Cheesecake Bars

18 servings
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 40 minutes
Total Time 55 minutes

Cheesecake Bars have just 5 ingredients in their rich sour cream-cream cheese filling over a buttery graham cracker crust. Perfect for a crowd or snacks on the go.

If you want all the taste of a New York Cheesecake without all the fuss, you are going to love this easy Dessert Recipe. Perfect for parties or whenever you want creamy cheesecake on the go!

Cheesecake Bars in a stack

CHEESECAKE BARS

Cheesecake is one of those desserts that everyone loves but usually only make for special occasions. Between the water bath and slowly cooling the cheesecake in the oven, it takes a lot of patience to make. This easy recipe cuts out all the fuss while still giving you creamy cheesecake every time.

Cheesecake Bars are an easy cheesecake recipe that uses only a handful of ingredients and little cleanup. You could easily make this entire recipe all in one large bowl. Make your graham cracker crust, then rinse and dry out the same bowl to make the cheesecake filling. Use aluminum foil to line the baking dish for even easier cleanup.

Serve Cheesecake Bars with a drizzle of Salted Caramel Sauce or Chocolate Ganache for an easy flavored cheesecake recipe. For a classic topping, serve your Cheesecake Bars with this simple homemade Strawberry Topping, made with only 3 ingredients!

Cheesecake Bars in a stack

You want to store cheesecake in the refrigerator but it tastes best served at room temperature. After they have been chilled, bring the Cheesecake Bars to room temperature for about 30 minutes for the ultimate creamy cheesecake texture.

MORE DELICIOUS CHEESECAKE RECIPES:

Serve these to a Crowd

Cheesecake Bars are the best cheesecake recipe for parties, potlucks, or feeding a crowd. You can cut them larger or smaller depending on how many people you are serving. Bake them in a smaller 8×8 inch pan for thicker bars (like brownies), or in a 9×13 baking pan for thinner Cheesecake Bars that you can cut into bitesized pieces.

Make a trio of mini Cheesecake Bites for an easy bridal shower dessert using the variations below. You could make three different batches, or divide the cheesecake filling into thirds and bake in the same pan with aluminum foil dividers. Cut your Cheesecake Bars into bite sized pieces and serve in mini cupcake liners.

Cheesecake Bars in pan

VARIATIONS ON CHEESECAKE BARS

    • Crust: Make a Graham Cracker Crust with crushed Oreos, vanilla wafers, sugar cones, ginger snaps, or hard pretzel twists.
    • Fruit Swirl: Swirl a raspberry or strawberry jam or jelly on top of the cheesecake filling. Pipe from a plastic bag in a few lines across top and gently swirl with a knife.
    • Chocolate Chip: Substitute 30 Oreo cookies (with filling) and leave out sugar in the graham cracker crust. Add 1 cup mini chocolate chips to the cheesecake filling, then sprinkle the top of the cheesecake with another ¼ cup mini chocolate chips before baking.
    • Lemon: Turn these into creamy Lemon Bar-Cheesecake hybrids by adding lemon curd to the cheesecake filling.
    • Pie Filling: Top each Cheesecake Bar with spoonful canned blueberry or cherry pie filling.

SOME DELICIOUS TOPPING IDEAS:

HOW TO STORE CHEESECAKE BARS

  • Serve: Cheesecake Bars can be at room temperature for up to 2 hours before you need to refrigerate them.
  • Store: Place Cheesecake Bars in an airtight container, or cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for up to 1 week.
  • Freeze: Wrap Cheesecake Bars tightly with plastic wrap, place in a sealed container, and freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw in the refrigerator overnight then leave at room temperature for 30 minutes to serve.

top-down view of Cheesecake Bars in stack

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Cheesecake Bars

Cheesecake Bars have just 5 ingredients in their rich sour cream-cream cheese filling over a buttery graham cracker crust. Perfect for a crowd or snacks on the go.
Yield 18 servings
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 40 minutes
Total Time 55 minutes
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Author Sabrina Snyder

Ingredients
 

Graham Cracker Crust

  • 3 cups graham cracker crumbs , (24 full crackers)
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 12 tablespoons unsalted butter , melted

Cheesecake Filling

  • 32 ounces cream cheese , softened (4 blocks)
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 4 large eggs
  • 1/2 cup sour cream
  • 2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 325 degrees and spray a 9x13 baking dish with baking spray.
  • Mix the graham cracker crumbs, sugar and melted butter together then press it into the baking dish in an even layer.
  • To your stand mixer add the cream cheese and sugar on high speed until light and fluffy.
  • Lower the speed to medium and add in the eggs, sour cream and vanilla until smooth.
  • Carefully spread mixture on the crust and bake for 40-45 minutes, until set and firm.
  • Chill completely before serving.

