No Bake Strawberry Cheesecake
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A no-bake strawberry cheesecake earns its keep in the warm months, when running the oven for an hour feels like the wrong call. You get the creamy, fruity slice a cheesecake should give you, and the refrigerator does the setting.
After years of making chilled desserts, I’ve learned the set is decided by three things: full-fat cream cheese, cream whipped until it holds its shape, and a long enough chill. Get those right, and it slices clean without a spoonful of gelatin in sight.
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Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- No oven, which matters most in summer when you don’t want to heat the kitchen for a dessert.
- It’s a make-ahead by design. It needs a long chill anyway, so you build it the night before, and it’s ready when people arrive.
- The filling turns out light, almost like a mousse, because the cream is folded in rather than beaten flat.
- One 9-inch pan feeds ten, so it covers a potluck or a birthday table without a second dessert.
- Fresh or frozen strawberries both work, so you’re not tied to peak strawberry season to make it.
Ingredients You’ll Need
You’ll need all the ingredients in the photograph below.
- Cream cheese. Use the full-fat block kind, the Philadelphia-style brick, not the soft spread sold in a tub. It does the structural work here, and the low-fat and whipped tubs hold more water, which is the most common reason a no-bake filling never firms up.
- Heavy whipping cream. Whipped until it holds its shape, it carries the air that keeps the filling light and helps it set. Lighter creams won’t whip stiff enough, so buy the one labeled heavy or heavy whipping.
- Strawberries. Fresh or frozen both work for the puree, since it gets blended smooth either way. Frozen berries need thawing and draining before they go in. Stick to the amount the card lists, though. More fruit means more water, and more water means a softer set.
- Graham crackers. Crushed fine and bound with melted butter, they make the base. The finer the crumbs, the better the crust holds when you cut it, so a food processor beats a rough crush. If you’d rather make it ahead and store it for later, my easy graham cracker crust recipe covers it. Graham is the classic base, but crushed cookies work too, and this no-bake Oreo cheesecake is the all-cookie version using my homemade Oreo pie crust.
How to Make No Bake Strawberry Cheesecake
A complete printable recipe and the measurements in both US customary and metric are available in the recipe card below.
Make the crust
Crush the graham crackers to fine crumbs and stir in the melted butter until the mix looks like wet sand. Press it firmly and evenly into the base of a 9-inch springform pan, then chill it while you make the filling so it sets as a solid base.
Blend the strawberry puree
Wash and hull the strawberries, then blend them smooth with the sugar. That’s the whole step. This puree goes in raw, so there’s no cooking or reducing to do.
Whip the filling
Beat the cream cheese smooth first, then add the cream, sugar, and vanilla, and keep mixing until it thickens and holds peaks. Fold the strawberry puree through by hand until the color is even, keeping the mix airy rather than beating it back down.
Chill until firm
Spoon the filling over the chilled crust, smooth the top, and refrigerate. It needs a good long chill to set firm enough to slice cleanly, at least six hours, and overnight is better.
This is the step to be patient with, since cutting in before it has fully set is what leaves you with a soft, sliding slice.
Top and serve
Once it’s set, run a knife around the edge before you release the springform ring so the crust doesn’t tear. Finish with fresh strawberries and a spoonful of strawberry sauce over the top if you want more fruit on the plate.
SERIOUSLY GOOD
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Recipe Notes and Expert Tips
- Don’t rush the chill. Cutting into it before it’s fully set is the fastest way to a filling that won’t hold its shape, so give it the overnight rest if you can.
- Serve it straight from the fridge. It slices cleanest while it’s fully cold, and it softens the longer it sits out, so cut it just before you bring it to the table.
- Warm the knife between cuts. Dip your knife in hot water and wipe it before each slice. It’s the difference between tidy wedges and dragged, torn ones.
- Press the crust hard. A loosely pressed base crumbles when you lift a slice out. Push it down firmly and evenly, and take it a little way up the sides if you want cleaner edges.
Recipe Variations
- Trade the graham crust for crushed cookies. Golden Oreos, vanilla wafers, or plain digestive-style cookies hold up the same way, and I’ve tested it with a cookie crust plenty of times. For a spiced version, my no-bake Biscoff cheesecake uses a Lotus cookie base.
