Pistachio Cheesecake
Homemade pistachio paste made from toasted ground nuts is added to a super creamy cheesecake that tastes like actual, real pistachios.
Originally published: September 16, 2019.
Over dinner one night my husband suggested I make a pistachio cheesecake. I thought the idea sounded lovely but surely it had been done before? After about half an hour of searching, I found dozens of recipes online for pistachio cheesecake, and they were all made from… pistachio-flavored jello.
I get that the color is kind of attractive, but there is no way any of those cheesecakes actually taste like a real pistachio nut. Of course, this meant that coming up with a recipe was now totally necessary.
Recipe Origins
I ultimately found my perfect pistachio cheesecake by balancing the three mains: cream cheese, pistachio butter and sour cream. To get the perfect texture without lumps, I aggressively use a food processor on the cream cheese. To get a cheesecake that cooks well without cracking or sinking, I use a cake pan to bake the cheesecake and place it in a larger cake pan which acts as the water bath. These four steps made all the difference! We end up with a gorgeously tall, dense, and creamy dish that really tastes like pistachios.
Real pistachio flavor with Pistachio Butter
When I want to incorporate a nut flavor front and center into a bake, I make the nut paste and then use as much as the recipe will allow. It’s a fairly simple process: you toast the raw nuts and then grind them in a food processor until the oils are released and you have a smooth paste. If you have been following this space for awhile you’ve already read my spiel about making pistachio butter at home: it’s cheap, it’s easy, and oh, so delicious.
Pistachio butter/paste is basically nuts ground until their oils are released. As for a source, I’ve got two options for you. You can take the easy route and buy this heavenly stuff, or…
Make your own pistachio butter
To make your own, preheat your oven to 350 and toast 8-10 oz raw pistachios for about 10 minutes. Using a food processor, blend until it turns into a soupy paste. This can take up to 20 minutes, with on and off scraping to get the nuts to release their oils.
Recipe Ingredients
Cookies: Since we’re going by grams to accommodate any kind of cookie used (rather than giving you the number of cookies which can lead to major differences) you can weigh them before using. If you want to use a sandwich cookie like an oreo you’ll use less butter (there’s already added butter and sugar in the filling).
Cream Cheese: Full fat is necessary to get a firm and creamy texture. Low fat cream cheeses have more water added to them so they are softer and not ideal for cheesecake. Don’t use whipped or spreadable, it should be the kind sold in packaged bricks.
Sour Cream: Full fat again! If you don’t have it you can use labneh.
Pistachio Butter: You can buy this or make your own by toasting then processing the shelled nuts until they are a soupy paste (see directions in the above section).
Eggs: Large eggs, if your eggs are particularly small use three, if they are medium use 2 then add another yolk.
Lemon zest: Lemon can help coax out the very delicate flavor of pistachios but if you don’t like them together or don’t want bits of zest in your cheesecake, skip it.
Tips for a perfect pistachio cheesecake
Room temperature ingredients: A lot of recipes will ask you for this and it might not always be necessary but in the case of cheesecake, it absolutely is. Especially for the cream cheese! If it’s cold it won’t mix easily and you’ll have lots of lumps in the batter and then in the baked cheesecake.
Press lumps, scrape often and mix well: In the recipe video you’ll see me using a rubber spatula to press the cream cheese before I start mixing. This helps remove any of those pesky cream cheese lumps. Once the sugar is mixed in scrape the bowl and mix it again. If you are using a food processor, scrape that often too (it’ll work quicker too). Do the same once the pistachio butter and sour cream are in the batter.
Don’t overmix: Eggs go in last and only need to be mixed into the batter until they are *just* incorporated, no more than 30 seconds. If you overmix the eggs the cake can sink.
Bake slowly and carefully: We’re going to bake this at a low temperature, in a water bath. Cheesecake is a custard, if you bake it too quickly it will cook the eggs first and cause a gross scrambled texture. In the water bath, the cheesecake is surrounded by water, which conducts heat evenly and slowly. This protects the custard and eggs from baking too quickly.
