Perfect New York Cheesecake

This is hands down the best cheesecake recipe we’ve made. A thick graham cracker crust is the perfect base for an incredibly creamy, melt-in-your-mouth filling.

Your search for the perfect cheesecake has ended! A huge thanks to our friend, Chef Richard, for sharing his incredible recipe! As a big cheesecake fan, I knew his recipe would be a winner (and it is)! This has quickly risen to the top of our favorite dessert recipes on Inspired Taste.

This New York style cheesecake is hands-down one of the best either of us have ever tasted. Before trying Richard’s recipe, Adam wasn’t the biggest cheesecake fan, but now, he can’t get enough! For cheesecake bars, see these delicious blueberry lemon cheesecake bars.

Key Ingredients

• Graham Cracker Crust: Our cheesecake crust is made with crushed graham crackers, sugar, and butter. Non-US bakers can substitute digestive biscuits for graham crackers.
• Cream Cheese: Use full-fat block cream cheese for cheesecake. Make sure it is at room temperature.
• Sugar, Vanilla Extract, and Lemon Juice: Our cheesecake filling is not too sweet and has a hint of vanilla and lemon (we only add 1 teaspoon of lemon juice, but it makes a big difference in flavor).
• Eggs: We use a lot of eggs in this recipe (7 whole + 1 egg yolk). We wanted this cheesecake recipe to be New York style, and the eggs help us with that! Thanks to so many eggs, the filling is incredibly creamy, sturdy, and rich.

Find the full recipe with measurements below.

How to Make Cheesecake Like a Pro

Tip 1: Use room temperature ingredients. This is really important. The room temperature cream cheese and eggs mix smoothly and evenly. If your ingredients are cold, you’ll end up with lumps in your filling, which can lead to cracks in your finished cheesecake.

Tip 2: Use a stand mixer to make the filling. We use a stand mixer when making cheesecake, and we recommend you do, too. It makes creating a lump-free, creamy filling incredibly easy. To make the filling, remember to start with room temperature ingredients. To the bowl of your stand mixer, beat the cream cheese, sugar, vanilla, and a little lemon juice. When that’s well beaten and smooth, you can begin to add the eggs (see next tip).

Tip 3: Go slow with the eggs. After you’ve mixed the cream cheese with the sugar, vanilla, and lemon juice, you will add the eggs one at a time. Mix just until each egg yolk disappears before adding the next one. The key is to mix just enough to blend, as over-mixing adds too much air, which can cause bubbles and cracks in the filling. If your filling has a lot of air, tap the bowl on the counter a few times to push air bubbles to the surface so that they pop.

Tip 4: Make our graham cracker crust. The crust for this cheesecake is pretty generous, and we make it the same way we make the crust for our key lime pie. Our graham cracker crust mixes together crushed graham crackers, sugar, and butter. You’ll know it is ready to pack into your cheesecake pan when it looks like sand. To learn more, see our graham cracker crust recipe.

Tip 5: Pack down the graham cracker crust. A well-packed crust is essential to hold up the rich filling. We build up the crust walls first, then fill in the bottom, using our fingers and the flat bottom of a glass or measuring cup to push everything into place. For perfectly rounded edges, we use a trick from Sally’s Baking Addiction and smooth the bottom edges with the back of a spoon. Watch us do this in our video below!

Tip 6: Use a water bath. We always use a water bath to bake cheesecake, and highly recommend it. The water bath acts as insulation, preventing the edges from baking faster than the center. The steamy environment also helps the cheesecake bake more evenly, guaranteeing that ideal silky-smooth texture.

→ We’ll explain how to set up a water bath up in the recipe below, but you can also see the setup in the following photo. On the bottom, there is a roasting pan, then a 10-inch cake pan, and finally our 9-inch springform pan. The 10-inch pan means you don’t need to use foil to wrap the pan to prevent any water from seeping in, but if you do not have one, you can use two sheets of heavy-duty foil and wrap the outside of the springform pan.

Now, we should note that Chef Richard skips the water bath entirely. The thick graham cracker crust in this recipe also acts as an excellent insulator, helping to protect the filling. While we still prefer to use a water bath as our insurance policy for a perfect cheesecake, you can make this recipe without one and still get a fantastic result. It’s up to you!

Tip 7: How to tell if cheesecake is done. We use the classic jiggle test to check for doneness. Give the pan a gentle shake. If the outer edges are set but the center has a slight wobble, it’s done.

Tip 8: Let your cheesecake cool in the oven. When your cheesecake is finished baking, don’t take it out of the oven. To prevent cracks, turn your oven off and let the cheesecake cool inside with the oven door ajar for 1 to 2 hours. This slow cooling process is very helpful in preventing cracks in cheesecake. When it’s cool to the touch, move it to the fridge and let it chill overnight to firm up completely.

Serving Suggestions

This cheesecake is so delicious, you can serve it just as it is. In our photos, we’ve added some fresh strawberries and a spoonful of homemade whipped cream. This berry salad would also be excellent. Other fruits are lovely, too — I especially love sliced peaches or apricots. You could even do a spoonful of fresh peach jam over the cream (yum!).

Finally, a drizzle of chocolate, strawberry, or caramel sauce would be lovely.

More Of Our Favorite Desserts

• Coconut Cream Pie
• Tiramisu
• Key Lime Pie
• Banana Pudding
• Carrot Cake
• Brownies