Bite Size Cheesecake
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I’ve spent years simplifying my favorite recipes, and these mini cheesecake bites are how to make cheesecake at home—without the stress. There’s no water bath, the bake time is quick, and chilling is short. You won’t have to worry about cracks or underbaking—my step-by-step instructions and tips will guide you through every part, so you can bake these perfectly the first time and every time.
For this recipe, we use a mini muffin tin and paper liners. This allows the mini cheesecakes to bake quickly, evenly, and without a water bath! And because these cheesecake bites are so tiny, the chilling and setting time is only a fraction of what it would take to set a whole cake. The perfect dessert? We think so!
Why You’ll Love these Mini Cheesecake Bites
- Making mini cheesecakes in muffin tins is the perfect way to get started if you find making a whole cheesecake overwhelming.
- The bites are made in a mini muffin pan. They’ll bake up way quicker and more evenly, no water bath is needed!
- The mini cheesecake cups can hold any of your favorite toppings like sauces, fruits, and whipped cream.
- These bites are perfect for a crowd! This recipe can be doubled easily to accommodate your party size.
- Cheesecake bites freeze beautifully and are easy to keep on hand for when a craving strikes
- They take minutes to make and only a few hours to chill.
Cheesecake Bites Recipe Ingredients
- Graham cracker crumbs (or your favorite cookie crumbs)
- Melted butter – you can melt the butter on the stove or in the microwave.
- A pinch of salt
- Cream cheese
- Sour cream- use a full fat sour cream for this recipe, or a high fat greek yogurt in a pinch.
- Sugar (for the graham cracker crust and the filling)
- Lemon juice and vanilla extract
- Eggs
- Mini muffin pan and mini cupcake liners
The ingredient list is short and makes the richest and most creamy little bite sized cheesecakes. The graham cracker crust is nice and thick, adding a toasty crunch to the velvety filling.
How to Make Cheesecake Bites
- Make the crust by combining the graham cracker crumbs, sugar, salt in a bowl. Pour the melted butter over the graham cracker mixture and mix until the crumbs are moist and clumping together.
- Line a mini muffin pan (24 cups) with mini cupcake liners. Divide the graham cracker crumbs among the muffin cups and bake until lightly browned.
- While the crusts are baking, make the cheesecake filling by beating together cream cheese, sour cream, and sugar until smooth. Use a hand mixer or stand mixer for this task.
- Flavor the cheesecake mixture with the lemon juice and vanilla extract. Add in the egg last and mix until the batter is silky smooth.
- Spoon the cheesecake batter over the mini graham cracker crusts and bake until puffed and not jiggly. Turn off the oven, leave the oven door open a crack, and let the cheesecakes sit in the warm oven for 30 minutes. Take the bites out of the oven and let them cool to room temperature before chilling for a few hours to set.
- Once the cheesecake bites are chilled completely, top them with your favorite toppings and enjoy!
Cheesecake Bite Tips
- Make sure cream cheese, sour cream, and eggs are at room temperature. This will help all the ingredients mix together nicely and give the cheesecake filling a velvety smooth texture.
- Use an electric mixer. You can use a stand mixer with a paddle attachment or hand mixer for this recipe. This is the best way to prevent lumps in the cheesecake batter.
- Add the egg to the filling last. This prevents overmixing (which causes cracking) and lets you taste and adjust flavorings without eating raw egg.
- Prebake the crusts. This will give you a nice crisp crust, which is perfect for a creamy cheesecake filling.
- Do not overbake the mini cheesecake cups. Because these cheesecake bites are tiny, they bake a lot quicker than a full size cheesecake. You can tell the bites are done when they’ve puffed up like a cupcake, do not look wet, and do not jiggle. Start watching your cheesecakes around the 10 minute mark.
- Let the cheesecakes sit in a warm oven after baking. When the cheesecake bites are done baking, they need to stay in the oven (turned off), with the oven door cracked for at least 30 minutes. This will help the mini cheesecakes cool gently, finish cooking, and prevent cracks.
Bite Size Cheesecake Toppings and Variations
- Change the crust: Feel free to swap the graham cracker crumbs for your favorite cookie or vanilla wafers! Just use 10 tablespoons of crumbs, making sure to crush the cookies into fine pieces with either a rolling pin or a food processor.
- Add a crunchy topping: Add chopped toasted nuts, chunky cookies, candy bars, or toffee crumbles, for added texture and crunch.
- Fresh Berries: berries make a fast and delicious topping with big impact. Add mint leaves of little herb stems for a little extra color.
- Top with jams: top with your favorite jam like a blackberry or raspberry jam, or a mixed berry jam.
Mini Strawberry Cheesecake Bites
Prepare the cheesecake bites as above and top them with the easy homemade strawberry compote or strawberry jam we use for our mini strawberry cheesecakes.
Cherry Cheesecake Bites
Top your cheesecake bites with a homemade cherry pie filling, to make a bite sized version of our favorite Cherry Cheesecake.
Lemon Blueberry Cheesecake Bites:
Add some grated lemon zest to your cheesecake filling and top with a homemade blueberry sauce.
Oreo Cheesecake Bites
Swap the graham cracker crumbs for 10 tablespoons of crushed Oreo cookies, and stir in some Oreo cookie chunks into the cheesecake batter!
