Healthy Key Lime Cheesecake
This Healthy Key Lime Cheesecake tastes like Key Lime Pie but in CHEESECAKE form! Each bite is sweet, refreshing, and delicious, you’d never suspect it’s sugar free, gluten free, and high protein.
In an attempt to make my Key Lime Pie a little bit more decadent, I made this beyond freaking amazingly delicious Key. Lime. Cheesecake.
I hope that description made sense?
My point? This cheesecake is the bomb and you need to make it. NOW.
This cheesecake is a unique upgrade to the typical Key Lime Pies you would find at a bakery, which contain a ton of egg yolks and sugar from the sweetened condensed milk.
This Healthy Key Lime Cheesecake is so thick, so rich, and so creamy. It’s perfectly sweet and tangy, it seriously doesn’t taste sugar free, low calorie, high protein, or gluten free in the slightest. This Key Lime Cheesecake also happens to be a jaw-dropping crowd pleaser, which I know from personal experience.
Healthy Key Lime Cheesecake
Ingredients
Animal Cracker Crust:
- 2 cups Animal Cracker Crumbs (I used homemade*)
- ¼ tsp Salt
- ~½ cup Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Milk
Cheesecake Filling:
- 24 oz Plain, Nonfat Greek Yogurt
- 8 oz Neufchâtel Cream Cheese (or ⅓ Less Fat Cream Cheese), room temp
- 5 Large Eggs
- 1 tbs Liquid Stevia Extract
- 1 tbs Key Lime Zest
- ⅔ cup Key Lime Juice
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and prepare a 9" springform pan with parchment paper. Place a sheet of parchment paper on the springform base, then close the springform "ring" onto the base, tightly trapping the parchment paper.
- In a large bowl, stir together the animal cracker crumbs, salt, and almond milk. It should look like a dough. Press the mixture into the prepared pan and set aside.
- In a stand mixer bowl fitted with a whisk attachment, add the yogurt and cream cheese. Mix on medium speed until completely smooth.
- Reduce the speed to low and add one egg at a time. When completely smooth, add the stevia and key lime zest.
- Bake the crust you set aside earlier in the oven for 14 minutes. While that bakes, finish off the filling.
- Finally, add the key lime juice to the mixer to whisk until the crust is done baking.
- Take the crust out of the oven, then pour in the cheesecake filling. Bake for 1 hour and 15-20 minutes. Let cool at room temperature, then cover and refrigerate overnight. The next day, slice, serve, and enjoy!
Recipe Notes
- *Graham Crackers also work!
- The recipe above is my revised recipe. I originally posted a Key Lime Cheesecake recipe back in 2013 but felt like it could use some work on the texture. Just in case you wanted to see the previous recipe and/or the changes I made, I’m providing the old recipe here:
- Graham Cracker Crust: (Yields an 8″ Cheesecake)
- 1¾ cups Graham Cracker Crumbs
- ¼ tsp Salt
- 3 tbs Coconut Oil, melted
- 2 tbs Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Milk
- 1 tsp Natural Butter Flavor
- Cheesecake Filling:
- 2½ cups Plain, Nonfat Greek Yogurt
- 3 Large Eggs
- 3 Large Egg Whites
- 2½ tsp Stevia Extract
- 1 tbs Organic Corn Starch
- pinch of Key Lime Zest
- ¾ cup Key Lime Juice
Can you believe it?? Just 210 calories for a slice of this toooootally addicting deliciousness?!? Oh yes. Plus, each slice is packed with 12g of protein, whole grains, and no added sugar. BOOM.
I wish I could have a slice of this right now, but my taste-testers demolished the cheesecake in a single day…
Everyone who tried this cheesecake thought it was unhealthy and high calorie, but it’s the total opposite. This Healthy Key Lime Cheesecake is made with Greek yogurt and reduced fat cream cheese, which my taste-testers loved and appreciated. Some even squeezed some fresh lime juice on top and they raved about it!
Enjoy!
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With love and good eats,
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– Jess
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Indulge − no strings attached!
This looks delish! Could you make it without eggs, though? Maybe tofu, or would coconut cream work?
