A healthier, gluten free lemon cheesecake, lightened up with Greek yogurt. We love this cheesecake’s light texture and bright, tangy flavor. It’s definitely a new favorite dessert in our house!
*This post is sponsored by Sharp Home USA, a company who’s kitchen appliances making cooking feel luxurious. Thanks for supporting the brands that keep Sunkissed Kitchen running!
Contents
Why You’ll LOVE this Cheesecake Recipe
I’ve made Greek yogurt cheesecakes before, and loved the light and airy texture, plus the tangy flavor it adds. No pun intended, this new recipe takes the cake. The bright and tangy lemon flavor is such a breath of fresh air, and is the perfect spring or summer dessert.
If you’re a huge lemon dessert fan like me, you’ll also love my No Bake Lemon Bars.
This Recipe Works because:
- Greek yogurt adds protein and lightens up the texture of this cheesecake, while keeping it ultra creamy and tangy.
- Lemon juice and lemon zest add a bright tang, the perfect compliment to the sweet graham cracker crust.
- It’s kept gluten free by using Gluten Free Graham Crackers.
- It’s quick & simple to make. The crust needs just 2 ingredients — graham crackers and butter, and the cheesecake uses just 5 ingredients – cream cheese, Greek yogurt, a lemon, eggs, and maple syrup.
- It’s lightly sweetened with maple syrup — you’ll be surprised how perfect it is with less than half the sugar of a regular cheesecake!
How to Bake a Cheesecake
Cheesecakes are baked in a water bath, also known as a bain marie. This means filling a larger pan with water, and setting the springform pan holding the cheesecake inside the water filled pan.
Using this method allows the cheesecake to cook more evenly without browning, sinking or cracking. The other edges of the cheesecake will bake at the same rate as the center. It also keeps the cake from drying out or becoming rubbery.
I baked this cheesecake in my Sharp Superheated Steam Wall Oven. This luxurious appliance has a water bath setting, so the process is easy, less mess, and works even better.
The oven cooks with a combination of convection heat and superheated steam, so all foods come out moist.
I’ve been using this oven for almost a year now, and love it for just about everything, but especially cheesecakes, muffins, and meats, like whole chickens. I have so many recipes to share with you soon using this amazing appliance!
Jump on over to Sharp’s website to see if this oven would make a good addition to your kitchen!
To Prepare the Cheesecake:
Step 1: Process the graham crackers into crumbs using a food processor. Add the melted butter, and pulse a few times to mix into the crumbs. Once you have this done, add it to the bottom of a spring form pan. Press the crumbs down to form a base layer, and then set aside.
Step 2: Prepare the cheesecake by adding the cream cheese to the food processor. Process to soften the cream cheese, stopping to scrape the sides of the processor bowl a few times. Once the cream cheese is soft and creamy, add the Greek yogurt, maple syrup, lemon juice, and lemon zest. Process to mix it well, scraping the sides as necessary. The last part is to add the eggs and process to combine.
Step 3: Pour the cheesecake batter into the spring form pan on top of the crust. Cover the cheesecake in foil, which helps the cheesecake steam and stay moist while baking.
Step 4: Bake the cheesecake in the Sharp Superheated Steam Wall Oven. If you do not have a steam oven, add hot water to a large baking dish, and set the spring form pan in the water. This will mimic the effect of a steam oven.
Step 5: After the cheesecake finishes baking, allow it to cool, and then refrigerate it for 3 hours or overnight prior to slicing. This will allow it to set and cut into clean slices.
Tips and Tricks for the Best Lemon Cheesecake
- Be sure to take your time making the cream cheese filling. Add the ingredients in different steps, processing well between each addition. The cream cheese won’t fully soft if you add all the ingredients in at the same time. Starting with the cream cheese at room temperature also helps.
- Fully chill the cheesecake prior to slicing it. I prepare it the day before I need it and make sure it chills overnight, still covered in the foil.
- Dip your knife in very hot water prior to slicing for clean cuts, and wash the knife off and heat it up with hot water again before making additional cuts.
- Serve this luscious, tart and tangy lemon cheesecake with fresh whipped cream or coconut whipped cream. I don’t sweeten whipped cream – there is no need when you’re adding it to a sweet dessert!
- For an extra burst of lemon flavor, top this cheesecake with a layer of lemon curd. This recipe uses monk fruit sweetener, but you can sub 1/2 cup of maple syrup if you prefer.
