This weekend I hosted a small party with our friends. I made our best of the best favorites and simplest - Wings for dinner and Cheesecake for dessert. Both made in our Instant pot (Pressure cooker)
My guests were in shock that you could make a cheesecake in a pressure cooker. But yet, ever since I made my first cheesecake in the Instant pot, if I just mention the word cheesecake, everyone comes in running in my house. It it absolutely smooth, with a silky texture and can compete with top-notch cheesecake from a restaurant.
Not to mention that I even make my cheesecake low-carb and without the added sugar overload that you find in many store bought cakes.
This time, in preparation for Easter, I want to spice things up and make a citrus dessert. I love citrus based desserts because they rarely suffer from being overly sweet and it usually have gorgeous colors.
I chose Wonderful Halos, California grown mandarins, because they are naturally sweet, easy to peel and seedless. Making them my favorite healthy snack that I feel good about eating. Not to mention the burst of vitamin C and other anti-oxidants!
With incorporation of my other favorite berries, doesn't this just look oh-so beautiful and tasty?
My cheesecake tastes very smooth, creamy and sweet without sugar substitute feel or any aftertaste. It practically tastes like real thing that melts in your mouth, but without any guilt.
Below I outline my low-carb cheesecake recipe with nut crust. If you don’t care about extra sugar and carbs, you can just make it with graham cracker crust instead. It's very easy to switch the crust.
Go ahead and pin this Pinterest friendly pin below so if you’re not making this cheesecake right now, you can save it for later and easily find it.
For the Instant Pot method – equipment you need: Instant Pot (pressure cooker), Stainless steel trivet, 7 Inch spring-form pan, foil paper.
Based on 10 servings and 1 piece serves as a serving, here’s the nutritional information:
Calories 290, Total fat 20 g, Sodium 151 mg, Potassium 133 mg, Total Carbohydrate 9,4 g, Sugars 7,4 g, Protein 6 g
Vs. regular cheesecake has 25 g of carbs and 20 g sugar. Of course they may serve you a bit larger slice but why pig-out?
This cheesecake freezes well and kept good in the freezer, so you can portion control it and de-freeze as you need. It only lasted me 2 days in the fridge as I was controlling my family not to gobble it up in one day.
Nevertheless, I’m in love with this piece of naturally sweet low-carb pure goodness (made in Instant Pot) with the delicious flavor and creamy silky-like texture that melts in your mouth and can’t feel any difference, so maybe you want to give it try and let me know what you think. It is way easy to make than you think if you follow the precise recipe and directions below. I was nervous myself at first, but now I feel like a pro, making all preps in less than 10 minutes.
Ingredients:
Crust Ingredients: (by the way, if you’re skipping the crust, then your macros will go down to 7 carbs per slice, 200 cal and 17 g of fat, 6.9 g sugar.
Crust: 1 and ½ cup crushed nuts ( Use almonds, pistachios, walnuts or can use almond flour; or you can sub for crushed graham crackers). Add to food processor and pulse it until they are crushed but not yet finely ground (you still want to feel that crunchiness in the crust).
2,5 tablespoon – (Tablespoons) melted butter (If you're subbing for graham crust then add 5 TBSP)
Filling ingredients:
16 oz cream cheese – room temperature, this is important for smooth texture. If you’re in a hurry, place 16 oz cream cheese with their wraps in hot water for 10 minutes. If you’re worried that the water will get inside the cream cheese, place the packets inside the zip lock bags. Otherwise the cream cheese must be absolutely at room temp. and nicely softened
¼ cup sugar – (can sub for granulated sweetener of your choice) – I used half white sugar and half Swerve to make it ¼ cup
¼ cup sour cream (room temp)
2 eggs (room temp)
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon flour (Optional)
Instructions:
- Prepare a 7 inch spring-form by coating it with non-stick spray or oil it up. Line with foil or parchment paper if desired.
- In a small bowl combine your crushed nuts and melted butter. Spread evenly with your fingers (or use flat- bottomed mug) in the bottom and 1 inch up the side of the pan. Bake in the oven at 350 F (180 C) for 8 minutes. Do not bake longer, because nut crust can get burned. Let cool and place in the freezer for 20 minutes. (Note - If you're subbing for graham crust, then you bake for 15-20 minutes)
- In a mixing bowl mix your very soft room temperature cream cheese and sugar at medium speed until smooth. Blend in sour cream and flour. Mix in the eggs one at a time just until blended. Do not over-mix. Pour batter into the spring-form pan on top of the crust.
- Pour 1 cup of water into the stainless steel inner pot, and place the trivet in the bottom. Cover the spring-form with aluminum foil (<- this is important) and carefully lower the filled pan into the inner pot on top of the trivet.
- Lock in the lid. Select Pressure cook, High and set for 30 minutes of cooking time. When beep sounds turn off Instant Pot and use Natural release (it should take approximately 10-15 minutes). Open the lid, remove cheesecake, use the corner of paper towel to soak up any water on top of cheesecake.
- When cheesecake is cooled, place in the refrigerator (covered with saran plastic wrap) for at least 5 hours or best overnight.
- The next day prepare your toppings. I used mandarin oranges, raspberries and blueberries. Decorate your cheesecake however you like, use Halos Mandarins for the gorgeous festive look and start enjoying the creamy silky texture with pure juicy goodness.
