Pecan Pie Cheesecake

Pecan Pie Cheesecake is the dessert mashup you never knew you needed until now! Imagine this: a buttery graham cracker-pecan crust, a velvety smooth cheesecake layer, and a gorgeous pecan pie topping that bakes to golden, caramelized perfection. It’s rich, it’s indulgent, and it’s absolutely SPECTACULAR for Thanksgiving, Christmas, or any time you want to absolutely wow your guests.

Love More Pecan Pie Desserts? Try My Pecan Pie Cobbler with Vanilla Whipped Cream or this Pecan Pie Dump Cake next.

Why You’ll Love This Recipe

Rich, creamy, and irresistibly sweet, this pecan pie cheesecake blends the best of both desserts — the smooth texture of classic cheesecake and the caramelized crunch of pecan pie. Every bite delivers a perfect balance of buttery pecans, brown sugar, and velvety cheesecake filling.

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Ingredient List

For the Crust:

• 2 cups (272 g) graham cracker crumbs (about 18 whole crackers)
• 1 cup (100 g) pecans, finely ground
• ¼ cup (55 g) light brown sugar, packed
• ½ cup (113 g) unsalted butter, melted

For the Cheesecake Filling:

• 16 oz (452 g) cream cheese, softened
• ½ cup (100 g) granulated sugar
• ½ cup (114 g) sour cream, room temperature
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 2 large eggs, room temperature, lightly beaten

For the Pecan Pie Topping:

• 1 cup (220 g) light brown sugar, packed
• ⅔ cup (227 g) dark corn syrup
• 1 tablespoon dark rum (or bourbon, or replace with vanilla extract)
• ¼ cup unsalted butter
• 3 large eggs
• ¼ cup (60 ml) heavy cream
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 2 ½ cups (260 g) coarsely chopped pecans

Friendly Notes:

• Food processor for pecans. Pulse til sandy looking. I did it by hand once with a knife and wanted to throw the cutting board out the window after twenty minutes.
• No rum? Cool. Vanilla works. My sister uses bourbon because she “likes the flavor profile” which is fancy talk for “I like bourbon.”
• Dark corn syrup tastes way better but light works too. I’ve made it both ways because sometimes I forget to buy the dark kind and I’m not driving back to the store.

Why These Ingredients Work

Ground pecans in that crust are doing actual work, not just sitting there looking pretty. They soak up liquid so your crust doesn’t dissolve into nothing under all that wet filling. Found this out when my first attempt had a bottom that basically disappeared. Cut into it and the crust just… wasn’t there anymore. Super disappointing.

Sour cream changed my life. Okay that’s dramatic but seriously. Lisa told me five years ago to try adding it and I thought she was being weird. Made it her way once to shut her up and had to text her at midnight like “okay you were right, I’m sorry.” Makes everything smoother and way less sweet. Before sour cream my cheesecake was fine. After sour cream people started asking me to make it for their birthdays.

Corn syrup keeps sugar from turning into rocks. I tried making pecan pie once without it because I thought I was smart and could just use more sugar. Ended up with pecan candy. Like actual hard candy with pecans stuck in it. Turns out corn syrup isn’t just there for fun, it’s actually doing chemistry stuff.

Room temp ingredients aren’t negotiable and I’ll die on this hill. Cold cream cheese stays lumpy forever. You’ll stand there beating it for ten minutes and there’ll still be chunks. Then you overbeat it trying to fix it and get cracks in your cheesecake. Just set everything out an hour early. Go watch TV. Check Instagram. Do literally anything else for an hour. Come back and everything mixes perfect.

Essential Tools and Equipment

9-inch springform pan. The kind with the removable bottom and the clamp. Not optional. I tried making this in a regular cake pan once because my springform was dirty and I didn’t feel like washing it. Disaster. Couldn’t get it out of the pan. Had to serve it with a spoon straight from the dish like some kind of cheesecake casserole.

Parchment paper or foil. I use foil because I’m lazy and it’s easier to shove into corners.

Food processor. You could use a blender for the pecans but it’s annoying and doesn’t work as well.

Electric mixer. Hand or stand, doesn’t matter. Do not try mixing cream cheese by hand unless you want your arm to fall off. I tried once. Made it maybe thirty seconds before I gave up.

