These are ultra creamy lemon blueberry cheesecake bars baked on a graham cracker crust. Enjoy fresh lemon flavor and smooth cheesecake, plus there’s no shortage of juicy blueberries and crispy crust!
One reader, Rob, commented: “A+ recipe. Got rave reviews from serious and finicky dessert people. And it freezes extremely well. Make it this summer, and use at least some frozen blueberries which makes it a beautiful color…★★★★★”
Like many bakers and dessert lovers, I enjoy baking a classic cheesecake. It’s a tall and mighty dessert with massive crowd appeal and endless topping options like strawberry sauce and salted caramel.
But there’s no arguing that baking a cheesecake can be daunting: Don’t over-sweeten! Avoid over-baking! Don’t forget the water bath! Will your springform leak? We’ll find out!
It’s often worth the effort—I mean, I RAVE about this cheesecake recipe—but if I’m looking for a quicker, less fussy cheesecake option, I usually make cheesecake pie or today’s cheesecake bars.
Here’s Why You’ll Love These Lemon Blueberry Cheesecake Bars
- All the texture of traditional lemon cheesecake, but easier and quicker
- Extra creamy, extra thick
- Tangy-sweet flavor with loads of blueberries
- The cheesecake version of popular lemon blueberry cake
- Grab & go—no fork needed!
One reader, Pam, commented: “So delicious! Perfect amount of lemon tartness with the sweetness of the blueberries is to die for! Since blueberries are in season here right now I used fresh. Love the thick crust also. It holds up well to the weight of the filling…★★★★★“
Graham Cracker Crust Success Tips
Below you’ll find my basic graham cracker crust recipe. It fits into a 9-inch square baking pan perfectly, as well as many 8-inch and 10-inch pans. I love this particular crust because it’s altogether crunchy, buttery, thick, and not overly sweet like many crumb crusts of its kind. We use it for blueberry cream cheese pie, banoffee pie, and both these mini key lime pies and key lime pie bars.
Some helpful tips:
- You need a careful ratio of 3 ingredients: graham cracker crumbs, sugar, & melted butter.
- Use a food processor or blender to grind 12 full-sheet graham crackers into crumbs.
- Stir the graham cracker crumbs and sugar together before mixing in the butter.
- Press into your lined pan just until it’s no longer crumbly. Do not pack down too hard.
Pre-bake the crust for 8 minutes so it has a little head start:
Grab These Ingredients for the Filling
- Bricks of Cream Cheese: Make sure you’re using bricks of full-fat cream cheese and not the cream cheese in a tub you would use for spreading on bagels. Same rule applies when making cream cheese frosting and strawberry cream cheese pie.
- Sugar: When over-sweetening these bars, you can’t detect the natural lemon and blueberry flavors. 6 Tablespoons is the magical unicorn amount; it’s more than 1/3 cup and not quite 1/2 cup!
- Lemon: 1 large lemon or 2 medium lemons are typically enough for these lemon blueberry cheesecake bars. You need 3 Tablespoons of juice and 1 teaspoon zest, which together is the perfect amount for lovely lemon flavor (that isn’t pucker-your-lips-sour!).
- Vanilla Extract: For delicious, rich flavor.
- Egg: The cheesecake bars would fall apart without an egg.
- Blueberries: You can use fresh or frozen blueberries. If using frozen, your batter will be swirled blue/purple.
The filling we use for lemon blueberry cheesecake bars is a lot like this cheesecake pie. Lemon juice replaces the sour cream and we can get away with 1 egg since the bars aren’t quite as thick.
Expect a thick filling. Make sure you spread it over the crust while the crust is still warm. Why? This will help the filling adhere to the crust a little better.
Success Tip: Here’s how I like to line square baking pans. So easy! Lining the pan makes it much easier to remove the bars before slicing and serving. I use the same tip when making rice krispie treats and M&M cookie bars, too.
How to Cut Neat Squares
Cool baked bars at room temperature for about 1 hour, and then refrigerate them for 2 hours or until the bottom of the pan feels cold. If you cut the bars into squares too early, they’ll completely fall apart. If I’m serving these at a party or event, I prepare them the night before just so I know they’ll cool and chill long enough to yield neat squares.
Slice them with a sharp knife and wipe the knife clean between each cut.
I wouldn’t change a thing about this recipe! The whole team loved how light they tasted, as well as how the buttery graham cracker crust complemented the lemon cheesecake filling. Finding the tasty balance between tart and sweet is tricky when it comes to lemon desserts, but these bars nail it!
