This is a full page dedicated to homemade individual no-bake cheesecake jars! Use this simple no-bake recipe when you need a quick and crowd-pleasing 30 minute dessert. Have fun with different flavors and toppings, too!
No bake cheesecake jars are a fun individual dessert to serve when you’re short on time and don’t feel like turning on the oven. There’s literally no baking involved and the entire dessert takes around 30 minutes. You only need a handful of familiar ingredients and some cute little jars. Individual desserts have been all the rage the past several years and this mason jar dessert trend isn’t disappearing any time soon.
I’ve published no-bake cheesecake, classic baked cheesecake recipe, and even an easy cheesecake pie on my blog, all of which take hours to either bake, cool, and/or chill. Shortcut cheesecake, here we come!
Why You’ll Love Individual No-Bake Cheesecake Jars
If you’ve ever enjoyed my no-bake cheesecake recipe or mini no-bake cheesecakes, you know you’re in for a real treat with this jar version. You see, no-bake cheesecake (either served as a whole or in jars) is a lot easier than baked cheesecake. Without eggs and baking, there’s no way to mess up this dessert. You can’t over-bake it, you can’t over-whip the eggs, and there’s no cheesecake water bath involved. It’s easier and quicker than strawberry cream cheese pie, with all of the flavor and texture. If summer was a dessert, it would be no-bake cheesecake jars.
Here’s what I appreciate and know you will too:
- Easy recipe
- Creamiest cheesecake filling
- Few tools required—just a mixer and a couple bowls
- Ready in 30 minutes
- Unlimited flavors & topping options
- Convenient to transport to parties, BBQs, baby showers, & other events
- Did I mention no baking?
Video Tutorial: No Bake Cheesecake Jars
Before we get to the written out recipe, let’s review each layer. Even though this is a simple dessert, it’s important you familiarize yourself with the process before starting.
3 Layers in No-Bake Cheesecake Jars
- Buttery Graham Cracker Crust
- No-Bake Cheesecake Filling
- Topping
The graham cracker crust doesn’t need much explanation. You only need graham cracker crumbs and melted butter. Mix the two together, then layer into the individual jars. Again, there is NO BAKING so you do not need to pre-bake this graham cracker crust.
If you use certified gluten free graham crackers, you can add these cheesecake jars to your list of go-to gluten free dessert recipes, too.
2 Parts to Cheesecake Filling
There are 2 parts to the cheesecake filling. First, whip heavy cream into stiff peaks. You’re essentially making whipped cream without sugar or flavor. Set that aside. Then beat the remaining cheesecake filling ingredients together. Finally, fold in the whipped cream. Whipping the cream 1st is imperative because it supplies all the deliciously fluffy and creamy texture. This no-bake cheesecake jar filling almost tastes like cheesecake mousse—it’s so light—and we have the whipped cream to thank for that. 🙂
Cheesecake Jar Filling Ingredients
- Heavy Cream: Whip into stiff peaks. Set aside.
- Brick Cream Cheese: Use full-fat brick cream cheese, not cream cheese spread. I recommend this for all of my no-bake and baked cheesecake recipes, including mini cheesecakes and white chocolate raspberry cheesecake bars.
- Sugar: Sugar sweetens the cheesecake jars. This is a lightly sweetened dessert, so you only need 1/3 cup of sugar in the entire filling.
- Sour Cream: Sour cream is a must-have ingredient in this recipe. Even though you only need 2 Tablespoons, it promises a tangy cheesecake flavor and ultra creamy texture. In fact, I don’t make regular cheesecake without it.
- Vanilla Extract: Vanilla extract adds flavor.
- Fresh Lemon Juice: Lemon juice adds a little brightness and slight flavor.
Here’s the heavy cream beaten into stiff peaks:
Here’s the cheesecake filling after you fold in the whipped cream. It’s airy, light, and fluffy:
Filling Flavors
The pictured no bake cheesecake jars are plain, but you can definitely add some flavor! Add these ingredients when you beat the cream cheese, sugar, sour cream, and vanilla extract together. I recommend leaving out the lemon juice if making the peanut butter, Nutella, chocolate, or coconut variations.
