My easy, No-Bake Cheesecake is made no gelatin or condensed milk and tastes JUST like the classic version you’re used to! This recipe needs only a few hours to chill before slicing and serving. Includes a how-to video!
No-Bake Cheesecake (Without Gelatin)
As a self-proclaimed cheesecake snob, I know how disappointing it can be to make a no-bake cheesecake recipe and have it not even closely resemble real-deal, classic cheesecake. With most recipes, you encounter one of two problems: either the texture is lacking (soft, pudding-like) or the flavor is just completely off. So, when I set out to make my no-bake cheesecake, I knew exactly what I needed to avoid just as much as I knew what I was looking for!
My no-bake cheesecake recipe creates a classic, fresh-tasting, firm cheesecake without ever turning on the oven. While many no-bake cheesecakes use gelatin or condensed milk for stabilization, I use homemade whipped cream for the best flavor and texture (and don’t even think about substituting Cool Whip!).
This cheesecake sets up very nicely in the fridge after a few hours (preferably overnight) and has that same, firm cheesecake texture and taste that you’re familiar with–NO oven needed! You’re going to love it!
Why my recipe works:
- Whipped cream creates a sturdy base without the need for gelatin.
- Uses the same ingredients as classic cheesecake (minus the eggs) for that classic flavor.
- Much easier and less fussy than a baked cheesecake–great for beginners!
- Can handle toppings like fresh fruit, pie filling, or a drizzle of chocolate sauce.
What You Need
For an authentic-tasting cheesecake, we want to stay as true as possible to classic ingredients. That means using:
- Cream cheese. Make sure you use brick-style, full-fat cream cheese. This should be softened to room temperature.
- Sour cream. Sour cream is CRITICAL for a rich, classic,ย real cheesecake flavor. Maybe this is just my cheesecake snobbery showing here, but a cheesecake made without sour cream is not a cheesecake! Sour cream packs a ton of flavor and adds depth and authenticity to this no-bake cheesecake recipe. If you don’t have or can’t find sour cream, full-fat, plain greek yogurt will also work in a pinch.
- Lemon juice. Just a splash enhances the cheesecake flavor and adds a slight tang. Bottled or fresh lemon juice will work here. This can be left out if needed.
- Sugar. I love using brown sugar in my graham cracker crust for an extra note of flavor. Powdered sugar in the filling blends beautifully while also encouraging a firm, fully-set texture.
- Heavy cream. While not typical for traditional cheesecake (though critical for my basque cheesecake), heavy cream is essential for this no-bake cheesecake. We’ll be whipping this to stiff peaks and folding it into our cheesecake mixture. This creates stability without the need for gelatin or condensed milk!
SAM’S TIP: This recipe will make too much filling for a store-bought graham cracker crust. If you want to use one, you can just pour the extra filling that doesn’t fit in a bowl, chill, and enjoy crustless!
Remember, this is just an overview of the ingredients I used and why. For the full recipe please scroll down to the bottom of the post!
How to Make No-Bake Cheesecake
For the Crust
- Start with your homemade graham cracker crust: Stir together graham cracker crumbs, sugar, and melted butter until well-combined and mixture resembles damp sand.
- Press the mixture firmly and evenly into the bottom and up the sides of a springform pan, then place in the refrigerator to chill (no baking needed for the crust, either!).
For the Filling
- Whip the heavy cream to stiff peaks (thickened, fluffy, voluminous, resembling Cool Whip only tastier).
- In a separate bowl, beat together cream cheese, powdered sugar, vanilla extract, lemon juice, and sour cream until smooth.
- Gently fold the whipped cream into the cream cheese mixture until completely combined and batter is smooth.
- Evenly spread the cheesecake filling into your prepared graham cracker crust and chill for several hours before slicing and serving.
SAM’S TIP: Since we’re not baking this cheesecake, it won’t be smoothing itself out in the oven. You can smooth the top of your cheesecake with an offset spatula before chilling for a pretty appearance if you’d like!
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes, you can absolutely freeze no-bake cheesecake! I recommend chilling as instructed (in the recipe below) first and then covering the cheesecake well with plastic wrap before freezing. I don’t recommend adding any decorative whipped cream topping (or any topping) until you are ready to serve, as it will make storing more difficult (and messier!).
