The easiest lemon cheesecake you ever did see…
This creamy, dreamy, lemony cheesecake is dangerously easy and so, so good. The tart tangy flavor from the lemons perfectly balances out the sweetness from the cheesecake. If you love lemon desserts, you are going to love this version of my 2-ingredient cheesecake!
If you’ve found this recipe before trying my 2-ingredient cheesecake (my take on an Indian dessert), then you might be a bit skeptical – how is it possible for this to taste like cheesecake? Especially when there is no cheese in the recipe? Please trust me, it does. And besides – what have you got to lose? This dessert takes such little prep time and only calls for two necessary ingredients (though if you want it to taste like a lemon cheesecake, you’ll need to add lemon juice and zest).
And once it’s done, top it with some lemon curd. Totally optional, but I love the pop of color that it adds. I also like decorating the cheesecake with candied lemon slices (I buy them from trader joe’s).
It’s your call as to whether to add a crust or not. Most of the time, I leave my cheesecake crust-less (see my mango cheesecake recipe as an example). This time I decided to make a crust out of pistachios. This nutty crust is super simple – all you need: nuts + Medjool dates. That’s my go-to crust when I’m making an easy gluten-free dessert.
You can make any crust you’d like. I’ve seen blog readers tag me in photos with graham cracker crusts. I bet that’d be delicious too! You pretty much can’t go wrong with this cake.
This is what the cake looks like when you cut into it. Doesn’t it look so creamy? I know this is the tiniest piece you guys, but this cheesecake is so decadent that this is honestly enough.
I can’t wait to hear what you think of this cake!
Ingredients
- Oil or butter for greasing the pan
Pistachio Crust (optional)
- 1 cup pistachios or another nut
- 5 dates roughly chopped
Lemon Cheesecake:
- 1 14 ounce can condensed milk (sweetened)
- 1 cup whole milk greek yogurt full-fat
- 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon lemon zest
Optional Topping:
- Lemon curd
- Candied lemon slices
Instructions
- Grease the cheesecake pan.
- To make the crust: add the pistachios and dates to a blender and blend until it turns into a sticky, crumbly mixture. Add this mixture to the greased cheesecake pan and press down to smooth it out. Use a paper towel to blot the crust a bit (this will help ensure that the cheesecake doesn’t end up green like the pistachios).Â
- To make the cheesecake: add the condensed milk, yogurt, lemon juice and zest to a bowl and mix well. Pour this into the greased 6-inch cheesecake pan or 7-inch cheesecake pan (with a removeable bottom), then cover the pan with foil.
- Add 2 cups water into the steel inner pot, then place the trivet/wire rack that came with your pressure cooker into the pot. Place the pan on top of the rack.
- Secure the lid, close pressure valve and cook for 30 minutes at high pressure.
- Naturally release pressure for 20 minutes, then release any remaining pressure (do not leave the cheesecake sitting in the pot).Â
- Allow the cheesecake to cool down on a wire rack. I find it easiest to unmold the cheesecake while slightly warm.
- Put the cheesecake in the fridge to firm up, approximately 4-6 hours.
Notes
- This is best when chilled (in my opinion) but you can also eat this warm or at room temperature as a pudding if you like. It will only taste like cheesecake after it has chilled. If you eat it warm, it will taste like custard.
- You can freeze this cheesecake! It tastes great when thawed but I’ve found they are a bit more crumbly. Still delicious though!
- You can also make individual cheesecakes using ramekins – find those directions in this blog post.
Christina says
a great dessert for how easy it is! I did the version with ramekins and it worked nicely. I am giving it 4 stars instead of 5 because the basic dessert (even with the juice and zest) was very plain to us. I also made the lemon curd recipe (stovetop version) and with that on top, the end result was delicious, but if I hadn’t done that we would have been rather disappointed with regard to flavor.
nevertheless, it’s great to have something this easy for an option.
Janet says
I don’t have a pressure cooker, so how would this cheesecake be cooked in a traditional oven?
Naina says
Can I use lime instead of lemon?
Ashley - My Heart Beets says
Yes, it’ll just be lime-flavored – it’ll still be delicious!
Evelyn Martinez says
I want to make the Indian cheesecake, but I can’t find full whole milk Greek yogurt. They are all made with nonfat milk. What else can I use?
Ashley - My Heart Beets says
Hi Evelyn, I know other readers have made this using non-fat yogurt – I would suggest straining it to make it thicker.
Evelyn says
Could you double the recipe?
Ashley - My Heart Beets says
Hi Evelyn, I haven’t tried but my guess would be no – if you double the recipe, you’ll likely need to adjust the cooking time. It would require some experimenting…
Dhara says
How do I deodorize the instant pot? Last time I made this it smelled like Indian food.
My Heart Beets says
Hi Dhara, I would suggest keeping a separate silicone ring for desserts.
Jen says
I made this yesterday on Christmas day, coz i completely forgot about cake and didn’t make my Kerala plum cake. Also I was planning on making this for a dinner at a friend’s place and that event didn’t happen. This was fantastic! I made it with the oatmeal & pecan crust. Next time I may toast the oatmeal and pecans. My hubby and guests couldn’t believe that there was no cheese in it. He, of course, thinks its super heathy coz it has Greek Yogurt it in. Amazing how easy and more importantly delicious this is.
My Heart Beets says
Jen, really great reading your comments! I love that you made a few of my recipes for Christmas, thank you for sharing! So glad you, your hubby and guests liked this cheesecake 🙂
veronica bellotti says
Iv made the cheescake a few times, and now going to make with lemon curd on top, can I put the lemon curd on top then freeze the cheese cake with the lemon curd already on
My Heart Beets says
That’s great! Yes, you can freeze it with the lemon curd – I’ve done it and it thaws just fine 🙂
Miki says
Hi, can you tell me what size your cheesecake pan is? 7 inches?
I have made your ground pork vindaloo and LOVE IT!!!! SO GOOD. Thank you so much!
My Heart Beets says
Hi Miki, you can use a 6 inch or 7 inch pan depending on how thick you want it to be 🙂 I’ve used both sizes but the one pictured in this post is 6 inches. Hope that helps! Let me know what you think of this!