The Best Homemade Cheesecake – get the secret for the lightest and fluffiest cheesecake ever! Graham cracker crust, cream cheese, sugar, eggs, vanilla, and lemon juice. Super easy to make and everyone raves about it! Once you taste it you will know why!
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Pin This RecipeHomemade Cheesecake with No Water Bath
I’ve been making this cheesecake for years. The recipe came from a parent when my Mom taught school. This is truly The Best Homemade Cheesecake recipe on the planet! Chicken Legs says this is the best dessert that I make. He said other desserts I’ve made are good, but this is the absolute best!
What makes this cheesecake so great? It has a super light and fluffy texture. How does it get that way? The egg yolks are beaten in with the cream cheese and then the whipped egg whites are folded into the batter. That makes all the difference.
How to Make The Best Homemade Cheesecake
This dessert is easy to make with only a few simple ingredients. In a bowl, combine graham cracker crumbs, sugar, and melted butter. Pour graham cracker mixture into a springform pan. Using a measuring cup or bottom of a glass, press the crumbs into the bottom and up the sides of the pan. Wrap the bottom of the pan with aluminum foil and set aside.
Place cream cheese in the bowl of an electric stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Beat on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add sugar and mix until combined. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add egg yolks, vanilla extract, and lemon juice. Mix well.
In a large bowl, beat egg whites with a hand mixer on high speed until stiff and creamy. Carefully fold the egg whites into the cheesecake batter. Pour batter into the crust. Bake cheesecake in a preheated oven for 30 minutes. Turn off the oven and keep the oven door closed. Leave the cheesecake in the oven for an hour. Remove the cheesecake from the oven and cool it on a wire rack. Cover the cheesecake with plastic wrap and freeze for several hours before serving.
Helpful Tips & Frequently Asked Questions
- For best results have your ingredients at room temperature before making the cheesecake.
- You can use any cookie crumbs for the crust.
- Chocolate cookies, biscoff cookies, or gingersnaps are all delicious.
- If you don’t have a stand mixer, you can use a hand mixer.
- Do I have to freeze the cheesecake? It is best to freeze the cheesecake, but you can refrigerate the cheesecake overnight before serving if you don’t want to freeze it.
- It is VERY IMPORTANT to thoroughly chill the cake before serving. If you do not freeze or refrigerate the cake it will be too soft.
- The cheesecake needs to chill to properly set up.
- Take the cheesecake out of the freezer 30 minutes to an hour before serving.
- You can thaw the cake on the countertop or overnight in the refrigerator.
- Run a knife around the edge of the springform pan to help release the cake and prevent cracks.
- The cheesecake will keep up to 3 months in the freezer wrapped in plastic wrap and aluminum foil.
- Store leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
How to Seve The Best Cheesecake Recipe
This classic cheesecake recipe is our absolute favorite dessert! My family and friends request this for cookouts, birthdays, and holidays. It tastes amazing! Top your slice with some fresh whipped cream, chocolate sauce, caramel sauce, or cherry pie filling. We usually just eat it plain. Either way, this is sure to become your favorite cheesecake recipe!
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The Best Homemade Cheesecake
Ingredients:
Crust
- 1½ cups graham cracker crumbs
- 5 Tbsp sugar
- ⅓ cup melted butter
Filling
- 3 (8-oz) packages cream cheese, softened
- 1½ cups sugar
- 4 eggs separated
- 1 Tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tsp vanilla
Instructions:
- Preheat oven to 325ºF.
Crust
- Combine all ingredients and press against sides and bottom of 9-inch springform pan. (I use a measuring cup to do this – works great!)
Filling
- In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat cream cheese until light and fluffy.
- Add sugar, 4 egg yolks, lemon juice and vanilla. Mix until well combined.
- In another bowl, beat 4 egg whites until stiff and creamy. Fold egg whites into cream cheese mixture. Pour into crust in the springform pan.
- Bake for 35 minutes. Turn off the oven and leave the cheesecake in the oven for another hour with the door closed.
- Remove the cake from the oven and cool. Wrap the pan with plastic wrap and aluminum foil and freeze for several hours, up to 3 months, before serving.
- Remove from freezer and remove from pan before allowing the cheesecake to thaw.
Notes:
- Do I have to freeze the cheesecake? It is best to freeze the cheesecake, but you can refrigerate the cheesecake overnight before serving if you don’t want to freeze it.
- It is VERY IMPORTANT to thoroughly chill the cake before serving. If you do not freeze or refrigerate the cake it will be too soft.
- The cheesecake needs to chill to properly set up.
- Take the cheesecake out of the freezer 30 minutes to an hour before serving.
- You can thaw the cake on the countertop or overnight in the refrigerator.
- Run a knife around the edge of the springform pan to help release the cake and prevent cracks.
- The cheesecake will keep up to 3 months in the freezer wrapped in plastic wrap and aluminum foil.
