Healthy Pumpkin Cheesecakes
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Healthy Pumpkin Cheesecakes are the perfect gluten free, low fat cheesecake treat! Made with greek yogurt, low in sugar and so delicious!
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It’s no secret that we love ALL things pumpkin and healthier treats around here. From Healthy Pumpkin Muffins to Pumpkin Chicken Chili, and even these 40+ Healthy Pumpkin Recipes – we’ve got LOTS of options when it comes to cooking with pumpkin.
A few weeks ago, when I shared these Healthy Cheesecake Bites, I knew they could easily be made into a delicious fall treat by adding pumpkin puree and a few more spices. These mini pumpkin cheesecakes are perfect for sharing with friends, enjoying on football Sunday, or even making for a holiday treat!
These mini cheesecakes are a lightened-up version of the classic dessert you know and love! Made with yogurt to replace some of the cream cheese, they have just 15g of fat per serving (compared to 30–40g in traditional slices).
They’re sweetened with maple syrup and a bit of brown sugar, keeping total sugar to just 14g. Plus, the almond flour crust makes them gluten and grain free, though you can easily swap in graham crackers if you prefer!
Liz’s tips for healthy pumpkin cheesecakes
- We like the silicone muffin liners the best because the cheesecakes pop right out of them. Foil liners will also work, but paper liners won’t, as they will get stuck.
- These ingredients must be brought to room temperature for the smoothest filling. If you don’t, your filling won’t be as smooth. Cream cheese will leave little lumps if it’s not completely to room temp. This will still be fine for eating it, but not necessarily for presentation.
Ingredients
You’ll also need a muffin tin + silicone muffin liners.
Substitutions
Baked: We don’t recommend baking these cheesecakes. In order to get a nice looking cheesecake with the Greek yogurt, you’d need to have a water bath in the oven and it’s overall a lot of work!
Coconut Flour: You can’t substitute coconut flour for almond flour. It doesn’t work with the cream cheese. The almond flour crumb mimics the graham crackers best.
Nut Free/ Graham Crackers: You can easily sub in 1 cup of finely ground graham crackers or graham cracker crumbs for almond flour. If you do this, we recommend taking out the brown sugar since those are sweet. I’d still add in the cinnamon if they are honey graham crackers.
Other flavors: Try these Healthy Cheesecakes or Deconstructed Peppermint Cheesecake
Sugar: We tried a honey infused crust to really try to mimic the classic graham cracker crust flavor but it just didn’t pop through. We also tried one with coconut sugar and did not like the taste. Brown sugar is the best choice here. It’s a ¼ cup over 10 mini cheesecakes which is a very minimal amount.
Dairy Free: We do not recommend any dairy free options for this recipe.
Maple Syrup: We haven’t tried swapping maple syrup for honey but I think it would work!
Neufchâtel Cream Cheese: This is just cream cheese with 1/3 less fat. Make sure to use the one in the block. Do not use any whipped versions. While I haven’t tested regular cream cheese in this recipe, I think it would work.
Pumpkin Spice: You can use pumpkin pie spice if you do not have nutmeg or ginger or add a little bit more cinnamon.
Muffin Liners: Foil or silicone muffin liners work best. Paper ones risk sticking and taking on too much moisture.
Mix ins: I haven’t tried mixing anything into the filling of this (peanut butter, chocolate, berries, etc) but I think it would work. Alternatively, you can just top the cheesecakes with whatever garnish you like. You can also try these mini cheesecakes: Mini Lemon Cheesecakes, Mini Key Lime Cheesecakes, Frozen Key Lime Pie (gluten free and dairy free) or Healthy Cheesecake Bites
Making one large cheesecake: I haven’t tried making one large cheesecake with this recipe but I think it would work if you were to make it in a springform pan
Crustless: I haven’t tried making these cheesecakes without the crust – but you could definitely just make the filling and serve it in a bowl as if it were pumpkin mousse. It would also be good as a frosting on these Spider Cupcakes!
For chocolate lovers: Add mini chocolate chips to the filling or try this Vegan Chocolate Cheesecake!
How to make Healthy pumpkin Cheesecakes
- Mix together your crust.
- Press into silicone muffin liners and bake at 350° until golden brown, about 11-12 minutes.
- Allow the crust to cool while you prepare the filling. Add all filling ingredients to a bowl.
- Whip the filling mixture with a whisk attachment or beaters on high speed for 5-6 minutes until everything is incorporated.
- Scoop the filling into the baked crusts and refrigerate for 6-8 hours until chilled.
- When the cheesecakes have chilled, sprinkle with a pinch of cinnamon on top and serve.
Serving Gluten Free Pumpkin Cheesecake:
These pumpkin cheesecakes are best made 24 hours in advance of when you have to serve them. They only need about 6 hours to cool, but if they can sit in the refrigerator overnight, they’ll be even better!
Serve chilled: These cheesecakes should be served chilled. They’re fine to sit out at room temp for 1-2 hours, but they will get soft, and they’re meant to be eaten cold.
With cinnamon: We served these with a sprinkle of cinnamon on top, but you could also do chocolate, peanut butter, or make the homemade caramel sauce in this healthy apple pie bars recipe!
