Homemade salted caramel and pecans are the perfect topping for rich, creamy cheesecake, which is why this salted caramel cheesecake recipe is always a hit!
This salted caramel cheesecake is a prime example of salted caramel at its finest. On its own, there is nothing exceptional about the cheesecake—it’s a standard plain cheesecake recipe. The difference is the caramel. It’s buttery, gooey, and the salt sprinkled on top is the perfect foil for all that sweetness.
Why You’ll Love This Salted Caramel Cheesecake Recipe
- The perfect sweet and salty contrast. Salted caramel adds a depth of flavor and balance to the rich cheesecake base. (If you love salted caramel, try my salted caramel brownies and salted caramel panna cotta, too.)
- Rich and creamy. Like any cheesecake worth its salt (no pun intended), this recipe is rich, decadent, and supremely creamy.
- Crowd-pleasing special occasion dessert. This salted caramel cheesecake is perfect for holiday dinners or celebrations. It’s a showstopper and it tastes as good as it looks!
What You’ll Need
Scroll down to the recipe card to find the ingredient quantities and recipe instructions.
Crust:
- Graham cracker crumbs – You can make your own crumbs or use store-bought.
- Unsalted butter – Melt this before you get started.
- Granulated sugar
Filling:
- Cream cheese – Use full-fat cream cheese, and make sure you buy the kind that comes in blocks, not a tub. Bring it to room temperature for easier mixing.
- Granulated sugar
- Eggs – You’ll need an egg yolk and whole eggs.
- Vanilla extract – I like to use my homemade vanilla extract for this salted caramel cheesecake recipe.
Caramel:
- Granulated sugar
- Water
- Unsalted butter – Learn more: Unsalted or Salted Butter: Which is Better for Baking?
- Heavy cream – Essential for making a thick, rich caramel sauce.
- Toasted pecans – Here’s how to toast pecans.
- Coarse salt – Use a salt that has big flakes, which adds a nice crunch to the topping. Fleur de sel and Maldon sea salt are excellent.
How to Make Salted Caramel Cheesecake
- Make the crust. Mix the crust ingredients in a bowl, then press them into a greased springform pan.
- Mix the filling. Beat the cream cheese and sugar, then beat in the eggs one at a time, followed by the vanilla.
- Bake. Pour the cheesecake filling into the graham cracker crust and bake in a 325ºF oven for 40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
- Cool. Turn off the oven and leave the door open a crack. Let the cheesecake cool completely in the oven.
- Start the caramel. Bring the sugar and water to a boil in a pan set over medium heat. Continue to boil until it reaches 350ºF, or is amber in color.
- Make it creamy. Remove the caramel from the heat and stir in the cream and butter. Cool to room temperature.
- Finish. Pour the caramel over the cheesecake, then sprinkle the pecans and salt on top.
Tips for Success
- Bring ingredients to room temperature before starting. Room temperature eggs and cream cheese mix more easily, ensuring a smooth, creamy texture without any unmixed lumps of cream cheese.
- Avoid over-mixing the filling. Over-mixing can incorporate too much air into the batter, which can lead to cracks in the cheesecake as it bakes. Mix just until the ingredients are combined.
- Use a heavy-bottomed saucepan to make the caramel. This helps maintain an even temperature, preventing the caramel from burning. Make sure the pan has plenty of room for the caramel to bubble up as it cooks. A small pan increases the risk of burning and can make it harder to control the cooking process.
- Adjust the salt as needed. The salt portion is sprinkled on top of the salted caramel cheesecake, so you can use as little or as much as you like. Keep in mind whether or not the pecans are salted when adding the sea salt. I generally use unsalted, so I add a little extra salt for our tastes.
How to Store
- Refrigerator: Store salted caramel cheesecake covered in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
- Freezer: Freeze the whole cheesecake or individual slices for up to 3 months; I recommend freezing on a parchment-lined sheet pan first to solidify the caramel before wrapping in plastic. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator before serving.