You can eat the frozen cheesecake straight from frozen or return it to the refrigerator to allow it to thaw before enjoying.
Personally, we can never get this cheesecake to last longer than 48 hours in our house! If you have more self-control, your cheesecake will keep up to 5 days in the refrigerator. Be sure to either store it in an airtight container or tightly wrap the springform pan in plastic wrap when storing.
If you used the wrong kind of cream cheese or didn’t whip your cream long enough, your cheesecake may not set. Make sure to use full-fat brick-style cream cheese and not the spreadable kind that comes in a tub. If you need a visual of what cream whipped to stiff peaks looks like, check out the video below.
No-bake cheesecake would also be delicious on my Oreo crust!
Enjoy!
Letโs bake together! Iโll be walking you through all the steps in my written recipe and video below! If you try this recipe, be sure to tag me on Instagram, and you can also find me on YouTube and Facebook
The Best No-Bake Cheesecake Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 9″ or 10″ graham cracker crust prepared in springform pan (please click link for graham cracker crust recipe)
- 16 oz (450 g) cream cheese softened to room temperature (use brick-style cream cheese, not the spreadable kind sold in tubs)
- 1 cup (150 g) powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 teaspoons lemon juice
- โ cup (75 g) sour cream
- 1 ยฝ cup (355 ml) heavy cream
- Additional whipped cream for topping, optional
Recommended Equipment
Instructions
- Place cream cheese in a large bowl and, using an electric mixer, beat until smooth and creamy.16 oz (450 g) cream cheese
- Add powdered sugar and stir until combined.1 cup (150 g) powdered sugar
- Stir in vanilla extract and lemon juice, pausing to scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl.1 teaspoon vanilla extract, 2 teaspoons lemon juice
- Add sour cream and stir well.โ cup (75 g) sour cream
- Pour heavy cream into a separate, medium-sized bowl (preferably a chilled metal bowl). Whisk on high speed (preferably using an electric mixer) until stiff peaks are achieved.1 ยฝ cup (355 ml) heavy cream
- Fold your whipped cream into cream cheese mixture until smooth and well-combined.
- Spread cheesecake mixture evenly over prepared graham cracker crust.1 9″ or 10″ graham cracker crust
- Cover and refrigerate at least 4 hours or overnight. Top with additional whipped cream before cutting and serving, if desired.Additional whipped cream
Nutrition
Nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered an estimate only. Actual nutritional content will vary based upon brands used, measuring methods, cooking method, portion sizes, and more.
This recipe was originally posted 06/05/2017, recipe remains the same but post has been updated to be more helpful September 2022
Gena
This was the first time I made a no-bake cheesecake and I can say that your recipe is simply DELICIOUS! The instructions were easy to follow and my family loved it.
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed it so much, Gena! ๐
Kimmy
Great recipe! Perfectly sweet with a fairly firm texture for a no-bake cheesecake. (I chilled it overnight.)I served mine with lime curd and lemon curd. Guests loved it. Only change to recipe is to decrease the melted butter to at least 6, maybe even 5 tablespoons. As I gradually poured the butter into the dry ingredients, it was getting quite wet so I didn’t add the rest in. Will definitely make it again. I have great baked cheesecake recipe and now I have a great no-bake! ๐
Sam
I’m so glad everyone enjoyed it so much, Kimmy! ๐
Rita
I am going to definitely try this recipe. I love no-baked cheese cake. However, I normally bake my graham crust for 8 minutes to avoid the crust from being too lose. Will the crust stay together and have a crisp crunch should I not bake it
Sam
Hi Rita! I’ve never had a problem with it crumbling too much. You can see how mine turns out in the video, but if you’d like it a little crispier you could pre-bake it. ๐
Angela
I just made this recipe and put it in the refrigerator to set up. One thing that didn’t work for me was the folding the whipped cream in with the cream cheese mixture. It was getting lumpy as I folded, so I blended it all smoothly together. I hope that works. We shall see.