More Lemon Desserts You’ll Love
- Lemon Blueberry Cake
- Citrus Cake
- Lemon Blueberry Cupcakes or Lemon Blueberry Muffins
- Creamy Lemon Pie
- Lemon Pound Cake
- Lemony Blueberry Galette
For more summer dessert inspiration, see my roundups of favorite Memorial Day recipes and BBQ cookout dessert recipes.
Print
Lemon Blueberry Cheesecake Bars
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 40 minutes
- Total Time: 4 hours, 50 minutes
- Yield: 16 bars
- Category: Bars
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
Creamy lemon cheesecake bars studded and swirled with blueberries. They’re prepared on my simple graham cracker crust and will absolutely be your new favorite dessert!
Ingredients
Crust
- 12 full-sheet graham crackers (to yield 1 and 1/2 cups (180g) graham cracker crumbs)
- 6 Tablespoons (85g) unsalted butter, melted
- 1/4 cup (50g) granulated sugar
Filling
- 16 ounces (452g) full-fat brick cream cheese, softened to room temperature
- 1 large egg
- 6 Tablespoons (75g) granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest
- 3 Tablespoons (45ml) lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 and 1/2 cups (210g) fresh or frozen blueberries (do not thaw)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). Line a 9-inch square baking pan with parchment paper with enough overhang on the sides to easily lift the chilled bars out as a whole. Set aside.
- Make the crust: If you’re starting out with full graham crackers, use a food processor or blender to grind them into fine crumbs. You can also place them in a zip-top bag and crush them into fine crumbs with a little arm muscle and a rolling pin. Stir the graham cracker crumbs and granulated sugar together in a medium bowl, and then stir in the melted butter. The mixture will be thick, coarse, and sandy. Try to smash/break up any large chunks. Press into the bottom of the lined pan.
- Prebake crust: Bake the crust for 8 minutes. Cool for a few minutes as you prepare the filling in the next step.
- Make the filling: Using a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the cream cheese for 1 minute on medium speed until smooth. On medium speed, beat in the egg, sugar, lemon zest, lemon juice, and vanilla extract together until smooth and creamy, about 3 full minutes. Gently fold in the blueberries. Pour/spoon filling evenly onto the warm crust.
- Bake for 30–35 minutes, or until the cheesecake has set up and the edges are lightly browned. The bars will be very puffy, but will sink down slightly as they cool. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 30 minutes at room temperature on a wire rack and then chill in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours.
- Lift the parchment paper out of the pan and cut into squares.
- The bars stay fresh in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
Notes
- Freezing Instructions: You can freeze the bars for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator before serving.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): 9-inch Square Baking Pan | Food Processor | Electric Mixer (Handheld or Stand) | Cooling Rack
- Non-US Readers: Don’t have graham crackers where you live? Use 200g ground digestive biscuit crumbs instead (about 13–14 biscuits), the same amount of butter, and add a bit more sugar (about 1/3 cup, or 67g). You may need to add a few extra minutes to the pre-baking time, as digestive biscuits are not quite as crispy-crunchy as graham crackers. And from what I understand, spreadable cream cheese sold in a tub in countries outside of the US is a little different from the spreadable cream cheese in the US. It’s thicker, sturdier, and more solid and should be OK to make cheesecake. I have no experience with it, but this is what I’ve heard from other non-US readers.
What a wonderful explosion of flavors these little bars give you. I saw this recipe while mindlessly browsing my phone and instantly knew I had to make it! WOW…just delicious! Thanks for making these this life long recipe for me and my family!!!!❤️❤️
Can I use shortbread crust instead of graham (the same crust as the lemon bars)
Hi Rebecca, You can absolutely try this with a shortbread crust. Let us know how it goes!
So I tried this recipe but using a shortbread crust. I turned out perfectly fine!
Also, since here in our country, blueberries are scarce so I opted to use canned blueberries which goes with heavy syrup. I adjusted the baking time to 60min to fully cook the filling and to have a bit burnt looking top. We loved how it turned out!
I need to use a 13×9 pan. Do I just double the recipe?
Hi Jean, You can double the recipe for a 9×13 pan. The bake time will be longer, but we are unsure of the exact amount of time.
Can I make this eggless like your mini cheesecake recipe? That recipe says for 8oz cream cheese, add 1/4 cup sour cream. Should I replace the egg here with 1/2 cup sour cream instead?
Hi Niharika, we haven’t tested a version of these bars without an egg, but you could use the mini cheesecakes recipe instead for a lemon version. You can add 2 Tablespoons of lemon juice there and reduce the sour cream by 2 Tablespoons, then add some blueberries. Hope this helps!