Get the Recipe:
Salted Caramel Cheesecake
Yield
12 to 16 servings
Prep Time
45 minutes
Cook Time
45 minutes
Total Time
1 hour 30 minutes
This salted caramel cheesecake recipe takes traditional cheesecake and ups the ante with rich caramel, toasty pecans and a sprinkle of salt.
Ingredients
For the crust:
- 1 & 1/4 cups (125g) graham cracker crumbs
- 1/4 cup (56g) unsalted butter, melted
- 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
For the filling:
- 32 ounces (907g) cream cheese, at room temperature
- 1 cup (200g) granulated sugar
- 1 large egg yolk
- 3 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
For the caramel:
- 1 cup (200g) granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon water
- 1/4 cup (56g) unsalted butter
- 1/2 cup (118ml) heavy cream
- 1 cup coarsely chopped toasted pecans
- 1 large pinch coarse salt
Instructions
To make the crust:
- Preheat the oven to 325°F. Grease the bottom and sides of a 9-inch springform pan.
- Mix the graham cracker crumbs, butter, and sugar in a medium bowl until thoroughly combined. Press into the bottom and partially up the sides of the prepared pan. Set aside.
To make the filling:
- Mix the cream cheese and sugar with an electric mixer at medium speed until light, airy, and smooth. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing until combined after each addition. Add the vanilla extract and mix just until blended.
- Pour the mixture into the prepared pan. Bake about 40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean and the center of the cheesecake is just set. Turn off the oven, leave the door slightly ajar, and let the cheesecake cool completely.
To make the caramel:
- Stir together the sugar and water in a medium heavy-bottomed saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Let boil until amber in color. (This will take several minutes. Aim for 350°F with a candy thermometer.) Remove from the heat and immediately stir in the cream and butter. Set aside and let cool to room temperature.
- Pour the caramel over the cooled cheesecake. Sprinkle with pecans and coarse salt.
Notes
For tips, step-by-step photos, and extra details, be sure to read the full post above before starting. It’s packed with helpful info to answer common questions!
Recipe slightly adapted from Chow.
Store salted caramel cheesecake covered in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
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70 Comments on “Salted Caramel Cheesecake”
This looks amazing! I think I could eat this for lunch instead of my salad, the caramel sauce looks so decadent.
This cheesecake was so good. It is not your normal cheesecake but the saltiness is not overwhelming–just right! Thanks for making this for us!!!!!
Oh geez. I really need to make some of that.
Yum–this looks incredible. Awesome photos! I’ll have to try this out!
Carmel and Cheesecake – 2 very temperamental items! Good thing you guys broke it down. 🙂
Wow. I have yet to try the salted caramel (both making it and eating it), but this may change that. Looks awesome!
Salted caramel grew on me (not literally of course) in 2008 in the form of dark chocolate filled with burnt caramel and sea salt. It was heaven and you’re cheesecake looks even better. Bravo!
You certainly do not look like an amateur baker to me, your dishes look absolutely amazing and decadent. I need to add this to my blogroll, it is a great site!!
I’ve had salted caramel recipes bookmarked FOREVER but haven’t made them because I’m afraid of … the candy thermometer.
I need a Quinn so I can have some of this cheesecake, too!
Looks and sounds decadent. Thanks for the recipe.
Michelle
http://oneordinaryday.wordpress.com/
This truly looks amazing!!
I’ve noticed that Nan and Jim and SURE lucky when you bake! This looks amazing.
I meant ARE sure lucky…
MMmmm…carmel. The cheesecake ingredients sound like it will be just the way I like cheesecake…very dense. I’m with you on the carmel-making…ask someone to help…actually this recipe looks a little more success-oriented than most others …thanks for sharing!
How do you manage to keep these kinds of treats in the house! This would be our downfall. Way, way down. Looks gorge and delish!
Gracious, that top picture is gorgeous!
