Did you know you can bake cheesecake in a muffin pan? This recipe for creamy mini cheesecakes is so simple and perfect for a small crowd. Make sure you use a standard 12-count muffin pan. For extra mini cheesecakes baked in a mini muffin pan, see recipe Notes.
Cheesecake is one of my favorite desserts and I have two recipes that steal my heart each time: classic cheesecake and no-bake cheesecake. Both recipes serve A LOT of people. If you love cheesecake, but don’t need an entire cheesecake in the house, try mini cheesecakes instead.
I have a few mini cheesecake recipes:
- Mini Margarita Cheesecakes
- Pumpkin Cheesecakes
- Chocolate Chip Cheesecakes
- Sprinkle Cheesecake Cookie Cups
These recipes yield anywhere from 16–24 muffin-sized cheesecakes. They’re all fun and flavorful, but maybe 16–24 mini cheesecakes is still too many. I felt inspired to reduce down even further and leave out all the extra goodies. Today’s recipe yields 9–10 mini cheesecakes. They’re simple, straightforward, and at only a few bites each, they’re awesome for portion control.
Video Tutorial
How to Make Cheesecake in a Muffin Pan
All we’re doing here is scaling down both the graham cracker crust and cheesecake batter from my classic cheesecake. Use a little more than 1 Tablespoon of both the crust and batter in each mini cheesecake. Like the big version, pre-bake the crust and make sure your cheesecake batter ingredients are at room temperature.
Bake the cheesecakes in a standard 12-count muffin pan. There’s no need for a springform pan and no need to mess with a water bath. Mini cheesecakes are not only easier than a full cheesecake, they take half the time to prepare! And if you’re looking for a version that sets in the refrigerator instead of the oven, you’ll appreciate these mini no-bake cheesecakes instead.
Want to add some flavor? Use my white chocolate raspberry cheesecake bars recipe and see those recipe notes for how to turn them into mini cheesecakes. Love those.
Get creative with the toppings. The baked and cooled cheesecakes will slightly sink down in the centers, but all is not lost. The way I see it, the dip gives you more room for toppings!
Cheesecake Toppings:
- Strawberry Sauce
- Lemon Curd
- Homemade Whipped Cream
- Red Wine Chocolate Ganache
- Homemade Salted Caramel
- Chocolate Ganache
Mini Cheesecakes
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
- Total Time: 3 hours, 15 minutes
- Yield: 9-10
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
Bake deliciously creamy mini cheesecakes in a muffin pan! This easy recipe yields 9 individual cheesecakes that are perfect for portion control. Use a standard 12-count muffin pan. For extra mini cheesecakes baked in a mini muffin pan, see recipe note.
Ingredients
Graham Cracker Crust
- 2/3 cup (80g) graham cracker crumbs (about 5 1/2 full sheet graham crackers)
- 2 Tablespoons (28g) unsalted butter, melted
- 1 Tablespoon (12g) granulated sugar
Cheesecake
- 8 ounces (226g) full-fat brick cream cheese, softened to room temperature
- 1/4 cup (50g) granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup (60g) full-fat sour cream, at room temperature
- 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice (optional, but recommended)
- 1 large egg, at room temperature
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). Line a standard 12-count muffin pan with 9–10 liners. (For a mini muffin pan, see recipe note.) This recipe yields only 9–10 mini cheesecakes, so there will be 2–3 empty. 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. (I use closer to 1 and 1/2 Tablespoons of crust per mini cheesecake.) Pre-bake for 5 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 smooth and creamy, about 1 minute. Add the sour cream, vanilla extract, and lemon juice then beat until fully combined. On medium speed, add the egg and beat just until combined. Batter will be thick. Divide the batter between all the liners. It’s about 1 Tablespoon per cheesecake.
- Bake until the edges are set and the centers only slightly jiggle, about 18–20 minutes.
- Set the pan on a wire rack and allow cheesecakes to cool at room temperature for 30 minutes, then transfer to the refrigerator and chill for at least 2 hours and up to 1 day. If chilling for longer than 2 hours, loosely cover the cheesecakes. The cheesecakes will slightly sink in the middle as they chill. It gives you room for toppings!
- Once chilled, add any desired toppings (see Note below) and serve. Cover and store leftover cheesecakes in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
Notes
- Make Ahead 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. Freeze individual baked cheesecakes for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator before serving.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): 12- count Muffin Pan | Cupcake Liners | Food Processor | Glass Mixing Bowls | Electric Mixer (Handheld or Stand) | Cooling Rack
- Topping Suggestions: Salted caramel, lemon curd, strawberry topping, chocolate ganache, red wine chocolate ganache, fresh fruit or maraschino cherries, and homemade whipped cream.
