This is the best keto cheesecake recipe! So rich and creamy, it will make you swoon at the first bite. With only 3g of carbs per slice, you can dig in with gusto!
Let’s just get this straight right now. Keto cheesecake is possibly as close to heaven as you will get on this earth. Or at least as close to heaven as you will get on a ketogenic diet.
I really do have a passion for making cheesecake and I am grateful that it’s so easy to make without sugar. When I first embarked on a low carb diet, cheesecake was among the first keto dessert recipes I made. And it was so good, I kept dreaming up all sorts of different flavors. Now I’ve got everything from Keto Strawberry Cheesecake to Mini “Snickers” Cheesecakes.
So you might say that it’s one of the things that keeps me happily sticking to my healthy diet. As long as I know that there is keto cheesecake in the world, I can handle anything.
Why you must try this recipe
This keto cheesecake recipe is made in the New York style. You may well be wondering how that differs from classic cheesecake, and I’ve got one word for you: texture.
New York cheesecake is more dense and creamy than the regular kind. It’s so smooth and rich, it’s like velvet on your tongue. And it has a very simple flavor profile, without too many additions. Most people top it with a simple berry sauce.
It often includes sour cream or heavy cream, and sometimes even a little butter to give it a unique velvety texture.
The end result is so rich and delicious, it doesn’t even need a crust! That keeps it simple and even lower in carbs. So you can eat more of it!
Reader Testimonials
“I’ve been making this cheesecake for over a year now and it comes out great every time. Thanks for such a great and easy recipe. It’s so nice to have a treat and not feel guilty about it.” — Annette
“This is absolutely THE BEST cheesecake I have ever made or tasted. Nothing else nowadays comes close to these macros while being *more* delicious than the sugar-laden cheesecakes out there. My non keto inlaws loved it and didn’t know it was sugar free.” — Angela
Ingredients you need
- Full fat cream cheese: Read the labels and avoid brands with lots of fillers, which can raise the carb count. Good organic cream cheese such as Organic Valley has only 1g carbs per serving (1 oz), and the USDA listing for cream cheese indicates that it has 1.2g carbs per ounce.
- Butter: This recipe uses unsalted butter.
- Powdered sweetener: I highly recommend using Swerve Confectioners for this cheesecake. I made this for a friend recently using an allulose based sweetener, and it took almost 24 hours to set properly in the fridge. So be mindful that any changes to the original recipe may affect the outcome.
- Sour cream: The addition of sour cream gives the filling a 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.
Step-by-step directions
1. 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.
2. In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese and butter for 1 to 2 minutes, until completely smooth. Then beat in the powdered sweetener until well combined.
3. Add the sour cream, lemon zest, and vanilla extract and beat until the batter is smooth. Scrape down the beaters and the sides of the bowl as needed.
4. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, until just barely combined. Pour the batter in the prepared baking pan and smooth the top. Tap the pan gently on the counter a few times to help release any air bubbles.
4. 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.
5. 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 oven, then carefully remove the springform pan from the water bath. Let cool to room temperature.
6. 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.
Expert tips
Bain marie: 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.
Room temperature ingredients are a must! If you add cold liquids or eggs to the cream cheese, it will clump badly. And once it becomes lumpy, it’s hard to rescue and smooth it out again.
Add the eggs last: This is one of the best pieces of advice I can give for making ANY cheesecake, keto or not. It helps you avoid over-beating the cheesecake mixture, which can cause cracking.
Don’t over-beat: Overly vigorous 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.
Jiggle it, just a little bit. You know your cheesecake is done when it’s mostly set but the center still jiggles slightly when you shake 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.
Frequently Asked Questions
Most cheesecake recipes have a high sugar content and shouldn’t be consumed on a keto diet. However, with a few minor changes, you can make cheesecake that is very low in carbs. And as it has a high fat content, it’s an ideal keto dessert.
This keto cheesecake recipe has only 2.9g total carbs per serving. This does not include the easy berry sauce or any other toppings or additions.
Absolutely! This cake freezes like a dream. You can freeze the entire cake or cut it into individual slices and freeze those. As always, wrap it up tightly to avoid freezer burn. It will be good for at least 2 months.
There are a number of possibilities. It could be that you over-beat the mixture, so be careful there. It may also be that you didn’t cool it properly before chilling. Once it cools to room temperature, run a sharp knife just around the inside of the pan to loosen it before you release the pan sides. Otherwise the sides will pull the cheesecake apart and cause cracks.
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 Cheesecake Recipe
Ingredients
- 24 ounces (680.39 g) cream cheese, softened
- 5 tbsp (71 g) unsalted butter, softened
- 1 cup (182 g) powdered Swerve 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 300F 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 and butter 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.
