These Instant Pot Easter Cheesecakes have a graham cracker crust and are adorably layered with two different colors of cheesecake and decorated with chocolate eggs.
» You might also like this Instant Pot Mango Sticky Rice.
Looking for something fun to serve for dessert with your Easter meal? I don’t think you’ll find anything cuter than this. These little festive cheesecakes are so cute and just as tasty to eat.
I often think that making cheesecake is too tedious and I lament doing it, but these little Instant Pot cheesecakes are actually a breeze to make. All you have to do is mix up the crust and the batter and the pressure cooker does the rest for you.
Just remember that you’ll need a day or at least overnight for the cheesecake to set up before you serve it, so be sure to get started on these the day before. They also can keep in the fridge for up to 5 days if you want to make them even further in advance.
Ingredients You Need
- Graham crackers – These make the crust of the cheesecakes. You can use butter cookies, digestive biscuits, or other types of cookies, like Oreos.
- Butter – I always use salted butter to add a bit more complexity, but unsalted is fine too.
- Cream cheese – Always use full fat cream cheese or the best texture and flavor. Make sure you take it out of the refrigerator 30 minutes before working with it.
- Sugar – Granulated white sugar is what I use.
- Heavy cream – Don’t substitute this with half and half, as the texture will suffer.
- All-purpose flour – You can substitute with almond flour or gluten free flour, if you want.
- Vanilla extract – Just to add a little well rounded vanilla flavor to the cake.
- Egg – I use large eggs and bring them up to room temperature before using
- Whipped cream – This is for an optional topping.
- Chocolate easter eggs – Decorate your cheesecakes with colorful chocolate Easter eggs or sprinkles.
Equipment Needed
- 4-ounce mason jars with lids
- Mixing bowls
- Hand mixer or stand mixer
How to Make Instant Pot Easter Cheesecake
Making these Instant Pot cheesecakes is very easy. We make them in a two-part process, starting with the crust.
I love making these in 4-ounce mason jars with lids. You can see the colors easily and they make a great individual dessert size. If you don’t have any, you can use 4-ounce ramekins instead.
Step One: Crusts
To cumble the graham crackers, you can use a food processor or blender cup. If you don’t have those tools, you can place them in a plastic bag and crush them with a meat mallet or rolling pin.
In a small bowl, stir together the graham cracker crumbs and butter. Divide the crust mixture among the mason jars, about 1 1/2 tablespoons per jar. Gently press down the crumbs so they are lightly compacted. Not too tightly though or they will be hard to get out of the jar when you eat it.
Step Two: Cheesecake
In a mixing bowl, blend the cream cheese and sugar with a hand mixer on medium speed until it’s smooth. Blend in the cream, flour, and vanilla.
Add the egg and mix just until blended.
Divide the mixture evenly into 3 separate bowls. Each bowl will become a different color, so you can make three different color layers.
Add 1/2 – 1 drop of blue coloring into one, yellow coloring into another, and red into the last one. Stir until the color is fully incorporated. Always start with just half a drop to one drop and work your way up to achieve the color you want. They should be a nice light pastel. It seemed that the colors got brighter as the cheesecakes cooked.
Divide the batter among the jars, putting two layers in each, alternating among the jars. You can mix and match however you like.
I found it the layers were more pronounced if the bottom layer of batter was smaller. When you spoon the second color on top it tends to push the bottom layer up making the bottom layer cover up part of the top layer.
To keep the layers from mixing into each other spoon the top layer over with care. Don’t just plop it in or you won’t see both layers.
Step Three: Pressure Cook
Pour 1 cup of water into the inner pot of the Instant Pot. Place the trivet inside. Carefully place the mason jars on the trivet. Lock the lid in place and set the vent to sealing, if that’s necessary on your model. Pressure cook on high for 1 minute.
When the cook time is up, let the pressure naturally release. This takes about 10-15 minutes. When the valve drops, carefully remove the lid, so water doesn’t pour onto the cheesecakes. It’s okay if some water did get on top.
With oven mitts, carefully transfer the jars to a wire rack to cool. Dab up any water on the top of the cheesecakes with a paper towel. It’s possible the tops cracked a bit if water got onto them. That’s okay though because you’re going to decorate the top and no one will notice.
When the cheesecakes are cool, cover them with the Mason jar lids and refrigerate for at least 4 hours, or overnight. This helps set up the cheesecake and makes it nice and firm and creamy. Skipping this step leads to a weird texture that no one likes.
Garnish with whipped cream and mini chocolate eggs on top, if desired.
Tips For the Best Outcome
- Take the butter, cream cheese, and egg out of the refrigerator about 30 minutes in advance to bring them to room temperature. This is vital to the success of the cheesecakes.
- Beat the egg into the batter on low speed.
- The more you pack the crust in the harder it will be to scoop out.
- If you are using 3 colors of food coloring and adding 2 colors per jar you will need to get 4 portions out of each color. Knowing this will help you plan as you are adding the cheesecake mixture to the jars.
- Add the second color carefully to the jar so that it stays on top of the other color instead of mixing with it.
- Buy or use mason jars with lids so you can store the cheesecake properly in the refrigerator. If you don’t have lids, seal them well with plastic wrap.
- Allow for a natural release of pressure when the cook time is up and be careful when opening the lid so water doesn’t fall down onto the cheesecakes.
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Instant Pot Easter Cheesecakes
Note: Made in a 6-qt Instant Pot
Equipment
- 6 4-ounce mason jars
Ingredients
For the crust:
- 1/2 cup graham crackers crushed (about 3)
- 1 tablespoon butter melted
For the cheesecake:
- 1 package cream cheese 8 oz, room temperature
- 3 tablespoons sugar
- 3 tablespoons heavy cream
- 1/2 tablespoon all-purpose flour
- 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 large egg room temperature
- Food coloring
For the garnish:
- Whipped cream
- Chocolate easter eggs
Instructions
For the crust:
- Lightly grease six 4-ounce mason jars.
- In a small bowl, stir together the graham cracker crumbs and butter. Divide the crust mixture among the mason jars, about 1 1/2 tablespoons per jar. Gently, not too tightly, press the crumbs into the bottom of the jars.
For the cheesecake:
- In a mixing bowl, blend the cream cheese and sugar with a hand mixer on medium speed until smooth. Blend in the cream, flour, and vanilla. Add the egg and mix just until blended. Divide the mixture into 3 separate bowls. Add 1-2 drops of blue coloring into one, yellow coloring into one, and red into one. Stir until the color is fully incorporated.
- Divide the batter among the jars, two layers in each, alternating among the jars.
- Pour 1 cup of water into the inner pot of the Instant Pot. Place the trivet inside. Carefully place the jars on the trivet. Lock the lid in place. Pressure cook on high for 1 minute.
- When the cook time is up, let the pressure naturally release. When the valve drops, carefully remove the lid, so water doesn’t pour onto the cheesecakes.
- With oven mitts, transfer the jars to a wire rack. Dab up any water on the top of the cheesecakes with a paper towel. When the cheesecakes are cool, cover with lids and refrigerate for at least 4 hours, or overnight.
- Garnish with whipped cream and mini chocolate eggs on top, if desired.
Notes
- Colors will look darker after cooking.
- Don’t pack the crust into the jars too tightly. It will make it hard to scoop out.
Nutrition
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Laura spends a lot of her time cooking and creating recipes to share. She loves traveling and learning about new foods around the world to bring into her own recipes at home.