This is the best keto cheesecake recipe you will try. Even people not on a low carb or keto diet love this unbelievably creamy cheesecake!
Five ingredient keto cheesecake
I’ve gotten so many requests in the past few months to come up with an easy homemade keto cheesecake recipe.
And this one is so deliciously smooth and creamy, no one would ever believe it could possibly be low carb.
But don’t just take my word for it.
This recipe currently holds over 3,000 positive reviews, from readers who have tried and love the keto cheesecake!
And the sugar free dessert is quick to whip up at home. It also includes a no bake option for those who do not wish to heat up the oven.
Also try this Keto Mug Cake Recipe
New York style low carb cheesecake
This keto cheesecake can absolutely hold its own against any traditional cheesecake.
Eat it plain, or topped with strawberries or a scoop of Keto Ice Cream.
To test the final recipe and make sure it received the seal of approval even from people not on any special diet whatsoever, I sought out the toughest audience.
This included friends who are not vegan, gluten free, or keto, and who do not normally eat healthy desserts in general.
They all LOVED the cheesecake, so you know it must be really good!
Their verdict was that if they had not known the secret ahead of time, they never would have guessed it wasn’t just like any other recipe made with traditional ingredients.
You may also like these fluffy Keto Pancakes
Sugar free cheesecake ingredients
The recipe calls for cream cheese, yogurt, pure vanilla extract, sweetener of choice, almond flour or almond meal, and optional lemon juice.
Be sure to use full fat cream cheese. For vegan keto cheesecake, choose a plant based cream cheese. I have not tried substituting low fat light cream cheese or Neufchâtel cheese so cannot personally recommend those.
Regular, dairy free, or Greek yogurt all work. If using vanilla yogurt, omit the vanilla extract in the recipe. You can also experiment with flavored yogurts such as strawberry, raspberry, blueberry, or peach!
Pro tip: Many yogurts are surprisingly high in carbs. If you are counting carbohydrates and want this cheesecake to truly be keto, seek out a low carb yogurt. My favorite is Kite Hill Greek yogurt, which is dairy free and high protein.
Pretty much any all purpose sweetener is fine, including erythritol or xylitol for a sugar free dessert.
Regular sugar, pure maple syrup, and coconut sugar also all work in the recipe. It will not be ketogenic but will still have much less sugar and fewer calories than traditional cheesecakes, while tasting just as delicious.
Use leftover almond flour in this Almond Flour Banana Bread
Keto cheesecake recipe video
Above, watch the step by step video
Keto crust options
Since most cheesecakes are already flourless, modifying the recipe to be keto friendly doesn’t require many adjustments at all.
I started with my favorite go to cheesecake and simply changed three things: the thickener, the sweetener, and the crust.
This homemade keto cheesecake crust calls for almond flour as the base. If you do not have any on hand or want a flourless option, simply pulse raw almonds or pecans in a food processor until they turn to a flour consistency.
Or you can use a different crust recipe or even make the cheesecake crustless if you prefer, and each slice will have just 200 calories and under 2 grams of net carbs.
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How to make keto cheesecake
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit, and line the bottom of an eight or nine inch springform pan with parchment paper. Prepare your crust, if using.
Fill any baking pan about halfway with water. Place it on the oven’s lower rack.
Bring the cream cheese to room temperature so it will be easy to blend. Add all cheesecake ingredients to a blender or food processor, and blend just until smooth.
Spread this cheesecake filling over the prepared crust. Place the pan on your oven’s center rack. Bake 30 minutes for a nine inch pan or 38 minutes for an eight inch pan.
Keeping the oven door closed, turn off the heat and let the cheese pie sit in the oven for an additional five minutes. Then remove it from the oven and cool the under baked cake on the counter for around twenty minutes.
Refrigerate overnight, uncovered or very loosely covered with paper towels so that moisture can escape. It will firm up considerably during this time.
Store leftover cheesecake in the refrigerator for three to for days. Or slice and freeze in an airtight container for up to three months.
Baking tips for the best keto cheesecake
The most important thing with cheesecakes is to not overbeat the batter, which could introduce air bubbles that might burst in the oven and cause cracking.
Likewise, letting the cheesecake cool gradually prevents any sudden temperature changes that could also cause the cake to crack.
No water bath is required, but I do like to put a baking pan with water underneath the cheesecake as it cooks, which adds moisture to the oven and acts as a further buffer against the infamous cheesecake cracking.