- A teaspoon of lemon zest folded into the puree sharpens the strawberry flavor. Zest adds no liquid, so the set holds, though it isn’t a change tested in this recipe.
- Make it mini. Press the crust and filling into a lined muffin tin or small jars for individual portions. Smaller portions firm up faster, so start checking them from around three hours. That timing isn’t tested here, so treat it as a starting point.
How to Store Leftovers
This is built to be made ahead. Because it needs the long chill anyway, putting it together the day before is the easiest way to serve it, and it holds in the fridge, covered, without losing its texture. The filling softens as it warms, so keep it chilled until serving and get leftovers back in the fridge without long spells at room temperature.
Sealed in an airtight container, leftover slices keep about four days in the fridge. Slip a piece of parchment between any stacked slices so they don’t stick. I haven’t tried freezing it; no-bake cheesecakes usually take to it, so it’s a reasonable make-ahead if you need one, but treat it as untested.
What to Serve With No Bake Strawberry Cheesecake
A slice of this doesn’t need much next to it. I’d set out a bowl of extra fresh strawberries and pour strong coffee or a pot of tea to balance the richness. For more fruit on the plate, spoon a little homemade strawberry topping over each slice. On a dessert table, it does better beside something light and fruity than beside a second rich, creamy dessert.
FAQs
Almost always one of three things: low-fat or spreadable cream cheese instead of the full-fat block, cream that wasn’t whipped stiff enough, or not enough time in the fridge. Full-fat cream cheese, cream whipped to firm peaks, and at least six hours chilling fix nearly every soft filling.
Yes. Thaw them fully and drain off the liquid before blending, since that extra water is what can leave the filling loose. Fresh and frozen taste the same once they’re blended into the puree.
A day ahead is ideal, since it needs the long chill anyway. It keeps in the fridge for up to four days after that, so you have room to make it well before you need it.
It isn’t tested here. If you want to try it, wrap the cheesecake tightly, freeze it whole or in slices, and thaw it in the fridge before serving. No-bake cheesecakes generally hold up in the freezer better than you’d expect from a cream cheese filling.
This one stays no-bake. If you’d rather have the dense, oven-baked kind, my baked strawberry cheesecake recipe is the version to use.
More Strawberry Dessert Recipes to Try
If you’ve got strawberries to use up, here’s where I’d send you next.
- Strawberry Shortcake. For when you want something to assemble fresh and eat the same afternoon, with no long chill to wait through.
- Strawberry Cookies. The ones I make when I want the flavor in something I can hand round without plates and forks.
- Strawberry Bread. A good home for berries that have gone a little too soft to sit pretty on top of a cheesecake.
- Strawberry Dump Cake. The least fussy of the lot for a weeknight, when you want warm fruit and cake with almost no work.
Ingredients
For the crust:
- 3 ½ cups Graham crackers
- ⅔ cups unsalted butter melted
For the strawberry puree:
- 1 pound strawberries fresh or frozen
- 2 tablespoons sugar
For the cheesecake filling:
- 2 ½ cups cream cheese room temperature
- ½ cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
For garnish
- fresh strawberries
Video
Instructions
- Start by preparing the crust. Crush graham crackers into fine crumbs using a food processor, then mix them with melted butter. Press the mixture firmly into the base of a 9-inch springform pan to create an even crust. Place the pan in the fridge to chill while you work on the filling.3 ½ cups Graham crackers, ⅔ cups unsalted butter
- Next, make the strawberry purée. Wash and hull the strawberries, then blend them with a bit of sugar until smooth and set aside.1 pound strawberries, 2 tablespoons sugar
- For the cheesecake filling, beat the cream cheese in a large bowl until it’s smooth and fluffy. Slowly add in the heavy cream, sugar, and vanilla extract, continuing to mix until everything is well incorporated. Pour in the strawberry purée and gently fold it into the cream cheese mixture until fully combined and evenly colored.2 ½ cups cream cheese, ½ cup sugar, 1 cup heavy whipping cream, 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- Spoon the filling over the chilled crust and smooth out the top. Place the cheesecake in the refrigerator and let it set for at least 4 to 6 hours, or overnight for best results.
- Once the cheesecake is firm, top it with fresh strawberries or an extra drizzle of strawberry sauce. Carefully remove the ring from the springform pan and slice to serve.
Notes
Nutrition
