No-Bake Pumpkin Cheesecake
Without cream cheese · eggless
A creamy pumpkin cheesecake without turning on the oven — eggless, no cream cheese, with a spiced graham cracker crust and a silky pumpkin filling. Perfect for autumn.
Ingredients
- Crust: 1½ cups (150 g) graham cracker crumbs · 3 tbsp (45 g) melted unsalted butter · ½ tsp pumpkin pie spice
- 2 cups (450 g) thick plain Greek yogurt
- 1 cup (225 g) 100 % pure pumpkin purée
- ⅓ cup (65 g) light brown sugar
- 2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1½ tsp agar-agar powder + 3 tbsp boiling water
- Whipped cream and ground cinnamon, to top
Nutrition is an estimate per serving.
Method
- Line an 8×8-inch pan with parchment, leaving overhang. Mix crumbs, spice and melted butter until it looks like wet sand.
- Press firmly and evenly into the pan; freeze while you make the filling.
- Whisk Greek yogurt, pumpkin purée, brown sugar, pumpkin pie spice and vanilla for 1–2 minutes until smooth.
- Prepare the agar-agar with water and heat according to the packet until fully dissolved and activated.
- Whisking the pumpkin mixture continuously, slowly add the warm agar-agar and whisk quickly until incorporated.
- Pour over the crust and smooth the top.
- Cover and refrigerate at least 4 hours, preferably overnight.
- Lift out by the parchment, cut into squares, top with whipped cream and cinnamon.
Watch it made
Notes on this recipe
Agar-agar has to boil
This is the step that decides whether the recipe works. Agar does not dissolve in warm liquid the way gelatin does — it has to be brought to a genuine boil and held there for a minute or two to activate. Warm it gently and it will look dissolved, then fail to set, and there is no way to tell until hours later. Follow the packet, and boil it properly.
Work quickly once it is in
Agar begins setting at around 40 °C, which is far warmer than gelatin and warmer than your pumpkin mixture. Pour the hot agar in slowly while whisking continuously, and keep whisking until it is fully incorporated. Stop to answer the door and you will find threads of set agar through the filling. Have the tin lined and ready before you start.
Greek yogurt, and why it is thick
Two cups of thick Greek yogurt rather than cream cheese is what keeps this lighter than a standard cheesecake. It also brings acidity, which stops the pumpkin and spice tasting flat. Regular yogurt will not work — the extra water thins the filling and dilutes the agar below the ratio that sets it. Strain it overnight if thick Greek is all you can get.
Setting and cutting
Agar sets at room temperature, unlike gelatin, and it sets firmly rather than wobbling. An hour or two on the counter followed by chilling gives a clean, sliceable square. Use the parchment overhang to lift the whole slab out before cutting, and wipe the knife between cuts. If you want the fuller comparison, agar and gelatin behave very differently. Keeps four days.
