reasons the cheesecake may not have stood up properly. Here are some troubleshooting tips:
- Make sure to whip your heavy cream well, for at least 3 minutes. You want the consistency to be fairly firm.
- If you have chilled it for 6 hours in the refrigerator and it’s still not fully set, pop it in the freezer for about 30 minutes. The cheesecake should not freeze but will be firm.
- It’s important to use the correct pan size as specified in the recipe. If the cheesecake is baked in a pan that is too large or too small, it may not set up properly.
- Stick as closely as possible to the recipe to ensure the best results. Making substitutions for ingredients in a recipe can sometimes cause problems with the cheesecake setting up properly.
How to Store Cheesecake
To store the cheesecake, cover it and store it in the refrigerator for a day or two. If you tightly wrap the cheesecake in plastic wrap or store it in an airtight container, it will last up to 3 days in the fridge.
Freezing Cheesecake
To freeze a cheesecake:
- Let the cheesecake cool completely.
- Place the cheesecake (uncovered) in the freezer for about an hour. I suggest that if you are keeping the cheesecake pie in the springform pan, remove the sides of the pan.
- After the hour in the freezer, take the cheesecake off the pan (you may have to pry it off with a knife), and wrap it tightly in plastic wrap.
- Place the wrapped cheesecake into a zipped freezer bag or wrap it in aluminum foil. Be sure to label and date the cheesecake.
No Bake Cheesecake
Ingredients
Crust
- 1 ¼ cups (105 g) graham cracker crumbs, about 8 sheets of graham crackers, crushed
- ¼ cup superfine sugar, or granulated
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
Filling
- 2 blocks (8 ounces each) cream cheese, room temperature
- ¾ cup (150 g) granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon (20 g) freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ⅛ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 ½ cups (357 g) heavy whipping cream
Instructions
Crust
- Spray a 7-inch springform pan with nonstick cooking spray.
- In a small bowl, combine graham cracker crumbs, sugar, and melted butter. Make sure to get every crumb coated with butter.
- Pour the crust into the prepared pan, pressing it into the bottom and up the sides. Set aside.
Filling
- In the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, add the cream cheese, sugar, lemon juice, vanilla, and salt. Mix at medium speed until soft and smooth, stopping to scrape the sides of the bowl as needed.
- Switch to the whisk attachment and pour in the heavy cream. Mix at low speed to combine. Then, increase to high and whip until the mixture can hold stiff peaks (3 to 5 minutes).
- Pour the filling into the prepared crust.
- Refrigerate until the filling is firm and cold, about 6 hours or overnight.
Did you make this recipe?
Thank you for making my recipe! You took pictures, right? Well go ahead and post them on Instagram! Be sure to mention me @iambaker and use the hashtag #YouAreBaker.
I made this low carb. I added Splenda in the place of sugar and sugar free cookies ground up instead of Graham Crackers. I make a sugar free blueberry topping by adding frozen blueberries, a little water , a little cornstarch, and splenda. Also you can use sugar free cherry pie filling. EXCELLENT
Lovely, simple, bright flavor but even I managed to screw this up. Somewhere between “3 to 5 minutes” on high my Kitchen Aid turned this into soup! My son followed the recipe to a T, start to finish so I’m hoping the soup will firm a little by morning. If not, maybe we’ll freeze it 🙂 Our first no bake, as I always do the New York style; but my son loved that he could lick the egg free beater!
I made this no bake cheese cake. Followed the recipe. I put everything in order as the recipe called for.
It was refrigerated the night before. It never set up. I tried putting it in the deep freeze like was suggested made it soupy.
I always read a recipe or 2 times and set everything out in bowls measuring cups & measuring spoons.
I keep coming back and
Read the reply’s
I’ve made a similar recipe. I beat the heavy cream alone into stiff whipped cream and fold it into the creamed ingredients.
I need recipe. With no sugar. And no salt
I turned 57 years old earlier this month and decided that I needed to cross something off of my Bucket List. I chose “make a truly homemade cheesecake”. Yes, I seriously have never made a homemade (from scratch) cheesecake. So, after going through numerous online recipes, I chose this one. I followed the recipe to the letter with the only exception being that I don’t have a stand up mixer though my hand mixer does have a wisk attachment, which I used. The ingredients were stiffer in the early part of the mixing, then became smoother and more liquid. Though I mixed for the full 5 minutes hoping it would become thicker, it did not. I had a bad feeling about it but poured it into my crust anyway and simply hoped for the best. Sadly, it did not set up as it should have and I am SOOO disappointed to have such a poor result for this Bucket List item. Why would this happen? I did everything just right and I refuse to accept that not having a standup mixer played a role! On the up-side, my husband (who was dreaming and drooling about trying this cheesecake) and I had cheesecake soup for breakfast! It tasted wonderful; we just used spoons rather than forks!
So sorry it did not live up to your expectations Sandra! However, this is not a “truly homemade cheesecake”. It is a no-bake version and will never (no matter how much I would like it too!) live up to a traditional cheesecake which is baked.
@Sandra L Schoenfeld That’s when you need to revise your life and look for actually meaningful things to do than spending an hour writing about your cheesecake disappointments.
I’d advise you to revise your life if you feel the need to judge strangers online.
Hi Sandra,
Sorry to hear it didn’t work out. I often find that the brand of ingrediants you use can make a huge difference, as can the type of cream you use.
I had the same problem as you, but I added gelatin before pouring it into the crust to salvage it.
Baking/making is all about trial and error! I hope you give it another shot!
What a wonderfully encouraging and informative comment! Thank you for taking the time today, Maria. 🙂
So my husband made this cheesecake with fresh lime juice. Our entire family of 11 had nothing but excellent comments!! And a few of my kids even fought over the last piece!! It is now on our “favorites” list. This is huge since I have a baked cheesecake that has always been top of our list. Tonight my 15-year old son said for his birthday dinner he wanted the no-bake cheesecake because it was wonderful!! Thought I would pass it along. My husband said that the trick to making this cheesecake is to let the cream cheese completely warm to room temperature and then whip it. It was a PERFECT whipped texture!! Thanks!
I just made this tonight and it turned out purrrrfect! I used a hand mixer with the paddle and whisk as directed and I used the juice from a whole lime, I like it tart. It taste great and it had stiff peaks. Tempted to eat before it chills. Thank you, I love my new favorite recipe.
This looks amazing! Is there a way to make it into a chocolate no bake cheese cake?
You guys I’m sure that receive is a good one.i just read it.do u remember how Woolworths made theirs.they used evaporated milk and look how it turned out.ive made it baked,with whipping cream,and canned milk.i think u guys over whipped it.try it again but don’t whip it to death.
made this last night although i only had a 26cm pan so i increased the ingredients a tad bit and still ended up with a very shallow cheesecake but still very good.
Like the other comments, the filling part did not set firmly despite a good 12 hours in the fridge but it at least wasn’t at soup level. I might try putting it in the freezer 30 minutes before eating.
For those who had an issue with getting the right consistency, I suggest whipping the heavy cream first, using a chilled bowl and wisk attachment. After you get the right te texture transfere into anothet bowl and set aside in the fridge. Then mic together the first part of the recipe with the cream cheese. Once you’ve dont thst just fold the whipped cream into the cream cheese mixure. Its important that you do not over beat the cream or you will get butter. Also you will notice she does not say to softenream cheese, this is because you need the ingredients to be cold for the cream to form peaks. So either make then separate or keep everything cold and work quickly. Hope this helps 😉