Hmmm, I’m not sure. I think there are too many eggs to replace. You can try pureed tofu, but make sure to rinse it well and press some of the water out… I haven’t tried this but hopefully it will work!!
Hi Jessica,
I’m planning to make this next week. I would like to make it into bars for 16 people. Have you ever tried that? I thought it might be easier for serving square pieces. Any insight on how to alter the baking time if I double the recipe and do it in a 9 x 13 pan?
The cheesecake had way too little sweetener.
I didn’t think so… and I’m a huge sweet tooth! Did you omit or substitute the stevia? If so, that’s why. That’s never recommended.
Oh my goodness! I have to try this today. It looks fantastic! You have such a talent!!!!!! 🙂
How did you make the nutritional facts label? I’ve been wanting to do those as examples as well.
What about the flax seed meal and warm water mixture you can do to replace eggs??? Would that work in this recipe??
I don’t think the flax gel mixture would work in this recipe. It would not solidify and it won’t look as clean as pictured in the post 🙁 sorry!
Hi jessica i love your recipes all the way in australia!! I made this last night and love it! Just wondering if you have tried it with something else to replace lime as it was quite tangy! I thought perhaps vanilla extract or orange juice?
YAYYY!! I’m so glad you liked the recipe 🙂
I haven’t tried making this cheesecake with other flavorings but that is definitely a great idea. Especially the orange juice, that would probably taste like a nice Orange Creamsicle Cheesecake… delicious 🙂
If you try that let me know how it works out, that’s definitely on my Recipes To Try list!
-Jess
As far as the stevia extract…. if I have the setvia shaker, how much would I use? Or is it best to buy the extract?
I don’t have any experience with powdered stevia, but 2+1/2 tsp of Liquid Stevia Extract should be equal to 2+1/2 tsp of Powdered Stevia 🙂
Also, I baked the cheesecake crust in a regular springform pan. Once the pan was cool enough to handle, I wrapped the edges with foil so no water would be able to leak into the crust. I then placed the 8 inch springform pan into the 9 inch brownie pan and filled the brownie pan with about an inch of water.
Sorry for the confusion, sometimes when I write the instructions I accidentally leave out a step. I’m going to edit the instructions now 🙂
Hope you enjoy the cheesecake!
-Jess
One more question 🙂 do you bake it in the brownie pan with the water bath?
Do you think I can use honey in this recipe instead of stevia? if so, how much would you recommend?
I don’t think honey would be a very good substitute because you’d need to use a lot of it, and you’d end up with too much cheesecake “batter” :/
2+1/2 tsp of stevia has the sweetness of 2+1/2 cups of sugar, so you’d probably need to use around ~2 cups of honey. And honey might also overpower the key lime flavor.
Sorry about that! Have a great week 🙂
-Jess
We tried this over the weekend, but oh man! For some reason it came out very tangy/bitter. Wondering if the liquid stevia I had does not measure the same for some reason? It tasted like plain greek yogurt with key lime, so it was VERY TART. should it be tart? or more sweet?
Oh no! I’m not sure why the cheesecake was tangy/bitter… it should be pretty sweet and just slightly tart.
It could be your stevia, because the stevias I use (either SweetLeaf or NuNaturals) sweetens very well, and without any bitter aftertaste. What brand did you use?
-Jess
Thanks Jess! I purchase all my products from vitacost, I used the Stevita liquid extract…. but from this recipe I am guessing that not all Stevia liquids are created equal lol. I mainly use it for smoothies and oatmeal so I have never noticed an issue.
I might attempt this one more time with a better Stevia next time, and maybe taste the mixture before I bake it 🙂 thanks!
On a side note, the gramham crackers from trader joes (they come in a small plastic tub and taste homemade) made an AMAZING crust
I just did some research on Stevita because I’ve never used it before, and the website says that 1 cup of sugar = 2+1/2 tsp Stevita stevia.
Sweetleaf’s website says 1 cup of sugar = 2 tsp of liquid stevia (I think they changed it or something because it used to be 1 cup sugar = 1 tsp stevia?)
So if you try this recipe again I would recommend using 3+1/2 to 4 tsp of Stevita stevia 🙂
Sorry about the not-so-sweet cheesecake… maybe try making a sweetened whipped cream or the yogurt topping from my Key Lime Pie (just omit the key lime zest!)