Regular saucepan for cooking the pecan stuff.

How To Make Pecan Pie Cheesecake

Step 1: Prepare Your Pan and Preheat

Oven to 350°F. Rack in the middle, not top or bottom.

Line your springform with parchment or foil. I do foil. Spray it. Wrap foil around the outside bottom of the pan so if anything drips it doesn’t burn onto your oven. Found burnt pecan syrup on my oven floor once and spent thirty minutes scraping it off with a butter knife. Learn from my mistakes.

Step 2: Make and Bake the Crust

Mix graham crumbs, ground pecans, brown sugar, melted butter in a bowl til it looks like wet sand. Should stick together when you squeeze it.

Dump it in the pan and press it in the bottom hard. Really press it. Then press it way up the sides almost to the top. High walls matter a ton later. First time I made this I barely brought the crust up the sides and pecan liquid leaked everywhere and I wanted to cry.

Bake 10 minutes. Take it out. Let it cool.

Step 3: Reduce Oven and Prepare Cheesecake Filling

Oven down to 300°F. Lower temp stops cracks.

Beat cream cheese about a minute til smooth and no chunks. Scrape the bowl sides.

Add sugar, sour cream, vanilla, salt. Mix til combined and smooth.

Fold in the beaten eggs gentle. Just til you don’t see raw egg streaks. Stop mixing. My cousin Rachel beats hers for like five minutes and posts every year on Facebook asking why her cheesecake cracked. I’ve told her four times to stop overbeating. She never listens. Some people don’t want help.

Step 4: Bake the Cheesecake Layer

Pour filling in the crust. Smooth the top flat.

Bake 40 minutes. Center jiggles when you shake it. That’s correct. Don’t put it back in thinking it’s not done. It sets up more as it cools.

Step 5: Make the Pecan Pie Topping

Brown sugar, corn syrup, rum (or bourbon or vanilla), butter in a pot while cheesecake bakes.

Medium heat. Stir constantly. Bring it to a full rolling boil. Keep stirring. Boil exactly 2 minutes. Set a timer because if you guess you’ll be wrong. Off the heat. Wait 5 minutes for it to cool. This matters because if you add eggs to boiling liquid you get scrambled eggs and nobody wants sweet scrambled eggs in their dessert.

While that cools, whisk eggs, salt, heavy cream in a bowl.

After 5 minutes, pour egg stuff into the syrup slowly while whisking. Take your time. Stir in all the chopped pecans.

Step 6: Add Topping and Continue Baking

Take cheesecake out after 40 minutes.

Spoon the pecans on top first. Spread them around. Now pour syrup but STOP when you get close to the crust edge. You’ll have syrup left in the pot. That’s normal. That’s supposed to happen. Do not try to fit it all in. Do not think “oh I can squeeze in a little more.” If you overfill it the syrup overflows and leaks under the cheesecake and your springform glues shut and you’ll be standing in your kitchen swearing. I know because I’ve done this. Twice. I’m not smart.

Back in the oven 40-50 minutes. Top should be golden brown and crispy-ish. If the crust edges get too dark, cover with foil.

Step 7: Cool and Chill

Take it out. Put it on a wire rack on your counter. Walk away. Don’t touch it. Let it cool to room temp. Takes a few hours. Go do something else. Watch Netflix. Take a nap. Whatever.

Once it’s room temp, cover it with plastic wrap or foil and stick it in the fridge minimum 4 hours. I make this the night before always. Has to chill anyway. Tastes better next day. And I’m not stressed day-of trying to finish dessert while cooking everything else.

Step 8: Slice and Serve

Want perfect slices? Freeze the whole thing 1-2 hours before cutting. Not frozen solid. Just really cold and firm.

Big sharp knife. Run it under hot water a minute. Dry it completely. Cut once straight down. Pull it out. Wipe all the cheesecake off. Hot water again. Dry again. Cut again. Do this for every single slice. It’s annoying. Do it anyway. That’s how you get those clean bakery edges.

You Must Know

Room temp ingredients are required. Not suggested. Required. I set cream cheese, sour cream, eggs out a full hour before I start. Leave them on the counter while you’re doing other stuff. Scroll TikTok. Fold laundry. Whatever. Cold stuff won’t mix right. Cold cream cheese stays lumpy forever and you’ll overbeat it trying to fix it and get cracks.

