These No-Bake Cranberry Cheesecake Bars are here to save your holiday and free up your oven for all of your other turkey day essentials! With a buttery graham cracker crust, a super simple and decadent cheesecake filling, and a tart cranberry swirl that will knock your socks off, you and your guests will love this dessert.

No-Bake Cranberry Cheesecake Bars

This recipe is…

The truth is, we’ve never met a cheesecake we didn’t like. There’s just nothing like the combination of sweetened, creamy cheesecake filling and a delicate, buttery Graham cracker crust. So when we were brainstorming Thanksgiving desserts, we knew we wanted to put a festive spin on the triple-berry cheesecake bars that you all loved so much with a new version for the holidays. These No-Bake Cranberry Cheesecake Bars were born. 

If you’ve been around here long enough, you know we LOVE cranberries! They bring the most amazing touch of brightness to dishes with their tart, lightly sweet flavors. Over the years we’ve made Cranberry Agua Frescas, Cranberry Sauce, Bacon Cranberry Cornbread Stuffing, Cranberry Bison Meatloaf, and Slow Cooker Cranberry Pork Shoulder. So it was high time to make cranberries the centerpiece of a holiday dessert!

Let’s talk about how easy these cranberry cheesecake bars are: It’s as simple as crushing your favorite gluten-free graham crackers into crumbs and using your favorite grass-fed butter to make the perfect graham cracker crust. The cheesecake filling comes together with the rich combination of dairy-free condensed milk and cream cheese which makes it literally one of the tastiest AND easiest desserts you’ll have on the menu this holiday season. This dessert is naturally egg-free, but you can also easily make it totally dairy-free by subbing coconut oil in the crust, and using a dairy-free cream cheese like this one. The final piece is a quick cranberry sauce that comes together in no time, and balances the sweetness of the cheesecake filling with just the right amount of tart. We hope you love these cranberry cheesecake bars as much as we did!

Why You’ll Love This Recipe

  • This recipe is no-bake, so it won’t take up your oven space
  • Perfect for Thanksgiving, Christmas, or other holiday feasts
  • Just 25 minutes of prep. The rest of the time is hands-off.
  • Flexible recipe that’s easy to tweak to your liking (more on that below)

Cranberry Cheesecake Recipe Ingredients

Here’s everything you’ll need to whip up the 3 delicious components of this recipe: the crust, cheesecake filling, and cranberry sauce topping. Find ingredient notes (including substitutions and swaps) below.

Ingredients for no bake cranberry cheesecake bars sit in a variety of bowls and plates on a light grey surface.

For the Cranberry Sauce Topping

  • Cranberries – 4 cups cranberries (either fresh or frozen will work!)
  • OJ – 1/2 cup orange juice
  • Maple syrup – 1/3 cup maple syrup
  • Cinnamon – 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

For the Graham Cracker Crust

  • Graham crackers – 2 boxes gluten-free graham crackers (about 16 ounces)
  • Butter – 12 tablespoons grass-fed butter, softened and cut into 1/2 inch chunks 1 1/2 sticks

For the Cheesecake

  • Vegan dairy-free condensed milk – 11.25 ounces dairy-free condensed milk
  • Cream cheese – 2 8-ounce packages cream cheese softened (for a dairy-free cheesecake, use an equal amount of Kite Hill)
  • Lemon juice – 2 tablespoons lemon juice (you’ll just need 1 small lemon to get this amount of juice)
  • Vanilla – 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

A full ingredient list with exact amounts can be found in the recipe card below.

Recipe Variations and Modifications

Here’s how to make this recipe your own with a few simple swaps:

  • Dairy-free cheesecake recipe – instead of cream cheese, substitute an equal amount of Kite Hill vegan cream cheese)
  • Swap the fruit – if cranberries aren’t your thing, feel free to use a jar of your favorite jam instead. Berry, citrus, stone fruits…anything goes! 

How to Make Cranberry Cheesecake Bars

Here’s how you’ll make this triple-layer dessert. No oven needed!

Orange juice is poured over cranberries in a small stainless steel saucepan on a light gray surface.
Butter and crushed graham crackers are blended in an immersion blender on a light grey surface.

Step 1: Add the cranberries, orange juice, maple syrup, and cinnamon to a saucepan with matching lid over medium-high heat. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and cook for 10 minutes, until the cranberries have popped and the sauce has thickened and reduced. If the sauce is still thin, continue to cook for an additional 5 minutes, until desired consistency is achieved.

Step 2: For the graham cracker crust, place the two boxes-worth of graham crackers into a food processor and pulverize until you have fine crumbs. Adding 4 tablespoons-worth of softened butter pieces at a time, pulse the food processor with the butter. Continue for the rest of the butter, until the graham cracker crust comes together in a flaky, slightly-crumbly dough.

A graham cracker crust sits pressed into a white ceramic baking tray on a light grey surface.
Sweetened condensed milk is poured into a stainless steel bowl alongside cream cheese and lemon juice on a light grey surface.

Step 3: Pat the graham cracker crust into the bottom of a 9×13 inch pan and slightly up the sides to create a 1/4 inch thick crust.

Step 4: For the cheesecake filling, add the condensed milk, cream cheese, lemon juice, and vanilla extract to a large bowl, then beat with an electric mixer or stand mixer for 2-3 minutes, until mixture is smooth and fluffy.

A no bake cheesecake mixture is poured over a graham cracker pressed base in a white ceramic baking dish on a light grey surface.
Cranberry sauce sits on top of a no bake cheesecake in a white ceramic baking dish on a light grey surface.

Step 5: Pour the cheesecake filling on top of the crust, smoothing to even it out.

Step 6: Pour the cranberry sauce over top and smooth out. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours, then slice and serve!