Nutrition

Calories: 322kcal | Carbohydrates: 32g | Protein: 7g | Fat: 19g | Saturated Fat: 11g | Cholesterol: 92mg | Sodium: 351mg | Potassium: 176mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 23g | Vitamin A: 611IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 101mg | Iron: 1mg
Keyword: Cheesecake Bars

Cheesecake Bars collage

About the Author: Sabrina Snyder

Sabrina is a professionally trained Private Chef of over 10 years with ServSafe Manager certification in food safety. She creates all the recipes here on Dinner, then Dessert, fueled in no small part by her love for bacon.

Sabrina Snyder is a professionally trained personal and private chef of over 10 years who is the creator and developer of all the recipes on Dinner, then Dessert.

She is also the author of the cookbook Dinner, then Dessert – Satisfying Meals Using Only 3, 5 or 7 Ingredients, published by Harper Collins.

She started Dinner, then Dessert as a business in her office as a lunch service for her coworkers who admired her lunches before going to culinary school and becoming a full time personal chef and private chef.

As a personal chef Sabrina would cook for families one day a week and cook their entire week of dinners. All grocery shopping, cooking and cleaning was done along with instructions on reheating. As a private chef she cooked for private parties and cooked in family homes in the evenings for families on a nightly basis after working as a personal chef during the day.

Sabrina has been certified as a ServSafe Manager since 2007 and was a longstanding member of the USPCA Personal Chef Association including being on the board of the Washington DC Chapter of Chefs in the US Personal Chef Association when they won Chapter of the year.

As a member of the community of food website creators Sabrina Snyder has spoken at many conferences regarding her experiences as a food writer including the Indulge Food Conference, Everything Food Conference, Haven Food Conference and IACP Annual Food Professionals Conference.

Sabrina lives with her family in sunny California.

Dinner, then Dessert, Inc. owns the copyright on all images and text and does not allow for its original recipes and pictures to be reproduced anywhere other than at this site unless authorization is given. If you enjoyed the recipe and would like to publish it on your own site, please re-write it in your own words, and link back to my site and recipe page. Read my disclosure and copyright policy. This post may contain affiliate links.

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Comments

  1. These cheese cake bars did not dissapoint. They tasted like NY cheesecake, and were a breeze to make. It really helped to put parchment under the graham cracker crust. I’ll be making this again soon.

    1. So glad to hear you loved them Jan! Whoever invented parchment paper is my friend. hahaha. Thanks so much for the 5 star review.

  2. I made this recipe two times in the last two weeks for different events. It was a hit both times! The first time I made it, I thought it was a large amount of graham crackers and the crust would be too thick. It was perfect thickness to be able to pick up the bars. I used parchment paper in the pan and pulled it out to cut them into bars. I put a raspberry or strawberry on each bar. Really yummy and looks fancy!

  3. This recipe was so delicious. I will definitely be making this again and again. It is so simple yet so good. I cut the recipe in half because it was just for my husband and I and it still came out perfect. Thank you for sharing this awesome recipe.

    1. I make the whole pan for my husband and I. I cut it into 6 bars and wrap up 5 bars individually and freeze. That way we aren’t eating cheesecake for days!

  4. Loved the taste! I followed the instructions perfectly and still the graham cracker crust stuck to the dish. It was a mess. So I just scooped it out and put it in dishes and then put the strawberry topping on top. People loved it but what a mess trying yo get it out!!!!

  5. I’ve made the cheesecake several times with a generous 3 tablespoons of lemon juice and it’s always come out great! But what’s the best way to cut it? That’s the one thing I haven’t figured out yet!

    1. What do you mean to cut it? Would love to help. Are you asking where you’d add it in? Or how to lessen the amount?

  6. The cheesecake texture is perfect, although mine cracked slightly when cooling. I also noticed the crust is crunchy and hard, but I did plop the crust by itself in the oven for 5 minutes by itself, prior to adding the cheesecake mixture. If I don’t do that, will it work better (not crunchy)? I was really trying to avoid a SOGGY crust lol. Thank you!!