Don’t overbake: The marker for cheesecake doneness should be taken by visual cues. Your oven could run colder or hotter than mine, the pan you are using could be bigger or be made of a different material. It’s best to look for signs of doneness: the cheesecake should be only slightly wobbly in the center, not at all browned on top, have a matte top and be ‘set’ on the sides.
Chill slowly: Once you’ve determined the cheesecake is done baking, shut off the oven and prop open the door. This will help the cheesecake start cooling but slowly. Sudden temperature changes can cause the cheesecake to collapse. After it has cooled in the oven, take it out of the water bath and transfer it to the counter. Let it cool on the counter until it’s room temperature. Once cool, place it in the fridge for 8 hours to chill before serving.
Topping the cheesecake
Food processor whipped cream: If you make it in the food processor whipped cream is more stable. Follow this recipe. Alternatively, place 1 cup heavy cream, a dash of vanilla extract and a pinch of salt and 2 tablespoons of sugar and process on high until it’s thick. It’ll be beautifully spreadable and won’t separate even if left in the fridge overnight.
Pistachio praline: Use the praline recipe located above the recipe box on this page, and swap the pecans for pistachios!
The cheesecake will keep for a week in the fridge.
Recipe for Pistachio Cheesecake
Pistachio Cheesecake
Ingredients
Cookie Crust
- 300g cookie crumbs graham crackers or digestive cookies
- 113g or 1/2 cup unsalted butter melted
- pinch fine sea salt
- 1 tablespoon powdered sugar
Pistachio Filling
- 453g cream cheese two bricks, softened and at room temperature
- 200g or 1 cup granulated sugar
- ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 200g or 1 scant cup pistachio butter
- 240g or 1 cup sour cream
- 2 large eggs
- zest of 1 lemon optional, rub it into the sugar before adding it to the batter
Method
To make the crust:
- In a food processor, process the cookies, salt, and sugar on high until very finely ground.
- Add the melted butter and process until mixture is fully wet and comes together.
- Press the crumbs up the sides and on the bottom of an 8″ cake pan with tall sides, lined with parchment paper.
- Bake the crust 350 for 10 minutes. Place somewhere to chill while you make the filling.
To make the filling:
- Lower oven heat to 325.
- In a food processor or in a stand mixer, blend the cream cheese with the sugar and salt on high until it is utterly lump-free and completely smooth. Add the vanilla and scrape down the bowl and process for another minute.
- Add the pistachio butter and process until it is very smooth and well-blended. Scrape down the bowl and process again to ensure all is combined.
- Add the sour cream and process until combined.
- Add the eggs, pulse until they are just incorporated.
- Pour batter into the crust, and place it in a 13x9" cake pan. Fill the pan halfway with water. This is the water bath.
- Bake for about 50, rather than relying on time here look for visual cues for doneness: if it’s set on the sides and jiggly in the center it’s done. If the crust is browning, it's overdone.
- Shut the oven off and put a wooden spoon in the door to crack it open. Let the cheesecake cool in the oven for 30 minutes.
- Once 30 mins has passed, close the oven door and leave the cheesecake for another 15 minutes.
- Remove and cool on the counter for about half an hour.
- Transfer to fridge and let cool for 8 hours before serving.
Notes
Did you make this recipe?
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Hi,
I found pistachio cream, not butter. How much sugar would you recommend using instead of a cup? Also, I am concerned that the lemon zest won’t cream the way sugar does. Have you had any consistency issues with this?
Hi Lauren, pistachio cream usually has added sugars and oils so it’s not ideal to use in a recipe which hasn’t been constructed with those features in mind. If you are really set on trying it I would still use some sugar, but reduce it by at least half. As for the zest, you will have bits of it in the cheesecake – they make for a nice pop of flavor. If you would rather it perfectly smooth you can leave it out.
Crust step 1 mentions blending the butter with the crumbs, but the melted butter is added in step 2.
Should be just in the second. Fixed!
Can I substitute yogurt for the sour cream?
omg, my husband said it was the best cheesecake I ever baked!!!! thank you very much
Hi, I have just made this cheesecake and it has turned out great! Its difficult to find pistachio butter where I live so I made my own, which was nowhere near as challenging as I feared! Quite easy to time it too as you can just do it while the base is in the oven.
