This small, 4-6 serving keto cheesecake recipe is everything you want in a classic cheesecake: a tall, rich, flavourful, and creamy traditional cheesecake ... just without the sugar. Super easy to make, too!
Originally published March 7, 2022, Updated on 2/5/2023.
As I mentioned on my “about me” page, this stint of going on a low-carb diet wasn’t exactly voluntary for me. Losing ⅓ of my pancreas to cancer quickly resulted in full blown diabetes. Woo!
I told my family doctor that I was aiming to not be diabetic in 1 year, and I beat that goal in just 3 months.
(Though if the A1c had dropped 0.1 further, I wouldn’t even be prediabetic anymore! I’m a little salty that I was SO close to really knocking it out of the park!)
The fact that I’d spent those 3 months basically eating “whatever I want, as long as I make it a low carb version has been key to my ability to stick to this.
That I’m 40 lbs down in 4 months, while eating everything on this site? Honestly kind of ridiculous.
Gotta love doing the keto diet dirty - and this delicious keto cheesecake is a great thing!
After all, the most important thing about sticking to a diet is being ABLE to stick to it!
Easy Keto Cheesecake
In the “before time”, cheesecake was a favorite dessert, though one I didn’t make too often. With only 2 of us, we definitely didn’t need a whole 9" cheesecake in the fridge!
Eventually, I bought a 6" springform pan, and re-tooled my best cheesecake recipe to be much smaller - just 4-6 servings.
Now that I’m on a ketogenic diet for the next year, I decided to take that great recipe and retool it again, this time to be suitable for a low carb diet.
This quickly became a favorite recipe: easy to make, great tasting, with a glorious creamy filling.
While there are many no bake cheesecake recipes, I wanted a keto option for a traditional baked cheesecake - and this low carb keto cheesecake recipe definitely filled that desire!
It tastes -and has the same mouth feel - as the real thing, just with a fraction of the carbs - 4 grams of net carbs when served in as ⅙ the recipe, and 6 grams net carbs when served as giant, ¼ cheesecake slices!
(The entire cheesecake has only 24 g net carbs - a wildly low carb count, especially when compared to regular cheesecake!)
Low-carb desserts don’t get much better than this!
Good news: It’s it’s a super easy keto cheesecake recipe to make, too! Let’s get to it ...
Sugar-Free Cheesecake Ingredients
This is a fairly basic recipe with mostly simple ingredients, but I do have some things to let you know about them!
Keto Cheesecake Crust
While many low-carb cheesecake recipes use an almond meal / almond flour crust in place of the traditional graham cracker crust.
For me, I prefer to use a different kind of nut based crust in place of the graham crackers.
Nothing against almond flour, it’s just that it’s very neutral, and I already use it for EVERYTHING. I like to have a bit more fun with the cheesecake, and will vary the nut flours I use.
As pictured in this post, I used a hazelnut flour crust, though I usually default to a pecan crust.
Pecan is a great keto option for crusts - I’ll even do pecan crusted chicken and fish!
Pistachio Flour: 7.7 grams total carbs, 2.9 grams fiber, 4.8 grams net carbs.
Almond Meal: 6 grams total carbs, 2 grams fiber, 4 net carbs.
Hazelnut Meal: 5 grams total carbs, 3 grams fiber, 2 net carbs.
Pecan Meal: 2.7 grams total carbs, 1.3 grams fiber, 1.4 grams net carbs
Walnut Meal: 3.1 grams total carbs, 2.1 grams fiber, 1 gram net carbs.
As you can see, almond flour isn’t even the lowest carb option!
Note: All of these flours / meals (same thing!) are great options for crusting chicken or fish with.
Also, FYI: Peanut flour and Macadamia Flour are more or less keto friendly, but have too much fat to make a good crust.
Additionally, Cashew Meal is available, but WAY higher in carbs.
Making Nut Meal
Don’t have access to a certain nut flour?
Just run some shelled nuts through a food processor until they’re finely ground into an even texture. Don’t go too far, or you’ll end up with nut butter.
Tasty, but not appropriate for making a cheesecake crust!
The Other Ingredients
In addition to the nut flour, you’ll need a granulated sweetener - I use a blend of erythritol and monkfruit - and butter. Just 3 ingredients!
