Sweet, creamy, and low in carbs, this New York-style Keto Cheesecake will delight your senses. It has all the rich flavor of the classic, without the sugar. And only 3g carbs per serving!
Keto New York Cheesecake is possibly as close to heaven as you will get on this earth. Bold statement, I know, but it’s how I feel every time I take a bite of this luscious dessert.
When I embarked on a low carb diet, it was among the first dessert recipes I attempted to make over. And it was so good, I kept experimenting with all sorts of different flavors. Now I’ve got everything from rich keto chocolate cheesecake to individual keto cinnamon roll cheesecakes. But this simple New York style recipe remains among my favorites.
You may well be wondering how New York cheesecake that differs from other recipes, and I’ve got one word for you: texture. It is more dense and creamy than the regular kind. So smooth and rich, it’s like velvet on your tongue. And it has a very simple, clean flavor profile, without too many additions. Many people top it with a simple berry sauce.
★★★★★
Elizabeth says: “Carolyn thank you so much for this amazing recipe! It has become my husband’s absolute favorite dessert. He requests is every holiday! I’ve made it so many times I have it memorized now. Even the non-low-carb eaters in our family love it!“
Ingredient Notes
- Cream cheese: I recommend full-fat cream cheese for the best consistency.
- Powdered sweetener: You can use any sweetener you like best for this recipe, with some caveats. For more information, please read the Sweetener Options section.
- Sour cream: The addition of sour cream gives the cheesecake an ultra-rich, velvety texture.
- Lemon zest: The lemon zest adds flavor but it’s not required for texture. Feel free to leave it out, or add lime zest or orange zest instead.
- Vanilla extract: Feel free to play with the flavors and use other extracts, such as almond.
- Eggs: Always use large eggs, and make sure they are room temperature.
How to Make New York Keto Cheesecake
- Prepare the pan: Generously grease a 9-inch springform pan and line the bottom with parchment paper. Wrap 2 pieces of aluminum foil around the outside of the pan to cover the bottom and most of the way up the sides.
- Beat the cream cheese: Beat the cream cheese on its own for 1 to 2 minutes until super smooth, then beat in the sweetener. Add the sour cream, lemon zest, and vanilla. Be sure to scrape down the beaters and sides of the bowl as needed.
- Add the eggs: Add each egg separately and beat in until just barely combined.
- Transfer to the pan: Pour the batter into the pan and set the whole pan inside a large roasting pan. Carefully pour boiling water into the roasting pan until it reaches halfway up the sides of the springform pan
- Bake: Bake the cheesecake for 70 to 90 minutes, until mostly set but still jiggles just a little in the center when shaken.
- Chill: Loosen the pan sides and let cool to room temperature. Then refrigerate at least 4 hours before serving.
Carolyn’s Tips for Success
Using a water bath, or a bain marie, creates a gentle heat the cooks the cheesecake slowly. This is a vital part of creating a rich, creamy texture. Make sure you wrap the pan tightly in foil so that water doesn’t leak in during cooking.
Add the eggs last! This goes for ANY cheesecake, keto or not. It helps you avoid over-beating the cheesecake mixture, which can cause cracking. Over-mixing whips air into cheesecake batter, causing it to rise and puff up, and then fall and crack as it cools. Beat each egg in until just combined and stop right there.
You know your cheesecake is done when it’s mostly set but the center still jiggles slightly when you shake the pan. Shake gently so that you don’t get any water into the pan.
Want to add a crust? If you really want a crust for your keto cheesecake, you can use the shortbread crust from Keto Lemon Cheesecake Bars. Press it into the pan, and pre-bake as directed in that recipe.
Sweetener Options
As previously noted, you can use your favorite sweetener in this recipe. However, I want you to be aware that it may affect the outcome to some degree. I have made this recipe with erythritol, with allulose, and with a mix of the two.
Allulose tends to make the cheesecake very soft, even after chilling. And the more allulose you use, the softer it is. It takes at least 24 hours to firm up properly and if it sits out too long, it can soften up again. As long as you are aware of these issues, feel free to use what you like.
Frequently Asked Questions
Serving Suggestions
This wonderful keto cheesecake is a blank slate. You can eat it simply as it is or you can add some delicious toppings. I’ve included a simple sugar-free berry sauce in the recipe notes. But you might also like these other delicious ideas:
Keto New York Cheesecake Recipe
Ingredients
- 24 ounces (680.39 g) cream cheese, softened
- 3/4 cup (142.5 g) powdered sweetener
- 3/4 cup (172.5 g) sour cream, room temperature
- 2 tsp grated lemon zest
- 1 1/2 tsp (1.5 tsp) vanilla extract
- 3 large eggs, room temperature
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 300ºF and generously grease a 9-inch springform pan. Cut a circle of parchment to fit the bottom the pan and grease the paper. Wrap 2 pieces of aluminum foil around the outside of the pan to cover the bottom and most of the way up the sides.
- In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese for 1 to 2 minutes, until completely smooth. Then beat in the sweetener until well combined.
- Add the sour cream, lemon zest, and vanilla extract and beat until smooth. Scrape down the beaters and the sides of the bowl as needed.
- Add the eggs, once at a time, beating each until just barely combined. Pour into the prepared springform pan and smooth the top.
- Set the pan inside a roasting pan large enough to prevent the sides from touching. Place the roasting pan in the oven and carefully pour boiling water into the roasting pan until it reaches halfway up the sides of the springform pan.
- Bake 70 to 90 minutes, until the cheesecake is mostly set but still jiggles just a little in the center when shaken. Remove the roasting pan from the one, then carefully remove the springform pan from the water bath. Let cool to room temperature.