One question though, you mention and provide a recipe for pistachio praline, but I couldn’t see anywhere its used.. what was that for?
Hi Cat! The praline recipe is on the page for the ‘vanilla bean brown butter cheesecake‘, if you scroll to the section titled Pecan Praline Recipe (but swap in pistachios for the pecans!).
Hi there! If I made this in a 6″ springform pan, how long would you recommend baking the cake for? Also would I need to cut back on any of the ingredients? Thanks!
You’ll want to halve the entire recipe for a 6 inch cake pan, and I’d check it at around 30 minutes of bake time – but don’t stop baking until you see it set on the sides with just a jiggle in the center.
Hey, I’m making this for a friends birthday this monday. Silly question, but all I could find was already roasted pistachios, should I still toast them a bit before making into the butter, or are they good to go right out of the bag?
Yep – toast them but for less time, about 5-7 minutes. You want them hot and very fragrant but not browned.
hi! is mascarpone a good substitute for the cream cheese? also, can a nut crust be used such as almond flour and hazelnut combo? thank you 😊
I made this cheesecake over the weekend and loved it! The pistachio flavor really shines. I used store bought pistachio butter because I’m still intimidated by trying to make it at home. Also, Sam’s food processor method for making cheesecake is perfection and the only way I’ll do it now. I used to have trouble with the cream cheese coming out lumpy, even when I was super careful to make sure everything was at room temp before starting. The food processor method solved that problem.
Ah I really appreciated this comment Erica! Thank you for trying the recipe and I’m so happy it turned out well for you =)
Pistachio is the best nut, and BBS has all the best cheesecake recipes, and I feel like I’m going to repeat myself so I’ll just leave a little tip: I made my own pistachio butter (I didn’t get all the peels so the color was less green and a bit ugly, sue me, it tastes AMAZING anyway) and ended up with maybe thirty grams extra? I can’t remember, it was a little bit extra. I used my little hand mixer to mix that with mascarpone and then added heavy cream, vanilla, organic (no cornstarch) powdered sugar, and the tiniest amount of almond extract to make PISTACHIO MASCARPONE WHIPPED CREAM. It was so perfect as a topping for this perfect cake that I think it might be my new favorite cake. The only thing I would do differently in the future is to cut down on the crust amount because my pan is *just* tall enough for the cheesecake but the crust ends up very thick, which would not be a problem in a taller pan but I love my pans and I don’t want a new one, and to maybe add an extra egg to try and make this a bit fluffier rather than so creamy. I enjoy the creaminess, but even holding back some of the sour cream this is a very soft set and other people I bake for prefer otherwise. Thanks again for another absolute banger, Sam!
This recipe is delicious. It says you can serve it after 8 hours, but do yourself a favor and make it the day before you intend to serve it. Don’t skip the lemon zest, like I did (it didn’t say when to add it so I forgot about it!) and give it a thick layer of whipped cream (use the food processor like she recommends.) If you frequently refer to desserts as being “too rich” this one isn’t for you, But if you love decadent, creamy-as-can-be, pistachio dreaminess, you’re going to enjoy this.
If making your own pistachio nut butter, this becomes one of the more difficult cheesecakes I’ve ever made. If you’re able to source already made pistachio nut butter, I’d possibly recommend you to go that route to save yourself hours of time peeling off the skins. Some Walmart locations appear to have a brand of one! You also need to make sure your pistachios are NOT already roasted and salted. This also caused me some issues with sourcing, but I found some deshelled, plain, unroasted pistachios at the local co-op. The pistachio nut butter did give a much richer and deeper flavor profile than using pistachio pudding mix that I saw with other pistachio cheesecake recipes. This recipe was well received by my loved ones and it is permanently saved in my cooking folder online as a repeat, success recipe.
Summary: If making your own pistachio nut butter, this adds an element of extra time/tediousness that I hadn’t properly realized. BUT, the end result was rich, creamy and absolutely amazing pistachio taste.