- More Than 9 Mini Cheesecakes: This recipe is fantastic for doubling, tripling, or quadrupling. Simply double, triple, or quadruple each ingredient, including in the crust.
- Super Mini Cheesecakes: Line a 24-count mini muffin pan with mini muffin liners or grease with nonstick spray or butter. For easy and seamless removal from the pan, using liners is preferable. 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 4 minutes. Remove from the oven and fill each with cheesecake batter. Bake for 10–11 minutes or until the cheesecakes appear set on top. Continue with Step 6 in this recipe. Yields approximately 30 super mini cheesecakes.
- Non-US Readers: Don’t have graham crackers where you live? Use these measurements for a biscuit crumb crust for these mini cheesecakes: 1 cup (105g) digestive biscuit crumbs (7 biscuits) + 30g butter, melted + 2 Tablespoons (25g) 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 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.
Keywords: mini cheesecakes
I’d like to modify this recipe to make mini lemon cheesecakes – any idea how much extra juice/zest I should add? Also planning to swirl in some raspberry puree 🙂
Hi Julie, I’m glad to help. You can try my mini key lime pies and replace the lime with lemon or you can use this recipe. If using this recipe, add 2 Tablespoons of lemon juice and reduce the sour cream by 2 Tablespoons. Let me know how they turn out!
Is 3 oz muffin tray perfect for this one?
Yes, we use a standard size 12 muffin tray – it holds about 3-3.5 ounces per cavity.
I only have fat free Greek
yogurt. Will that work? I’m unable to leave the house
Please answer as I really want to make these
Wouldn’t a chocolate ganache be wonderful?
Hi Jeanette, Yes you can use your yogurt in place of sour cream. And topping these with chocolate ganache is delicious!
Hi Sally! I wanted to do this one and I have an aluminum muffin pan. Am I going to change the temperature of the oven?
No changes – that’s what we use! Enjoy!
I truly love your recipe Sally, best ever. My family and I love it.
★★★★★
I’ve lost track as to how many times I have made these! The recipe is so simple and they taste delicious!
★★★★★
Can we use lime juice instead of lemon juice? Or is there another substitute? Lemons are very hard to find where I live.
Hi Katherine, You can leave out the lemon and keep the vanilla of the same. Enjoy!
I’ve made these so many times now, and I love them! I’ve given a few to friends and they have said they’re absolutely delicious. Thank you so much for the easy to follow recipe.
★★★★★
This was my first time making cheesecake. I was very nervous and wanted to start small and I found your wonderful recipe! I followed it exactly and they came out perfect. My only advice to others is to double to recipe because they’re that good!
Do you know by chance the nutritional information? I’m wondering how many calories per mini cake.
We are so happy you tried and enjoyed this recipe, Luna! I’m unsure of the nutritional info of this recipe, but there are many great online calculators like this one: https://recipes.sparkpeople.com/recipe-calculator.asp
Hey, I made these today and I noticed that some of them were cracked on the top. Is there a way I can prevent this from happening?
★★★★★
Hi Kashamere, Over-baking is the most common culprit of cracking. Bake until the edges are set and the centers only slightly jiggle. Also avoid opening the oven door while the cheesecakes are baking inside. Cracks are often caused by drafts and temperature changes.
Okay, thank you !
★★★★★
Hi Sally! I’m gonna try this on the weekend. I will be using my ramekins to serve the cakes in, and they hold a little over 2.5 ounces on water in each. Please advise if the baking time will still be 18-20 minutes at 350, or will it be any different?
Also, I don’t own a hand/stand mixer, so I’ll be using my good ol’ whisk. Will that be a problem?
Thanks!! Can’t wait!!
Hi Siddi, A standard muffin pan holds about 3.5oz in each cup, so yours will be smaller. I’m unsure of the exact bake time needed (it will be less) but keep an eye on them and bake until the edges are set and the centers only slightly jiggle,
Just made these now and it turned out great. Thank you so much for this recipe, Sally!
Anyway, how can I make the graham crust crunchier? 🙂
★★★★
Hi Angel, Make sure you firmly press the crust mixture into each liner. You can also try pre-baking for an extra minute.
Hi Sally! Can I make this in a 6.5-inch pan? Thanks!
I recommend our small batch cheesecake. It’s baked in a loaf pan and is super creamy!
Could I add pumpkin pie filing? If so could it be a can or less??
Hi Nicole, Yes! You can use the filling for these Salted Caramel Pumpkin Cheesecakes. Enjoy 🙂
Hi Sally! I’m looking forward to making these! Can I substitute the graham crackers for digestive biscuits do you think? Have you ever tried that?