- Run a sharp knife around the edges of the cake to loosen, the release the sides of the pan. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours before serving.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional Disclaimer
Please note that I am not a medical or nutritional professional. I am simply recounting and sharing my own experiences on this blog. Nothing I express here should be taken as medical advice and you should consult with your doctor before starting any diet or exercise program. I provide nutritional information for my recipes simply as a courtesy to my readers. It is calculated using MacGourmet software and I remove erythritol from the final carb count and net carb count, as it does not affect my own blood glucose levels. I do my best to be as accurate as possible but you should independently calculate nutritional information on your own before relying on them. I expressly disclaim any and all liability of any kind with respect to any act or omission wholly or in part in reliance on anything contained in this website.
Free Bonus: Secrets to Keto Baking!
Sign up for your favorite recipes delivered straight to your inbox plus get our FREE bonus: Secrets to Keto Baking!
I am just wondering if I made these into bite size cups can they be frozen?
I am sure they can but I can’t guide you as to baking time because I haven’t made it that way.
I made this cheesecake yesterday. It came out beautifully! I did not have powdered Swerve so I put my granular Swerve in the food processor. The cheesecake was yummy and I made the berry sauce to go with it. I was curious about the nutritional values as the recipe only shows how much fat, total carbs, and protein. No fiber, no sugar, no sugar alcohols. How I I find out how many net carbs a slice is then?
There is no fiber in a cheesecake like this. And as I state in my nutritional disclaimer, I don’t count erythritol toward carbs since our bodies don’t treat it as a carb. So what you see there is the total carb count.
Can I make this using granulated Swerve? Would it make a difference on the cheesecake as opposed to powdered?
It just may turn out a bit grittier although I think it should be okay.
It’s a delicious cheesecake, however I think next time I will leave out the lemon zest.
Why don’t you list the nutritional information on this recipe? How many regular calories, fat, carbs, protein?
What are you seeing? Because ALL of the nutritional information is right at the bottom of the recipe.
I’m looking forward to trying this! Question: I substitute Greek yogurt in place of sour cream when I can because I personally don’t notice much difference in taste, and yogurt is so healthy. Do you think a Greek yogurt substitution would work in this recipe as well?
I really can’t say for sure but as long as it’s thick, it will probably work.
Hi!
I want to make this cheesecake today! But I don’t have sour cream, can I substitute it with yogurt?
I think so as long as it’s good thick Greek yogurt. Otherwise you’re better off waiting.
I’d like to try this as mini cheesecakes baked in a silicon mold. How long would I bake it for in 12 cup muffin mold?
No idea since I didn’t bake it that way.
I forgot to buy a lemon! Will orange zest work?
Absolutely!
Really excited to try this recipe however, I’m confused about the carbs per serving. There are 3 grams of carbs per tsp of the swerve sweetener, 48 tsp in a cup, which means the entire cheesecake has 144 grams of carbs. If there are only 12 servings then there would be 12 grams of carbs per slice, no?
Nope. Because while Swerve has “carbs”, they have zero impact on blood glucose and shouldn’t be counted. I test this on myself every day. 🙂
Oooh that’s amazing, I had no idea (new to Keto over here)!
Success! Your recipe is superb! I will definitely make this again, and again! My husband and I are so loving this heavenly and guilt-free keto cheesecake! Even with my sour cream being a third cup short (did not have enough), the outcome was still phenomenal.
Thank you so much!
Oops! Dunno how I did that but I must have been looking at another recipe. I’ll be making this next month and will be back with the results. ????
Thank you Carolyn, this was a great cheesecake. I really like the addition of butter. We’re fans of dense cheesecake–in our house, the only time the words “cheesecake” and “fluffy” go together is if the word “not” is between them ????–and in so many years of cheesecake experimentation I never thought to add butter to help add body and solidity! Such a great idea. Pretty sure I’ll be making cheesecake like this from now on. I confess, I didn’t use a water bath. No matter how carefully I’ve wrapped the pan, I have never once used a water bath and produced a cheesecake that wasn’t waterlogged. So I put a pan of water on the lower oven rack. My cake cracked, but my husband and I didn’t care. And the berry sauce…I used strawberries. Best berry sauce ever! No thickener needed! Lovely, pure flavor and texture! Just excellent. Five stars well-earned.
Hi Carolyn!
Your New York Style Keto Cheesecake recipe looks AMAZING and I’m thinking about making it for Thanksgiving next month but I’m a little confused about the measurements for some of the ingredients. I know enough about baking to know that measurements for baked goods need to be exact (as, say, compared to cooking). I’m not an intuitive baker (or really a baker at all!) How would you suggest I accurately measure 4.17 tbsp (the butter) 0.83 cup (Swerve), 0.63 cup (sour cream), 1.67 tsp (grated lemon zest)?
I’m sorry, I am really confused about this too because those are not my measurements. Were you trying to scale it up or down for a different number of servings?
Scale, you can convert and measure that way.
I just took the cake out of oven, after 1: hour and 20 minutes; my top looks a little
Golden no white. Way do think that happen?
I have it cooling to roomtepture now
That’s perfectly okay. Some ovens brown things more than others. I think it will still be amazing.
I see total carbs of 2.9 but what is the net carb…..for keto
All you have to do is subtract the fiber. In this case, there isn’t much.
Can you please share the amount of carbs in the berry sauce?
Has anyone tried making this in the instapot yet? Thanks!
I made it in my instant pot, 25 minutes as in recipe booklet that came with my pot. It turned out beatiful, creamy and rich. 30 minutes may have been better and remember to wrap the top as Carolyn explains in her recipe for instant pot cheesecake.
Line the entire pan with parchment or grease and cost with coconut flour
Im really curious, why line the whole springform and the coat in coconut flour?
What a fabulous recipe! I served it to family and friends with the berry sauce, and they did not know that it was keto! Thank you so much!