-Jess
I was wondering if I can substitute vanilla extract for the butter extract. I’m not sure I have time to order it online by Wednesday. (I’m making this for thanksgiving. Also, how should I store this for thanksgiving or after. Should I keep in the fridge? Wrapped? Room temp? Thank you, can’t wait to try it!
Margaret-
You can substitute the butter extract with vanilla extract, it just won’t have that buttery flavor 😉
You should keep the cheesecake covered with plastic wrap and in the fridge.
I hope you like the cheesecake!! 🙂
-Jess
Great Dessert. Thank you!
Hey Jess – I can’t believe I *JUST* found this recipe. You made cheesecake WITHOUT cream cheese??? You’re my hero (because I can’t get reduced fat cream cheese here and all the recipes that call for it just make me sad). This recipe makes me want to marry you. And I’m already married. And straight. Whoa. So excited!
The Golden Graham Girl-
Hahaha! You’re hilarious. This cheesecake is surprisingly AHHHHHMAZING! No need for the cream cheese 😉
I hope you get to try it out! 😀
-Jess
Hi Jess!
Just wondering, could this be made with Light Agave instead of the stevia extract?
Molly-
Hmmm, I haven’t tried that so I can’t be sure. 2+1/2 teaspoons of Stevia Extract is about as sweet as 1+1/2 cups of agave, and all that extra liquid might affect the filling. You might be able to reduce the stevia to 1+1/2 teaspoons and add 2/3 cup of agave?
Hope this helps!
-Jess
This recipe was a complete failure for me. 3/4 c lime juice? Really? The lime juice acid curdled the yogurt so that runny glop was below the eggy custard on top. 2 1/2 tsp stevia powder (Stevia In The Raw, made for baking, is what I use) didn’t come even close to being enough sweetener. If the stevia needs to be equivalent to a cup of sugar, I’d recommend 2/3 cup of powdered Stevia In The Raw, better yet would be 1/3 c Stevia In The Raw + 1/3 c xylitol. Not thinking I want to try this again though.
I’m sorry to hear that Karen!
The recipe has worked just fine for me, time and time again. And I’ve seen pictures of the cheesecake made by other readers. You add the lime juice in last, so there shouldn’t be any time for it to curdle. Plus, Greek yogurt is pretty difficult to curdle. Did you let the cheesecake batter sit for a long time before baking?
Also, the recipe calls for LIQUID stevia extract, which is very different from Stevia in the Raw. 1 tsp of stevia extract = 1 cup of stevia in the raw.
This is a brilliant recipe! Recently, I had to give up wheat, but I found a foolproof crust recipe using GF grahams from my local market. I hope you don’t mind, I used that crust instead! But the filling… ooh, so good. Found you on Yahoo, second option under the search “low-fat key lime cheesecake.” I will check out the rest of your site.
Thanks for making Greek yogurt feel a bit naughty! Amy
Of course I don’t mind you using those other graham crackers! I’m so happy you made the recipe in general, and I’m so happy you found my blog 😀
Now I’m craving a big slice of this cheesecake… off to go bake now 😉
Best,
-Jess
This looks wonderful! Being vegan, I would like to know how you would do it without eggs. Would you use gelatin?
This recipe is pretty far from vegan, so I don’t think this recipe is best suited for you… unless you feel like doing some trial and error. Greek yogurt, along with the eggs and egg whites, are difficult to replace. Gelatin doesn’t work well when baked, so I wouldn’t recommend that that. Sorry Lee!
Actually, Greek yogurt can be made with almond, soy, cashew or coconut mylk!
I am confused as to what the nutrition facts are for this recipe. The nutrition facts label on the bottom right side of the recipe states completely different facts than the nutrition facts that are printed on the recipe on the top right of the page. Which one is correct? I really need to know saturated fats, etc…Thank you!
Wow, I have no idea how my Peanut Butter Cookie nutrition label ended up in this post. Must be some weird techy reason??