Cranberry Cheesecake Recipe Tips

Here are a few tips and tricks to make sure that your cheesecake bars turn out perfectly every single time!

Go Dairy-Free…or not – feel free to use dairy-free condensed milk and cream cheese here or regular! Either one will work, so the choice is really yours!

Let the bars chill in the fridge – be sure to let your cheesecake bars chill for at least 4 hours in the fridge before serving. This will really help them set!

Use a berry jam – if you don’t like cranberries, know that you can still use this recipe, just omit the cranberries, and top the bars with a berry jam instead!

How to Serve Dessert Bars

Refrigerate these cheesecake bars for at least 4 hours. Then, just slice and serve!

How to Store

Refrigerate any leftover cheesecake bars for up to 3 days.

No-Bake Cranberry Cheesecake Bars
No-Bake Cranberry Cheesecake Bars

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the best cream cheese to use for cheesecake?

We opted for regular cream cheese here, but feel free to use Kite Hill dairy-free cream cheese if you’d like. The choice is totally up to you. We just recommend going with a full-fat version of whichever you choose.

How to correctly chill a cheesecake?

It’s super easy: to chill a cheesecake, simply pop the whole thing in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours. This will firm up the cheesecake filling so it’s the perfect texture: soft and creamy, but firm enough that it will hold together when you slice into it.

Why is my cheesecake not firm enough?

If your cheesecake filling hasn’t “set” (meaning it’s not form enough to hold its shape when sliced), that probably means that you haven’t chilled it enough. We recommend at least 4 hours of chill time (or up to overnight) to give these cheesecake bars enough time to set.

If you tried this recipe for No-Bake Cranberry Cheesecake Bars, or any other recipe on the Fed & Fit website, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let us know how it went in the 📝comments below!

Video

No-Bake Cranberry Cheesecake Bars

5 — Votes 4 votes
Prep: 25 minutes
Cook: 4 hours
Total: 4 hours 25 minutes
Servings: 12 servings
The perfect no-bake dessert this holiday season to free up your oven, and delight your guests!

Ingredients  

For the Cranberry Sauce Topping

For the Graham Cracker Crust

  • 2 boxes gluten-free graham crackers, about 16 ounces
  • 12 tablespoons grass-fed butter, softened and cut into 1/2 inch chunks, 1 1/2 sticks

For the Cheesecake

Instructions 

  • Add the cranberries, orange juice, maple syrup, and cinnamon to a saucepan with matching lid over medium-high heat. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and cook for 10 minutes, until the cranberries have popped and the sauce has thickened and reduced. If the sauce is still thin, continue to cook for an additional 5 minutes, until desired consistency is achieved.
  • For the graham cracker crust, place the two boxes-worth of graham crackers into a food processor and pulverize until you have fine crumbs. Adding 4 tablespoons-worth of softened butter pieces at a time, pulse the food processor with the butter. Continue for the rest of the butter, until the graham cracker crust comes together in a flaky, slightly-crumbly dough.
  • Pat the graham cracker crust into the bottom of a 9×13 inch pan and slightly up the sides to create a 1/4 inch thick crust.
  • For the cheesecake filling, add the condensed milk, cream cheese, lemon juice, and vanilla extract to a large bowl, then beat with an electric mixer or stand mixer for 2-3 minutes, until mixture is smooth and fluffy.
  • Pour the cheesecake filling on top of the crust, smoothing to even it out, then pour the cranberry sauce over top.
  • Refrigerate for at least 4 hours, then slice and serve!

Nutrition

Calories: 552kcal | Carbohydrates: 55g | Protein: 6g | Fat: 35g | Saturated Fat: 20g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 7g | Trans Fat: 0.5g | Cholesterol: 98mg | Sodium: 370mg | Potassium: 223mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 33g | Vitamin A: 970IU | Vitamin C: 11mg | Calcium: 151mg | Iron: 1mg

Additional Info

Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American
Servings: 12 servings
Calories: 552
Keyword: easy, egg-free, gluten free, holiday, quick

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Elizabeth Brownfield


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16 Comments

  1. Iโ€™m so excited to try this! Have you tried with blueberries/raspberries, etc? How did it turn out? Thank you!

  2. The crumbs from 32 ounces of graham crackers and 1.5 sticks of butter seems like a lot. Is this accurate?

  3. My husband and I really enjoyed this. It is sweet and tart, and the buttery crust is delicious. Only thing I noticed is the cheesecake filling didn’t seem as thick as what is shown in the picture. Also, the instructions were confusing at first where it says 2 boxes of Graham crackers, about 16 oz. I wasn’t sure if it meant one box of 16 oz, or 2 boxes 16 oz. Each.

    1. Hi Megan! We are so glad that you enjoyed these cheesecake bars. We are sorry the filling wasn’t what you were expecting. It’s so hard for us to know what was different there since we’re not there in the kitchen with you. We’ll also make sure to clarify in the instructions that it’s 2 boxes of graham crackers or 16 ounces total. Thank you for bringing that to our attention and sharing your experience with us! -Team FF

  4. For the question about dairy free condensed milk in Canada, I have found a coconut milk condensed version at my local Loblaws and also saw it today at Marshall’s in the food section. It is a bit pricey for a small tin.

  5. Can you use regular condensed milk? I cannot find dairy free here in Canada ๐Ÿ™

    1. yes there is dairy free coconut condensed milk. check superstore organic section. all health food stores carry it like community foods in Calgary Albert’s. even bulk barn carries it. good luck !

  6. I made these for a dinner party and they were so delicious! Even better the next day. Thank you for the recipe.

  7. Is it supposed to be 1/2 cup lemon juice for the cheesecake? It says 2 cup/1 small lemon.