Instant Pot NY Style Cheesecake - So Easy

Looking for a quick and easy dessert for your New Year's Eve party but don't want to have to spend a lot of time? Then, my friend, you are going to love this cheesecake recipe. YES, you can make a cheesecake in your Instant Pot and it will be creamy, tasty and amazingly easy to make! I found this recipe for a New York Style Cheesecake on Twin Cities Adventures' YouTube channel.

I think this version of cheesecake is a little creamier than most of the New York cheesecakes I've had before, but I still really like it. I will warn you. This is not a diet cheesecake. If you cut it into 8 slices, each slice is almost 500 calories. Yup, that is not a typo. Five hundred calories.

Before you make this cheesecake, you need to buy a springform pan that fits in your Instant Pot. Since I have a 6 quart Instant Pot, the 7" x 3" Fat Daddio's pan fits perfectly. I bought mine on Amazon.

Easy Instant Pot New York Style Cheesecake

Serves 8

INGREDIENTS
Ingredients for Crust
Vegetable oil spray of your choice
1 sleeve graham crackers, crushed (about 1 1/2 cups)
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 Tablespoons butter, melted and cooled slightly

Ingredients for Filling
16 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
2 Tablespoons cornstarch
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 cup sour cream
2 eggs, beaten

Ingredients for Topping
1/2 cup sour cream
2 Tablespoons granulated sugar

DIRECTIONS
Cut a square of parchment paper or foil a little bigger than the bottom of your pan. Wrap the bottom in parchment paper or foil and put the lined bottom back in the pan. Spray the entire inside of the pan with vegetable oil spray.

In a bowl, mix crushed graham crackers with salt and melted butter. It should resemble wet sand. Pour mixture into lined pan. Using the bottom of a measuring cup or glass, press the crumbs to form the crust. The edges can go up the sides about an inch. This will make it a little easier to remove the cheesecake from the springform pan after cooking. Place the pan in the freezer to cool while you make the filling.

Place all of the ingredients for filling in a bowl and whisk until creamy and smooth.  Pour the creamed mixture into the cooled crust. Smooth the top with a spoon or spatula.

Into the metal pot that came inside your Instant Pot, pour one cup of water. You need this to create steam and pressure.  Place the springform pan on the wire trivet and gently lower this inside the Instant Pot. There is no need to cover the cheesecake pan with foil. We will just blot off any water from the top of the cheesecake after it cooks.

(If you don't have the trivet that came with the Instant Pot, create some way to raise the pan about an inch off the bottom of your Instant Pot's inner metal pot so the cheesecake is not sitting in the water.) 

Lock the Instant Pot lid and be sure the lid is set to SEALING. Press Manual and set the timer to 28 minutes. After the cooking is complete, let the Instant Pot naturally release pressure for 10 minutes. If the pressure is not completely released after 10 minutes, you can vent any remaining steam.

Carefully lift the lid. Try not to drip any extra water onto the cheesecake. Using a clean napkin or paper towel, blot the edges of the cheesecake to remove any excess liquid.

Mix the ingredients for the topping in a bowl. Immediately spread over the top of the cheesecake. Place cheesecake in the refrigerator for at least 8 hours. After it is completely cooled, you can press the cheesecake out of the springform pan and cut it into slices. I cut mine into 8 generous slices so the nutritional facts below are based on that serving size.

This cheesecake is good enough to eat plain, but I like to top it with just a little bit of cherry pie filling or fruit jam slightly warmed. I freeze individual slices using my Food Saver. Once thawed, it tastes as good as it did on the first day.