- Peanut Butter: 1/3 cup creamy peanut butter
- Nutella: 1/3 cup Nutella
- Lemon: 2 extra teaspoons lemon juice + 1 teaspoon lemon zest
- Raspberry: 1 and 1/2 Tablespoons raspberry preserves
- Chocolate: 1 and 1/2 Tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder or chocolate ganache and replace graham crackers with Oreos or chocolate graham crackers
- Coconut: 1 teaspoon coconut extract
- Key Lime: replace lemon juice with lime juice and add 2 more teaspoons of lime juice, plus 1 teaspoon lime zest
Toppings
Last layer! Finish the no-bake cheesecake jars with your favorite toppings. This recipe yields about 6 8-ounce cheesecake jars, so you can layer each with a different topping.
- Chocolate Ganache (pictured with raspberries & mint)
- Strawberry Topping (pictured)
- Blueberry Sauce Topping (pictured with fresh blueberries and lemon slice)
- Whipped Cream
- Hot Fudge Sauce
- Lemon Curd
- Salted Caramel
And let’s not forget garnishes like sprinkles, berries, lemons, mint, etc!
Jars for No-Bake Cheesecake Jars
8 ounce jars, as pictured, are a pretty generous serving size. Feel free to use smaller jars like we do for homemade dirt pudding, or even use this recipe as a trifle. Whichever size jar, I highly recommend using wide mouthed jars so you can easily spoon the layers inside. These are all affiliate links.
- 8 ounce glass jars (pictured)
- 8 ounce glass jars (vintage fruit design)
- 6 ounce glass jars (hexagon shape)
- 6 ounce glass jars (smooth surface)
If you don’t have jars, use custard cups or bowls. Same taste, different delivery. This cheesecake filling also works in place of pastry cream in homemade mille-feuille. No matter how you serve it, these are always fun to serve at bridal showers, baby showers, for tea parties, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, wedding celebrations, BBQs, graduation parties, and more. A crowdpleaser every time!
See Your No-Bake Cheesecake Jars!
Many readers tried this recipe as part of a baking challenge! Feel free to email or share your recipe photos with us on social media. 🙂
No Bake Cheesecake Jars
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 0 minutes
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 6 8-ounce jars or 10 6-ounce jars
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Mixing
- Cuisine: American
Description
This jar dessert recipe combines a 2 ingredient graham cracker crust with an easy no-bake cheesecake filling. For best results, read through the recipe and watch the video tutorial above before beginning. See blog post for cheesecake filling flavors and see recipe notes or blog post for topping and garnish suggestions.
Ingredients
- 2 Tablespoons (28g) unsalted butter, melted
- 1 cup (100g) graham cracker crumbs (about 8 graham crackers)
- 1 cup (240ml) heavy cream or heavy whipping cream, cold
- 8 ounces (226g) full-fat brick cream cheese, softened to room temperature
- 1/3 cup (65g) granulated sugar
- 2 Tablespoons (30g) sour cream, at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- toppings & garnishes (see note)
Instructions
- Have your jars ready to go and lined up. This recipe yields about 6 8-ounce jars or 10 6-ounce jars.
- Crust: Melt the butter in the microwave in a medium heat-proof bowl or use the stove. Stir in the graham cracker crumbs. The mixture will resemble wet sand. Spoon a generous spoonful into each jar, about 2 Tablespoons into the 8-ounce jars and 1 and 1/2 Tablespoons into the 6-ounce jars. If there’s any crust leftover, sprinkle into the jars to use up or discard. Set jars aside.
- Filling: Using a hand mixer or a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, whip the cold heavy cream into stiff peaks on medium-high speed, about 3-4 minutes. Set aside.
- Using a hand mixer or a stand mixer fitted with a whisk or paddle attachment, beat the cream cheese, sugar, sour cream, lemon juice, and vanilla extract together on medium-high speed until smooth and creamy. Make sure there are no large lumps of cream cheese. If there are lumps, keep beating until smooth.
- Using your mixer on low speed or a silicone spatula, fold the whipped cream into the cheesecake filling until combined. This takes several turns of your silicone spatula. Combine slowly as you don’t want to deflate all the air in the whipped cream.
- Layer a couple large spoonfuls of filling on top of the crust in the jars. Use about 1/4 – 1/3 cup filling in the 8 ounce jars and 3 Tablespoons (or however much you can pack in!) into the 6 ounce jars. Make sure to leave room for the topping.