Michael Romaniuk
One thing you can do when folding into cream cheese or other stiff mixtures is first add a big scoop of the whipped cream and mix it thoroughly. Then take the rest and fold in. That first scoop mixed in will get the stiffer mixture to take better and not lump up ๐
Karen
I made this for my husband’s birthday yesterday. We all loved it! The only thing is that it did not set up very well and was very soft (after five hours in the refrigerator). However, I’m going to see how it looks tomorrow. Maybe it just needed more time. Anyway, the taste was amazing!
Sam
Hi Karen! Did you use the brick style cream cheese? If so did your heavy cream make it fully to stiff peaks? These are the only things I think could keep it from fully setting if it isn’t good to go after sitting overnight. ๐
Karen
I did use brick style cream cheese. I bought the Neufchatel kind though, not full fat (out of habit)…and I didn’t chill my mixing bowl before whipping the cream. Possibly I could have whipped it longer? I thought it was forming stiff peaks but I will try whipping longer next time. In any case, everyone gave it rave reviews so I am happy and will try again!
Sam
The neufchatel cheese was probably the issue here. It’s much softer than cream cheese. I’m glad everyone ultimately enjoyed it. ๐
Laura
How far in advance can you make it?
Sam
Hi Laura! It’s typically good for several days in the refrigerator covered tightly so it doesn’t dry out. ๐
Tony
Very good recipe, I have 4 different kinds of jam from thumbprint cookies I made so what I did was put a small amount of each in a very small bowl , heated them up in the microwave for about 10 seconds and then drizzled them over each slice so everyone could choose their toppings !!
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed it so much, Tony! I love the different jam toppings! ๐
Kelli Covel
I made this cheesecake to fill mini filo cups it was delicious I took the leftover and added it to a small springform pan and put it in the freezer to add to my Christmas dessert choices, I will be adding a fruit topping .. thank you for this recipe!!
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed it so much, Kelli! ๐
Emily Varghese
Hi Sam,I was wondering if I could use a pre-made pie crust from the store for this recipe.
Sam
Hi Emily! You can use a pre-made crust but it likely won’t hold all of the batter. ๐
Emily
Thanks Sam,I love your blog and always watch your YouTube channel.
Sam
You’re welcome! I really appreciate your support. ๐
marielle
May I ask if lemon juice is necessary for this recipe? And if I want to make it with chocolate, should I add 285g of semi-sweet chocolate? thank you!
Sam
Hi Marielle! The lemon juice adds a nice depth of flavor. You can try adding the chocolate to this to make it chocolate, but without trying it myself I can’t say exactly how you’d need to do it. If it turns out I would love to know how it goes. ๐
Marielle Levine
Thank you so much, you are amazing. Yes, I will let you know the result with chocolate.
Tawni J
Hi Sam. I too have no lemon juice. Could I maybe try orange juice? Sounds weird but it’s all I have. Snowed in and can’t get to the store.
Sam
Hi Tawni! The orange juice will definitely change the flavor but it should work here. ๐
ce ce clarke
Quick, easy, and too fun to make. I cut granulated sugar to 1 1/2 cup and add sweetened condensed milk
Barbara
Hello, please tell me if it would be ok for me to add a strawberry swirl to the top. I wasn’t sure if that would cause a problem to the cheesecake itself. Thanks and I look forward to tasting your cheesecake!
Sam
Hi Barbara! That will work just fine. ๐
Zina
What does “bolded” mean when talking about the sour cream?
Sam
Hi Zina! It was just bolded because it helps really point out its importance in this recipe. ๐
Karen Curenton
If there were more stars to give , this recipe would be off the charts. I am an avid cheesecake lover. I wanted to see if I could make my own. I followed this recipe to the letter. I have NEVER tasted a cheesecake that is this delicious. My next recipe to try of yours is the no bake cookies for my grandchildren. A++++++++++++. I am very pleased with this. Thank you.
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed it so much, Karen! ๐
Linda O'Connor
A family favorite! My grandson and I make this quite often because it’s easy to make and everybody loves it.
Sugar Spun Run
I am so glad that this recipe has become a favorite of yours, Linda! Thanks for commenting. Enjoy! ๐
Teri
Can I add brown sugar and cinnamon?
Sam
Hi Teri! That should work. ๐