Hi Pauline! Yes, digestive biscuits are a good substitute for graham crackers, same amount. Enjoy!
Hi, Sally! If I wanted to use this recipe for making Oreo cheesecake, is it just a simple matter of using Oreo crumbs for the crust and adding Oreo to the filling? Thanks!
Hi Jacqueline, You can either place a whole Oreo on the bottom or you can make an Oreo crust like in this recipe for Salted Caramel Chocolate Chip Cheesecakes. You can also try adding 1/2 cup of crushed cookies or even mini hocolate chips if you wish although we haven’t tested it this way.
If I don’t put eggs in the cheesecake, do I have to bake them?
★★★★★
Hi Rhonda, If you are looking for a no bake recipe I suggest using this one: Mini No-Bake Cheesecakes.
These are INCREDIBLE!! I love them so much that I’m going to make them for myself for my birthday, along with red velvet cupcakes! Thank you!!
★★★★★
Hi Sally,
Thanks so much for this recipe, it was my first time baking cheesecake, and they turned out amazing! I added about one extra Tbsp of melted butter to the crust to make it a bit more sticky. We don’t have Graham Crackers here so I used Verkade SF Volkoren cookies which aren’t very sweet so I added the Tbsp of sugar. We only have a small fan forced oven and 6-count muffin pan, so I was able to test out two batches. For the first six I set the oven to 160C and baked for 22min, which was a bit too long, since the middle wasn’t jiggly anymore (but it didn’t crack though :). I ended up filling the last 3 liners with 2.5 tablespoons of batter instead of 1.5 because I wanted to test the cheese vs crust ratio. This time I baked it for 18min and I think that looked just right. The next day I added different toppings, melted white chocolate and strawberries, raspberries and their juice. They looked so cute and pretty, me and my partner devoured them! Thanks again Sally, I have used your recipes before (snickerdoodles!) and they were all so very yummy!
★★★★★
Do you think you could bake mini chocolate chips in the cheesecakes? I know you listed some delicious toppings, but was thinking of putting chocolate chips in, just don’t want to mess up the end result. Thanks!
Sure can, Tessable!
Would it be possible for this recipe to make one big cheesecake instead of individual cupcakes?
Hi Alex, For a full size cake see the recipe for Classic Cheesecake.
These were soooo tasty! They were very easy to prepare and came out looking just as good as they tasted. Every recipe I have ever made from this site has been incredible. Love your work, Sally!
★★★★★
Hi Sally!
I want to do this one day because it’s my favorite! May I ask if this is in 3 oz size cupcake liner?
Hi Denise, the recipe yields mini cheesecakes baked in a regular 12-count muffin pan that holds about 3-3.5 ounces per cup.
These are so good and easy, thanks for a great recipe!
★★★★★
My sister and I made these last night. We did not deviate from the recipe except we used whatever wheat flour-based cookie we had at home as we didn’t have graham. We followed every measurement, added raspberry preserves as topping and they tasted delicious! We made 9 mini cheesecakes. My husband and mother-in-law loved them and said they tasted like the ones we buy from coffee shops! Thank you again, Sally! Your recipes never fail! 🙂
★★★★★
Perfect! Instructions super clear and the mini cheesecakes are extremely yummy!
I made 3 batches of 24 super mini cheesecakes. The recipe says approx. 30 super-minis, but I filled the cups all the way and it was perfect for 24!
It’s a tad too sweet, but great anyway since the cheesecake bites are small. Thank you!
★★★★★
I made these for my husband and I on our anniversary for dessert and they were easy and delicious. I made raspberry sauce to go on top and added fresh berries. My kids loved them too and there were no leftovers. I’ll make them again but I might have to double the recipe!
★★★★★
Hi Sally,
I made these and LOVED them. They were a big hit in a family gathering I had.
The only thing is that the crust was crumbling and often would separate from the cheesecake. How can I correct this ?
Hi Mimi, so glad you tried and loved these mini cheesecakes– did you do anything differently with the crust? Different ingredient(s) or measurements? The crust could have been pre-baked a little too long where it set, so the cheesecake batter could never really stick to it. Try reducing the pre-bake time by 1-2 minutes and adding the batter while the crusts are still warm.
Thank you so much for your answer!
I did not change any of the measurements or ingredients.
I will try baking 1 – 2 minutes less. Thank you for the tip!!
Can I use the jumbo muffin tins and just make less of them?
Yes you could!
Hi Sally, my cheesecakes sunk in the middle, what would be the cause of this?
Hi Lucinda, that’s completely normal and expected. Dense centers of egg-heavy baked foods typically fall, just as the center of a full size cheesecake slightly dips. All the more room for toppings.
Thanks Sally! Shew!
They do taste delicious!
★★★★★