Healthy Cheesecake

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5 from 1399 votes
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This healthy cheesecake is so smooth, rich, and creamy, you won’t believe it’s made with Greek yogurt! No sugar and no butter needed, it’s elegant and guilt free! Less than 100 calories per serving. 

healthy cheesecake

Healthy Cheesecake

When it comes to healthy desserts, my favorite recipes to make are a chocolate cake, flourless brownies, and this healthy cheesecake. 

Over the past year or so, I’ve kind of let things slip in the healthy eating department. Too much work and too little exercising, and I’ve found myself craving more and more sweets. The sad reality is, I work with desserts every day so I have an abundance of them on hand. 

Luckily, I’m not the kind of person who deprives themselves. I know I like something sweet after dinner, so I’m now opting to make smarter choices. Giving healthier makeovers to some of my favorite desserts has really helped me get back on track. While I typically enjoy something chocolate based, I’ve recently loved making a healthier version of my favorite cheesecake. 

I’ve been meaning to share a healthy cheesecake recipe for quite some time. It’s the perfect quick and easy dessert to make when I’m trying to be good but NEED something sweet. It uses healthy and wholesome ingredients but tastes incredible.

No sugar and no butter are needed, but you’d never tell. The texture is extra smooth and creamy, and incredibly rich. It’s sweet and with a subtle vanilla flavor, without being overpowering. 

My sister, who has the world’s biggest sweet tooth, came over for dessert and she could NOT believe this cheesecake was healthy- She thought it had to be full of fat and sugar!

How do you make a healthy cheesecake

The Ingredients

  • Cookie crust– A simple combination of homemade, crushed up sugar free cookies mixed with melted butter. 
  • Greek yogurt– Non fat or low fat Greek yogurt. Try to use a brand that is naturally thick, so it will give the cheesecake some extra stability.
  • Cream cheese– Not fat cream cheese, preferably from a block, not a spread. The latter often has added water or liquids in it, which can affect the overall texture and cooking time of the cheesecake. 
  • Eggs– Room temperature. 
  • Granulated sweetener of choice– Any granulated sweetener can be used. To keep the calories and carbs down, I opted to use erythritol. 
  • All purpose flour– Thickens the filling so it does not fall apart once it is out of the oven. 
  • Vanilla extract– Just a dash to give a light vanilla flavor throughout. 
  • Salt– Balances the other ingredients and brings out the sweetness. 

The Instructions

Start by preparing the crust by mixing the crushed up cookies with the melted butter. Transfer the mixture into a springform cake pan and refrigerate it while you prepare the filling. Next, add the cheesecake filling ingredients into a high speed blender and blend well, until smooth. Transfer into the cake pan and spread out until even on top.

Now, place the cheesecake into the oven and bake at 170C/325F for 45-50 minutes, or until it has set in the middle. Remove the cheesecake from the oven and let it cool to room temperature, before refrigerating it for at least 4 hours, to firm up. 

low calorie cheesecake

Tips to make the best low calorie cheesecake

  • If you’d like this to be a crustless cheesecake, omit the crust and bake it in a lined square pan for 35-40 minutes, or until the center is cooked.
  • Once the cheesecake is out of the oven, cover it completely, to avoid any cracking on top. 
  • I used homemade sugar free cookies for the crust, to cut the calories and sugar. You can use a pre-made crust or even a graham cracker crust if you prefer. 

Storing and freezing Greek yogurt cheesecake

  • To store: Cheesecake must always be stored in the refrigerator, covered. It will keep well for up to 2 weeks. 
  • To freeze: Place the cheesecake in a shallow container and store it in the freezer for up to 6 months. 
Greek yogurt cheesecake

More healthy dessert recipes to try

healthy cheesecake

Healthy Cheesecake

5 from 1399 votes
This healthy cheesecake is so smooth and creamy, you won't believe it is made with Greek yogurt! No sugar and low in calories, it's an impressive dessert!
Servings: 12 servings
Prep: 5 minutes
Cook: 40 minutes
Total: 45 minutes

Ingredients  

For the crust

For the filling

Instructions 

  • Preheat the oven to 170C/325F.
  • In a mixing bowl, add your crushed cookies, sweetener, and melted butter and whisk together until combined. Transfer into a greased 8-inch springform cake pan.
  • Add the cheesecake filling ingredients into a high speed blender and blend until smooth. Transfer onto the cheesecake crust.
  • Place the cheesecake in the oven and bake for 45-55 minutes, or until the middle is set.
  • Remove the cheesecake from the oven and let it cool completely, before refrigerating for at least 4 hours, to firm up.

Notes

TO STORE: Cheesecake must always be stored in the refrigerator, covered. It will keep well for up to 2 weeks. 
TO FREEZE: Place the cheesecake in a shallow container and store it in the freezer for up to 6 months.

