These swirled Pumpkin Cheesecake Bars feature the flavors of pumpkin pie and creamy cheesecake on a graham cracker crust. This is a delicious and crowd-pleasing holiday dessert that is way easier than making traditional cheesecake.
There are Pumpkin Cheesecake Bars in my fridge and I can’t think straight because I want to be nibbling on them constantly. How many cheesecake bars is it acceptable for an adult woman to consume in one day? Asking for a friend.
I fell in love with cream cheese-pumpkin combo when I made my Pumpkin Pie Cheesecake. This recipe has a similar flavor profile, but it tastes more like a traditional cheesecake. These bars have been met with rave reviews and I can’t wait for you to make and share them this holiday season.
Prefer traditional cheesecake bars (no pumpkin)? That recipe is here: Cheesecake Bars.
Recipe overview:
- Graham cracker crust: A mixture of graham cracker crumbs, sugar, and melted butter. This delicious crust is sweet, buttery, and incredibly easy.
- Filling: A combination of vanilla cheesecake batter and pumpkin cheesecake batter are swirled together to create a creamy and flavorful filling.
- Baking: This recipe bakes in a 9×13 pan, for a total of about 50 minutes.
- Cooling: These cheesecake bars will need to cool completely before cutting and serving. Cool them to room temp, then transfer to the refrigerator to chill completely.
Why you’ll love this recipe
Flavor: A combination of buttery crust, sweet and tangy cheesecake, pumpkin, warm spices, and a touch of vanilla.
Ease: A simple press-in graham cracker crust crust and a filling that comes together in minutes.
Quantity: This recipe makes a 9×13 pan of bars – perfect for feeding a crowd.
Recipe tips
- Use full-fat cream cheese and sour cream for ths recipe. Low-fat alternatives can have stabilizers in them that might affect the texture.
- Make sure you buy pure pumpkin puree, not pumpkin pie filling (which is already sweetened).
- Don’t overbeat the cheesecake batter. If you add too much air it can crack when it is baking.
- You need to allow at least 8 hours for this cheesecake to cool. It should first cool to room temp, then chill completely in the refrigerator.
- Leftovers can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 3 days or the freezer for up to 1 month.
- Out of sour cream? Try one of these Sour Cream Substitutes.
More pumpkin recipes
Pumpkin Bars – Soft cake-like bars topped with brown butter frosting.
Pumpkin Muffins – Moist pumpkin muffins topped with a brown sugar crumble and cinnamon icing.
Pumpkin Pie Bars – Creamy pumpkin pie filling on top of a shortbread crust.
Pumpkin Pudding Cake – Pumpkin cake that bakes with a brown sugar caramel sauce.
Pumpkin Carrot Cake – A delicious layer cake with cream cheese frosting.
Pumpkin Ice Cream – Super creamy no-churn ice cream that tastes likes pumpkin pie with whipped cream.
Recipe
Pumpkin Cheesecake Bars
Ingredients
Crust:
- 15 whole rectangular graham crackers
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- 8 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
Filling:
- 1-¼ cups pumpkin puree
- 1-½ teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
- 1-½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1 tablespoon all purpose flour
- Three 8-oz packages full fat cream cheese, at room temperature
- 1-⅔ cup granulated sugar
- 1-½ teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- ½ cup full fat sour cream
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- 3 large eggs, at room temperature
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a 9×13 baking pan with foil and lightly grease the foil.
Crust:
- Place the graham crackers in the bowl of a food processor and process until the graham crackers are in fine crumbs (you should have just over 2 cups of crumbs). In a separate bowl, combine crumbs, sugar, and melted butter and stir until combined. Press the crust into the bottom of the prepared pan and press it into an even layer (I use the back of a measuring cup).
- Bake the crust for 10-15 minutes until it is just beginning to turn golden brown and fragrant. Place the crust on a wire rack to cool slightly while you make the filling.
Filling:
- In a large bowl, whisk pumpkin puree, spices, and flour. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, using a hand mixer or stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Add vanilla, sour cream, and salt, and beat until combined, scraping the sides of the bowl as needed. Beat in the eggs, 1 at a time, scraping the sides of the bowl as needed, and turning off the mixer as soon as the last egg is fully incorporated.
- Measure out 1-½ cups of the cream cheese mixture and add it to the reserved pumpkin mixture, stirring until combined.
