Baked in a standard 12-count muffin pan, these mini margarita cheesecakes are handheld miniature versions of a regular cheesecake. The filling comes together with 8 simple ingredients including tequila, triple sec, and lime. Sitting on a graham cracker crust and garnished with tequila whipped cream, these conveniently portioned desserts are ready for your next celebration!
Like a slice of cheesecake without the fork and like a margarita without the glass! Individual desserts are party favorites because guests can grab and go without slicing, sharing, and portioning. I served these mini margarita cheesecakes alongside plain mini cheesecakes at a summer gathering and I don’t want to play favorites, but adults picked these boozy little numbers clean. I regretted not making a double batch!
Here’s Why You’ll LOVE These Mini Margarita Cheesecakes Too
- Fun unexpected margarita flavor that tastes like vacation!
- Full of fresh lime & lightly spiked with tequila and triple sec.
- Thick & fluffy.
- Lots of contrasting texture from the crunchy graham cracker crust and creamy filling.
- Adorably garnished with tequila lime whipped cream, lime slice, and coarse sugar.
- Dessert recipe that conveniently makes 1 dozen & you can easily double it.
Even though I titled these “mini,” they’re baked in a standard 12-count muffin pan and not a mini muffin pan. I call them mini because they are mini versions of a full-size cheesecake. Think of them as the cheesecake version of margarita cupcakes. (Because, yes, I have a recipe for those too!)
This Dessert Has 3 Layers
You need 11 ingredients total and many of the ingredients are repeated in each layer.
- Graham Cracker Crust (3 ingredients)
- Margarita Cheesecake Filling (8 ingredients)
- Tequila Lime Whipped Cream (4 ingredients)
This recipe is slightly scaled up from my regular mini cheesecakes to make a full dozen batch of extra thick mini cheesecakes. After you mix the graham cracker crust ingredients together, press a heaping Tablespoon of the mixture into your cupcake liners. You’ll pre-bake the crust for 6 minutes.
The crust takes longer to bake than the filling, so pre-baking is key. Moving on to the filling…
Grab 8 Ingredients for the Filling:
- Cream Cheese: Philadelphia cream cheese isn’t affiliated with this post, but it IS my favorite cream cheese brand. Whichever brand you use, make sure you’re using bricks of full-fat cream cheese and not the cream cheese you use for spreading on bagels. This imperative rule applies to many other dessert recipes like cream cheese frosting, strawberry cream cheese pie, and no bake cheesecake.
- Granulated Sugar: I tested this recipe with both 1/2 cup and 2/3 cup of sugar. I found the greater amount masked the light flavors of lime and tequila, so use 1/2 cup (100g) in the filling recipe.
- Sour Cream: Sour cream is a magical ingredient in baked goods, especially cheesecake, because it adds moisture and richness without thinning out the batter. You need just 2 Tablespoons, so buy a smaller container if you don’t use it often. (You should definitely make double chocolate muffins with your leftovers!) If it’s easier, use plain yogurt instead.
- Flour: The mixture is too thin and lacks structure without flour.
- Tequila*: Use your favorite.
- Triple Sec*: Triple sec is an orange-flavored liqueur commonly found in margarita beverages. If you don’t have it, use more tequila or swap with orange juice.
- Lime: You need 1 Tablespoon juice & 2 teaspoons zest. Have 2–3 limes on hand, which would also be enough for the lime slice garnish.
- Eggs: The cheesecake batter can’t bind together without eggs. Careful not to over-mix these, and be sure to add them right at the end.
*See recipe Note for version without alcohol.
Expect a thick margarita cheesecake batter. Spoon/pour mixture on top of warm pre-baked crusts:
Success Tip: A Steamy Oven
Are you familiar with cheesecake water baths? Cheesecakes are egg-heavy desserts and eggs are notorious for rising up in the oven and then falling down in cooler air. Some sinkage is expected, but you can prevent excess sinking by filling your oven with humidity. Instead of placing your muffin pan in water, place a roasting pan filled with hot water on the rack below the mini cheesecakes. The hot water steams and gently cooks the eggs so the mini cheesecakes aren’t as prone to sinking as they cool.
I teach this method in my key lime cheesecake post, too.
Chilling & Garnishing Your Cheesecakes
After baking, the margarita cheesecakes must cool and chill. I like speeding this process up by cooling at room temperature for 45 minutes and then I place them in the freezer for 1 hour. If you have more time, refrigerate them for 2 hours.