The amount of saturated fats will ultimately depend on the graham crackers you use, but if you use my Homemade Gluten-Free Graham Crackers, a 1/10th slice of the cheesecake will have ~4.5g of saturated fat (the majority of which comes from the coconut oil and eggs). Hope this helps Brenda! 🙂
Ok, makes sense now. Thanks for clarifying. I am looking forward to trying this and many more of your wonderful looking recipes. Thanks Jessica!
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Um, I think there’s a typo??? You accidentally wrote 80 z instead of 8 oz of cream cheese. It scared me for a minute, ’cause I thought it said EIGHTY ounces of cream cheese. O-O
HAHAHAHA!!! Omg thanks for catching that. Accidentally capitalized the “o” in “oz.” It’s all fixed now 😉
HELLO cheesecake for breakfast!! This looks fantastic, Jess! 🙂
This is fabulous! I love key lime so much, this is just the dessert I needed to get ready for springtime. Even though Winter never really happened in Austin anyways 😀
This looks so delicious. And the crust on it is perfect. I seriously wish I had a piece in front of me right now. I’ll have to make it!
Can I sub fat free cream cheese, do you know?
I haven’t tried it but I’m sure it would work out just fine! 🙂
I just found this recipe searching the internet…I will HAVE to make it! I love the idea of using GF grahams, now I just have to find some. Thanks so much for posting such a great recipe and thanks to all of those who made comments too!
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I don’t have great luck with large amounts of stevia, so I used 1/4 cup xylitol instead. I couldn’t detect any of the cream cheese – it tasted like straight-up tangy, key lime yogurt. Yummy, though, and it looked absolutely beautiful after it was baked!
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Thank you for this recipe! I wanted to try it because it is sugar free. I was just wondering, on the crust, so you think I can substitute butter for the coconut oil and use milk instead of almond milk? I don’t have almond milk, only rice milk. I only have pure stevia powder too somthat will be an adventure to work out. Haha.
Thank you!
You can definitely use butter in the crust and regular milk instead of almond milk 🙂
Hope you like the recipe, Cindy!!
And just out of curiosity, why did you update the crust recipe and omit the oil?
I think I figured out why several people have said this cheesecake is too tart. You say to use stevia but not everyone buys stevia powder in its pure form. As I was going to make this, I was thinking I needed to recalculate the amount but you do(emphasis) mean pure stevia. I wonder if some people are using Truvia or something like that brand which isn’t the same. If people are using a product like that which equals a cup of that product for a cup of sugar, then they should be using 3 cups truvia (or whatever brand) in this recipe. Just thought I would mention that for the future. 🙂
I just wanted to test out a crust without oil and it worked, so I went with it! Feel free to use the old crust recipe if you like… both work 🙂
And you’re probably right about that! Didn’t think about how people can be using a sweetener like Stevia in the Raw instead of liquid stevia extract, which are two COMPLETELY different things :/
I’m going to try this recipe, but I, too, have Stevia in the Raw powder. Has it been figured out what the proper measurement of that would be for this recipe? If one cup of SitR = one cup of sugar, how much should I use? Cindy says three cups. Would that be correct?
Hi Nancy! I haven’t tried using Stevia in the Raw here, but I’m crossing my fingers it works! According to the conversion chart, 3 cups should replace the 1 tbs stevia extract, however, that seems like a bit much to me… I would start off with 2 cups. Hope you like the recipe!
Hello there!
I plan on doing this recipe this weekend and I do have a question. Do you bake the cheesecake in a water bath or no?
Thank you very much, I can’t wait to try this yummy dessert!
Nope, no water bath needed. I hope you like the cheesecake! 🙂
Thank you for your reply 🙂
So I made it this weekend and serve them as individual cheesecake. It was just delicious…!! Creamy, tasty and sour just like we love it. I topped it with a coconut whipped cream… Wonderful!!! Thank you very much for the recipe, I will definitely be making it again!
Awww thank you so much!!! This totally just made my day. Individual cheesecakes sounds perfect, I need to give that a try so that I’m not tempted to eat 1/4 of the cheesecake in one sitting 😉
This looks amazing. I love all types of cheesecake but this one really stands out for me. All I need are some limes and then I’ll be making it as soon as possible! I was amused that your taste-testers squeezed fresh lime on top – I’ve never tried that before on a cheesecake.
