Easy No-Bake Strawberry Cheesecake

I know that sometimes when people hear cheesecake, they think it’s too complicated to make. However, this easy no-bake strawberry cheesecake comes together in no time. It’s layered with buttered graham crackers, cream cheese whipped together with whipped cream, and homemade strawberry sauce. This will definitely hit the sweet spot without being in the kitchen for hours.

There are three parts to this recipe: strawberry sauce, graham cracker crust, and cream cheese filling. Each part is essential to a cheesecake.

Strawberry Sauce

• Cornstarch
• Water
• Frozen strawberries ( Fresh strawberries are fine too)
• Sugar
• Lemon juice

Start with the strawberry sauce first so that it has time to cool while we get everything else ready.

First, combine water and cornstarch in a small bowl and mix until combined.

In a saucepan add frozen strawberries, sugar, lemon juice, and the prepared cornstarch water. Place this over medium-low heat. Stir occasionally. Mash the strawberries a bit with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula. This helps release the juices and cooks down the strawberries.

Cook for about 8-10 minutes. The sauce will start to thicken up and the strawberries should be cooked down. Now take the sauce off the heat and transfer it to a bowl to allow the sauce to cool down.

Graham Cracker Crust

• Graham crackers
• sugar
• melted butter

Place graham crackers in a food processor and pulse until very fine crumbs are formed. Now add sugar and melted butter to the graham cracker crumbs and pulse for another 30 seconds until everything is well combined.

Another option is to place the graham crackers in a large resealable plastic bag and crush them with a rolling pin until fine crumbs are formed. Then place the crumbs in a bowl, add sugar and butter, and mix until all ingredients are well combined.

Cheesecake Filling

• Heavy whipping cream
• powdered sugar
• room temperature cream cheese
• sweetened condensed milk
• vanilla extract
• lemon

Whipped Cream

Using a hand mixer or a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, whip the heavy cream and powdered sugar on medium-high speed until stiff peaks form, about 5-8 minutes. Make sure that once you have stiff peaks, you stop immediately so you don’t over-whipped the cream. If you find that your whipped cream is curled and grainy then you’ll have to start over.

• Stiff peaks- When you left up the beater or whisk from your bowl the whipped cream should stand straight up without falling over. Head over to our raspberry mousse recipe for a better visual of what a stiff peak looks like.

• Quick Tip: Make sure to leave the heavy whipping cream in the fridge and only take it out when you’re about to use it. Also, place your mixing bowl and whisk attachment into the freezer for about 15 minutes. This will help the whipped cream thicken much better and faster.

Cream Cheese

If you’re using a stand mixer, transfer the whipped cream into another bowl. Using the same bowl that was used to mix the whipped cream (no need to clean in between), mix together the cream cheese, sweetened condensed milk, vanilla extract, and lemon juice using a paddle attachment. However, if you’re using a hand mixer just use a different bowl to mix the cream cheese mixture.

• Quick Tip: It’s important for the cream cheese to be at room temperature. If the cream cheese is still too cold it will have lumps. If you’re in a pinch and forgot to leave out the cream cheese just unwrapped them from their foil wrapper in pop them into the microwave for 15-30 seconds.

Now take the whipped cream and add about 1/3 of the total amount to the cream cheese mixture and fold in gently. Repeat until all the whipped cream has been incorporated. Make sure to scrape down the side of the bowl with a large rubber spatula towards the center, bringing some batter up from the bottom and flipping it over. This will help mix the whipped cream into the cream cheese and keep everything light and fluffy.

Now it’s time to assemble your easy no-bake strawberry cheesecake.

Add 2-3 TBSP of the crushed graham crackers to the bottom of a jar or cup, then add the whipped cream cheese mixture, and then the strawberry sauce and some chopped fresh strawberry. I added another layered of the crushed crackers and more whipped cream cheese and topped it off with a fresh strawberry.

For this post I used 7 oz. glass yogurt containers and was able to fill about 10 of them using this recipe. Of course if you have 12-16 fl. oz. regular glass cups this recipe will probably make 4-6 servings.

We hope you will give this easy no-bake strawberry cheesecake recipe a try. Enjoy!

Print Recipe

Easy No-Bake Strawberry Cheesecake

(5 votes, average: 4.20 out of 5)

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Dessert

By Our Little Nook – Serves: 4-8

Prep Time: 30 minutes – Cooking Time: 10 minutes – Total Time: 40 minutes

Ingredients

• Strawberry Sauce
• 1/3 cup of Water
• 2 TBSP corn starch
• 2 cups of frozen or fresh strawberries
• 1/3 cup of sugar
• 2 TBSP lemon juice
• Crust
• 12 Graham crackers
• 6 TBSP melted butter
• 2 TBSP sugar
• Cream cheese filling
• 16 oz. heavy whipped cream
• 1/3 cup of powdered sugar
• 2- 8 oz. brick-style cream cheese -do not use cream cheese spread from a tub
• 1/3 cup sweetened condensed milk
• 1/2 TBSP vanilla extract
• 1 TBSP lemon juice
• 1 1/2 cup of chopped fresh strawberries
• 1 cup of fresh strawberries for topping

Instructions

Strawberry Sauce

1

First, combine water and cornstarch in a small bowl and mix until combine.

2

In a saucepan add frozen strawberries, sugar, lemon juice, and cornstarch water.

3

Place this over medium-low heat. Stir occasionally. Mash the strawberries a bit with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula. This helps release the juices and cooks down the strawberries.

4

Cook for about 8-10 minutes.

5

The sauce will start to thicken up and the strawberries should be cooked down. Now take the sauce off the heat and transfer it to a bowl, so the sauce can cool down.

Graham cracker crust

6

Place graham crackers in a food processor and pulse until very fine crumbs are formed. Now add sugar and melted butter to the graham cracker crumbs and pulse for another 30 seconds until everything is well combined.

7

Another option is to place graham crackers in a large resealable plastic bag and crush them with a rolling pin until fine crumbs are formed. Then place crumbs in a bowl, add sugar and butter, and mix until all ingredients are well combined.

Cheesecake filling

8

Using a hand mixer or a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, whip the heavy cream and powdered sugar on medium-high speed until stiff peaks form, about 5-8 minutes.

9

Make sure that once you have stiff peaks you stop immediately so you don't over-whipped the cream. If you find that your whipped cream is curled and grainy then you'll have to start over.

10

If you're using a stand mixer, transfer the whipped cream into another bowl, and then with a paddle attachment mix together the cream cheese, sweetened condensed milk, vanilla extract, and lemon juice. No need to clean the mixing bowl. However, if you're using a hand mixer just use a different bowl to mix the cream cheese mixture.

11

Now take the whipped cream and add 1/3 of it to the cream cheese mixture. Fold in gently and repeat until all the whipped cream has been incorporated.

12

Make sure to scrape down the side of the bowl with a large rubber spatula towards the center, bringing some batter up from the bottom and flipping it over. This will help mix the whipped cream into the cream cheese and keep everything light and fluffy.

13

Now, to assemble this no-bake strawberry cheesecake add 2-3 TBSP of the crushed graham crackers to the bottom of a jar or cup, then add the whipped cream cheese mixture, and then the strawberry sauce and some chopped fresh strawberries. Then add another layer of the crushed graham crackers and more whipped cream cheese and topped it off with a fresh strawberry. Enjoy!