These Quick Cherry No Bake Cheesecakes have a buttery graham cracker crust, a creamy cheesecake filling and are topped with plump cherry pie filling. Super easy and always a crowd favorite!
Several years ago I was at a large Church function when I was introduced to the ever so delicious Quick Cherry No Bake Cheesecakes. These cute mini cheesecakes literally take minutes to throw together and are the perfect treat to bring to any gathering, or for just entertaining at home!
When I made these I sent the rest off to work with my husband (after I had one, or five). Later in the day I got a text message from him that said, “Gave away a cheesecake, guy’s mind got blown.”
Yup, they’re mind-blowing good.
Quick Cherry No Bake Cheesecakes
The crust is your typical graham cracker/butter/sugar combo, but I’ve even seen these made with a simple Nilla Wafer placed on the bottom for an even quicker version.
I love the graham cracker crust though, because it’s one of my favorite things about cheesecakes. The buttery, crisp crust is the perfect contrast to the creamy cheesecake filling.
I threw the crusts into the oven for just 5 minutes, then let them cool. BUT – if you truly don’t want to turn on your oven, you can simply place the filled muffin cups in your freezer for 10 minutes until they firm up.
The cheesecake filling is a mixture of cream cheese, milk and vanilla instant pudding mix. So if you really think about it, you could make so many variations of mini cheesecakes just by using different flavors of pudding mix!
No Bake Cheesecake Topping Ideas:
- I use cherry pie filling here, but you can use any flavor of pie filling for the topping.
- Try using fresh fruits like kiwi, pineapple or mango for a tropical twist.
- Swirl in a teaspoon of Nutella or melted chocolate for a decadent chocolate flavor.
- Add a dollop of homemade Dulce de Leche and chocolate sprinkles for a gorgeous presentation.
- Leave the cheesecakes plain and put out several topping options for your party guests to top their own!
The filling takes all of 2 minutes to blend together, and once you fill the cheesecake cups, top with some cherry pie filling, and ta-da!
The easiest Cherry Cheesecakes you’ll ever make!
And the taste? Phenomenal.
Some would say, “Mind-blowing.” 😉
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Quick Cherry No Bake Cheesecakes
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups graham cracker
- 1/4 cup butter
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 8 oz cream cheese
- 1 cup milk
- 3.4 oz vanilla pudding mix, instant
- 1 cherry pie filling
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.(See notes below)*
- Combine the graham cracker crumbs, melted butter and sugar in a bowl. Divide the mixture into each muffin cup and press down to form crust. Bake for 5 minutes, remove from oven and let cool completely in muffin tin.
- Beat the cream cheese until light and fluffy, add the pudding mix and slowly beat in the milk until fully combined. Divide among muffin cups. Refrigerate for 10 minutes, or up to 2 days in advance (just make sure to cover with plastic wrap if chilling for a long period of time).
- Top each mini cheesecake with a tablespoon of cherry pie filling. Keep refrigerated until ready to serve. Enjoy!
Notes
**Use any type of pie filling or topping you would prefer!
Nutrition
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Strawberry Spinach Salad with Candied Pecans
Deb
Are these made in regular muffin tins or the mini muffin pans?
Shawn
Regular muffin tins!
Donna
Is it possible to use fat free cream cheese and sugar free pudding ??? I’m all about cutting calories where I can, if possible. TIA
Shawn
Definitely!
Sandra
My cheesecake part did not turn out. I did the correct measurements and everything. Does the whole 1 cup and 1/4 cup of milk go in?
Shawn
Hey Sandra, I’m sorry you did not have success with this recipe. You will need to use all of the milk. Make sure you add the milk slowly while you continuously beat the cream cheese to avoid any lumps.
Jim
I also had no luck with this one. I feel it was way to much milk the pudding ddn’t set as I would have liked.
I also followed those directions. I assume the pudding mix was a no cook type as resipe didn’t specify
Shawn
I’m almost positive that they have changed the recipe for the pudding mix over the years. I’ve updated the recipe here to make the cheesecake filling more thick, by reducing the amount of milk. It should work a lot better now.
JIll Naylor
Hi, can you use other pudding mix instead of Vanilla? please, I have a caramel & toffee pudding mix of which I think would go well with the cream cheese
Shawn
Definitely! The flavor options are endless. Hope you enjoy!
Allison Sleeman
can u make this
in a 9×13 pan instead
Shawn
Definitely! Hope you enjoy!
Becca
You go by the recipe here, not what’s on the box. Make sure you get the instant pudding mix.
