This easy and creamy cheesecake is absolutely delicious! Make your own crust or use storebought. Cream cheese, eggs, sugar, sour cream make it the best!
HOW TO MAKE EASY AND CREAMY CHEESECAKE
This is one of the easiest cheesecakes you will ever make. Cross my heart. And forget about all those cheesecake recipes from the past where you had to leave the oven door open for 5 hours after baking for the cheesecake to set. This recipe has an easy baking method that takes all of the scariness out of making cheesecake
Y’all might remember from my last post, BEST EVER POTATO SALAD, that I got this cheesecake recipe from my husband’s Navy boss at the time, Chief Wilson. It was a recipe his Mom had given him so I was so grateful when he gave it to me. He made this cheesecake for every get together (he usually made two). They were famous in our little American military community in England. Everyone requested he make a couple of them when we had potlucks. And I loved it because it was more of a sweet cheesecake rather than tangy.
MAKE A HOMEMADE CRUST OR USE STORE-BOUGHT
I have changed it a bit over the years. I added sour cream to help give it a slightly smoother texture. Chief always made this cheesecake using premade graham cracker crusts. And most of the time, I do as well. Every now and then I’ll make the crust from scratch so I’m going to include that recipe in here also.
lemon juice (optional)
STEP-BY-STEP INSTRUCTIONS FOR EASY CHEESECAKE:
For the crust:
Originally published: February 2011
Updated and re-published: April 2019
Easy and Creamy Cheesecake
Ingredients
For the crust:
- 1-¼ cup graham cracker crumbs
- 3 tablespoons sugar
- 1/3 cup melted butter
For the filling:
- 2 (8 oz) blocks cream cheese, softened to room temperature
- 1 cup sugar
- 3 tbsp sour cream
- ½ tablespoon vanilla extract
- ½ tablespoon lemon juice, optional
- 2 eggs
Instructions
For the crust:
- Mix the graham cracker crumbs, sugar and melted butter and pack mixture firmly into bottom and sides of 9-inch pie pan.
- Chill in the refrigerator while preparing the filling.
For the filling:
- Preheat oven to 300f degrees.
- Mix cream cheese, sugar, sour cream, vanilla extract and lemon juice in a mixer.
- Add eggs one at a time to the mixture and thoroughly combine.
- The key to getting a really creamy cheesecake is to mix these ingredients together really well until the mixture is kind of thick and smooth (about 4-5 minutes).
- Pour into pie crust.
- Bake for about 65-70 minutes at 300f degrees. Allow cheesecake to cool completely in the refrigerator before serving (about 3-4 hours)
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Craving more cherry desserts? Try these!
MINI CHERRY CHEESECAKE PIES
CHERRY CHEESECAKE DIP
NO-BAKE CHERRY YUM YUM
CRESCENT CHERRY CHEESECAKE COBBLER
THE BEST INSTANT POT CHEESECAKE
Hey I’ve never made a cheese cake before but I followed your recipe, and the cheese cake is perfect ????????????????
Hi Rainah! Yay!! Love, love hearing this!! Thanks for taking the time to come back and let me know!
No problems I had a lot of fun making it
This was my first cheesecake I have ever baked and it turned out beautiful and delicious… my son wants me to make one for his birthday in May
Can you use this recipe for the small pie crusts that some
Stores carry ?
Heck yes!!
This recipe was so easy and turned out awesome! Thank you for sharing.
Woo hoo!! Yay!! Thank you so very much for the lovely review!!
I tried this recipe about a year ago ever since then the only way I make a cheese cake is by this recipe . Everyone loves it thank you
This makes me so happy!! Thank you so much Isabel!
Best cheesecake EVER
Woo Hoo!! Thank you so much Liz!!
I never leave reviews but this recipe will be the only cheesecake recipe I use! It was amazing!!
I am honored then that you would write a review for this one! Yay!! Thanks so much Jenna!!
Can I make this a day ahead?
Hi Carolyn, yes you sure can! Just keep it in the refrigerator. 🙂
Can I put the store bought Graham crackers crust crumbs into a springform pan?