Wow. I’m gawking at that almost indecently. I loooooooooooooooooooooooooooove salted caramel. (as you can see from this: http://www.foodess.com/2009/02/whoopie-pies-with-salted-caramel-buttercream/)
~jenn
I always come to your site for any cheesecake recipe I am going to make, so I can’t wait to try this one out. Thanks for sharing!
Your pictures are always so mouthwatering and this recipe looks just as good as your others!
Oh. My. Gawd. This recipe is right up my alley. SOOO something that I would make with all of that lovely caramel. The salt addition sounds tantalizing.
This looks like a perfect dessert! I have to make this 🙂
Hello heaven! This is my perfect dessert – yummmmm.
This dessert has it all!! Looks divine!
While I love caramel and salt together, but it has to be really simple like your cheesecake. I recently shared some smoked salt caramels with a friend from a smallish mass-produced retailer and I wasn’t impressed.
I’m not sure if you’ve see it yet, but I found a salted dark chocolate candy bar at Cost Plus World Market recently that was really good. I want to play with that flavor combination soon.
I know you’re probably over hearing folks gush over your photos but… sigh. Your photos are so exquisite! I wish I could take lessons from you. Bravo!
this sounds fabulous, and looks even better!
This looks amazing! We’ll have to try it!
Now that’s a cheesecake. YUMMY!
You’ll be the death of me. That looks fantastic!!
OMG, I think I have gone to heaven. Those pictures are soooooooooooo tempting!
I’ve never tried salted caramel before! I guess I’ll have to try it real soon =)
really well done, you make it look so inviting. Like the salted caramel, i´ve tryed it with flur de sel which worked fanstasticly well, also good with chocolate truffles.
I love using salty caramel in my recipes. I will never tire of it. Thank goodness it’s getting popular.
Truly, I have never seen a more luscious dessert photo than the one leading this post. If that doesn’t sell you on trying this recipe, or at least the caramel portion of it, I don’t know what would! My mouth is watering.
I’m a big fan of salted caramel too, although like you, I don’t necessarily love making it.
your pecan pie looks amazing. i never tried salted caramel or even thought of the idea but nontheless sounds incredible. thanks for this new concept (for me anyways).
Oh, your opening picture is tantalizing! I’d like to crawl into your cake and pull that blanket of caramel right up over me. I recently had my own delicious encounter with salted caramel in the form of salted caramel ice cream. Loved that combination of sweet and salty!
Looks & sounds wonderful. Fantastic photos,
too!!
I’ve yet to try salted caramel. One day soon I hope!
~ingrid
I like your blog because you bake recipes that I would choose too — simple, good, and nothing over the top. This cheesecake looks like a winner!
Hi! I just found your website. Oh happy day! I think the first recipe I’ll try is the Brown Sugar Cinnamon Biscotti cookies. They sound so good, plus I love cinnamon. Love it. My question: What are the Cinnamon Chips you ordered like? Are they just tiny cinnamony crunchies, or are they chocolate covered cinnamony crunchies? Would you put them in an apple pie? (The pie you did with the leaf cut-outs looks amazing!)
Another question. I was reading your post on Martha Stewart’s Crumb Cake and like, a, where is the recipe? Looked high and low on the page and no luck. I have to say with Martha’s recipes it’s a hit and miss for me too. Either they’re great or awful or someone didn’t reread the recipe and left something out or wrote 2 TBL when it should have been 2 tsp. Not a good thing, Martha.
Thanks!
Part II. Oops. I found the recipe for Martha’s Classic Crumb Cake. Sorry.
But I forgot to ask about the size of the cinnamon chips. Are they the size of mini-chocolate chips or the regular size Nestle’s Chocolate Chips? Again, thanks.
Marie, welcome! The cinnamon chips I’ve used are mini-sized, like mini-chocolate chips.
Hey girl, I made the cheesecake tonight–it is cooling as we speak. I think I may have over cooked the caramel, but as soon as it is cooled a little I’ll taste it–if it’s burnt, I have enough cream for another go at it.