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OMG
This recipe is amazing. The only change I made was that I used four 4″ springform pans (I don’t have a 9″), it filled them perfectly. With the smaller pans I used the 70 minute cooking time. There is a subtle aftertaste from the Swerve and the tops have a ‘skin’, but the texture is perfect. If you didn’t know this was “Keto” you would accept it as regular cheesecake (I am worried my kids will get into them). It doesn’t even need any topping,
Update… I have discovered that this makes a killer filling for low carb crepes (2 tbsp cream cheese, 2 eggs, tbsp coconut flour). Make the crepes and then fill with this cheesecake (it spreads like cream cheese). Top with strawberries for the best low carb breakfast or dessert ever!
I feel like I made a different recipe to everyone else. It basically turned into a greasy, thick, sweet omellete and was super gross. I did reduce the sweetener, because otherwise it would have been too sweet and I don’t really enjoy the taste of artificial sweetener. Maybe that was the problem. Anyway, I’ll stick with no-bake cheesecake for now!
Sorry to hear you didn’t like it. But what sweetener did you use because this isn’t made with any artificial sweeteners.
Could you use the granulated Swerve instead of powders form? It’s all I have!
Yes, it just may recrystallize a bit more as it sits.
Ok, no lie, I tried this and it’s amazing! I had a random off day off work during one of Atlanta’s “snow days@ recently. I went to my best friends’ house and made these with her and her mom. The aftertaste of the Stevia/Mungfruit *dp* was very noticeable at first, so we added more cream cheese to dilute it a little. The lemon zest helps a bunch too! And just to note, we added one egg at a time into our KitchenAid mixer. Great recipe!
hi, I only have liquid sweetner. Will this be ok?
Hi Ruth, it might be a little more dense (since bulk sweeteners help whip air bubbles into batters) but it will turn out pretty tasty.
Can you use xylitol if you don’t have swerve?
I don’t really use it but I think it should work.
I don’t understand what I did wrong. Cheesecake is creamy but tasteless. Used the 1 cup powdered swerve. Please help!
I honestly couldn’t say why it would be tasteless. Did you make some sauce to go with it?
Maybe you tasted it too soon after baking? We did that once. Not much flavor at that stage. Has to be chilled. Then it’s amazing!
Just in my 2nd week of Keto but wanted something sweet and found this recipe on the internet. I finally made it and I love it! The only things I did different was use a different sweetener( Whole Earth Stevia Leaf and Monk Fruit) because that’s what I had on hand and I made them in my cup cake pan.
Made the recipe in silicon muffin/bar pans (set on edged sheet trays with about an inch of water bath) knowing my husband and I wouldn’t (or shouldn’t?) eat an entire cheesecake. The recipe made 12 muffins and 8 bars. I reduced the cooking time to 45 minutes and flash froze them for about 30 minutes in the silicon pans on the sheet tray after pouring off the water bath to ease release. Kept some frozen for later and left the others in the fridge where they softened overnight to perfection. Weeks of cheesecake? Oh my!!
That’s fantastic! Great meal planning strategy.
What kind of voodoo is this?! This is the creamiest, most delicious cheesecake ever! My family didn’t even miss the crust which makes me the most grateful mama ever.
So happy to hear that!
Hi,
What cream cheese do you usually use?
Thank you!
I usually use the organic Whole Foods brand or Organic Valley.
I just made this wonderful, deliciousness of a cheesecake last night! So easy to make and it’s veey rich and creamy too.
Hands down, the best I’ve ever had. I can’t wait to try out more of your recipes.
Thank you!
Thanks, Michelle!
I am a sucker for a good New York Style Cheesecake! This looks absolutely wonderful!
This is an incredibly delicious recipe… better than Cheesecake Factory! First time using Swerve – it doesn’t leave any weird/cool aftertaste. Thank you!
What brand of cream cheese do you use? I’ve never done Keto before. I have a coworker who is doing keto and would like to make a cheesecake for her birthday but I’m not sure what kind of cream cheese to she can have.
Hi Angela… any full fat cream cheese (i.e. not the reduced kind or the Neufchatel kind) will do. It’s all pretty low carb. I prefer Organic Valley.
My coworkers absolutely love to this. Even those is us not doing keto. I have your books saved to my Amazon account payday I’m getting them
I will be the queen of deserts at work. ????
So glad to hear it, Angela!
What kind of cream cheese do you use?
Organic Valley most of the time.
Thank you. I can’t wait to make this for my co-workers birthday
Can you make this WITH a crust? If so, how would that affect baking time?
Sure, check any of my cheesecake recipes for crust ideas. With a crust, you want to pre-bake it for 15 minutes or so first. Then you add the cheesecake and bake for the instructed amount of time.
Thanks!