Personal Secret: Always make this the night before. Not just because it chills for four hours anyway. It legitimately tastes better after sitting overnight. Flavors blend together or something. Science happens. I don’t know. It’s just better. Plus night-before baking means I wake up with dessert done and that’s one less thing to stress about.

Pro Tips & Cooking Hacks

Stop pouring syrup way before you think you should. Extra syrup in your fridge is fine. Put it on ice cream. Put it on pancakes. Lick it off a spoon at midnight when nobody’s watching. Overflowed cheesecake with syrup everywhere is not fine. It’s a mess and you’ll be mad.

Pack that crust high up the sides. Really pack it. Press hard. Those walls are holding back hot liquid for almost an hour. Weak walls mean leaks mean crying.

Open and close your springform a few times before you start. Make sure the clamp works smooth. If syrup leaks under and hardens, that thing won’t open. You’ll be standing there trying to pry it apart getting increasingly angry. Ask me how I know this.

Grind pecans in short pulses. Check the texture every few seconds. You want coarse sand. If you run the food processor too long you get pecan butter which is a completely different thing.

Smell your pecans first. Stick your nose in the bag. Pecans go bad faster than you think. Old ones smell stale and bitter. They’ll ruin everything. If they smell weird at all, throw them out. Don’t try to use them anyway. I tried once. Wasted three hours and a bunch of ingredients making a dessert that tasted like old socks.

Flavor Variations / Suggestions

Melt half a cup dark chocolate and mix it in the cheesecake filling if you want chocolate. Chocolate pecan pie cheesecake is stupid good. My niece requests it for her birthday every year.

Replace half the brown sugar with real maple syrup for maple pecan version. Really good in fall. Makes your house smell incredible.

Use 2 tablespoons bourbon instead of 1 if you really like bourbon. My brother-in-law asks for this every year. Says he can “taste the depth” which I think means he just likes bourbon.

Salted caramel drizzled on slices when serving. Salt cuts the sweetness and people make actual sounds when they taste it. My friend Sarah literally moaned at the table last year and her husband looked concerned.

Half cup mini chocolate chips in the pecan layer makes it extra ridiculous. My teenage nephew calls this version “diabetes in a pan” but eats three slices anyway.

Make-Ahead Options

Best make-ahead dessert I know. Make it 2-3 days before you need it. Keep it covered in the fridge. Stays good. Gets better.

Freeze the whole thing up to a month if you wrap it tight. Plastic wrap first then foil. Thaw overnight in the fridge. Did this before Thanksgiving once when I was making three desserts and needed to spread out the work. Worked perfect.

Bake just the crust up to 2 days ahead. Let it cool, wrap it, leave it on the counter. One less thing to do later.

Seriously though. Make it the night before. Tastes better. Less stress. Better life choices.

Recipe Notes & Baker’s Tips

Fills a 9-inch springform completely. All the way to the top. Don’t use smaller or it overflows. Don’t use bigger or the layers look sad and thin.

Cheesecake puffs up while baking then sinks when cooling. Happens every time. Normal. Don’t freak out.

You’ll probably have extra syrup. Keep it in a jar in your fridge. Use it on everything. My husband eats it straight off a spoon sometimes when he thinks I’m not looking. I see him. I say nothing.

No water bath needed. Lots of cheesecakes need to sit in water while baking. This one doesn’t. Sour cream keeps it moist. Lower temp keeps it from cracking.

Tiny cracks on top? Who cares. Pecan layer covers everything. Nobody will ever see them. I’ve had cracks before. Served it anyway. Everyone raved about it. Nobody noticed.

Serving Suggestions

Good plain. Rich and sweet. Lots happening already.

Fresh whipped cream on top if you want. Real whipped cream you make with a mixer. Not the can stuff. Takes two minutes. Tastes way better.

Vanilla ice cream on the side makes this a whole production. Warm pecans, cold ice cream, creamy cheesecake all together is pretty great.

Warm caramel drizzled over is dangerous. People go back for seconds when they’re already full. I’ve seen it happen. My dad did this last year and then complained his pants were tight. Yeah dad, that’s what happens.

Tiny sprinkle of flaky sea salt on top right before serving. Sounds weird. Tastes amazing. Salt makes all the other flavors pop.