Tricia
I have a question, for the vanilla pudding mix, do i prepare it as the directions says on the box, or do i just blend the box in with the cream cheese?
Becca
You go by the recipe here, not what’s on the box. Make sure you get the instant pudding mix.
Shawn
Hey Tricia, you’ll want to just go ahead and blend it with the cream cheese. Enjoy!
Kamisha
I made these last night and my mix came out runny. I had the wrong box of pudding. I had the cook and serve instead of the instant. So I tried to thicken it up a bit by adding more cream cheese and about 2-3 tablespoons of sugar…and then I had to bake it! But it came out pretty good
Shawn
Oops! I’m glad you were able to figure it out in the end. Definitely try these again with the correct pudding mix and you’ll love it!
Marie
I love love LOVE these! Made them tonight for my family, and my mom (who doesn’t really like cheesecake) loved them! I used a piping bag to put the cheesecake inside the cups, and for hers, I did layers of crust and cheesecake with leftover crust on top! Can’t wait to make these again!
Becca
I made these for Christmas and they were delicious. Very easy to make too. Can’t wait to make them again.
Kristina R.
A few comments–
1) I didn’t use all of the graham crackers for the crust..it was just too much and I didn’t want to have a super thick crust (just not my thing), so I had about 1/4 of the graham cracjer mixture leftover–no biggie there
2) Although my cream cheese ( Philadelphia) was softenend and I mixed the milk in slowly, I ended up getting a few unappetizing and ugly lumps (like tapioca). I was able to remedy the situation by placing the mixture in the warm oven for a minute or two and beating the mixture again. After doing that a couple of times, it was as smooth as a baby’s bottom!
3) Do not try to marble your cheesecake….I doubled the recipe and made 1/2 vanilla, 1/2 chocolate in hopes of getting a beautiful marbled creation. The mixture was a little too thick for it to “marble” properly.
4) I sprinkled the top with heath bar bits for a crunchy element.
Overall, the recipe was easy to follow and the dessert turned out ok in the end (Although a bit ugly, but that was my fault, I’m sure. )
HOWEVER. I am not sure I would call this cheesecake…besides the fact that it has some cream cheese in it. The pudding mix really takes over and overshadows any “cheese” taste….still good though!
Nan
Not sure what went wrong, but mine came out looking like tapioca. Used instant pudding, but it the lumps just wouldn’t smooth out….
Shawn
I’ve seen this happen when the cream cheese isn’t completely softened and you try and blend the ingredients all together at one time. You really need to gradually add in the milk while beating. Also, using a good quality cream cheese helps for an extra smooth consistency.
Nan
I used a national name brand cream cheese. Maybe I added the milk too quickly. It tasted good, but can’t serve it to company.
Joan Earnest
I had a problem unlike the other troubled ones. My pudding mixture turned out lumpy. No matter how hard I beat it, the lumps stayed. It tastes great, but not real attractive. I’m wondering if it took me too long to measure and add my milk as the pudding mix seemed like it was trying to set up with just the cream cheese. Not sure what went wrong???
Shawn
I’ve found that if you do not use a good quality cream cheese and let it soften first, you could end up with a lumpy texture. The best bet is to get your cream cheese softened and then beat it real good, while slowly adding the other ingredients.
Shirley
I tried this recipe for the quick cheesecake and I loved it my boyfriend liked it too thank you very much for this recipe
Lace
Hi
your no bake cheesecakes look yummy can’t wait to try them
one question what size box of vanilla pudding do you use? You mentioned it should be the larger box?
Also is your recipe for a regular muffin tin or mini?
Thanks
Shawn
You’re going to want to use the 3.4oz box of instant pudding mix. 🙂
April
Hi, do you use salted or unsalted butter? And is it ok to substitute almond milk for the cow’s milk? I’m really excited to try this
Vanessa
I absolutely LOVE these simplicity of this recipe. I can whip it up in a afternoon when my mother in law does a surprise visit. I can make these with my kids without going crazy. There’s very little clean up. Best of all, my whole family loves it, including my hubby, who’s not a big fan of cheesecake. Good job, and thanks for sharing.
Shawn
Thanks Vanessa, so glad you enjoy these! 🙂
Laura
Do you use salted or unsalted butter?
Shawn
I typically use unsalted butter when making desserts.
