Can You Actually Make A Cheesecake In The Air Fryer?

Step aside ovens and water baths, air fryers provide an easy way to make a cheesecake with the richness of the oven-baked version and the creamy texture of the no-bake variety. The days of laboring over a cheesecake for eight hours have now gone by the wayside, too, because air fryers can evenly bake a cheesecake in about half the time.

Sure, you can use hacks to make a moist cheesecake in your oven, but the air fryer brings a more streamlined option to the table. Make a traditional cheesecake or make them mini, try it with chocolate or laced with caramel. In an air fryer, you can make any kind of cheesecake imaginable, like New York-style or Basque-style with a blackened top and velvety interior.

The day cheesecake met the air fryer was a historic home baking event, though it's difficult to pinpoint exactly when it happened. The introduction definitely happened centuries after cheesecake popped onto the scene in ancient Greece, where it was served to Olympians as one of the world's first protein bars. Fast forward to 2010 when the air fryer arrived. Air fryer recipes went through a major evolution in 2020, when COVID forced most people to cook at home instead of going out. Cheesecake was among those creative dishes that surfaced as people brought air fryers into their homes and started experimenting.

At first glance, it doesn't seem like air-frying cheesecake would work. In fact, it might seem that cheesecake is one of those foods you should keep far away from the air fryer. But air fryer cheesecakes are more user-friendly than other methods, including no-bake and conventionally baked versions of the dessert. Kitchen creatives and chefs claim they don't battle the usual problems when they use the air fryer. You don't have to worry about a water bath in the air fryer like you do with oven baking. There's less of a chance that your cheesecake will fall in the center or crack too much on top. Some cheesecake makers even go as far as to claim they'll never go back to traditional cheesecake-making methods.

Air fryers work by radiating heat from the top of the machine down to food in a basket or on a tray while also blowing hot air through the whole compartment. The result is food that's evenly cooked and crispy. The process is known as convection and is perfect for anything that's traditionally fried in oil, foods like corn dogs, buffalo wings and chicken strips. It seems counterintuitive to use an air fryer for dishes that require wet ingredients, and yet it's happening with cheesecake. That's largely because the batter is contained, so there's no danger of spilling, and it is often covered during cooking.

Be ready to dedicate about an hour or two to air-fry a cheesecake instead of the traditional eight hours it takes to make the traditional version. Most air fryer cheesecake recipes call for a food processor to grind and combine ingredients for the crust, plus a blender to create a creamy cheesecake batter. You'll use the same ingredients as you would when making a cheesecake in the oven.

If you're making a regular-sized cheesecake, you'll need a 7 or 8-inch springform pan with a removable bottom so you can easily release the cheesecake once it's done. You can also use ramekins or 6-inch pans for mini cheesecakes if you want a quick and easy single-serve dessert. Parchment paper helps prevent sticking and covering the pan in aluminum foil will help you avoid excess browning, but you won't need to foil-wrap it if you're making Basque-style cheesecake since you're aiming for that blackened top.

Most importantly, you'll want to make sure you have an air fryer with a large enough basket to fit the springform pan you're using. Baking temperatures can vary depending on the air fryer, but many recipes point to 300 degrees Fahrenheit as a sweet spot. Baking time typically ranges from 30 minutes to an hour, depending on the recipe. Once it's done baking, you'll pop it into the fridge for four hours to finish. It's such a quick and easy alternative that it might have you wondering whether air fryers will make oven cheesecakes totally obsolete.