Feel free to serve plain, but if you want to amplify the margarita flavor, I recommend garnishing with tequila lime whipped cream. Make plain whipped cream and add 1 Tablespoon each tequila and lime juice. Easy! I used a Wilton 1M tip for piping. Lime slices, lime zest, strawberry slices, and/or coarse sugar are optional but very fun extras.
(Though salt on a margarita glass is a prime choice, I don’t recommend coarse salt as garnish unless it’s a very light sprinkle.)
Serving Success Tip: If serving these margarita cheesecakes outside on a hot day, I recommend keeping them in the refrigerator until 10 minutes (or less) prior to serving.
For more summer dessert inspiration, see my roundups of favorite Memorial Day recipes and BBQ cookout dessert recipes.
Even More Party Favorites:
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Mini Margarita Cheesecakes
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 26 minutes
- Total Time: 3 hours (includes cooling)
- Yield: 12
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
These mini tequila-spiked lime margarita cheesecakes are thick, creamy, and ready for your next celebration. Bake them in a standard 12-count muffin pan. Step 4 is completely optional, but helps prevent the mini cheesecakes from sinking too much as they cool.
Ingredients
Crust
- 1 cup (120g) graham cracker crumbs (about 8 full sheet graham crackers)
- 2 Tablespoons (25g) granulated sugar
- 3 Tablespoons (43g) unsalted butter, melted
Filling
- 16 ounces (452g) full-fat brick cream cheese, softened to room temperature
- 1/2 cup (100g) granulated sugar
- 2 Tablespoons (30g) full-fat sour cream, at room temperature
- 1 Tablespoon (8g) all-purpose flour
- 2 Tablespoons (30ml) tequila
- 1 Tablespoon (15ml) triple sec (or orange juice or more tequila)
- 1 Tablespoon (15ml) lime juice
- 2 teaspoons lime zest
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature
Tequila Lime Whipped Cream
- 1 cup (240ml) cold heavy cream or heavy whipping cream
- 2 Tablespoons (25g) granulated sugar
- 1 Tablespoon (15ml) tequila
- 1 Tablespoon (15ml) lime juice
- optional for garnish: lime slices, lime zest, and/or coarse sugar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). Line a standard 12-count muffin pan with liners. You could skip the liners and spray the pan with non-stick spray or grease with butter, but the mini cheesecakes are pretty stubborn to release from the pan. I recommend using liners to make things easier.
- Make the crust: Combine all of the crust ingredients in a medium bowl. Mixture will be sandy. Firmly press a heaping Tablespoon of crust mixture into each liner. Pre-bake for 6 minutes.
- Make the filling: Using a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a paddle or whisk attachment, beat the cream cheese and granulated sugar together on medium-high speed in a large bowl until the mixture is completely smooth and creamy, about 2 minutes. Add the sour cream, flour, tequila, triple sec, lime juice, and lime zest then beat until fully combined. With the mixer running on medium speed, add eggs 1 at a time, beating just until combined before adding the next. Do not over-mix. Batter will be thick. Divide the batter between liners, filling each all the way to the top. (It’s OK if the crust is still warm.)
- Optional Water Bath (prevents cheesecakes from excess sinking, skip this step if desired): Boil a pot of water. You need 1 inch of water in your roasting pan for the water bath, so make sure you boil enough. Place a large metal baking or roasting pan (I usually use a 9×13-inch baking pan—do not use glass) on the bottom oven rack of the preheated oven. Pour boiling water into pan, about 1 inch deep. Immediately place the cheesecakes on the center rack. Close oven to trap the steam inside. This unique water bath adds steam to the oven without having the muffin pan sit inside the water itself, which is a traditional water bath method used for full-size cheesecakes.
- Bake until the edges are set and the centers slightly jiggle, about 20 minutes.
- Set the pan on a wire rack and allow cheesecakes to cool at room temperature for 45 minutes, then transfer to the refrigerator and chill for at least 2 hours and up to 24 hours. (Or place in the freezer for 1 hour to speed things up.) If chilling in the refrigerator for longer than 2 hours, loosely cover the cheesecakes. Even if you used the water bath method in step 4, the cheesecakes will slightly sink as they cool.
- Make the whipped cream: Using a hand mixer or a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, whip the cold heavy cream, sugar, tequila, and lime juice on medium-high speed until medium peaks form, about 3–4 minutes. Medium peaks are between soft/loose peaks and stiff peaks, and are the perfect consistency for topping and piping on desserts. I used Wilton 1M tip for piping whipped cream on the pictured mini cheesecakes. Garnish with lime slices and/or other toppings. Whipped cream can be made and piped/spread on mini cheesecakes up to 24 hours in advance. Refrigerate decorated cheesecakes until ready to serve.