Creamy Cheesecake Batter
The batter ingredients are a lot more basic. You’ll need:
2 blocks of cream cheese. You’ll want to use full fat cream cheese, as it’s lowest in carbs
Note: bring to room temperature before making the cheesecake. Room temperature ingredients blend the easiest and smoothest.
Granulated Sugar Substitute - Again, I like the blend of erythritol and monk fruit sweetener, I find it tastes and behaves the most like regular sugar.
I recommend running it through a mini food processor after measuring it, to powder it. This will give you the smoothest cheesecake!
Sour cream
Large eggs
Vanilla extract
Fresh lemon juice (You can add the lemon zest too, if you like!)
Equipment
Due to the size of the cheesecakes, I recommend mixing the batter up by hand.
Mixing by hand gives you the best finished cheesecake, as using a stand mixer or electric hand mixer risks introducing too many air bubbles into the batter - this can lead to cracking.
Also, it also means needing only the most basic of equipment for mixing it up: a bowl and a whisk.
That said, you’ll want a 6" springform pan for this recipe. Generally speaking, these pans come in 2" tall and 3" tall options.
This keto recipe works well in either - it will basically fill a 2" spring form pan, and leave some headspace in a 3".
I don’t like buying more kitchen stuff than I need, though, so I use a 3" tall, 6" Springform Pan. I can get the functionality of both, in just one piece of equipment!
How to Make The Best Keto Cheesecake
The full recipe is at the bottom of this post, in the recipe card. This is the pictorial overview - with added tips and information - to not clog up that card for those who want to print it!
Make the Crust
Preheat oven to 350F.
For best results, carefully wrap the outside of a 6" Springform pan with aluminum foil, making sure it’s completely sealed off.
In a small bowl, mix crust ingredients: Pecan flour, melted butter, and sugar substitute.
Dump the crust mixture into the bottom of the pan. Carefully distribute and press the mixture into the bottom and part way and up the sides of the pan.
Bake crust for 15 minutes. Remove the cheesecake pan from oven, turn oven temp down to 325 F.
Make the Cheesecake Batter
In a large mixing bowl, cream the softened cream cheese and sugar substitute together until smooth.
Note: This is an important thing - IF you’re going to use a electric mixture for this, it should only be for this step - and it’s highly unnecessary!
If your cream cheese is properly softened, I definitely recommend whisking it by hand, to avoid introducing too much air into the cheesecake filling. For the best texture, I skip the hand mixer completely, TBH.
For such a small amount of cream cheese, it’s not worth the risk to the finished cheesecake.
Add sour cream, eggs, vanilla extract and lemon juice to the large bowl, beat just until smooth. DO NOT overbeat!
Place prepared cheesecake in a larger pan - 8x8 or 9x13.
Carefully pour hot water into the larger pan, aiming for it to come halfway up the height of the springform pan.
This hot water bath is key to even cooking, and preventing cracking.
Bake keto cheesecake for 60 - 65 minutes, or until the center of the cheesecake is mostly set - it’ll wiggle a little if shaken, but shouldn’t be liquid.
Once the cake is fully cooked, remove from the oven, and remove the springform pan from the water bath.
Run a butter knife along the inside of the pan to loosen the crust from the pan, then let the cheesecake cool to room temperature.
Cover with plastic wrap and transfer cheesecake to fridge, chill for at least 6 hours - ideally overnight - before removing the outer ring of the pan.
To serve, slice with a sharp knife, top with your choice of keto cheesecake toppings.
Low Carb Cheesecake Toppings
While this is fantastic as a plain cheesecake, it really sings when you add ~stuff~ to the top of the cheesecake.
I’ll usually leave the cheesecake unadorned while in the fridge, and top the individual slices as they’re served. Here are a few ideas:
Fresh Fruit
The easiest option - just top it with fresh berries! Strawberries, blackberries, blueberries, and raspberries are all keto friendly in small amounts!
I’ll usually chop up a bit of fresh mint for good measure, and a bit of colour. Strawberry + mint on cheesecake? Heaven.
Add a little unsweetened whipped cream, if you like!
Berry Sauce
I’ll often whip up really easy berry sauces to serve with this cheesecake, and don’t even really measure anything.
This time around, it was raspberry... but they all basically work the same:
Put some berries in a small sauce pan - ½ pint works fine for this amount of cheesecake, but you can do 1 pint if you want a lot of sauce per serving.