If I double the mini cheesecake recipe, do I add 4 tbsp of lemon juice in total? I need 18 mini cheesecakes but still want the lemon blueberry combination. How would you suggest I double it up with balancing the sour cream?
Hi Niharika, yes, you will double all the ingredients, but add 4 Tbsp of lemon juice and reduce the sour cream by 4 Tbsp.
I live in Israel. What percentage fat is the cream cheese for this recipe?
Hi Becky, in the US, our full-fat cream cheese must contain at least 33% fat.
Can I use 8 oz cream cheese and just use less ingredients?
Hi Barbara, you would need to halve the other ingredients as well and use a smaller pan. For best results, we recommend making the recipe as written.
I am excited for this! It’s in the oven right now ! Thoughts on more blueberries in it?
Hi Louise, you can certainly try a bit more blueberries, but we’d start small and then adjust for future batches, so you don’t risk the cheesecake’s ability to set. We hope you enjoyed it!
Looks amazing! I’d love to make it for a big group, is it easy to size up to a 9×13 pan?
Hi Katie, yes. You can double the recipe for a 9×13 pan. The bake time will be longer, but I’m unsure of the exact amount of time.
What a lovely treat, these blueberry cheesecake bars are! I think we’ll need to have another treat next week.
Your no-bake cheese cake recipe was a great hit. And, so easy to make. Your hints were very helpful. So, I’m making the no-bake again, with blueberries. Thanks again.
Very good recipe! I followed exactly. Came out perfect. Thanks!
Wow! I made these for a 4th of July party and they were gone in less than 15 minutes. I’ve made a lot of lemon desserts, but these are by far the best.
I made this recipe in the past and loved it! I’ve since gone gluten free so I’m going to try it with GF graham crackers.
Do you think this would work with raspberries in place of the blueberries?
Thanks!
Hi Jessi, that should work, just be extra careful folding in the raspberries so as not to break them. Let us know how it goes!
I have a small coffee shop , do these need to be refrigerated or can they be under a closh on display
Hi Kim, because of the cream cheese, these should be refrigerated.
This recipe was very simple to follow and make. Taste was alright for me. Wasn’t sweet at all and very creamy. Over all good, but I personally wouldn’t remake. Flavor wasn’t for me.
Light and refreshing. I did add a total 2 cups of freshly frozen blueberries otherwise followed the recipe to a T. I did have to bake it 50 min but then followed the cooling/refridge instructions and it was perfect. Yet another amazing recipe, Sally!
So good! So easy! I forgot to add the sugar to the filling and just sprinkled it on top and it came out great anyway. A keeper as written!
Hi Sally…I have made this a few times with great success, thank you. One question, I just made a batch our your blueberry jam for a different recipe and have some left over. Could I swirl the jam on top in place of the blueberries, or do you think that’d change the consistency of the batter too much. Thanks…love you and your team!
Hi Eileen, we haven’t tested it, but we imagine that should work. Be cautious not to add too much, but you can certainly try swirling like we do for these white chocolate raspberry cheesecake bars. Please do let us know how it goes!
love this recipe but I’m also looking for the strawberry chocolate chip cheesecake bars that i made from your website a few years ago. Thank you
Hi Lynne, we recently removed that older recipe from the website. If you send us a note at sally@sallysbakingaddiction.com, we’d be happy to share a copy with you. Thank you!
I have made this recipe to great success in the past! I am wondering though if I could sub the blueberries for another fruit, like blackberry…what do you think? Thanks so much!
Hi Megan, another fruit like blackberries would be great here! Let us know if you try it.
I’ve made this recipe as written and loved it, as did everyone who tried it. This time, I made the filling keto by using Swerve allulose blend as sweetener. It turned out amazing. Thanks for the great recipe!
Could I make this in a muffin tin?
Hi Julia, We’re unsure of the exact bake time. You can use these mini cheesecakes as a guide
I would like to use a 9 x 13 pan, bringing to a party. What changes do you recommend?
Hi Lisa, You can double the recipe for a 9×13 pan. The bake time will be longer, but we are unsure of the exact amount of time.
I’ve made these several times for my hubby and every time they’re gone so quickly! I’m trying to make them into mini cheesecakes using a muffin tray, so I’ll let you know soon how they turn out.
I made these for Easter and everyone loved them! I followed the recipe exactly. I even watched the YouTube video on how to properly put parchment in the baking dish. So so easy to make and I liked that they weren’t overly sweet. I loved the lemon flavor. Yum! Thank you Sally!
You’ve done it again! This is a delicious, light, flavorful bite. I served it at Easter, and it was gone before after-dinner coffee was served!