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This keto cheesecake recipe is smooth, rich, creamy, and made with just 6 ingredients! I love that this dessert takes less than an hour all up.
Love keto desserts? Try my keto brownies, keto chocolate mousse, keto peanut butter cookies, and keto ice cream.
It may surprise you, but cheesecakes are one of the easiest desserts to “keto-fy”. A classic cheesecake uses many keto-friendly ingredients, like eggs, cream cheese, and/or heavy cream. With just a few minor tweaks, my keto cheesecake recipe looks and tastes like the real thing!
Table of Contents
Why I love this recipe
- It needs just 6 ingredients total, and that is including the crust.
- It’s made using simple and affordable ingredients. No hard-to-find flours, sweeteners, or additions are needed!
- The cheesecake is so smooth, rich, and creamy that even those who don’t follow a keto diet will be obsessed.
- It takes less than an hour to bake, which is nothing compared to other cheesecakes out there.
Ingredients needed
Crust
- Keto cookies- While for most keto pies and cheesecake recipes we use a keto graham cracker crust, we found this cheesecake worked better using crushed peanut butter cookies. If you have a peanut allergy, this works just as well with crushed almond butter cookies.
- Butter- unsalted butter measured in its melted state.
Filling
- Cream cheese- Softened and at room temperature. Also, try to use cream cheese that comes from a block instead of a tub. It contains very few additives (if any) and yields a much creamier dessert.
- Sour cream- Like the cream cheese, your sour cream should be at room temperature.
- Superfine sugar substitute- Also known as caster sugar. Superfine sugar has the consistency between standard sugar and powdered sugar, and you can easily make it yourself. Simply blend allulose until it has a finer texture.
- Eggs- Room temperature.
- Vanilla extract- A classic vanilla cheesecake should ALWAYS have a hint of vanilla.
How to make a keto cheesecake
I’ve included step-by-step photos below to make this recipe easy to follow at home. For the full printable recipe instructions and ingredient quantities, scroll to the recipe card at the bottom of this post.
Step 1- Make the crust. Add your cookies to a food processor and break them down until a fine consistency remains. Place the crushed cookies into a bowl and mix through the melted butter. Transfer the mixture to a 9-inch spring-form cake pan and refrigerate it.
Step 2- Make the cheesecake filling. Add the cream cheese, sour cream, and sugar substitute into a high-speed blender and pulse until smooth. Add the eggs and vanilla, and blend once more until combined.
Step 3- Bake for 50-55 minutes, or until the cheesecake has set in the middle. Let the cheesecake cool completely before refrigerating it for at least four hours to firm up beautifully.
What to serve with this dessert?
Take your cheesecake up a notch by serving it with some keto ice cream, keto whipped cream, a drizzle of sugar free chocolate syrup or a light dusting of keto powdered sugar.
Arman’s recipe tips
- Avoid overbaking the cheesecake, as it continues to cook as it cools. Once it is mostly set in the middle, you can be confident it will be fully cooked once it has cooled.
- Cooling your cheesecake in the still-warm oven helps it firm up even better than when left at room temperature. Be sure to keep the oven door slightly ajar. Otherwise, you will be left with a dense dessert!
- Do not refrigerate the cheesecake until it has cooled completely. This will avoid any potential cracks on the top.
Storage instructions
To store: Low carb cheesecake should always be stored in the refrigerator, covered. It will keep well for at least one week.
To freeze: Place leftover slices of the cheesecake in a shallow container and store them in the freezer for up to 6 months. Be sure to thaw it completely before enjoying it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Full-fat cream cheeses, including the Philadelphia brand, are all suitable for a low-carb diet. They are high in fat and protein, with very few carbs. Avoid using reduced-fat or fat-free cream cheese, as the fat is replaced with extra carbs.
Monk fruit sweetener and allulose are fantastic keto sweeteners that can replace sugar in cheesecakes. If you are making a flavored cheesecake, using a brown sugar substitute intensifies the flavor.
Each slice of cheesecake in this recipe has just 3 grams of net carbs.
If you make this cheesecake without the cookie crust, there are just 1.5 grams of net carbs per slice.