- Alternate scoops of cream cheese filling and the pumpkin filling all over the top of the crust. Use a sharp knife to drag/swirl the two mixtures together (I do figure eights). Be careful not to drag the knife all the way down into the crust.
- Bake in the center of the oven for 35-45 minutes, until the center still has a very slight jiggle but the edges are set. Place on a wire rack to cool completely, then transfer to the refrigerator to chill (this will take several hours).
Video
Notes
- Use full-fat cream cheese and sour cream for ths recipe. Low-fat alternatives can have stabilizers in them that might affect the texture.
- Make sure you buy pure pumpkin puree, not pumpkin pie filling (which is already sweetened).
- Don’t overbeat the cheesecake batter. If you add too much air it can crack when it is baking.
- You need to allow at least 8 hours for this cheesecake to cool. It should first cool to room temp, then chill completely in the refrigerator.
- Leftovers can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 3 days or the freezer for up to 1 month.
Nutrition
Nutritional Information is an estimate based on third-party calculations and may vary based on products used and serving sizes.
Tried this recipe?Leave a comment and rating below!
Janice Bossler
Made this last week. It was delicious. Will be my go to for cheesecake. And very simple to make!
Allison
I’m glad you enjoyed them! Thanks for stopping by.
Gina C
I think I made this 6 times in the span of 2 months. Yes it’s that good, yes it’s worth it. Amazing recipe
Allison
Haha! Yay! I love hearing that. 🙂 Thanks for stopping by!
Carolyn
Made these last night for coffee this morning with the residents in my Apt. building. Delicious but very difficult to remove from pan.! The Graham cracker crust stuck to the tin foil making the bars sloppy to serve. I questioned why the recipe called for the pan to be lined with greased tin foil to begin with! I would make this again but I’ll go with my first instinct and skip the tin foil! Has anyone else had this problem?
Allison
Oh no! Sorry to hear that. When I make bars and brownies I always line the pan for easy removal. I haven’t had that problem. Did you happen to use gluten free graham crackers? The only time I’ve had trouble with the crust sticking is when I’ve used gluten free substitutes.
Verna
Do you take it out of the pan to cool on a wire rack? Or just put the whole pan on the wire rack to cool?
Allison
Put the whole pan on the rack.
Alyssa
So so good. It hasn’t cooled yet and I could not help myself. It is so good! I used mascarpone cheese instead of sour cream. 🤌 chefs kiss!
Allison
Awesome! Enjoy!
Dawn
Can you double this and make it in a sheet pan?
Allison
Hi! I don’t think that the pan will be high enough, it might overflow. I’d probably play it safe and just make two 9×13 pans.
Mallory
Loved this recipe! I took for a fall party but didn’t get to try any before hand and my mom told me it was delicious and a hit, I got the leftover couple bars a few days later and they were so good! Perfect balance of pumpkin and cheesecake. I just have one question, do you have any variations of this recipe, like chocolate or peanut butter or any fruit?!
Allison
Hi, Mallory. I’m glad you enjoyed them. I have several other flavored cheesecakes (raspberry, cranberry, churro, etc) but they are slightly different than this recipe. Here they are if you want to take a look: https://celebratingsweets.com/?s=cheesecake
lexi
loved it! i added pecans to my graham cracker crust (ground with the graham crackers) it created a slightly bitter crust that helped offset some sweetness that created what was a great bar for my family! i definitely over-beat my cheesecake (cracked while cooling) but this was my first time ever making a cheesecake. the only downside was that i didnt taste much pumpkin or the spices. could be my fault, to be fair i definitely didn’t measure out the spices for the pumpkin puree like i did everything else, it looked pretty spiced and tasted good but it got lost i guess lol.
Allison
I’m glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for stopping by. 🙂
Karen
Very good. I did not line my pan with foil, just sprayed the bottom of my 9×13 pan. Love the pumpkin flavor this time of year. Will make again for Thanksgiving.
Allison
Great! I’m glad you enjoyed them. 🙂
Amanda
I’m using spices wafers instead of graham crackers. Do you know many cups is 15 graham crackers?
Allison
It should be just over 2 cups of crumbs. Enjoy!
Amy
Would this recipe work as a layered bar rather than swirl? Thank you.
Allison
I’m not 100% sure because I haven’t tried it, but I would assume so. For step 4 just layer instead of dollop and swirl. Best of luck!