- Cover and store leftover cheesecakes in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
Notes
- Make Ahead & Freezing Instructions: Prepare the cheesecakes through step 3 up to 2–3 days in advance. Cover unbaked cheesecakes and store in the refrigerator until ready to bake. Continue with step 4. Baked cheesecakes can chill in the refrigerator for up to 1 day, with or without whipped cream and garnishes. Freeze individual baked and cooled cheesecakes for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator before garnishing with whipped cream and serving.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): 12-count Muffin Pan (I also love this one) | Cupcake Liners | Glass Mixing Bowl | Food Processor (for crust) | Zester | Citrus Juicer | Electric Mixer (Handheld or Stand) | Roasting Pan or 9×13-inch Baking Pan (for optional water bath; do not use glass) | Cooling Rack | Piping Bag (Reusable or Disposable) | Wilton 1M Tip
- Triple Sec: If you don’t have triple sec liqueur, use more tequila or swap with orange juice.
- Limes: Have 2–3 limes on hand, which would also be enough for the lime slice garnish.
- Non-Alcoholic Version: Replace tequila with 1 Tablespoon lemon juice and 1 Tablespoon lime juice (in addition to the 1 Tablespoon lime juice that is already in the filling for a total of 2 Tbsp lime juice). Skip the triple sec. Skip the tequila in the whipped cream and add 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract.
- Full-Size Cheesecake: For a full-size margarita cheesecake, start with my key lime cheesecake recipe. Swap 3 Tablespoons of lime juice with tequila and 1 Tablespoon of lime juice with triple sec. Use regular lime juice instead of key lime if desired. Add 1 extra teaspoon lime zest. Follow the rest of that recipe as directed.
- Mini Mini Cheesecakes: Line 2 24-count mini muffin pans with mini muffin liners. Make the crust and cheesecake batter as directed. Press 2 teaspoons of crust into each mini muffin liner. Pre-bake at 350°F (177°C) for 5 minutes. Remove from the oven and fill each to the top with cheesecake batter. Bake for 10–11 minutes or until the cheesecakes appear set on top. Continue with step 6 in this recipe. No need for the water bath if using a mini muffin pan (doesn’t really make a difference). Yields approximately 40–48 super mini bite-size cheesecakes.
- Non-U.S. Readers: Don’t have graham crackers where you live? Use these measurements for a biscuit crumb crust for these mini cheesecakes: 135g digestive biscuits (9 biscuits) + 30g butter, melted + 3 Tablespoons (37g) sugar. Grind the biscuits into crumbs, combine with sugar, then stir in the melted butter. Press into liners and pre-bake as directed in step 2. And from what I understand, spreadable cream cheese sold in a tub in countries outside of the U.S. is a little different from the spreadable cream cheese in the U.S. It’s thicker, sturdier, and more solid and should be OK to make cheesecake, though I haven’t tested this myself.
I’ve just made these for the third time this summer / fall; they are always a BIG hit. In my muffin tins, I get 15 instead of 12, which is a bonus, but takes a little more fiddling, because you’ll need to increase the crust which takes a little bit of math / calculator. But, it’s only three ingredients: 140 g crumbs, 29 g sugar, 50 g butter melted. For me, the batter perfectly fits into the 15 muffin liners. AND ~ I use two 12-muffin tins, and fill the extra 9 empty muffin spots with boiling water (careful!!) about 2/3 full, and this gives me a nice compromise to preparing a water bath, and saves my muffin tins (from warping). Finally, I must be slow, but there is no way I can prepare these in even close to 20 minutes, haha… but I’m not Sally! Give yourself time to make these delicious desserts.
Absolutely DELICIOUS! Will definitely make them again and again and again!!
These were so easy and an absolute hit! My boyfriend, who doesn’t care for sweets and desserts, asked me to make them again!
OMG! So delicious and the whipped cream stayed firm. So easy, so delicious and refreshing. I have not made anything from Sally’s that wasn’t delicious. A must try for su mmer.
Lovely recipe – I jade the mini version and they came out great. They looked and tasted delicious. I wonder if it’s possible to increase the amount of triple sec to get a more pronounced flavor?