  7. I made this for the very first time as a surprise dessert for my husband who adores cheesecake. His favorite part is the crust and this recipe looked good.

    Well, it did not disappoint??
    My husband and all our guests loved this so much there was hardly any room for all the holiday cookies I baked lol.

    Thank you for a recipe that will be used again and again in our home?

  8. I made this for the very first time as a surprise dessert for my husband who adores cheesecake. His favorite part is the crust and this recipe looked good.

    Well, it did not disappoint??
    My husband and all our guests loved this so much there was hardly any room for all the holiday cookies I baked lol.

    Thank you for a recipe that will be used again and again in our home?

  9. We don’t need a 9 by 13 cheesecake so I’m thinking of half the recipe for the filling and put in one graham cracker crust. I believe it will work!! I would also top it with a few strawberries!!

  10. These are THE BEST! I made them for a Christmas party last year and I’m getting texts this year to PLEASE bring them again haha! Super easy and I love that there’s no water bath or springform pan needed. Cut into squares and it’s an easy crowd-pleaser!

  11. I cut the recipe in 1/2 (which worked perfectly) and it came out great! The crust was perfect and the cheesecake was excellent and it was ridiculously easy. Great recipe!

  12. These bars are amazing, and it’s wonderful to be able to make them for a crowd my families a cheesecake family always make a
    10 inch one and my recipe is very basic for a cheesecake it’s pretty much like this cheese eggs vanilla sugar now and your recipe I was not paying attention carefully and I did not add the sour cream but they still came out wonderful my mistake thank you once again

  13. If I wanted to make this a banana pudding cheesecake bar, could I just add a little instant banana pudding powder?

  14. My family just lives these bars. Gone in 1 day!!!

    Is there any way that I could achieve a more lemony flavor into the cheesecake without changing the recipe that much!

  15. My family loved these bars so much, i almost did not get one! Thank you for sharing. Always enjoy your delicious recipes

  16. I made the cheesecake bars for Christmas dessert everyone absolutely love them they were so quick and easy to make thank you so much for this recipe

  17. Mine was still almost liquid in the middle after 45 minutes. still baking it going on 55. I noticed one person said they had to bake for 60 minutes. Hopefully it will be done by then.

  18. I would love to turn these into pumpkin cheesecake bars (with a gingersnap cookie crumb crust). Do you think I could just add pumpkin to this recipe…and if so, any suggestion on how much pumpkin puree I would add?

  19. At my grandson’s request for his birthday I made a small 7″ cheesecake using half of the batter for the filling and 1/3 the ingredients for the crust.

    I topped it with sliced fresh strawberries and brushed them with a glaze made from strained, heated strawberry preserves.

    I baked it closer to 60 minutes looking for edges that were set with a bit of jiggle remaining in the middle. Since it was such a small springform, I baked it in my slow cooker and I could watch it bake through the glass top. Fun!

    This recipe continues to delight in interesting new ways!

  20. I’ve made these many times. They’re excellent! They’re easy to make and set up like a charm. I even made the mistake once of using 12 ounces of butter in the crust instead of 12 tablespoons and people were still all over them like white on rice!

    I add a splash of lemon extract to the filling. I’d like to add a lemon curd layer but I’m chicken about them setting up as perfectly as the original recipe. I also make the crust with ginger snaps sometimes. A full container of Trader Joes ginger snaps is just slightly more generous than 3 cups of crumbs. It works anyway. …especially if you’re using 12 ounces of butter. =o

  21. I made this for a birthday party. The birthday “boy” wanted cheesecake instead of a traditional cake. It was a hit !! Everyone loved it. So easy to make and just a few ingredients. I made several toppings and let everyone top their own piece. This is definitely being added to my favorite recipe file.

        1. I’m sorry I just haven’t tested the cheesecake bars with mango puree, so I can’t advise you on it. If I was looking to try to I would add a thin layer on top and swirl it in with a toothpick rather than blending with the batter.

  22. I love cheesecake so this is definitely going to be one of my favorites! I tried it and it is indeed so worth it. My kids and I love it so much. Thank you for this recipe!

          1. Freeze: Wrap Cheesecake Bars tightly with plastic wrap, place in a sealed container, and freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw in the refrigerator overnight then leave at room temperature for 30 minutes to serve.