Hello! Can this be baked in a 9.5 x 9.5 glass pie pan? Will there be a big difference from baking in a 13×9? Thank you!
The 13×9 is for the water bath. If your cheesecake pan fits in the 9.5×9.5 pan then it’s fine!
would it be possible to adapt this to a mini cheesecake format? i have mini cheesecake pans (the bite size ones) with removable bottoms and would love to make this recipe for a party!
Can I sub granulated sugar with powdered sugar?
I looks so good I’m currently obsessed with pistachio and want to make this
I have a question thou can I use pistachio cream instead of pistachio butter I can’t find pistachio butter
there’s a section in the text titled ‘make your own pistachio butter’, I’ll copy paste it here: To make your own, preheat your oven to 400 and toast 8-10 oz pistachios for about 5-7 minutes. Using a food processor, blend until it turns into a soupy paste. This can take up to 20 minutes, with on and off scraping to get the nuts to release their oils.
This has been my most successful cheesecake to date! No cracks, no sinking and oh my god, so good!. Great directions and recipe
I urge anyone who has an instant pot to make this in it! There’s no guesswork about oven temp and the water bath is built into the method. Melissa Clark has a recipe for coconut cheesecake in her instant pot cookbook and it is, as another commenter noted, a game changer. Dreamiest texture ever. It uses a 6″ springform pan. Also, if anyone thought this was too rich and used digestives, there is a lot more fat in them than in grahams, so maybe opt for a lower-fat cookie for the crust. I imagine this would also be amazing with no crust and some crushed cookies on top.
Can you please tell me what is the white stuff on the top of the cake? It looks wonderful, and i like to make the same exact cake with the toppings too. Thank you!
whipped cream! =)
I made the cheesecake yesterday and it looks a lot like the recipe pictures. This cheesecake is a little too sweet for my liking. I used the store bought pistachio butter instead of grinding my own. If I was to make it again, I would make my own pistachio butter, half the vanilla and reduce the sugar.
This recipe was incredible. I browned the butter for the crust and added rose water to the whipped cream on top (food processor whipped cream was a success), then topped with chopped roasted pistachios and dried rose petals. Homemade pistachio butter was a total game-changer! Thanks Sam
Can I make with a 8 inch cake pan with 2 inch sides or needs to be taller??
preferably taller, you can use a 9″ round (2 inches high) instead to be safe
hi there! coming from your newsletter about your newest recipe for small batch cheesecake. it has me wondering if this can be scaled down in a similar way by halving the ingredients and baking it in a loaf pan. I figure that it is something you’ve yet to experiment with for this recipe, but do you think it’ll turn out okay?
hi!! I do think it would work the same way, halve it and bake for about a half hour. But check it because that one might require a bit longer, so judge by shaking the pan a bit and seeing how the center wobbles (and thank you for subscribing :D)
Followed the recipe almost exactly, subbing greek yogurt for sour cream. Baked in a 9″ springform pan with a water tray on the rack below. Baking time of 50 minutes was perfect. This came out great texture and flavor-wise, but was almost too rich. Next time I might decrease the amount of pistachio butter or add a layer of plain cheesecake filling on top.
Do you think this could be halved and baked in a tiny pan? Or frozen? Just 2 of us at home and it would take us a while to scarf the whole thing!
you could halve it and bake it in a 5 or 6 inch pan (baking time will be less in this case), but if you wanted to make the full recipe and freeze some that would totally work too (just keep it in something airtight in there)
Looks great ,definitely gonna try it
Great recipe, but when I had put it in the oven I noticed the lemon that I completely forgot, and realized that it doesn’t say in the recipe when to put it in. It would also be useful with some advice about how much time that should be added in the oven when using a smaller cake pan.
Pistachio lovers look no further!! So rich and I especially loved that you make your own pistachio paste- much better flavor result than a store bought paste. Delicious!
This recipe is absolutely phenomenal. It is creamy and perfect by all counts. I used Greek yogurt in the place of sour cream and there were no issues. Thank you!!!