Kathryn
I just made these & got 14 mini cheesecakes from this recipe. My family thinks I only made 12, I wonder how that happened?!! Needless to say it turned out perfectly delicious even with several mistakes on my part…I only had a large box of cook & serve pudding so I cooked it up with half the amount of milk called for, then whisked in the cream cheese as soon as I took the pot off the stove. Also, I got a little ahead of myself & forgot to bake the crusts before spooning the pudding mixture in (I know, silly mistake), but decided that since the recipe said I could freeze the crust before filling, why couldn’t I do it after? So I filled the unset crusts with my warm makeshift pudding mixture & placed them straight into the freezer for about an hour & then into the fridge. They were delicious!!! I look forward to making these the right way soon!
Cindy
Can these be frozen?
Shawn
I haven’t tried freezing them before, so I’m not sure how they will turn out.
Jeri
Not sure what went wrong. Filling was very runny and did not set. Not even over night. Are you supposed to mix the pudding mix with the milk first, then mix into cream cheese?
Shawn
You’ll beat the cream cheese first, then beat in the pudding mix, then slowly beat in the milk. Keep in mind, using low fat or fat free ingredients can cause the mixture to be more runny.
karen marie
It seems several people have complained that the filling didn’t set. My guess is they didn’t use INSTANT vanilla pudding mix but used regular pudding mix. That would make a huge difference.
Shawn
You could be right Karen! Thanks for pointing that out! 🙂
Laura
I would like to make these but have a question first: are you using a regular muffin tin, or a mini muffin tin? I’m assuming regular since you say it only makes 12. I think I could use a mini tin and just divide the ingredients between all the tins until used up…what do you think?
Willowcaroline
I am wondering the same thing – I would like to do these bite size with a mini-muffin tin.
Shawn
You can definitely put them in a mini muffin tin. Just look for the mini muffin tin liners, and divide the mixture accordingly. 🙂
Lori
i am making these now. After putting 1 tbl graham cracker filling in the liners I still have 11/4 cup left! Hoping the remainder of the recipe is correct….
Shawn
Thanks for mentioning the crumbs Lori, I’ll modify the recipe to state: divide mixture among each muffin cup. That’s what it should have said from the get-go. Hope you enjoyed them! 🙂
Ginny
Gosh! Some people don’t use common sense.
Brooke
I never comment in recipes, but I need to comment for other people about to attempt is recipe. DO NOT TRY THIS RECIPE. It does not work, I honestly believe this woman put random ingredients together and got pictures online. The water crackers had sooo many left over even after measuring it precisely. The creamy mixture was just watery and it would be impossible for it t get hard, especially in 10minutes. Save yourself the time and money and get another recipe
Shawn
Hi Brooke, I’m sorry you ran into some difficulties making this recipe. I can assure you that I have tested this recipe several times, and these photographs are my own. 🙂 I’m not sure what “water crackers” are, but if you’re referring to the graham cracker mixture, feel free to just divide the crumbs among the muffin cups if you find you have extra. Also, take a look and make sure you’re using the proper measurements for the filling. The mixture will not turn hard (as you say) because this is a no bake cheesecake, it will be soft set (similar to a very thick pudding) like all no bake cheesecakes are. I hope that helps clear up any confusion you had with the recipe. 🙂
Bonnie
I just made these and the quantity for the pudding may be wrong.
I think that the 4 serving size box of instant pudding may be correct.
My filling came out very firm rather than pourable.
Bonnie
OOPS! My error! I used a large box of pudding not a small box. My mistake!
Carry On! (^,^)
Miss Food Fairy
These little cheesecake cupcakes look gorgeous! Loving your red cake stand, where did you get it? Its absolutely beautiful! I have been searching for a red cake stand for ages. Thank you for sharing your cheesecakes – will try them next birthday party that comes around. Nice to meet you
Eliza from Buttery Chardonnay
These mini cheesecakes look amazing, and your photographs are good enough to eat right off the screen! Thanks for posting and sharing.
Shelby
I’ve been looking for this! Will work on making it lower- carb and lower sugar! Thanks
CT
Thank you for the recipe. And I thought you forgot; silly me. I’ll be trying it with homemade yochee (in lieu of cream cheese)–I’ll let you know how it comes out.
Carol at Wild Goose Tea
I always get a little nervous when I see a recipe that offers me QUICK cheesecake. Cheesecake is my downfall. I don’t want to share what I did to leftover cherry cheesecake pie I served at Easter time. I should have only served one pie, then there would be no leftovers. Oh well. On a positive note what a perfect recipe for potlucks or barbecues—not only are they quick, but the cupcake papers are inspirtional