We’re so glad you enjoyed these! It would take some testing to properly increase the amount of triple sec, since it would add more liquid to the batter. Let us know if you decide to do any experimenting.
I am a big fan of salted margaritas—would you recommend just using salted butter in the crust, or sprinkling with a little flaky/coarse salt instead of the sugar? Thanks!
Hi Jennie, you can certainly do either!
I used crushed pretzels for the crust instead of graham crackers – gave me that shot of salt.
Can this recipe be made in a rectangular pan?
Hi Sue, We have a recipe notes for making a full sized cheesecake in a springform pan. We haven’t tested a 9×13 pan with this recipe so can’t be certain, but we would begin checking at 25 or 30 minutes.
This recipe is perfect, cinco de mayo hit two years in a row. Sally has quickly become my go to for any recipes. Thanks Sally!
Could I make this without a graham cracker crust of any crust at all? Would just putting the filling in a cupcake liner work?
Could I make this without using a graham cracker or any crust at all? Would just putting the filling in a cupcake liner work?
Hi Marcy, we haven’t tested it, but you can certainly give it a try. Baking times and directions should be the same, minus the graham cracker crust. Let us know how it goes!
Marcy, the first time i made these i had extra batter, out of which i made 3 more without crusts. They baked just as fine (in liners), and my daughter’s boyfriend inhaled them.
Hi Sally, I have made these a couple of times. They are delicious and not much trouble. I see that I can adjust the recipe to exclude the alcohol (yay!), but can I also exclude the lime, or substitute lemon for lime? Thank you for all you do!
Hi Pat, you can substitute lemon for lime. Here’s our plan mini cheesecakes recipe as well!
Thank you for including a non-alcoholic version!
I need a gluten free version. I’m going to use gluten free graham crackers for the crust, but can I substitute cornstarch for the flour? Based on other sites perhaps I would use half the amount?
Hi Christine, we haven’t tested this recipe using cornstarch instead, so we’re unsure of the exact results. You may have better luck swapping the flour with a 1:1 gluten free all purpose flour blend instead. Let us know how it turns out for you.
An outstanding share! I have just forwarded this onto a friend who has been conducting a little research on this. And he actually bought me breakfast due to the fact that I found it for him… lol. So allow me to reword this…. Thanks for the meal!! But yeah, thanx for spending time to talk about this matter here on your website.
I made both the original and the non-alcoholic version for a neighborhood get together….huge hit! So delicious!
This recipe was really great. I used the water pan on the bottom shelf and yes, great light, fluffy cheesecakes. I used digestives, but found that 120 grams was way more than what was needed, I didn’t add sugar to that mix either and was happy with the end result. I have a child and found I was able to include the eggs before the alcohol and separate some of the mixture to make a couple for them that had no alcohol (just lime juice) and was pleased to find that adding the alcohol last did not create any issues. I also used silicone cases in the muffin tin and they were great – no greasing required, and I could easily peel them off once the cakes had been cooled.
I love this recipe! I’ve been using this website since I first started baking (a year ago), and this was almost as good as my grandma’s cheesecake. Actually, I did half a batch without the alcohol, but since this was my first time, I think it came out pretty well. Thanks Sally!
Hi Delilah! I’m so glad you love these, and thank you for using and trusting my recipes!
I made this with jalapeño tequila and yum! Not very good the first day but really good on day 2!
Made these a couple weeks ago. Everyone Loved this recipe. Can’t wait to make them again!
Can you swap out sour cream for Greek yogurt?
Hi Samantha, yes! Plain full fat yogurt will work in place of the sour cream here.
I’d like to make these as bars in a 9×13 inch pan—I’m planning to make 1.5x the recipe and bake for 35-40 minutes—would that work? Are there any other adjustments I should make?
Hi Clare, I haven’t tested that size pan with this recipe so I can’t be certain, but that bake time could be too long. I would begin checking at 25 or 30 minutes.
I absolutely love everything you make! I can’t wait to try these, but I was wondering, do you think these would work in a mini muffin pan, or would that throw off the texture?
Thanks!
Hi Rebecca, sure can! See recipe notes for “Mini mini cheesecakes” instructions.
This has got to be my new favorite cheesecake recipe! It is phenomenal! So creamy and delicious! I added a little bit of vanilla extract (about a teaspoon, although I didn’t measure!) and it made a huge difference in the crust! It is the first time I ever put vanilla in a graham cracker crust. I was amazed on how flavor it added to the crust! This recipe is to die for! SO GOOD!!!!
I made these gluten free and they turned out just great!