Hot coffee after dinner. Coffee cuts through all the richness. Everyone sits around talking for another hour. It’s nice.

This is what I make when I need to impress people. Dinner parties where I want to look good. Holidays where I’m showing off a little. Family things where my aunt needs to stop making comments about my cooking. Works every time. People always ask for the recipe and I tell them it’s easier than it looks which is true but they never believe me.

How to Store Your Pecan Pie Cheesecake

Covered in the fridge, 5 days. Plastic wrap or foil on top. Crust gets softer after day three but still tastes fine. Never had leftovers last past 5 days so I don’t know what happens after that. Probably still fine.

Freeze it for a month wrapped tight. Plastic wrap then foil. Thaw overnight in the fridge before eating. Don’t thaw on the counter or microwave it or it gets weird and watery.

Don’t leave it out more than 2 hours. Dairy and eggs. Food safety. You know.

Eat it cold straight from the fridge. That’s how I like it. Or let it sit on the counter 20-30 minutes to come to room temp. Some people like that better. If you want warm topping but cold cheesecake, microwave a slice 10-15 seconds. Topping gets melty and gooey. Really good.

Allergy Information

Contains: Dairy, eggs, pecans, gluten

Dairy-free: Dairy-free cream cheese, coconut cream instead of sour cream and heavy cream, plant butter. Haven’t tried it myself but my friend’s sister who can’t do dairy made it this way and said it worked. Texture’s different but good.

Gluten-free: GF graham crackers. They sell them everywhere now. Or make the crust with almond flour, brown sugar, and melted butter mixed together. My cousin has celiac. I make it this way for her every year. She says it’s better than the regular version but she says that about everything gluten-free so I don’t know if she’s being honest.

Nut-free: Nope. Can’t do it. Sorry. Whole thing is pecans. Pecans in the crust. Pecans on top. You could make regular cheesecake without the pecan parts but then it’s not pecan pie cheesecake anymore. It’s just cheesecake. Which is fine but it’s not this.

Egg-free: No way around it. Cheesecake needs eggs. Pecan topping needs eggs. Everything needs eggs to set up. Without eggs you’d have liquid. Nobody wants to eat liquid cheesecake with a straw.

Questions I Get Asked A Lot

My pecan topping sank into the cheesecake layer—what happened?

Didn’t bake the cheesecake long enough before adding topping. Or your syrup was too hot. Needs that full 40 minutes to set up enough. And let the syrup cool 5 minutes after you take it off the stove. If it’s too hot it melts the cheesecake and sinks.

Can I make this without a springform pan?

Technically yes. Deep 9-inch pie dish. But you serve straight from the pan and it looks worse. Really need the tall removable sides of a springform for this to work right and look good. Springforms are like fifteen bucks at Target. Worth it.

The sides of my springform won’t open after baking—help!

Happened to me once. I was so mad. Syrup leaked under the cheesecake and dried into cement. Let everything come to room temp first. Run a thin knife around all the edges. Warm damp towel wrapped around the sides for a few minutes to loosen dried syrup. This is why I’m annoying about not overfilling.

Can I use light corn syrup instead of dark?

Yeah but it won’t taste good. Dark corn syrup has flavor. Molasses-y and rich. Light corn syrup is just sweet with nothing else. If you only have light, add a tablespoon of molasses to make up for it.

Why did my crust fall apart when I tried to slice it?

Didn’t press it hard enough when forming it. Or didn’t let it chill long enough before cutting. Press that crust really hard especially up the sides. Make sure it chills minimum 4 hours, better overnight. Freezing trick before slicing helps a lot.

Can I make this in advance and freeze individual slices?

Yep. Cut it, wrap each slice in plastic wrap, put them all in a freezer bag. Freeze up to a month. Pull out individual slices as you want them. Thaw in the fridge a few hours. Great for when you want dessert but don’t want to eat a whole cheesecake.

My cheesecake cracked on top—did I ruin it?

Nope. Pecan layer covers everything so nobody sees cracks anyway. But for next time, don’t overbeat the filling after adding eggs, make sure everything’s room temp before mixing, and let it cool gradually. Sudden temp changes cause cracks.

💬 Tried this recipe? Leave a comment and rating below! Tell me how it turned out! Did your family go crazy for it? Did you change anything? I want to know everything!