- The cheesecake jars are at room temperature at this point, but if you’d like to serve chilled, chill for at least 30 minutes and up to 3 days before adding the topping. (Cover if chilling for longer than 30 minutes.) I recommend adding the topping when serving or up to 2 hours in advance. The topping can seep down into the layers, so that’s why I recommend adding it soon before serving.
- Spoon topping and garnishes on top of filling, then serve.
- Cover and store leftover cheesecake jars in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
Notes
- Make Ahead Instructions: These cheesecake jars can be made 1-3 days in advance. They can be refrigerated in step 7 for up to 3 days before serving. You can also make & layer the crust 1-2 days ahead of time. Another way to make these cheesecake jars ahead of time is to freeze them before adding the toppings. Seal jars with the lids and freeze up to 3 months. Thaw in the refrigerator before topping and serving. You can also freeze the cheesecake filling as a whole. Cover tightly and freeze up to 3 months. Thaw in the refrigerator before layering on top of crust.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): 8-ounce Glass Jars (pictured), 8-ounce Glass Jars (vintage fruit design), 6-ounce Glass Jars (hexagon shape), or 6-ounce Glass Jars (smooth surface) | Glass Mixing Bowls | Electric Mixer (Handheld or Stand) | Silicone Spatula
- Toppings: Chocolate Ganache, Strawberry Topping, Blueberry Sauce, Whipped Cream, Cherry Pie Filling, Lemon Curd, Salted Caramel, Hot Fudge Sauce
- Garnishes: Fresh berries, chopped fruit, nuts, chocolate chips, lemon slices, lime slices, shredded coconut, sprinkles, mint, or whatever you desire.
- More Cheesecake Jars: This recipe can easily be doubled, tripled, or quadrupled. Keep in mind the whipping and beating times will increase with the added volume.
These are SO good.
I have made this recipe three times in the last two weeks for different events. Everyone has loved it. I add a little lemon zest and juice to the filling and blueberry sauce. It is delicious and easy and portable! Thank you so much. 🙂
Made for dessert on what I knew would be a super warm night. I happened to have some chopped fresh pineapple in the fridge, used it for a topping and it was really nice. Thanks Sally!
Can I sub Greek yogurt for the sour cream?
Hi Linda, yes, plain Greek yogurt is a great substitute in this recipe.
Making about a hundred of these. Can I top them with canned strawberry pie filling, instead of making the topping?
Sure can!
Last night I made your recipe for Blueberries scones. You are right they are better than the bakery. Absolutely loved them
Great recipe. It was a hit on Father’s Day.
I just used fresh fruit no sauce. Definitely will make it again.
Another great recipe. They were not overly sweet so for my sweet tooths, I added a little sugar to the fruit in their jars. I found they hit the spot and were easy to make. Your recipes are always easy to follow.
Is it possible to substitute granular Monkfruit for regular sugar? Will it be a 1 to 1 swap? This looks fantastic and easy to make in our constant hot weather.
Hi Susan, We’d love to help but we are not trained in baking with sugar substitutes. For best taste and texture (and so you don’t waste your time trying to adapt this recipe since it may not work properly), it may be more useful to find a recipe that is specifically formulated for sugar substitutes. Thank you!
Hi Susan, I have made this with monkfruit ‘sugar’ and it was fine 🙂
This is delicious and easy. I was able to get 6 6-oz. jars out of this recipe. Next time, I will double the filling recipe.
I’ve just submitted a question. It came out wrong. I wanted to know. Could you add The toppings and keep refrigerated for 3 days and the toppings possibly not run down through the cheesecake mix
Hi Pam, we’d recommend waiting until closer to serving to add the toppings, so that they don’t seep into the cheesecake mixture.
The filling tasted more like whipped cream than cheesecake. I may have also over-whipped the heavy cream or not stirred it well enough. Next time I’ll watch your video before making it. Typically I love all the recipes I’ve tried.
Can I use Coconut cream as a substitute for whipping cream
Hi Joan, we haven’t tested it, but we fear it wouldn’t be quite as stable as the whipping cream.
I love this recipe! But, on what planet does it take 30 minutes to make?
We love this recipe!!
Do you have any suggestions to make it chocolate? Would it be best with melted cooled chocolate or just add some 100% Cocoa powder?
Hi Karen, We’re sure you could make a chocolate version, but we haven’t tried it. It would require some testing because we’re torn if we would use melted and cooled chocolate or cocoa powder. Let us know what you try!