Nutrition

Serving: 1servingCalories: 93kcalCarbohydrates: 9gProtein: 6gFat: 4gSodium: 166mgPotassium: 98mgFiber: 1gVitamin A: 155IUCalcium: 35mgIron: 1mgNET CARBS: 8g
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American
Author: Arman Liew
Tried this recipe?Give us a shout at @thebigmansworld or tag #thebigmansworld!

Arman Liew

I’m a two time cookbook author, photographer, and writer, and passionate about creating easy and healthier recipes. I believe you don’t need to be experienced in the kitchen to make good food using simple ingredients that most importantly, taste delicious.

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5 from 1399 votes (1,358 ratings without comment)

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Comments

  1. 5 stars
    It was great, I used Danon Light and Fit, 90 calories a serving and Philadelphia Less Fat cream cheese which did add a small amount of extra calories, I also used lemon zesty instead of vanilla flavor and I’m telling you it was delicious. As a weight watchers member this is a win win.

  2. 5 stars
    My family loves this! It feel like cheating, but it’s not. I use fage vanilla yogurt which adds richness and texture. This is always in rotation in our dessert menu

  3. 5 stars
    The first time I made this, I ran out of yogurt, so I blended up some cottage cheese and added that in. It worked perfectly.

  4. 5 stars
    Literally amazed at this recipe, it was so good. I melted dark chocolate on top. Making it again this weekend, and I’m going to try for lemon.

  5. 5 stars
    My husband and me loved your incredible recipe!!!!
    I used coconut oil instead of butter for the crust and whole wheat flour for the filling.
    I used 3 muffin trays to make 18 individual cheesecakes, baked them for 25 min. and froze them in a Ziploc bag. We have been enjoying them, once in a while for a month and we still have some more! We trayed them with different home made jams: strawberry, raspberry and guava and all were sooooo delicious!!!
    Thank you very much.

  6. 5 stars
    This question has been asked but not answered. How many cookies for the crust. Don’t say an entire batch because that could mean many different things depending on your cookie recipe. I would really like to try this recipe, but don’t have time to bake cookies so I was hoping to buy sugar free sugar cookies, but I need to know how many or how many grams.

    1. 5 stars
      I used one package of Murray sugar free shortbread cookies and that was enough for a 9”round springform pan

    2. 5 stars
      I’ve made this recipe twice using different cookie types, honestly just eyeball the crust. I had some cranberry orange cookies I found at Costco that I used and it took about two and a half sleeves for me to like the crust depth. The butter amount can be modified depending on if you’re okay with a more crumbly crust.

  7. 5 stars
    Yum!!!
    I was pleasantly surprised by this recipe. Made a few subtle changes.
    Used ginger snaps (12 from Dollar Tree bag full) and didn’t add more sweetener to the crust.
    Also added a splash of lime juice to the batter, maybe a teaspoon? Sweetener of choice was Splenda brown sugar, only used 1/2 cup.
    Made it in my instant pot (on trivet, 1 1/4 cups water, cover pan with foil, 32 minutes and natural release)
    Will top with fresh fruit, this recipe is a keeper 💗

  8. 5 stars
    I can’t eat yogurt what could I use instead? can I use cream? Would that work? And instead of flour, cornflour? Thanks! Really want to try this

  9. 5 stars
    Made this for Christmas, I ended up making it easier for myself and bought a pre-made 9″ crust. The batter ended up being too much to fit in the pan so I made muffins with the rest of them. Absolutely delicious!! Don’t even miss the real thing,although I did add real sugar but its still ridiculously low calorie( 217 cal a slice instead of close to 600 cal) so it’s a win for me!

  10. 5 stars
    The cheesecake is so unbelievably good. You think you used only cream cheese. It’s not overly sweet and the texture is perfect.

  11. Your sugar free cheese cake is the best I have ever tried. Low in calories too. I’ve tried using low sugar flavoured jelly crystals, what’s your advice on the ratios of cream cheese etc. it’s definitely a secience, lol. Have u ever tried Mr Kipling brownie bites, they are so delicious. Could you come up with a low sugar version that taste like those. Difficult I know, I’ve tried. When you read what they put into them it’s enough to kill anyone. Regards Sharyn Thompson

  12. 5 stars
    Most recipes call for 3-4 packages of cream cheese but this one was healthier. I made this so many times because it is an excellent cheesecake base. I made tiramisu, strawberry, chocolate, pumpkin, lime, and my favorite, lemon cheesecake with this recipe base. Gonna continue experimenting with this recipe.

    1. 5 stars
      Look at other pumpkin cheesecake recipes and combine it with this one. I just made a pumpkin cheesecake today and added 30oz of pumpkin pureè and added 1/3 more sugar. You will have extra filling so u can just bake em in a mold dish as small cheesecakes.

      1. How do you combine recipes? If you add pumpkin, do you have to adjust other things to make it more stable? Do you have to adjust cooking time?