Storage
Cheesecake bites must be stored in the refrigerator. They will last in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. They can get a little moist on top from condensation in the refrigerator so I recommend just blotting them with a paper towel before serving if that happens
Freezing – You can freeze these cheesecakes. When ready to eat, just remove from the freezer and place in the refrigerator for 3-4 hours to thaw before enjoying, or pop in the microwave for 10-15 seconds until thawed and creamy.
Other healthy dessert recipes we love:
Healthy Pumpkin Cheesecakes
Ingredients
Crust
- 1 cup almond flour
- 1/4 cup brown sugar loosely packed
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 4 tablespoons butter melted
Filling
- 8 ounces neufchatel cream cheese ⅓ less fat cream cheese
- 2/3 cup nonfat greek yogurt
- 1/2 cup pumpkin puree
- 3 tablespoons maple syrup
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
Instructions
- Note: It is very important that these ingredients are brought to room temperature for the smoothest filling. If you don’t, your filing won’t be as smooth.
- Preheat Oven to 350 Degrees
- Stir together all crust ingredients until a coarse sand-like texture forms. Line a 12 cup muffin pan with foil or silicone muffin liners.
- Press about 1.5 tablespoons of the crust mix into each of the 12 muffin cups. Depending on how fine your almond flour was, you might have some left over. Just distribute it evenly and cover the entire bottom of all the cups.
- Bake for 11-12 minutes at 350 until the edges start to brown a tiny bit.
- Remove crusts from the oven and allow the crust to cool while you prepare the filling. (You can put them in the refrigerator to cool quicker)
- In the bowl of a stand mixer or with a hand mixer add all filling ingredients. Use your whisk attachment (if available otherwise regular beaters are fine) and whip the filling mixture on high speed for 5-6 minutes until everything is incorporated.
- When your crust is completely cool, scoop 3 tablespoons of filling into each of the muffin cups.
- You will be able to fill the cups ¾ of the way.
- Put the cheesecakes into the fridge and chill for 6-8 hours or overnight.
Could light butter be used for this? I also assume it is salted. Thank you!
I have never cooked with light butter so I don’t know how this would work. I’m sorry!
These are insanely delicious! I used silicone molds and they were easy to pop out, though a little soft since I couldn’t wait for them to be chilled for the suggested time! The almond flour crust was so good. I certainly didn’t miss graham crackers. One more note – the filling wasn’t sweet enough for me so I just used a couple drops of liquid Stevia and it was perfection.
I made it for Thanksgiving but mine wasn’t that good 🙁 I used Monkfruit maple syrup and unfortunatelly my pie turned out to be not sweet at all, pretty plain, tasted like cream cheese 🙁 Maybe I should had used something else.
Hi Lisa- this recipe calls for real maple syrup, not monkfruit maple syrup. I’m sorry that it didn’t work for you, but that’s not a substitution I would recommend.
Do these work in ramekins instead of muffin pans? Also, can zero calorie sweeteners like monkfruit or erythritol be substituted for brown sugar/maple syrup? Looks really good, planning to make for my birthday!
I think it would be hard to get these out of ramekins, but if you plan to eat them in the ramekin, sure! I would not substitute zero calorie sweeteners for the minimal amount of sugar in this. If it’s your birthday and you can – enjoy the real deal 😉
Just made this for Thanksgiving. Soooo good and creamy!
So glad you liked them!
Forget pumpkin pie, this is my new favorite fall dessert! I made them in the morning to enjoy that evening, but they were absolutely that much better the next day.
So glad you liked them! Thank you so much!
Not sure what I did different but mine never got hard enough to remove the wrapper. But it didn’t matter, just used a spoon. These are so yummy! Definitely a keeper. Everyone in the house loves them.
We used silicone molds so they popped out, if you used paper or the foil ones they will not come out of them. Glad you liked them!
This was seriously SOOO good!! I made a double batch to share with my neighbors & it did not disappoint! It wasn’t complicated or tedious to make & it tasted so yummy, while it was actually pretty dang good for you too! 10/10 – will make again….and again, and again!!!
Thank you so much, Jessica! I’m so glad you liked them! Love that you shared with the neighbors 🙂
These were delicious! Absolutely hit the spot and fulfilled my fall-themed dessert craving! Cannot wait to make these again soon!
Thank you so much, Alyssa! I’m so glad you liked them!!
These are absolutely amazing! I can’t wait to make the for my fam for thanksgiving 😊 Plus, they are easy to make!
Thanks, Meghan! So happy you liked them 🙂
Very good!!
So glad you liked them 🙂
Have you tried freezing these? Can’t wait to try these and would love to make them ahead of my next event.
Hi Amy – Yes, we have a note on that in the post. You can freeze these cheesecakes. When ready to eat, just remove from the freezer and place in the refrigerator for 3-4 hours before enjoying, or pop in the microwave for 10-15 seconds until thawed and creamy.
These were great! Instead of using the almond flour I subbed finely chopped pecans and 1 tbsp brown sugar.
Thank you! So glad you like them, Kris. You can plug the nutrition facts into My Fitness Pal, but I use a program through WP Recipe Maker to get the nutrition facts. You need to have a website to do it.