You should be able to also do this in a springform pan – yes. 🙂
I hope the springform pan worked. I cant find my go to cheesecake recipe because I just moved & already made my crust in my springform pan & then noticed this recipe didn’t call for springform! Hopefully it’ll work out. 🙂
I’ve never made a cheesecake before and I made this for the first time and it came out perfect everyone loved it thank you so much for this recipe I used a store board gram cracker crust the first time. I am encouraged by my first try and want to do a homemade graham cracker crust this time. Should I bake the crust and let it cool or just refrigerate it ?
Made this cheesecake on Sunday morning for my birthday on Monday. Followed the instructions to the “T”other than subbing heavy cream for sour cream because I mixed them up when purchasing ingredients. After baking for 70 minutes I cooled ok a rack for 1.5 hours before refrigeration. Ate it last night and wow, turned out absolutely amazing! First time making my own crust and it was SO much better than store bought. My friend raves about how tasty it was too. Thank you for such a great recipe! Highly recommend for anyone who is nervous about making cheesecake because it’s easy and foolproof.
Amazing comment – thank you so much Hyde for taking the time to come back and leaving feedback. Love hearing that!
how much heavy cream did you use
Wow, this was so delicious, creamy and just one of the best cheesecakes I’ve ever eaten. This will now be my go to recipe for cheesecake. Thank you for sharing this wonderful easy but amazingly delicious full proof recipe. ❤️
Good morning! Loved this cheesecake with our dinner last night. It went well with our smoked ribs. Question: Is the nutritional info per serving?
I am going to make this in a spring form pan, what size do you suggest?
Can I freeze these if I make several at a time.
Hi Mary! You sure can!
Oh, no! I was mixing up recipes, added 3 eggs rather than 2! I hope it turns out ok! The batter tastes wonderful so fingers crossed. Will update after trying it.
Has anyone used Rumchata as a stir in for this base cheese cake pie? If so what measurement and was it replacing anything?
I haven’t tried it Camille but I think it would be wonderful! Let me know if you try it!
Phenomenal! Perfect texture and flavor.
My niece has been bugging me to bake a cheesecake with her. Today was the day we made it and right now we’re enjoying it. My sisters says they’re better than the store bought one. A real hit with the family.
I made cheesecakes before, usually in a springform pan I wanted something quick and easy and that I could use my purchased walnut crust with. I made your recipe for this cheesecake last night and served it to my guests today. Everyone loved it! This is a definite keeper and I will make it again. Thank you for sharing it with us.
I have tried many cheesecake recipes in the past but today I only had 2 (8oz.) blocks of cream cheese so I decided to try this recipe. I added about 1/2 cup homemade lemon curd to the batter to make it lemony (I was craving lemon desserts) and will top with a little bit more lemon curd and some fruit sauce. Looking forward to this as cheesecake is my husband and I’s favorite dessert!
Brilliant!
Made this last night and it was so easy and DELICIOUS. But how could you turn it into a chocolate cheesecake? Or maybe you can’t.
Hi Becky! I am sure you could! Let me play around with the recipe and I’ll try and get back to you on that one! 🙂
I have to say that this recipe is now my main go to when I want a quick and easy cheesecake. So easy and I was amazed at how creamy and full of flavor it came out. I am a mom to 5 and a grandma to 13 who is known for serving scrumptious deserts. I spend a ton of hours finding new things to surprise them with at family meals. I took 5 of these cheesecakes Sunday and am proud to say there wasnt a crumb left. Everybody raved it was as good as the ones I spend hours making,baking in water baths, and fighting my springform pan to release. I even used pre-made crusts so am super happy with this recpe. Thank you so much. ❤
This makes me so happy to hear Sue! Thank you so very much for taking the time to come back and leave such a wonderful comment!
Love just good old plain cheesecake, so I love this recipe. One thing I’ve learned though is to not buy the store brand cream cheese. I made that mistake this time, and I had to beat the filling for a long time to get the lumps out. Sometimes it pays to go ahead and spend the extra $$ on a good brand.
Thank you so very much Patty!!