Thanks! If I wanted to put your no bake cheesecake into a silicone mold, would you recommend this recipe or the regular no bake cheesecake? Thanks
Hi Steph, we’d start by trying with the no-bake cheesecake recipe. Let us know how it goes!
This Recipe sounds delicious. I absolutely love baking and a friend has asked me to make a small batch of cupcakes for her. Which maked me curious, Do you think I could use this as a filling for cupcakes?
Absolutely!
Question: I have some homemade rhubarb compote (it’s the texture of a thick jam) that I was hoping to kind of swirl in, but will that keep the cheesecake from setting up? I could also just spoon it on top before serving but I thought it might look pretty swirled in.
Hi Ann! It will definitely work as a topping, but we would have to test swirling it in ourselves to give you an answer on how it would change the texture. Let us know if you try it!
If I am taking this to a neighborhood potluck would it be ok using plastic disposable glasses with lids
Absolutely!
Hi, the cheesecake filling doesn’t actually set, not like a jelly or something, it just stays how it is. So swirling stuff in should be fine. Although probably the easiest thing would be to alternate spoonfuls of cheesecake filling with spoonfuls of rhubarb, if that makes sense? I mostly suggest that cos if you swirled it together it might just mix with the cheesecake instead of staying separate and giving you the pretty pink pattern. I hope some of that made sense 😉
This is just one of my favorite recipes.
My family really enjoyed the cheesecake jars. Can I add cookie butter?
Hi Mek, we haven’t tested that, but it sounds delicious! You could swirl some in or add it to the cheesecake itself, though we’re unsure how it would change the texture.
Made these 100 of these cups for my granddaughter’s graduation party 2 years ago. Planning to make them again this year for my grandson’s party. Going to need to make more though! They were the first things to disappear from the buffet table. Everyone loved them!
So happy to read this, Susan!
I made this for the first time and tripled the recipe! They were easy to make and assemble. I took to a family event and received rave reviews. Thank you for sharing your awesome recipes!
Can you use Cool Whip instead of real whip cream?
Hey Sally! I’m a huge fan of your blog, every recipe I made has always been a hit!
I want to try making these jars, but I wanted to know would it be possible to use jam for topping? I have a jar or cherry jam gifted to me from Spain and would love to find a way to utilize it.
Thanks:)
Hi Haile, I don’t see why that wouldn’t work! Sounds delicious!
How far in advance can these be made? I have very limited freezer space and am also short on time the day of the event. Can these hold two days in a refrigerator? I LOVE that it is egg free (allergies!) and no bake! Can’t wait to try these!
Hi Alyssa, see the make ahead instructions in the notes. These cheesecake jars can be made 1-3 days in advance. They can be refrigerated in step 7 for up to 3 days before serving.
This was my go to dessert this summer for bbqs and get togethers! Perfect dessert for summertime. I made it fun by having different toppings that everyone could put on themselves. Your strawberry sauce, blueberry sauce and chocolate sauce. Huge hit! Everyone loved!!
So you said 10 6 Oz jars? There was totally not enough filling. It barely made 5
Hi Jill, it’s not enough filling for to fill 10 6-ounce jars. You’ll have to add a thick layer of crust to add some bulk.
Making this for a shower that I have to drive about an hour and a half to. I don’t have mason jars, so using punch glasses instead. Wondering if you think I could make the crust ahead in a container and make the filling ahead as well and put it together there. So much easier to transport that way. Just wondering if the filling will hold up if I put it in the cups the day after I make the filling.
Hi Cheri, that should work just fine. Hope they’re a hit!
For the person who wanted to transport the cheesecakes in punch cups…You can purchase those with lids from Amazon. We used them for a community dinner. Worked great!
Can I replace the cream cheese with mascarpone cheese?
Hi Laurie, mascarpone would be excellent! Use a 1:1 substitution.
Just a question as to why it has to be brick cream cheese? I have a big tub of cream cheese from Costco (not whipped) that I’m trying to find uses for. I read that you don’t recommend it for any of your cheesecakes but I’m just wondering what would happen? Thanks!
Hi Kristin, brick cream cheese is important for helping cheesecake/no-bake cheesecakes to set properly. Although the cheesecake jars don’t “set” per say, the texture won’t be quite the same if you use cream cheese from a tub. Hope this helps!
This recipe was SO easy to make and SUPER yummy! Just the right amount for a light dessert.