Lemon Cheesecake
Ingredients
Crust
- 300 grams gluten free graham crackers
- 5 tablespoons butter melted
Lemon Cheesecake
- 24 ounces cream cheese (3 packages)
- 1 cup Greek yogurt
- 1/2 cup maple syrup
- 1/4 cup lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon lemon zest
- 4 large eggs
Instructions
Crust
- Add the graham crackers to a food processor bowl, and process until crumbs form. Add the melted butter, and process to combine. Press the crumbs into the base of a 9 inch springform pan.
Cheesecake
- To a clean food processor bowl, add the cream cheese, and process until the cream cheese is softened, stopping to scrape the sides of the bowl as necessary.
- Add the Greek yogurt, maple syrup, lemon juice, and lemon zest. Process until mixture is full incorporated, stopping to scrape the sides as necessary.
- Add the eggs, and process until mixture is smooth.
- Pour the cheesecake batter over the crust. Cover the springform pan with a layer of foil.
- Preheat the Sharp Superheated Steam Wall Oven to Steam/Bake on the water bath setting at 275º for 1 hour 30 minutes.
- Once the cheesecake is baked, allow it to cool, and then refrigerate to chill for 3 hours up to overnight prior to slicing.
This looks so good! Do you use greek yogurt in any other cheesecake recipes?
All of my cheesecake recipes have Greek yogurt in them — love the lightness and the tang it adds! Just search “cheesecake” on any page of my site!
Thanks for sharing! Does it keep long?
It will stay fresh refrigerated for about 3-4 days, and then the crust will get a little soggy. I have frozen this cheesecake though and imagine if you sealed it tight it would be fine for about 3 months!
Is the temperature and bake time the same for a standard oven?
Yes it is — you will need to use a water bath!
Unfortunately, after baking this, it did not solidify at all. I tried to cook it a little longer than it said to see if that would help, but it was still just pure liquid. Not sure if maybe it was supposed to be cooked at 375 instead of 275?
I am sorry that happened! This recipe was developed for a steam oven. I have it on my list to retest in a standard oven.
It took 3.5 Hrs to bake because of the temperature called in the recipe doesn’t work for a traditional oven. . I made this cheesecake for my son’s birthday and we LOVED IT . EXCELLENT RECIPE! Next time I’ll increase the temperature .
Thanks for this review Claudia — I have been meaning to retest the cheesecake in my regular oven so I can add instructions. Spring is the perfect time for a lemon cheesecake so its added to my list!
Thank you so much for this recipe – I made this for Christmas Day lunch and it was incredibly delicious – super lemony, wonderfully tangy – and a huge hit! 😀 As Claudia said (thank you Claudia! 🙂 it took 3.5 hours to cook at 175 degrees c in my conventional oven but was totally worth it! I used Gullon sugar free shortbread biscuits for the base (my partner is diabetic) and put the lemon zest of 2 lemons in it the cheesecake mix but otherwise followed it and can’t believe how well it turned out, it was *so* unbelievably good. It cracked a little on top but it didn’t matter as I topped it with whipped cream and strawberries 🙂 Next time I’ll just up the temperature a bit to speed up cooking time, and if I ever need to make it for someone who has to be gluten free will just switch out the biscuit base for gluten free biscuits. I love how quick and easy it is to make with a food processor – I’m such a lazy baker! I look forward to trying some of your other recipes too, it will be lovely to give my partner the odd low sugar sweet treat now and again 🙂 Thank you so much and Happy New Year to you! 😀
This comment makes me so happy! I am glad you loved it as much as I do. I have been meaning to retest it in my standard oven and add instructions — so thank you for the reminder. I have another site that focuses on low carb and sugar free recipes (lower sugar than Sunkissed Kitchen) where you might find more ideas for your partner! blissfullylowcarb.com — Happy New Year!
Thank you so much Michelle, that’s awesome! All your recipes, savoury and sweet, look beautiful but we both *love* carrot cake which my partner normally can’t have, so next up will be the almond flour carrot cake! It looks amazing, and I love that you can freeze it too – my partner can have the occasional slice when the mood strikes, without overdoing it. But the lemon cheesecake is going to be an absolute go-to from now on whenever I need to make a beautiful low sugar / gluten free dessert – it really is a knock-out! Thank you again! 🙂
We LOVE that carrot cake 🙂 I made 3 last Easter for different photo shoots and froze it in slices and had one every week for a long time.. and I loved it!
I made it yesterday and oh man, it was absolutely delicious, and such a wonderfully light and tender texture (I left a full review on the page), thank you *very* much! But you are *way* more disciplined than my partner and family – I can tell you it wasn’t around long enough to be able to freeze any! ;-D