I would love it if you could send this recipe to me at my email address for I’m a diabetic and I have some fresh limes to use. I’m Pastor Phyllis T Miller. Thank you and God bless you.
The recipe is right here on the page.
Just made the cheesecake hope it Will tast as Good as the New York cheesecake i bake cheesecake for 15min 180C than 1 hour. 100C
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I made this recipe and only had granulated stevia or monk fruit drops. I opted to use the stevia and 1.5cups is equivalent to 1 tbsp of stevia extract. Use a cup and then keep adding until it tastes sweet enough. In the oven now! Hope it’s good!!!
Haven’t tried this with the granulated stevia before but now I want to try! Hope you liked it 🙂
I want to make this recipe however, I simply cannot stand the taste of stevia in anything. What can I use as a substitute for that? I have used liquid as well as powder Xylitol. Will that work?
Have you ever tried a flavored stevia? And just checking, the stevia you’ve tried is definitely alcohol-free right? It makes a huge difference… I accidentally bought a bottle at Trader Joe’s and it was god awful, and I realized it was because it had alcohol in it. I use SweetLeaf stevia because it’s alcohol-free but also organic. They have a vanilla-flavored stevia that’s even better. I’d suggest trying that first, but if you really don’t want to, I suppose you could try xylitol. I don’t tolerate xylitol well so I can’t be sure if that’ll work or not, because 1 tbs of stevia has the sweetness of ~2+ cups of sugar, without adding excess liquid to the cheesecake filling, so it can bake off thick and creamy.
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I’m another one whose Stevia didn’t do the trick. Extract is not available in all stores, so I had to go with a different version that I “thought” might do the trick. Nope! Fortunately I read the comments here and tasted before I baked. I wonder if cutting back on the amount of key lime juice would reduce some of the tartness? My cheesecake also browned quite a bit in the oven (closer to the top will do that, I know), so I’m not sure how to get a clean finish. The exposed crust along edges also burned. I’m not laying this at your feet, just sharing my experience. Ovens vary, ingredients vary, and obviously the bakers vary. 😉
That’s strange, what brand of stevia did you use? It should have a usage/conversion chart on it, and if 1 tsp of stevia = sweetness of 1 cup of sugar, you should be good to go. Granulated stevia is NOT the same as liquid, as 1 cup = sweetness of 1 cup of sugar, which is a huge difference.
Perhaps your oven rack was too high? I’ve never had an issue with this cheesecake browning before.
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This was very good. I did substitute 2 cups of sugar for the Stevia. I had pieces of cream cheese in the finished recipe so I guess I didn’t let it come to room temp enough and/or mix enough but everyone still loved it. I ended up with enough batter for almost 2 cheesecakes though. What did I do wrong?
Yay! I’m glad you and everybody else liked the cheesecake! The excess batter is most likely from the extra sugar because you technically added 2 cups of volume to the recipe. And as for the cream cheese chunks, you can whisk the batter faster and for longer in the stand mixer and also wait for it to be room temperature 🙂
Just made this cheesecake this weekend and it was so good! I liked it so much I want to make it over and over in different flavors – have you ever used this cheesecake base without the lime juice? Would I need to replace that 2/3 c liquid with something else? Thanks in advance!!
Awww yay! So glad you liked the cheesecake! 🙂
I haven’t tried making another flavor, but I suppose you can replace the ¾ cup of key lime juice with lemon juice and simply omit the key lime zest!
Was hoping this would be good but seemed to have over baked it. Maybe it was due to using fat free cream cheese, any tips on what to look for to tell if it is done? Maybe cooking time would need to be reduced or lower temperature?
Top of the cake cracked.
Try using an oven thermometer in case your oven runs hot. Fat free cream cheese is a very different texture and consistency than ⅓ less fat cream cheese, so that’s probably why your cheesecake cracked.
I used the neuchatel cheese, (as recommended) TONS of deep fractures. As I said I covered with whipping cream otherwise it would have had to be tossed based only on appearance. Sorry.
Hmmm lots to say, because of all the eggs after it cooked the top looked like a quiche and tasted like cooked egg once you got past the egg it was pretty good I also had to had 3x the recommended sugar to taste even remotely good