I made this recipe and it was delicious! It was really creamy, almost like it was undercooked, but that texture was the same throughout the cheesecake. Would three eggs help it to be a little firmer? Also I made a chocolate wafer crust that only went about an inch up the sides of the spring form pan, which was terrific with the pistachio filling; could that have effected the creaminess?
Thanks,
Debby
Hi Debby! It is designed to be quite creamy but if you find you’d like it more ‘fluffy’ you could add another egg or, (and I’d start with this one) reduce the sour cream.
hello, I was wondering if I can add melted white chocolate to the batter ? thanks
that would alter the cheesecake quite a bit in terms of structure and texture. I’d do a ganache on top if you wanted white chocolate with it.
Dear Sam,
I have tried so many different cheesecake recipes which were absolutely delicious! But your pistachio cheesecake, with pistachio being my favorite flavour, has exceeded all expectations.
This is the fluffiest, creamiest, most delicious and light at the same time cheesecake we have ever had.
It was my birthday yesterday and I made It for our guests. Thank you for sharing this recipe with the world 😂
Everyone was amazed and I believe from now on it will be my standard one.
Marianna
I don’t have a food processor. Do you think I could make this in my KitchenAid – the Professional model?
The cheesecake portion yes. You’ll need to crumble the cookies (a ziplock bag and a rolling pin can work here) and you’ll have to buy the pistachio butter, as that definitely needs to be made with a fp to grind the nuts.
So, I see lemon zest listed on the ingredient list, but not in the recipe; am I missing something?
Regardless; it’s in the oven and smells great, thanks!
It’s optional – can go anytime into the batter!
Hello, i love cheesecake and love pistachios so I can’t wait to make this!
The amazon link you provided for the pistachio butter is roasted and sea salted whereas in your recipe you don’t add any sea salt in your homemade version or even in the rest of the recipe. Will the cheesecake have a salty aftertaste if I used the amazon version? Many thanks in advance 🙂
You may have missed it; salt is listed in the filling ingredients on the recipe. If you do use the store-bought one and it’s salted I’d omit the salt from the filling.
Omg, i made this for Christmas and it was so so so good. Definitely one of the best cheesecakes I’ve ever made. Making it again for my bday.
I swapped out the digestives for gluten free ginger biscuits. This was delicious! Definitely will make this again and again.
Yum! I can see the ginger complementing the pistachio well. Thanks Becca!
Hi! I’ve made this a few times now and I love it! But it always cracks 🙁 I bought an oven thermometer to make sure my oven isn’t too off base with its temperatures and tried moving the tin on different racks of the oven but nothing works…
Do you have any recommendations about what could be going wrong?
Thanks!
Hi Christiana! That’s a bummer that it’s always cracking =( If you can, DM me on instagram so I can ask you a few questions and we can try to figure this out!
I’m so excited to try this recipe, but I’ll cook it in my Instant Pot for that perfectly steamed cheesecake texture. (If you haven’t instant-potted a cheesecake yet – you’re missing out!) Thanks for another beautiful recipe!
I have never! I’m a little intrigued (and a little scared lol). Let me know how it goes!
Hello!
What is pistachio butter? I am afraid I’ve never heard of it? Can I make it? Or are there any subs??
Thanks!
Nis, scroll up to the section titled ‘pistachio butter’! You can make it or buy it.
Hello I have got a jar of pistachio paste at home, I wonder if its equivalent to the pistachio butter you used?
I’ve got one in my oven right now I’m so excited to see how it comes out 😊 I’m going to bring it to work for our employee appreciation lunch and serve it with fresh raspberries
Awesome Heather, thank you for trying it! Fresh raspberries sounds like the perfect addition!
Thank you for the recipe! I made a chocolate sauce and swirled it through the batter when I made this. Nice touch of flavor to the pistachios! Awesome stuff! And again, thank you. I’ll be following!
A chocolate swirl sounds awesome! I love that idea!
Made this the other day and it was delicious!! Everyone loved it! And the instructions were very easy to follow 🙂 thanks for sharing!
Christiana, that is wonderful!!! Thank you so much for the comment, made my day!