More easy keto dessert recipes
Keto Cheesecake
Video
Ingredients
For the crust
- 2 1/2 cups keto cookie crumbs * See notes
- 5/8 cup butter melted
For the cheesecake filling
- 2 cups cream cheese softened and room temperature
- 1 1/4 cups sour cream room temperature
- 3 large eggs room temperature
- 3/4 cup superfine sugar substitute I used erythritol ** See notes
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 160C/325F. Line a 9-inch springform pan with parchment paper or tin foil and set aside.
- In a high speed blender, add your keto peanut butter cookies and blend until a fine consistency. Measure out 2 1/2 cups and place it into a mixing bowl. Add the melted butter and mix together until combined.
- Transfer the cookie crust into the lined springform pan and use the back of a spoon to spread around the edges. Refrigerate the crust while you prepare the filling.
- In a high speed blender or food processor, add the cream cheese, sour cream, and superfine sugar substitute and blend until combined. Add the eggs, then the vanilla extract, and blend once more until fully incorporated.
- Remove the pie crust from the refrigerator and add the cheesecake filling to it. Place the cheesecake in the oven and bake for 50-55 minutes, or until the middle is mostly set.
- Turn off the oven and open the oven door slightly. Allow the cheesecake to cool in it completely, before refrigerating for at least four hours, to firm up.
Notes
Nutrition
Originally published September 2021, updated and republished April 2024.
Great! I used a quarter cup of stevia as my sugar. Amazing!
This was amazing!!!!
I’m in Junior High and wanted to make a recipe my parents could eat but me and my sister could also enjoy. I really love cheesecake so I kinda googled a recipe and this one had a good rating. I made the cheesecake, there was some trial and error in the crust but eventually it came out and it was pretty good! Think it might be over baked though since the texture’s weird, or maybe it’s because I accidentally use granulated (fake) sugar instead of superfine (also fake) sugar? All and all a good recipe though.
(Put a compote and fresh strawberries on top, definitely good with the fruit!)
I eat about 95% clean (I indulge in one or two cheat meals on the weekends) and I’ve wanted to make cheesecake but most recipes call for things that I don’t have on hand and I’m not used to cooking/baking with. I was so excited to find this simple clean cheesecake recipe! I made it today and I added two fresh mangos from my tree to the mixture and I used maple sugar (maple syrup turned into a granulated form) as the sweeter. For the crust I combined coconut oil, maple sugar, almond flour and unsweetened coconut flakes and it turned out great. This cheesecake was AMAZING! My whole family loved it. Even my very picky son who doesn’t eat clean. Thank you for sharing this!!
Can I make the crust with store bought keto cookies?
Yes!
Lovely with caramel coffee essence instead of vanilla. Also used Half Greek yogurt and 1/2 thickened cream instead of sour cream.
I tried this recipe and it is sooooo good. I garnished with fresh strawberries and keto whipped cream. It takes so much like the real deal but only 3 net carbs!!!
Hi Arman. Thank you for the recipe <3
I’d like to incorporate some sugar free pudding mix into this. How should I go about doing that?
*I’ll be sure to rate it after I make it 🙂
I’m not sure- haven’t tried! Feel free to experiment nd see
I don’t understand how you say it is sugar-free when you use caster sugar. Caster sugar is sugar. Am I missing something?
Where does it say it uses caster sugar?
This recipe was so delicious and easy to follow. Slice it into wedges wrapped with paper and put in the freezer and I take one portion out for my dinner snack.
Can I use Monkfruit sweetener?
looks great we will try
Mr. Big Man Can I make mini cheesecake bombs with this recipe? I’m going to try it this weekend! Thanks so much I will try all your keto recipes Let you know how I made out
Really wanting to try this as an alternative for Christmas, wife is not convinced. If I were to half the recipe, do you believe it would approximately fit in one of the smaller springform pans? Would like to make a test run to prove it out to her.
You could try and see 🙂
Hello! I appreciate this website and your recipes so much!
I’d like to make this cheesecake with the keto graham cracker crust, and need to make sure I purchase enough of the ingredients. Do you know approximately how many cups of cookie crumbs one batch of your keto shortbread cookies yield?
Thanks!
This recipe is really, really tasty. I used your keto brownie recipe for the base and it works an absolute treat!