No Bake Cheesecake Bites
Make the filling for my Mini No Bake Cheesecakes and omit the candy in the filling (this was originally an Easter recipe). And divide between the mini muffin cups.
How to Store a Cheesecake Bite
These cheesecake bites will stay fresh for up to 5 days and even longer if frozen.
Can you freeze mini cheesecakes?
Yes! These mini cheesecakes freeze well. After chilling completely, place them (with or without liners) in an airtight container. They’ll keep in the freezer for up to a month. When ready to serve, thaw in the fridge for a few hours or overnight.
Frequently Asked Questions
Cheesecake is one of the best desserts to make in advance. You can make these cheesecake bites at least two days ahead of when you need them.
These cheesecake bites bake quickly—start checking around 10 minutes. Total time will vary depending on your oven, but bake time is typically 11-14 minutes. They’re done when puffed up and rounded on top, with no jiggle or browning. If tiny cracks start to form, turn off the oven; they’re ready.
No, each muffin cup holds a small amount of batter, allowing air and heat to circulate evenly. This helps each bite bake quickly and evenly.
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Mini Cheesecake Bite Recipe
Ingredients
Graham Cracker Crust
- 4 Whole graham crackers 10 tablespoons of crumbs
- 2 teaspoons granulated sugar
- Pinch of salt
- 3 tablespoons of unsalted butter melted
Cheesecake Filling
- 8 oz of cream cheese softened to room temperature
- 3 tablespoons of sour cream
- 1/3 cup + 2 tablespoons of granulated sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract
- 2 teaspoons of lemon juice
- 1 large egg room temperature
Instructions
- To make the crustMove your oven rack to the 3rd shelf position up from the bottom, preheat the oven to 350º, and line a 24 cup mini muffin pan with mini paper liners–no cooking spray needed.
- Next, crush up your graham crackers into fine crumbs. This can be done in a food processor or using a ziploc bag and a rolling pin.
- Transfer your crumbs into a bowl and add the sugar and pinch of salt. Give the mixture a stir to combine.
- Pour the melted butter into the graham mixture and stir until the crumbs are evenly moistened and clump together when squeezed in your hand.
- Divide the crumbs among the mini cupcake liners, you'll use about 1 teaspoon of crumbs per muffin cup. Press the crumbs into a compact layer with a bottle cap or a fancy tamper if you have one.
- Bake at 350º for 5-7 minutes until the crusts are lightly golden brown around the edges.
- Remove the mini crusts from the oven and turn the oven temp down to 325º.
- To make the filling Add the cream cheese to a mixing bowl and beat on medium low speed until smooth, about 30-45 seconds.
- Next, add in the sour cream and beat until smooth.
- Add in the sugar, mix until blended, and then use a rubber spatula to give the bowl a scrape.
- Turn the mixer to low and add your lemon juice and vanilla extract. Mix until the batter is super smooth. Give the mixture a taste and add a few more drops of lemon juice or vanilla if desired.
- Once you're happy with the flavor, on low speed, add the egg. Mix until the egg is just incorporated.
- Give the bowl a scrape one more time and then finish mixing on low for about 30-45 seconds, until the batter is silky smooth.
- Divide the batter among the 24 muffin cups, about 1 tablespoon of cheesecake batter per cup. They will be full and that's what you want.
- Bake at 325º for 11-14 minutes until the cheesecakes are puffed like cupcakes, but have no color and do not jiggle. Once baked, turn the oven off and leave the door open a crack. Let the cheesecake bites sit in the warm oven for 30 minutes before taking them out.
- Allow the mini cheesecakes to cool completely before chilling in the fridge for at least 4 hours, but overnight is best.
- Serve your cheesecake bites topped with your favorite fruit sauce, berries, and whipped cream.
Could I use standard size muffin tins instead of mint? I don’t want to buy mini tins If yes how woul I adjust cooking time?
Yes! I have a recipe for that exact size: https://barefootinthepines.com/mini-strawberry-cheesecakes/. You can omit or serve the strawberry sauce on the side. The cheesecake is a NY style cheesecake made in a muffin pan!
Yum! Very good recipe and easy. Making them for Christmas tonight and putting in freezer tomorrow. Thank you
So delicious! I made these for a Christmas party. However at least half of them sunk! I’m suspicious my oven isn’t hot enough, could that have been the issue? They needed more baking time?
It might be an issue of the oven running too hot, making the sides rise quicker than the centers or the cakes may have been underbaked slightly.
Hi. Just made these and they’re fully cooked but seem really soft. I haven’t put them in the fridge yet. Will that make them seat better?
Yes! They’ll firm up once they’re chilled.
i’m so excited to make these! which frosting or cream did you use to top the bites with?
Hi! In the photos I just used a homemade whipped cream (the canned stuff ended up weeping in a few hours!). Here’s the recipe:
1 1/4 cup heavy cream
3 tablespoons powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Mix everything together on low speed and then turn it up to high with a hand mixer. Whip it until it’s thick and the cream stands up on the end of the beater. Happy Holidays!
This was the easiest recipe to follow. Your instructions were perfect! They are on the cooling rack now and are just beautiful. Thank you Michelle!
Easy, delicious recipe! Thanks!