What You’ll Need for This Recipe
Strawberries: I used fresh strawberries for my reduction but you can thaw frozen ones and use those instead! Pecans: If you’d rather skip the nuts, then just sub in an extra cup of crushed Graham crackers.
How to Make a No Bake Strawberry Cheesecake
Add Graham crackers, toasted pecans, brown sugar, and salt to a food processor and pulse until you have fine crumbs. Pour in the melted butter while pulsing then remove the blade and mix once more with a spatula. This can be done without a food processor by mincing the nuts, crushing the crackers in a bag and mixing everything together in a bowl
Dump the mixture into your springform pan and spread out. Use a flat-bottomed glass to press the crust together; press hard, it helps the crust really hold together. I like to bake the crust for 10 minutes at 350F, as it brings out the flavor, but you can pop it right into the freezer if you don’t want to turn the oven on.
Add the hulled strawberries, sugar, lemon juice, and corn starch to a blender and pulse until liquified.
Transfer the mixture into a pot and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to low and simmer until thickened and reduced by about half.
Beat the room temperature cream cheese for a minute to loosen it up then add the sugar and mix until smooth. Scrape the bowl down and pour in the sweetened condensed milk, vanilla, and lemon juice while running your mixer on low. Add about half a cup of the chilled reduction and mix in on low. Scrape the bowl down and mix once more until smooth. You can add a bit more reduction to taste if desired.
Pour the filling into your prepared crust and smooth the top. Cover and refrigerate overnight.
After your cheesecake has set up it’s time to spread the remaining reduction onto the top. Use an offset spatula or knife to smooth it out.
You can serve as is, garnish the cheesecake with lots of strawberry slices, or pipe dollops of whipped cream using a star tip and top with thin slices of strawberries. The strawberry slices will dry out quickly so place them on just before serving.
Pro Tips for this Recipe
Use room temperature ingredients, especially the cream cheese and sour cream. You can warm cream cheese in the microwave if you forgot to let it sit out for a bit. Try one or two bursts of 20 seconds at 50 percent power. Beat the cream cheese and sugar well until the mixture is totally smooth then scrape the bowl down and mix once more. Pack that crust really well so you get nice clean pieces that hold together. Baking the crust is optional but I really think it brings out the flavor of the pecans and Graham crackers. This no bake strawberry cheesecake really needs time to set so let it hang out in the fridge overnight.
How long will this last?
Your cheesecake will last up to two days in the fridge or three months if frozen. To freeze the cake, wrap in plastic and wrap in foil. Thaw in the refrigerator before serving
How do you make it from scratch?
Make a strawberry reduction by liquifying strawberries, lemon juice, corn starch, and sugar. Reduce over heat to thicken then mix into your cheesecake filling.
Can I use different pans to make this?
I used an 8 inch springform pan but you can easily use a larger 9 inch pan, the filling will just be a little shallower. You can also make this using a square or rectangular baking dish although removing the pieces neatly will be a bit challenging. If you love this recipe try these out!Cheesecake RecipeChocolate CheesecakeMini CheesecakesNo Bake CheesecakeCream Cheese Cookies If you’ve tried this No Bake Strawberry Cheesecake Recipe then don’t forget to leave a rating and let me know how you got on in the comments below, I love hearing from you!