- For best results have your ingredients at room temperature before making the cheesecake.
- You can use any cookie crumbs for the crust.
- Chocolate cookies, biscoff cookies, or gingersnaps are all delicious.
- If you don’t have a stand mixer, you can use a hand mixer.
- Store leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
Steph
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Hello,
Today is my birthday, so I made this amazing recipe! Can you tell me about how long I should freeze it, before serving? Thank you!
Happy Birthday!!! Freeze the cheesecake for at least 3 or 4 hours to make sure it has cooled and has time to set.
Just made this for my sister's birthday and liked it very much, however it is MUCH lighter than the usual cheesecake so if heavier is what you are expecting, you will be disappointed!
Made this for Thanksgiving yesterday. It was my first time fixing cheesecake and followed the recipe exactly.. This has to be the best cheescake I have ever tried… My family absolutely loved it.. Thankyou so much ��
Did not mean to say yogurt or vanilla, sorry! Actually maybe add some cream cheese to firm up
I also agree with both comments above, I want to add baileys, but I also do not want to waste all the ingredients to just trial.
Not sure if I should cut down on yogurt, maybe the vanilla. This is by far the best recipe I have found and really want to try it.
I welcome advice from any baker out there!
I’ve used this recipe before and LOVED IT! Thank you so much for sharing it!
I do have a question though – have you tried this recipe with anything mixed in? I’d love to try swirling salted caramel throughout or something fruity. Do you think it would still have a good consistency?
Thanks in advance!
I haven't tried mixing anything into the batter. Sounds really good. I think it is worth a shot!
Personally, I think it would not bake the same. Seems anything added to it would probably make it sink in thy middle… That's my take on this. I've made this cheesecake three times… This is the ONLY recipe I have followed step by step and each time has been perfect. And NO leftovers ☺️ Maybe drizzle the caramel… For me, I would not want to waste money and the time this takes to make, in hopes that a little tweak may or may not turn out…
Just an update… it turned out great ???? I used probably 1/3 cup of salted caramel and swirled it on top after placing the filling in the pan. Baked exactly the same and it turned out perfect!
Thank you SO much for the update, Katy! I am definitely going to add salted caramel next time I make this – sounds delicious!
Hello.
This is my go to cheesecake. It's the best one out there… If you follow the directions as written. No sub this or that. It comes out perfect every single time. The one thing I do is add some extra crumble to the top before baking. YUMMY!!
My question is… Once it's thawed, can you refreeze any leftovers?
I think that would be fine.
Would it be a problem if i used oreo cookies for the crust?
I wouldn’t think so. Sounds delicious!
I LOVE LOVE LOVE this cheesecake recipe!!! Since Halloween, I’ve made this cheesecake THREE TIMES!! The first time, for a Halloween potluck, my coworkers knew they were all my test bunnies. And since I’ve made others over the years, they were all willing. I was doubtful, trying something new and all. I needed their honest so that I could fix whatever needed. Well, the cheesecake was brought to the dessert table at 11ish. It was gone.. GONE by 2:30!!! I even shared your recipe with two… THREE other coworkers. THIS is by far my favorite cheesecake. As for my third one, it’s for my Mom’s birthday on Christmas Eve. I wanted to be sure I had that ready for her for her special day. Thank you for sharing the BEST CHEESECAKE ever recipe.
This cheesecake is AMAZING! I absolutely love it and so does everyone who tries it – and they usually ask me for the recipe!
Question – mine cracks every, single, time after I get it out of the oven to cool before I put in the freezer. I am following the recipe to the T. Any suggestions on keeping it from cracking. This last time I beat the egg whites even more and it cracked a little less but still cracked. Thoughts?
I made this cheesecake a few months ago. I followed your recipe to the T, omg!!! It was the best cheesecake ever! I'm been thinking about it every since. I finally got all the ingredients to make it again . I'm soooo excited to make it again . Thanks for sharing this awesome recipe!!!
I made this, and my husband who doesn't like cheesecake said that he liked this one. The only thing I did different was pre-bake my crust so it wouldn't fall apart and added parchment paper to my pan. Mine did crack down the middle, so I wonder if it was because the crust was warm from pre-baking. I'll bake everything all at once next time. Thanks for the yummy recipe!
Hi, I've made this before and it's delicious. My family didn't want to wait and we dug in without freezing it. I want to try it again the right way and freeze it. Since it was a bit too soft the first time. My question is, do you freeze it in the springform pan? Any problems or tips from keeping it to stick?
I froze mine in the pan, when it thawed. I removed the sides . Perfect , just dip the knife in water to slice
Has anyone tried baking this in a convection oven and if so, at what temperature?
I removed it after letting it rest for the hour and it still feels very jiggly and not done from the center. Will the freezing period fix that?
Yes
could you bake 2 at a time or do you think it would just be best to stick with 1?
I’ve never made 2 at one time. You can try it. Maybe add 10 minutes to the cooking time.