This no bake lemon cream cheese pie is a refreshing dessert that is perfect for summer. It has a graham cracker crust, a creamy lemon cream cheese filling, and is topped with whipped cream.
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🥧A perfect pie for summer
No bake pies and cakes are perfect for summer - who wants their hot oven running in the middle of a hot day!?! I'm a fan of no bake cakes (see my no bake chocolate Kahlua cheesecake!), as I'm not blessed with air conditioning in my house.
Lemon desserts are so fresh and tart, and compliment cheesecake so well (lemon meringue cheesecake). The creaminess of the filling and the crunch of the graham cracker crust are a perfect pairing as well. I'm a huge fan of this no bake lemon cream cheese pie, and I hope you will be too!
For more lemon recipes, try lemon raspberry poke cake, lemon pound cake loaf, lemon lovers trifle or lemon poppy seed muffins!
🥘Ingredients
Ingredient notes
- Lemons - you will need fresh lemons for this recipe as it calls for lemon zest as well. About two lemons will be needed, plus more if you want to decorate the pie with lemon slices.
- Cream cheese - make sure you use brick cream cheese which is for baking purposes. The cream cheese that comes in tubes, will not work in this recipe, or any other.
🔪Instructions
First, make the crust. Grease a 9-inch round pie dish with butter. Combine graham cracker crumbs and melted butter together in a medium bowl. Pour crust mixture into prepared pie dish and press evenly into the bottom and up the sides of the dish. Freeze for 30 minutes so crust can firm up.
While crust is firming in the freezer, make the filling. In a large bowl, combine sweetened condensed milk, cream cheese, powdered sugar, lemon zest, lemon juice, and vanilla extract. Mix until well combined and smooth.
Whip heavy whipping cream in a medium sized bowl until stiff peaks form. Gently fold whipped cream into cream cheese mixture, being careful to not deflate the whipped cream. Transfer pie filling on top of pie crust and smooth the top. Chill for at least 6 hours or overnight so the filling can firm up.
If you want to decorate the top of your cheesecake pie with a whipped topping, whip heavy whipping cream, powdered sugar, and vanilla together in a large bowl, until stiff peaks form. Decorate the top of the pie with whipped topping and lemon slices. I used an Ateco 849 piping tip.
For more step-by-step photos and instructions, see the web story for no bake lemon cream cheese pie!
✔️Expert tips
- Make sure you freeze the crust for 30 minutes. The melted butter needs to firm up with the graham cracker crumbs to make a solid crust.
- Pull the cream cheese out of the refrigerator at least an hour before needing it. Cold cream cheese will not mix properly and leave the filling chunky instead of smooth.
- Zest the lemons before squeezing the juice out of them. It's much easier to zest a whole lemon!
💭FAQs
Usually you have to pre bake a pie crust before putting a no bake filling in it, but not for this recipe. The crust holds well after freezing for 30 minutes.
The texture is very different. A baked cheesecake has a silky firmer texture, and a no bake cheesecake has a lighter and more fluffy texture.
A no bake cheesecake has to be refrigerated for at least 6 hours to firm completely. If you skip this step, the cheesecake will be more mousse like.
🔖Related recipes
📋 Recipe
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No Bake Lemon Cream Cheese Pie
Equipment
- one 9-inch round pie dish
Ingredients
Crust
- 1¼ cups graham cracker crumbs
- 5 tablespoons salted butter melted
Lemon Cream Cheese Pie Filling
- ¾ cup sweetened condensed milk
- 12 ounces cream cheese room temperature
- ¾ cup powdered sugar
- 2 tablespoons lemon zest
- 4 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- 1 teaspooon vanilla extract
- ¾ cup heavy whipping cream
Whipped Topping
- ¾ cup heavy whipping cream
- ½ cup powdered sugar
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 5 lemon slices halved, optional
Instructions
Crust
- Grease a 9-inch round pie dish with butter.
- Combine graham cracker crumbs and melted butter together in a medium bowl. Pour crust mixture into prepared pie dish and press evenly into the bottom and up the sides of the dish. Freeze for 30 minutes so crust can firm up.
Lemon Cream Cheese Pie Filling
- In a large bowl, combine sweetened condensed milk, cream cheese, powdered sugar, lemon zest, lemon juice, and vanilla extract. Mix until well combined and smooth.
- Whip heavy whipping cream in a medium sized bowl until stiff peaks form. Gently fold whipped cream into cream cheese mixture, being careful to not deflate the whipped cream.
- Transfer pie filling on top of pie crust and smooth the top. Chill for at least 6 hours or overnight so the filling can firm up.
Whipped Topping
- Whip heavy whipping cream, powdered sugar, and vanilla together in a large bowl. Whip until stiff peaks form. Decorate the top of the pie with whipped topping and lemon slices. I used Ateco 849 piping tip.
Notes
- Make sure you freeze the crust for 30 minutes. The melted butter needs to firm up with the graham cracker crumbs to make a solid crust.
- Pull the cream cheese out of the refrigerator at least an hour before needing it. Cold cream cheese will not mix properly and leave the filling chunky instead of smooth.
- Zest the lemons before squeezing the juice out of them. It's much easier to zest a whole lemon!
Terry Fowler
yummy I used coconut flour crust. and used swerve for powder sugar. (take just too get rid of it) I like sugar. the filling yummy.
Nina
Hi Terry! Thanks for your wonderful review 🙂
Myrna Webb
Could you do the same thing but substitute lime just and lime zest for a "key lime" flavor pie?
Nina
Hi Myra! you can absolutely substitute lime juice and zest wherever the recipe has lemon juice and zest.