  13. 5 stars
    Absolutely amazing and foolproof, ingredients can be easily substituted to your liking, I‘ve made it three times last summer and I‘m about to make it again because it‘s just so easy and tasty! Thankyou for this amazing recipe!

  14. 5 stars
    This is the 4th time I made this cheesecake. I love this recipe, especially that it is 93 calories per slice. I even made this recipe with my granddaughter Alyssa who is always watching calories.

  15. 5 stars
    A huge thanks for sharing this recipe. Absolutely, positively delicious! My standard now for cheesecake! a big thanks bigmansworld!

  16. 5 stars
    Delicious. I did modify just a bit (graham cracker crust). Couldn’t find FF cream cheese, so I settled for low fat. Very easy and tasty

  17. 5 stars
    You need to check your adverts, please. There’s was one that covered a lot of content in the Ingredient list.
    I’m loving seeing actual, for real, desserts for we diabetics!
    But those adverts. It takes a lot of effort to be able to see the recipe! Can this be fixed? Otherwise I won’t use your page~even though it looks lovely! (the parts I could see that is.)
    But that cheesecake looks definitely worth 5 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

    1. Thanks, Jen- we brought it up with our ad partners, we did not approve certain ads like that to show yet somehow they slipped in!

  18. 5 stars
    This is excellent and I thought I was at The Cheesecake factory it was so delicious. Wonder what it would be like to add cocoa and make it a chocolate cheesecake?

  19. Arman, this is such a spectacular looking cheesecake! I love that you made this with erythritol! My mom is diabetic and I am going to make this one for her – thanks for the recipe, glad I caught it on FB!

  20. 5 stars
    OH MY GOODNESS! It’s so good. I used Splenda’s Magic Baker Sweetener and there is almost no difference! The cookie crust is what really pulls it together so don’t skip it!

    I don’t have an 8 inch springform pan but I ended up with about 950g in filling. I had 3 4″ springform pans and each took about 200g filling. For the crust I used; It was 120g Graham Cracker crumbs, 56g Countrycrock Light Buttery Spread (melted), and 30g Sweetener (same as above). This gave me 3 good sized cheesecakes.

    I still had 350g filling left so I whipped up some more crust, 40g Graham Cracker Crumbs, 18g for the Buttery Spread, and 2 ½ tsp Sweetener. This allowed me to make 6 cupcake cheesecakes in paper liners.

    The versatility of this recipe is amazing and even though, I didn’t use the crust recipe provided, was def worth it!

    Tips: I have a sweet tooth so buying a sugar free strawberry glaze and cutting up some strawberries makes it so luxurious.

  21. Just found your site, Arman, and I can’t wait to try out so many of your recipes. My husband has to eat Gluten Free so I’m always trying to improve on old recipes. Could you please include “Sugar gms” with the nutritional info? I follow Weight Watchers program and to find out how many points, I need the sugar info. If this is possible, I would so appreciate it. Thanks for all of your ideas and recipes!
    Mary C

  22. So good! I used Greek yogurt I stead of sour cream and added lemon zest to both the crust and filling and lemon juice to the filling.

  23. 5 stars
    I made this recipe but my calculations for calories is more than what this recipe has. It is great though!

  24. 5 stars
    Ok so there in the oven now can’t wait until there done made them into large cupcake cups.I added a splash of lemon juice..I just put cookie mix on the bottom.I used unsalted butter

  25. Hi Armando, I made your cheesecake it was fantastic, everyone love it. I also made your sugar free muffins with ground gf oats, my daughter doesn’t like oatmeal but she couldn’t tell the difference and she said they were fantastic.Thank you!

    1. Not sure, I’ve only tried it as written. You could try increasing the ingredients and seeing what happens.

  26. Fantastic recipe! Have made 3 times & it came out flawlessly every time. Easy to prep – wonderful texture & flavor.

  27. Looks wonderful, in the oven now; what is on the top of the cheesecake? Appears to be a thin frosting and some shaped decor along the edge. Is there a recipe for that?

  28. Hi! I really want to import this recipe into my fitness pal, I’m not seeing how to do that… does anyone know of a way?! Thanks!

  29. 5 stars
    Great recipe which everyone seems to love! I have already baked it three times! I have also added blueberries to it and it came out fabulous! Perfect for the hot summer months. Well done Arman!

      1. 5 stars
        This question has been asked but not answered. How many cookies for the crust. Don’t say an entire batch because that could mean many different things depending on your cookie recipe. I would really like to try this recipe, but don’t have time to bake cookies so I was hoping to buy sugar free sugar cookies, but I need to know how many or how many grams.

  30. It was soooo good! Even had the fewest calories by far among the healthful cheesecake recipes I found.
    Thank you for sharing it!

    1. I don’t have an 8″ springform pan, what else can I use, or can I make cupcakes style cheesecake.
      ( I have 9″ springform)
      Thank you looking to make in next few days, I hope.