If you want to skip the pan of water, or if your cheesecake does end up cracking for any reason, all is not lost: You can easily hide the cracks with a layer of fresh berries, whipped cream, or perhaps even some Homemade Nutella.
When you take the pie out of the oven, it should still look underdone and jiggly in the center. The cheesecake will continue to firm up considerably as it cools and extra moisture evaporates. By the next day, you will have a rich and decadent, perfectly textured keto cheesecake.
It tastes so much better than anything you’ve ever eaten from Cheesecake Factory.
If you want a no bake dessert
For a no bake cheesecake, simply replace half a cup of the yogurt in the recipe below with softened coconut butter or coconut oil.
Instead of baking the keto dessert, just chill the unbaked cheesecake until firm. Then slice and enjoy. Store leftovers in the refrigerator.
I hope you love this cheesecake as much as we all do!
The recipe was adapted from this Vegan Cheesecake Recipe.
Keto Cheesecake Recipe
Ingredients
- 24 oz cream cheese (or vegan cream cheese)
- 2 cups yogurt
- 2 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1 tbsp lemon juice (optional)
- 2/3 cup erythritol (sugar or maple syrup also work for non-keto)
- 1/4 cup almond flour
Instructions
- Feel free to use a store-bought crust or make it crustless. Here's the crust I used: 2 cups almond or pecan flour, 1/4 tsp salt, 4-6 tbsp melted coconut oil OR enough water to make it slightly sticky. Combine all ingredients, pour into a lined 8 or 9-inch springform pan, press down evenly. Set aside while making the filling.To make a keto cheesecake, preheat the oven to 350 F. Fill any baking pan about halfway up with water, and place it on the oven’s lower rack. Bring cream cheese to room temperature, then beat all ingredients in a blender or food processor just until smooth (overbeating can cause cracking as it bakes). I do usually include the lemon for a classic cheesecake flavor, but it will still work if you don’t have any on hand and need to leave it out. Spread filling on top of prepared crust. Place on the middle rack (above the rack with the water pan). Bake 30 minutes (or 38 minutes if using an 8-inch pan), and do not open the oven at all during this time. Once time is up, still do not open the oven, but turn off the heat and let the cheesecake sit in the oven an additional 5 minutes. Then remove from the oven—it will still look underdone. Let cool on the counter 20 minutes, then refrigerate overnight, during which time it will firm up considerably. As I mention in the post, the cooling times are important so the cake cools gradually and thus does not crack. Store leftovers covered in the refrigerator 3-4 days, or slice and freeze if desired. If you make it, be sure to leave a review or rate it below!View Nutrition Facts
Video
Notes
More Keto Desserts
Keto Cake – Chocolate or Vanilla
I made this cheesecake for Thanksgiving today. I was determined to try to stay dedicated to my keto lifestyle. Everybody loved it! They did not know that it didn’t have sugar until I told them so. I made it with Philadelphia cream cheese and swerve sweetener. I used Fage yogurt and organic vanilla. I made the crust out of almond flour and coconut oil as suggested. I did bake it a little longer than suggested because it did not seem done to me. It turned out perfect!
Thank you so much for making it… I love your photo! 🙂
My wife is on keto so I made this for dessert. It was excellent. I used your crust recipe except I substituted melted unsalted butter in place of the coconut oil.
I could not find coconutmilk yogurt so trying to use coconuy cream. How much coconut cream do I use instead of the yogurt?
& do I have to dilute the cream in water first? If so, how much?
Thank you.
Hello
You say if you make this crust less, it comes to 2g of carb per slice. But the recipe calls for 2/3rds if a cup (100g) of sweetener, xylitol is around 96g of carb per 100g …
So how can you put in 96g of carbs just with the sweetener, let alone the other ingredients and somehow end up at only 2g per slice ?
I want to make this for someone diabetic but the math doesn’t add up …
Hi, I’d ask the friend if erythritol is ok for them to have. I know that’s a popular sweetener with diabetics and those on a keto diet.
Jason
Can I add Lemon zest to make it more lemony?
Yes definitely!
I’m trying your recipe for the first time, but I’m going to incorporate some blueberries into the batter before baking. BTW, yes I KNOW that I should try the original recipe unchanged first, but I can’t resist. I’ll let you know how it turns out.
Changed my mind and decided to go with homemade Keto Blueberry Sauce. Yummm!!!!
