No-Bake Lemon Ricotta Cheesecake
Try this bright, creamy and zesty no-bake cheesecake for a fun frozen dessert. The filling is made with a whole milk ricotta and cream cheese mixture, that's flavored with lemon zest and juice. Pour it onto a homemade lemony graham cracker crust and all of your wildest lemon dessert dreams will come true!
Course Dessert
Cuisine American, Gluten-Free
Lemon Graham Cracker Crust
- 2 cups graham crackers or gluten-free graham crackers
- 6 tbsp unsalted butter melted
- 2 tbsp lemon zest
- 1/8 tsp salt
Lemon Ricotta Cheesecake Filling
- 1 1/4 cup whole milk ricotta strained, if there seems to be a high water content in the package
- 16 oz. full fat cream cheese regular cream cheese, do not use whipped cream cheese!!!!
- 1 cup powdered sugaar
- 2 tbsp lemon zest
- 1/3 cup lemon juice
- 1/8 tsp salt
Toppings (optional)
- Lemon slices
- Extra graham cracker crust crumbs
- Whipped cream
- Lemon zest
For the crust:
Prepare the crust by pulsing the graham crackers in a food processor until they have a fine crumb consistency.
Transfer the graham cracker mixture to a mixing bowl and add the melted butter, lemon zest and salt. With a spatula, combine the butter into the graham crackers until the graham cracker mixture develops the consistency of a wet sand.
With the back of a spatula or spoon, pat the graham cracker mixture into a prepared springform or disposable pie pan. Start on the bottom and then flatten the crust out, until you get to the sides of the pan. Press the crust mixture onto the sides, evenly lining the entire pan. If you don't have a disposable pie pan or springform pan, line a cake pan with parchment paper or foil, leaving a lot of extra foil/paper outside of the pan for an easy removal. If using foil, make sure you don't accidentally fold the foil into the crust!
For the filling:
In a large mixing bowl, combine the cream cheese, powdered sugar, salt and ricotta. Mix or whisk on high speed until fully combined and semi-fluffy.
Add the lemon zest and lemon juice to the mixture and then whisk or mix again on high speed until fully incorporated.
Once fully combined, delicately transfer the mixture to the pan with the crust and pour it on top of the crust until the pan is full. Let it sit in the fridge or freezer for at least 5 hours.
Once removed from the fridge, top with more lemon zest and some lemon slices for color. Feel free to add more graham cracker crumbs and whipped cream as well. Enjoy!
Keyword cream cheese, graham crackers, lemon, powdered sugar, ricotta