If you’re doing raspberries or blackberries, just toss them in as-is and mash them about as they cook. Strawberries should be chopped up, blueberries could go either way.
If you’re starting with frozen fruit, just be sure it doesn’t have added sugar - strawberries are especially notorious for being sold with sugar added.
Add a bit of sugar-free sweetener of choice - more if you have a sweet tooth, sour berries, or both, a bit less if you have very sweet berries or don’t want a sweet sauce.
I just eyeball it at a couple tablespoons or so per ½ pint of berries, plus or minus from there. Add a bit of vanilla, a pinch of salt, and/or a bit of citrus zest if you like.
Simmer it until the berries are broken down and the sauce thickens a bit.
Spoon a bit over a slice of cheesecake and serve!
Note: If your sugar substitute crystallizes after chilling, just heat it up in the microwave and stir. The crystals will break down into a smooth sauce again.
Sugar Free Caramel Sauce
Whether store bought or homemade, this makes a great topping for sugar free cheesecake. It’s another thing I eyeball - a bit of brown Swerve, butter, and heavy cream / heavy whipping cream - some day I’ll do up an actual recipe for it.
Bonus points for doing this with a pecan crust, and/or using sugar free chocolate chips or sugar free chocolate sauce with it, for a keto turtle cheesecake!
Melted Peanut Butter
Stick some sugar free, keto friendly peanut butter in the microwave for a few seconds, until liquid.
Drizzle over cheesecake slices, optionally top with some sugar free chocolate.
More Low Carb Dessert Recipes
Looking to indulge your sweet tooth in a way that won’t spike your blood sugar? Here are some keto recipes to try!
Biscotti
Carrot Cake
Chocolate Chip Cookies
Chocolate Truffles
Cream Cheese Mints
Creme Brulee
Fudgy Brownies
Ladyfingers
Lemon Bars
Low Carb Holiday Desserts
Marbled Pumpkin Cheesecake Brownies
Protein Chocolate Cookies
Raspberry Coconut Bars
Raspberry Truffle Tart
Tiramisu
Traditional Chocolate Mousse
... but wait, there's more! We have a whole Low Carb Dessert Recipe section! Check it out!
Share the Love!
Before you chow down, be sure to take some pics of your handiwork! If you Instagram it, be sure to tag me - @LowCarbHoser - or post it to My Facebook Page - so I can cheer you on!
Also, be sure to subscribe to my free email newsletter, so you never miss out on any of my nonsense. Well, the published nonsense, anyway!
... and hey, if you love the recipe, please consider leaving a star rating and comment! (Sharing the post on social media is always appreciated, too!)
The Best Keto Cheesecake [6" Cheesecake]
Equipment
- 6" Springform pan
Ingredients
Crust
- 1 cup Pecan flour / meal
- 2 tablespoon butter melted
- 1 tablespoon Granulated Sugar Substitute
Cheesecake
- 1 lb Cream Cheese room temperature
- ⅔ cup Granulated Sugar Substitute
- 2 tablespoon Sour cream
- 2 eggs room temperature & lightly beaten
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon Lemon juice
Instructions
Crust
- Preheat oven to 350F.
- Carefully wrap the outside of a 6" Springform pan with aluminum foil, making sure it’s completely sealed off.
- In a small bowl, mix crust ingredients: Pecan flour, butter, and sugar substitute.
- Press into the bottom and up the sides of the springform pan.
- Bake crust for 15 minutes. Remove from oven, turn over temp down to 325 F.
Cheesecake
- Cream the cream cheese and sugar substitute together until smooth.
- Add sour cream, eggs, vanilla extract and lemon juice, beat just until smooth. DO NOT overbeat!
- Pour cheesecake batter into the prepared crust.
- Place prepared cheesecake in a larger pan - 8x8 or 9x13.
- Carefully pour hot water into the larger pan, aiming for it to come halfway up the height of the springform pan.
- Carefully transfer the whole thing to the 325 F oven.
- Bake for 65 minutes, or until the center is mostly set - it’ll wiggle a little if shaken, but shouldn’t be liquid.
- Once the cake is fully cooked, remove from the oven, and remove the springform pan from the water bath.
- Run a butter knife along the inside of the pan to loosen the crust from the pan, then allow to cool to room temperature.
- Transfer cheesecake to fridge, chill for at least 6 hours - ideally overnight.
Marilyn Moroni
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