Nothing like cleaning burnt sugar out of your cookware!
Hope mine turns out as well as yours!
Catherine
That looks so good!
Wow you definitely are an authority when it comes to cheesecakes!This looked so lovely and mouthwatering!
OMG, I Have an affair with Starbuck’s salted caramel hot chocolate too. It’s the BEST drink in the world!!!!!
I have a clone recipe on my blog, which is still pretty-darn good, if I do say so myself! Check it out,
http://bakingbarista.wordpress.com/2009/01/14/salted-caramel-hot-chocolate/
I absolutely love salt and sugar together, this looks wonderful and it’s begging me to make it!
oh wow, that cheesecake looks divine! worth every calorie! 🙂
Just found your site today…doesn’t look like that is going to be a good thing for the non-dessert lovers in my house. Out with the savory and in with the sweet…and salty! Yum!
Wow! That looks divine! I love the sweet / salty combo, not used enough! Thanks for the recipe!
Wow! That looks divine! I love the sweet / salty combo, not used enough!
This blog BLOWS my mind.
Amazing photography of amazing food from amazing recipes. What more could a boy ask for?
Mind if I pop you on my blogroll? 🙂
this looks so good… Caramel and salt.. 🙂
A must try … thanks for posting the recipe
This sounds amazing…I loved salted caramel and made some recently so it is my current obsession!
Woww, this looks amazingg. I love the contrast from the sweet caramel with the salt. Delicious!
I love anything with salted caramel! I just made salted caramel custard pots and now I want this! Its looks delicious!
Mmmm. Yum. I went to graduate school in Texas and worked in New Orleans for a long time. Pecans were an everyday part of my life (or so it seemed). I love New Orleans and I love chocolate too! I had a friend in grad school who shared my love of chocolate. Whenever I make chocolate cheesecake, I always smile as I remember New Orleans those times together. Here’s my friends’ recipe for the most delicious chocolate amaretto cheesecake, hope you enjoy it: http://www.fivehens.com/chocolate-memories/
Love this recipe! Cheesecake is my favorite and I always love the combination of caramel and pecans!
For the caramel … Ingredients list cream, instructions indicate butter. Which are we to use?
kidchan, the caramel ingredients and instructions list both butter and cream.
Oh look at this beautiful creamy caramel! Wow, I need to make this cake this weekend for my man! He will love this!
I made this for Christmas using my own cheesecake recipe with a brown sugar graham cracker crusts It was beautiful and delicious. The caramel sauce was easy to make and I have already received requests to make it again. Love this!!
My daughter made this dessert last night and I have to say “this is to die for”. I did’nt want to finish the slice I was eating, I wanted it to be an unending slice. YUMMMMM!
Looks so delicious! Pecan plus caramel in a cheesecake sounds like a wonderful combination.
I was so excited to see this recipe. I am making it right now and although i was concerned about the short cooking time, i went ahead as instructed and assumed carry over time must aid in finishing cooking. After 40 minutes, my cheesecake is nowhere near set.
Just a query about the amount of water used for the caramel – I found it impossible to dissolve the sugar. Is there a trick or did I misread the amounts? Otherwise the cheesecake was divine.
Hi, Jen. I’ve made this a few times and the amount of water worked fine for me. You can add a little more, but your caramel may be a bit thinner.
is the cooking time 40 or 45 minutes. I see two different cooking times.
thanks
Diane
The cheesecake should bake in 40 minutes. The caramel sauce takes about 5 minutes to cook.
Just wondering if this could be made ahead and frozen? Would you freeze without the caramel and add that prior to serving or freeze it all together?
Hi, Serena. Cheesecakes generally freeze really well, so you shouldn’t have a problem. If you have the time to make the caramel fresh before serving it, I think that would be better. But it will likely freeze fine with the caramel. I would suggest that you wait to garnish until you’re ready to serve.