These 5 ingredient Instant Pot Mini Cheesecakes cook incredibly quick and make delicious individual desserts for holidays and special occasions. Make upside down cheesecakes with the crust on top, leave them crustless, or go the traditional route! Complete them with your favorite cheesecake toppings and they'll become a go-to dessert for any occasion.
Table Of Contents
Making the perfect, smooth and creamy oven-baked cheesecake can be a source of much stress for many of us. Getting the moisture level just right, creating a water bath, cooling it without the top sinking, and being able to tell exactly when it's done to avoid a dry and crumbly cake is not fun. Especially when making cheesecake for special occasions.
The solution? Instant Pot mini cheesecakes!
Pressure cooking your cheesecake in jars gets rid of all the guesswork and is super fast. I've never made a less stressful dessert than this one!
No water bath. No springform pan. No guessing.
Just one of the easiest and decadent desserts you'll make! For Easter, you can make mini cheesecakes decorated with colorful chocolate eggs, coconut grass, and a marshmallow peep!
You can also make a large size Instant Pot pumpkin cheesecake and Instant Pot mint chocolate cheesecake instead of the mini size. And if you love strawberries in your dessert, try these strawberry cheesecake cookies next.
Recipe FAQs
Making cheesecake in the oven takes a long time and it can be difficult to keep enough moisture inside to prevent the cheesecake from drying out or splitting. But making mini cheesecakes in the Instant Pot takes only 7 minutes and the moisture level stays balanced, creating a quick, easy, and creamy end result.
You can use any oven safe bowls to make your mini cheesecakes. This includes ramekins, mini mason jars, silicone molds, oven proof mugs or glasses, and corningware. I like 4-ounce mason jars with lids the most because it's easy to secure the lid and store the cheesecake covered in these.
Use a trivet to place the mason jars on in the Instant Pot. You can fit seven 4-ounce mason jars on one trivet. If you have two trivets, you can fit 12 jars in the pot at once.
You can use larger, 8-ounce mason jars too, but you'll only be able to fit 6 or 7 jars on at one time.
You can use a 3, 6, 8 or 10 quart pressure cooker for this recipe. The difference is only the amount of water needed to bring the pot correctly to pressure and the amount of jars you can fit in your pot per batch.
Store leftover jarred cheesecakes with their lids on in the fridge. They keep for 1 week.
Ingredients
You have 3 options for this recipe.
- Crustless
- Traditional crust on the bottom
- Upside down cheesecake (crust on the top)
I made all 3 ways and preferred the crust on the top. With this way, there was no visible cracking and the buttery crust fell into each spoonful. There was crust with every bite, just like with a traditional cheesecake slice.
Ingredients for the Crust (optional)
- crushed graham crackers
- melted butter
- white sugar
Ingredients for the Filling
- softened cream cheese
- room temperature eggs
- sugar
- lemon juice
- vanilla extract
Equipment Needed
- Instant Pot or other brand pressure cooker
- Trivet or silicone sling
- 4-ounce mason jars with lids (or other small ovenproof bakeware, like ramekins or mugs)
- Tongs
For this recipe you can use any size pressure cooker, depending on how many mini cheesecakes you want to make. In a 6 and 8 quart Instant Pot, which are the most popular size pressure cookers, about 7 small mason jars will fit on one trivet. You can stack 2 trivets and fit roughly 14 mini cheesecakes in at once.
You can find 4-ounce mason jars or ramekins in a craft of baking store like Michaels. They are also readily available online from Amazon. I have these 4 ounce jars with lids and love them.
I've also used these silicone cupcake molds. Keep in mind that you'll need to cover the cheesecakes while they pressure cook. If using molds, ramekins, or mugs you can use foil to do this.
How to Make Instant Pot Cheesecake in Mason Jars
Instant Pot mini cheesecakes take 10 minutes to prepare, 7 minutes to cook, 15 minutes to release pressure, and 1 hour to cool. Add the time it takes the pot to pressurize and you can have your cheesecake completely done in less than 2 hours.
INSTRUCTIONS
STEP 1: Make the crust (if using) by crushing the graham crackers and mixing with the sugar and melted butter. Press down into the jars if putting at the bottom or reserve to use on the top of the filling.