Hi! I have a different question… Is there anyway I can substitute heavy cream for the yogurt? I see it’s an ingredient in some other keto cheesecake’s…
Yup that works!
I was also wondering… Is it possible to substitute sour cream instead of the yogurt? My previous question was substituting heavy cream, but sour cream is more to texture. Would that work? Thank you so much
That should be fine too. Be sure to report back if you make it!
Fantastic! I even convinced a diabetic friend to try it, and holy moleey, she liked it every bit as much as me.
That looks SO good!
Do you need to soak the macadamias before using to make cream cheese? I saw she recommends soaking the cashews before hand but didn’t mention anything about macadamias .
Yes, same instructions apply 🙂
Please advise how the nutrition facts total 2ish net carbs. Regular cream cheese is 16 carbs per pack, 2 carbs each serving & there’s 8 servings. 3pks total 48 net carbs, the two cups of almond flour in the crust totals 16net carbs plus 2 more for the 1/4 cup in the filling. That’s a total of 66 net carbs before adding any yogurt, based on just 66 net carbs if cut into 12 slices I come up with 5.5 net carbs a slice. Please advise how you came up with your counts which is half this & includes yogurt carbs too ? Thanks
Crust is optional, you can opt to keep it crustless for fewer calories/carbs 🙂
Jason
I accidentally rated this recipe w 5 stars. 4 would be better. It’s great tasting for people on Keto, but it’s very pasty. my daughter said—Mom, this is just cream cheese! I wonder if this recipe would be better with an egg or two beated in?
Tasted about like cheesecake! I did the no bake version with crust. It didn’t specify if I melt the coconut oil for the filling or not, so I melted it anyways. The filling ended up having little tiny lumps in it that got less when microwaving the mixture for 15 seconds, but they were still there. I eventually gave up and went with it. For the crust I did as specified, I guess you dont have to prebake for nobake, but I let it chill in the fridge for it to harden before I put the filling in. I’ll find out tomorrow how the texture and crust are once it settles, but the filling tasted okay, like normal cheesecake but you can tell it was slightly off. Maybe some syrup instead of erythritol or a combo of both would have been better for me taste wise. Good recipe though! Had to improvise with a cake pan with foil lining to edges to give the sides the height I needed xD
Hi, I made the cake, incorporated few of suggestions from the reviews, not sue what good or bad. The crust was funny tasting. And too most, like most breadcrumbs. I used fine store bought almond flour . The 2 cups almond flour felt too much for the 8 in crust . I used clear coconut oil and pre baked for 10 min. I wonder if the clear coconut oil vs the regular one ( felt to ned 6 tablespoons) made the curst so moist and sticky to the pan/ crumbly.
The cheesecake part was somewhat heavy, i hoped to be more creamy, certainly very much set. I did add xantan gum (1/8 teaspoon) as per a reviewer suggestion. Also used Faye yogurt. Perhaps next time will try a more silky yogurt .
Happy for any feedback, thank you .
Hi, I think the xanthan gum would make it denser/thicker, so maybe try it without for a creamier result?
Jason
Could i try agave Syrup, honey or date syrup instead of erithrytol? And is it ok to use a hand blender/whisk to mix the main ingredients?
Yes for the first part. And technically you can use a hand blender, you just run the risk of more cracks since it’ll take longer to fully blend (and thus can add more air bubbles into the recipe), but that can easily be remedied if you either don’t care about cracks or want to top the cheesecake with a full layer of berries or whipped cream or something else 🙂
Jason
Second time I’ve tried it and it is fantastic! New to the Keto diet so I have been gathering recipes and this is at the top of my (heavily chocolate-biased) dessert recipes. Now a question. I’ve looked everywhere on this page and cannot find a place to enter my rating (5 starts all the way!).
Stars, not starts.
The stars are at the bottom, right under the keto cookie photo and the “don’t miss out” email icon, and right above the “popular right now.” (Katie’s site is also going through a redesign hopefully to debut in March to make the site much more user-friendly and fast to load.)
Made the 5 ingredient Keto Cheesecake recipe and it was a hit! I used truvia sugar (that’s what I had on hand) as well a graham cracker crust because I had one left over from the holidays (and always love a reason to use up stuff in my pantry;-)
I’ve posted some of the photos below! Enjoy and thank you !
Oops o hit the submit button too soon!
A few more to share!
Ooh that looks so good!!