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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I’ve been using this cheesecake recipe for two years now. My whole family requests it for birthdays or any kind of celebration. I omit the lemon juice and instead, I use food grade lemon essential oil. I’ve found that cutting down on the sugar tastes the best, around 1 cup. I’ve also mixed in a raspberry sauce swirl a couple times and once made a biscoff cookie crust replacing the graham crackers with biscoff cookies and adding biscoff cookie butter swirl. This recipe is to die for on its own and a great base to add some different flavors! Thanks plain chicken for the awesome recipe!
Made this recipe for my Birthday and it was amazing! I just forgot to press the crumbs up the side of the pan…ooops will do that next time. So my cheesecake had a thick bottom crust and sat high in the pan. I added 3/4 cup of of thawed frozen mango chunks and put them in with the other ingredients. WOW this was amazing and so much better than store bought desserts that cost so much more. Served with some fresh whipped cream 🙂
Can the lemon juice be substituted or omitted? Can sour cream be used instead? If so, how much?
Looking forward to making this!
I have only made the recipe as written, so I can not say. As always, please use your best judgment regarding substitutions and modifications.
I have never added the lemon juice and people rave about this cheesecake when I make it.
Can you add flavours into the mix it like mango sauce or will that wreck the consistency?
I’ve never added any liquids to the cheesecake, so I can not say.
Best recipe ever!!! How long will this cheesecake last in the freezer? My guests just postponed til next weekend. Will the cheesecake last til then?
Aboslutely!
This is the best recipe and a family favorite. Everyone asks that I make this for holiday’s, birthday’s, Saturday’s. 🙂
Hi! I have made this cheesecake recipe for a long time and every time I make it, it cracks right down the middle. Is there anyway to prevent this?
Hi, I love this cheesecake but I use a vanilla wafer crust. Have you ever tried making them into a cookie bar form? I might try to do it that way because I need a dish for large crowd and they all love my cheesecake recipe I use from you?
Hi Steph….quick question. I have a gas oven with convention bake and regular bake. Which one should I use? And how do I remove it from the pan after it is frozen. I did line bottom of pan with parchment paper. Thanks.
I love this recipe!!! It is a fan favorite in the house and for my neighbors who have also been gifted a cheesecake. I actually made this recipe at first as is but put it in two circle cake pans (I think they are 9 inch) instead of a springform, cooked exactly as it says and it worked perfectly. Springform obviously also works fabulously but nice to have options!!
I have made the so may times in my electric oven and has turned out great. Just got a gas oven and the middle wasn’t set up.
Maybe you could try to get a thermometer to test your oven temperature. I got one at Menards, our local home improvement store, for less than $4.00. My new oven was 15° lower than the setting. I add the 15° when I bake and don’t have a problem. One of these days I’ll learn how to recalibrate the oven… When I get around to it 🙂
I have made this recipe many many times. I follow the directions to the letter & the cake comes out great every time.!it’s become a family favorite & feels elegant to serve to guests.
I made this recipe with my granddaughter this past week! It was delicious!!! We followed the recipe exactly as written. We put it in the freezer for 2.5 hours and then moved to the refrigerator and served as dessert for our dinner! This is a keeper!!!!
Hello, I’m about to make this and need to know if you put the Springfold pan inside of the water in the other pan? It doesn’t say. Thank you.
There is no water in this recipe.
CREAMY! I HAVE CUT MY SUGAR TO 1 AND 1/4 CUP AND I USED BROWN SUGAR FOR THE BASE. GREAT TURN OUT!🤩🤩🤩
How much should the cake jiggle when the 35 mins is up? Trying to get a feel for when it will be appropriate to let the hour begin as the first time the cake was a bit underdone in the center after setting in the oven and the second time it was over done on the edges. Depending on how much the cake jiggles when the 35minutes is up should help me determine when it will be set just right after the hour. Thanks!
Seriously, this recipe is SO good!! I made it for the holidays and used gingerbread cookies for the crust instead and also added a little gingerbread seasonings along with the lemon juice. My large family said it was the best cheesecake they’ve ever had!!
I have made A LOT of cheesecakes and this one is hands down the best! Huge hit for Christmas and an even bigger hit with the husband. If I could give it more than 5 stars I would!
SO glad it was a success!!