STEP 2: Make the filling. With an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese and sugar on high speed until blended. Add the lemon juice and vanilla extract and mix until smooth on medium speed. In a separate bowl whisk the eggs. Add whisked eggs to the cream cheese filling and blend on low speed for about 20 seconds.
STEP 3: Scoop the batter (it will be thick) into the jars on top of the crust. Fill to nearly the top. It should come up to the bottom of the rim where the lid locks into place. If putting the crust on top, place about 1-2 tablespoons on top of the batter and press down gently.
STEP 4: Put the lids on the jars loosely (don't twist them shut) or cover with foil. Add 1 ½ cups of water to the inner pot (or the amount recommended for your size pressure cooker). Insert a trivet or sling and place the jars on top of it. Lock the pressure cooker lid with the venting seal up. Set to high pressure for 7 minutes.
STEP 5: Let complete a full natural release. Using an oven mitt or tongs, immediately remove the lids and let the cheesecakes cool to room temperature for 1 hour, preferably inside the inner pot. They may appear puffy or cracked but slowly allowing them to come to room temperature inside the still warm inner pot will reduce this.
You can see in the picture below that the tops of the cheesecake are flat, settled, and don't have much cracking.
STEP 6: Once at room temperature, chill in the fridge for at least 4 hours before serving. Then enjoy with your favorite toppings!
Recipe Tips for Success
For the best cheesecake outcome, make sure to follow these easy tips.
- Use room temperature eggs and beat them into the batter on low speed last.
- Use cream cheese that is very soft to avoid clumping (warm in the microwave for a few seconds if it's hard).
- Always cover the cheesecakes with lids or foil while they pressure cook
- Always allow a natural release.
- Bring to room temperature in the inner pot to avoid sinking tops (this will also let any cracks fall slightly and mold back together).
Other than this, making cheesecake in a jar in the Instant Pot is so easy!
Toppings for Serving
Some tasty toppings for mini cheesecakes are:
- Caramel, chocolate, or strawberry sauce
- Fresh strawberries, blueberries or raspberries
- Whipped cream
Recipe
Instant Pot Mini Cheesecakes
Equipment
Ingredients
For Cheesecake Filling
- 16 ounces cream cheese softened
- ½ cup sugar
- 2 teaspoon lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 eggs at room temperature
For Crust (optional)
- 1 cup graham crackers crushed
- 2 tablespoon unsalted butter melted
- 1 tablespoon white sugar
Instructions
- Make the crust (if using) by crushing the graham crackers and mixing with the sugar and melted butter. Press 1-2 tablespoon down into the jars if putting at the bottom or reserve to use on the top.
- With an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese and sugar in a large bowl on high speed until blended. Add the lemon juice and vanilla extract and mix until smooth on medium. In a separate bowl whisk the eggs. Add whisked eggs to the cream cheese mixture and blend on low speed for about 20 seconds.
- Scoop the batter (it will be thick) into the jars on top of the crust. Fill to nearly the top, to the bottom of the rim where the lid locks into place. If putting the crust on top, place about 1-2 tablespoons on top of the batter and press down gently.
- Put the lids on the jars loosely (don't twist them shut) or cover with foil. Add the recommended amount of water for your size Instant Pot. Insert a trivet or silicone sling and place the jars on top of the trivet. Close and seal the pressure cooker lid and set to high pressure for 7 minutes.
- Let complete a full natural release. Using an oven mitt or tongs, immediately remove the lids and let the cheesecakes cool to room temperature for 1 hour, preferably inside the inner pot. They may appear puffy or cracked but slowly allowing them to come to room temperature inside the still warm inner pot will reduce this.
- Once at room temperature, chill in the fridge for at least 4 hours before serving. Serve plain or with your favorite toppings.
Notes
Nutrition
Kris says
I made these in the 4-ounce jars with crust and split the ingredients between 9 jars. I should have done 10 or 11 jars-- some were too full and rose to touch the lid. They still tasted great but looked messy. I stacked jars in the Instant Pot, using loose metal lids. Used Biscoff cookies for the crust instead of graham crackers. I will definitely make these again! Thank you!
Kristina says
Great ideas! I am glad you enjoyed them. You could add some fruit, whipped cream, or sauce to the ones with the messy tops. 🙂