If you noticed, my cheesecake has a jello on top. I just wanted to experiment with jello, but this is completely optional.. I thought that the jello has preserved the top ingredients nicely, making the berries and Halos fresh with every bite. I didn't use the Jello-O brand because of nasty ingredients they put in it. Instead I used Knox Original Unflavored gelatin. For the color I used half Orange juice/ half water, which also made the jello part naturally sweet.
Oven baked Low carb cheesecake with walnut crust method:
Note: This recipe is still for 7 Inch Spring-form pan If you have a bigger pan, like 9 Inch, then you can double the recipe. Other equipment you may need: Roasting pan, elevated baking rack.
Follow the same instructions how to prepare the springform pan, crust and filling.
Pour your batter into the spring-form pan on top of the crust.
Set the oven rack to the second to the lowest position in the oven.
Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F (150 degrees Celsius)
Place the roasting pan onto the second to the lowest rack.
Place the elevated baking rack on top.
Place the filled spring-form on top of the baking rack.
Pour boiling water into the roasting pan until it comes up to 1 Inch, but still make sure the water does not touch the filled springform pan.
Do not splash any water onto the filling.
Bake for 60 minutes.
Remove from oven and let sit until completely cool – do not touch, do not shake, do not take out of spring form pan yet.
Cover with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator for at least 4-5 hours or best overnight.
The next day, gently separate cheesecake from springform with the knife and open the latch.
Follow by preparing your Halos toppings and decorations and enjoy!
If you have a friend or family member who has a sweet tooth and who needs the low carb low sugar recipes, share this post with them.
Disclosure: This post is sponsored by Wonderful Halos. Regardless, I only share what I love and what I cook in my kitchen. The Low Carb Instant Pot Mandarin Cheesecake is my own recipe.
Here’s the handy Low Carb Instant Post Cheesecake recipe printable:
Mandarin Cheesecake
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
Author: Irina Davey of TheBigAppleMama.com
Recipe type: Low carb, dessert
Cuisine: Any
Serves: 10
Ingredients
- Crust Ingredients: (by the way, if you’re skipping the crust, then your macros will go down to 7 carbs per slice, 200 cal and 17 g of fat, 6.9 g sugar.
- Crust: 1 and ½ cup crushed nuts ( Use almonds, pistachios, or Almond flour; or you can sub for crushed graham crackers) Add to food processor and pulse it until they are crushed but not yet finely ground (you still want to feel that crunchiness in the crust).
- 2,5 tablespoon – (Tablespoons) melted butter (If you're subbing for graham crust then add 5 TBSP)
- Filling ingredients:
- 16 oz cream cheese – room temperature, this is important for smooth texture. If you’re in a hurry, place 16 oz cream cheese with their wraps in hot water for 10 minutes. If you’re worried that the water will get inside the cream cheese, place the packets inside the zip lock bags. Otherwise the cream cheese must be absolutely at room temp. and nicely softened
- ¼ cup sugar – (can sub for granulated sweetener of your choice) – I used half white sugar and half Swerve to make it ¼ cup
- ¼ cup sour cream (room temp)
- 2 eggs (room temp)
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon flour (Optional)
Instructions
- Instructions:
- Prepare a 7 inch spring-form by coating it with non-stick spray or oil it up. Line with foil or parchment paper if desired.
- In a small bowl combine your crushed nuts and melted butter. Spread evenly with your fingers (or use flat bottomed mug) in the bottom and 1 inch up the side of the pan. Bake in the oven at 350 F (180 C) for 8 minutes. Do not bake longer, because nut crust can get burned. Let cool and place in the freezer for 20 minutes. (Note - If you're subbing for graham crust, then you bake for 15-20 minutes)
- In a mixing bowl mix your very soft room temperature cream cheese and sugar at medium speed until smooth. Blend in sour cream and flour. Mix in the eggs one at a time just until blended. Do not over-mix. Pour batter into the spring-form pan on top of the crust.
- Pour 1 cup of water into the stainless steel inner pot, and place the trivet in the bottom. Cover the spring-form with aluminum foil (<- this is important) and carefully lower the filled pan into the inner pot on top of the trivet.
- Lock in the lid. Select Pressure cook, High and set for 30 minutes of cooking time. When beep sounds turn off Instant Pot and use Natural release (it should take approximately 10-15 minutes). Open the lid, remove cheesecake, use the corner of paper towel to soak up any water on top of cheesecake.
- When cheesecake is cooled, place in the refrigerator (covered with saran plastic wrap) for at least 5 hours or best overnight.
- The next day prepare your toppings. I used Wonderful Halos, raspberries and blueberries. Decorate your cheesecake however you like, use Halos Mandarins for the gorgeous festive look and start enjoying the creamy silky texture with pure goodness.
Esti
That looks amazing - I could make it for the Jewish holiday of Sukkot!
jan
hi...most of your recipes call for 3T of cream cheese....just found your great site....i am wondering the best/easiest way to measure out 3T from a block of cream cheese. is it very specific with the 3T or a guesstimate ok? can you help me? thanks
Irina
HI Jan, I just take a Tablespoon and generously scoop out the cream cheese. Do not worry about the precise amount. If you have a bit more cream cheese, you will have a bit more of the recipe. (I'm assuming you're referring to cloud bread and 3 tablespoons?)