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!
I originally published this recipe in 2014 and have since added new photos, a video tutorial, and a few more success tips.
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, 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…★★★★★”
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 Blueberry Babka
- 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.
Reader Comments and Reviews
I read recipe wrong and added 1 Tbs of lemon zest, best mistake ever! If I could give a higher rating I would. These are a hit with everyone who had some, and so easy to make!
Do you think I could make this into a cheesecake pie?
Hi Megan, we’d use this recipe for cheesecake pie instead. For a lemon version, we’d try adding 1/4 cup of lemon juice and then reduce the sour cream by about 2 Tablespoons. You can add blueberries to the batter before baking. Let us know how it turns out if you try it.
Hi, Sally!
My friend and I made this together, for a dear friend of mine who spends her days at the hospital. Let me tell ya, her and husband absolutely loved them!! I too, think they are marvelous! Thank you so much for taking the time to perfect your recipes, and share them with the rest of us!
These are my go-to dessert for bringing to any kind of celebration! I’ve brought them to multiple work functions (across multiple jobs!) and family/friend gatherings, and everyone always raves about them and asks me to share the recipe. Sometimes I add a little more lemon juice than the recipe suggests since I’m a big lemon fan, and it still comes out great! Thank you for such an amazing recipe that even a beginner baker like me can make 😀
These are so good! Do you think I could make this into a cheesecake pie?
Hi Megan, we would recommend incorporating lemon and blueberries into this cheesecake pie instead.
Hey! I have a question. Do these bars have to be refrigerated? I’m planning on making these for a market that’s outdoors and all I’ll have is a cooler. It’s in december and I live in the south, so the temperature will be around the 50s and 60s.
Will they be ok without refrigeration?
Thanks!
Hi A.T., the bars stay fresh in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. It’s okay to take them out while serving (or transporting in a cooler), but we don’t recommend letting them sit at room temperature for long.
A.T.: You can put the bars in an air tight container after they are cut and freeze them. It will give you about 20-30 minutes before they are ready to serve, but still cool if you keep them in a cooler. Ice packs will help keep everything cooler as well. In fact, I put my cheesecake bars in the freezer directly after they cool from baking for about 2 hours, then cut them with a two handled straight knife. If you run the blade under hot water, then dry it quickly, it makes for a cleaner cut, but requires a bit more strength to cut.
Hello, Sally. I am new to your site and I’m loving everything I see. I love how you explain everything in detail. Quick question. Can I use frozen wild blueberries for your pie recipe? If, so should I thaw them first? Also, I noticed they are smaller than traditional blueberries. Will this affect the outcome? Thank you for your input
Hi Kelly! We’re so happy to hear you are enjoying our site and recipes! Are you wondering about frozen blueberries for this blueberry pie? If so, we strongly recommend using fresh. If you decide to use frozen, do not thaw first. The pie will take several more minutes in the oven if using frozen berries. Hope this helps!
can I double the recipe and bake in 9×13 pan?
Hi Ardythe, 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 made these with frozen huckleberries and it looks beautiful hopefully it tastes as good as it looks. We are taking them to a party tomorrow.
I wonder if is it possible to use strawberry instead???
That should work, Eleonora!
Hey sally I made these and got such wonderful compliments! Could the recipe stay the same minus lemon juice/zest and the blueberries to make an easy plain cheescake bar??
Hi Bri, that shouldn’t be a problem! You may want to keep a touch of lemon juice (say, 1 teaspoon) to help brighten the flavor a bit without leaving a noticeable lemon flavor. You can omit the lemon zest. Let us know if you try it!
Hi Sally,
I love this recipe and have been making it for a while now. If I would like to make it as an actual cheesecake in a 6″ springform pan, what do you suggest I should modify or adjust?
Thank you so much!
Hi Sindi, you can make this in a 9-inch springform pan, but there is too much batter for a 6-inch pan.
Great! will the instructions and everything remain the same?
Can I double this recipe and make it in a 9X13?
Hi Holly, 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.
how long did you bake it
This is the third time I have made them. Love cooking with fresh blueberries at this time of my year from my yard!
Mine didn’t puff up at all, is this normal?
Totally normal!