This is the creamiest and most perfect Vegan Pumpkin Cheesecake for autumn! Truly easy to make, this creamy and lightly spiced cake is a real crowd-pleaser for the holiday season.
This Vegan Pumpkin Cheesecake is perfect for all of your holiday celebrations. The pumpkin cream cheese filling is lightly spiced and so creamy while the graham cracker crust beautifully complements the fall flavors. Make every slice complete with a dollop of vegan whipped cream on top!
Made with vegan cream cheese, pumpkin puree, pumpkin spice, and coconut cream, every bite is so luscious and smooth. It’s also surprisingly light and airy!
Just like my classic Vegan Cheesecake, it’s seriously simple to make! The hardest part is waiting for it to chill in the refrigerator so it can firm up, so plan on making it the day before you want to serve it.
How to make vegan pumpkin cheesecake
Find the complete recipe with measurements below.
You’ll need a 9-inch springform pan and aluminum foil to make this cheesecake. To prevent oil from leaking out of the pan, wrap the foil around the bottom and sides. If you don’t have a springform pan, refer to the notes in the recipe card for more options.
First, make the crust:
- Stir the crushed graham crackers, butter, and sugar together in a bowl.
- Press the mixture into an even layer on the bottom and up the sides of the springform pan.
No need to blind bake the crust! Now you can move on to the filling:
- Beat the vegan cream cheese in a bowl using a standing or hand mixer until it’s smooth. Next, add the rest of the filling ingredients and beat again.
- Pour the smooth filling on top of the crust in the pan. Use a spatula to spread it into an even layer.
Finally, the cheesecake is ready for baking:
- Place the pie in the oven to bake for an hour. When it’s done, let it sit in the oven for 10 minutes. This prevents the cake from cracking. NOTE: The cheesecake will still look jiggly, especially in the middle when it’s done. This is normal and fine! It will firm up as it chills.
- Let the cheesecake cool at room temperature before letting it chill and firm up in the fridge overnight or at a bare minimum, 6 hours.
- Slice and enjoy with dairy free whipped cream!
What vegan cream cheese is best for cheesecake?
My favorite cream cheese to use for vegan cheesecakes is Tofutti vegan cream cheese. Kite Hill and Trader Joe’s are a good backup if you can’t find Tofutti. I don’t recommend using Daiya cream cheese or Violife (thought I love this one for bagels), because your cheesecake will turn out a watery mess.
Crust options
Both this pumpkin cheesecake and my Double Layer Pumpkin Cheesecake are delicious with a graham cracker crust, but you can easily change it up to fit specific dietary needs or tastes:
- Gluten free – Most honey-free graham crackers aren’t gluten free. Instead, swap them for gluten free golden oreo cookies or gluten free gingersnap cookies. Gluten free pie crust works in a pinch as well.
- Cookie crust – If you don’t want to use graham crackers, golden oreo cookies, gingersnaps, or any vegan ginger cookie will work well.
Cheesecake toppings
You can keep each slice simple or serve it with plenty of rich, fall-themed toppings such as:
- Candied pecans or almonds
- Coconut whipped cream
- Caramel sauce
- Aquafaba whipped cream
- Vanilla ice cream
- Cinnamon
- Pumpkin pie spice
How long does vegan cheesecake last?
Keep the baked cheesecake covered in the fridge for up to 1 week. To freeze, cover the baked cake really well in foil to prevent freezer burn.
Looking for more vegan desserts for autumn?
Vegan Pumpkin Cheesecake
Ingredients
Graham Cracker Crust
- 1 1/2 cups vegan graham cracker crumbs
- 5 tablespoons melted vegan butter
- 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
Cheesecake Filling
- (3) 8-ounce containers Tofutti vegan cream cheese
- 13.5 ounce can coconut cream
- 15 ounce can pumpkin puree
- 1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
- 4 tablespoons cornstarch
- 1 1/2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice mix
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 3 tablespoons lemon juice
For Serving
- Vegan Whipped Cream or
- Coconut Whipped Cream or storebought non-dairy whip
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Wrap a 9-inch springform pan with 1-2 layers of aluminum foil, covering the bottom and the sides. If you skip this part, oil will leak out causing your oven to smoke, so don't skip it! Cut a circle of parchment paper for the bottom of the pan and spray the pan lightly with oil.
Make the crust
- In a medium bowl, add the graham cracker crumbs, melted vegan butter and sugar. Stir well with a fork or spoon to combine, then press the crumbs down evenly in the prepared pan. Press down firmly and evenly, going up the sides of the pan a little bit. Set aside.
Prepare the filling
- In the bowl of a stand mixer with whisk attachment (or a large bowl with a hand mixer), beat the vegan cream cheese until smooth.
- Now add the rest of the filling ingredients and beat until smooth, scraping down the sides as needed.
- Once it's completely smooth, pour it into the pan with the crust and spread it out evenly.
Bake
- Place in the oven and bake for 1 hour, then turn off the heat and let sit in the oven for 10 minutes. Do not open the oven door at all during this time.
- Remove the cheesecake from the oven, carefully. It will still look jiggly in the middle, don't worry that is correct! It will firm up as it cools.
- Let it cool at room temperature for 15 minutes, then transfer to the refrigerator to chill and firm up for at least 6-8 hours. Overnight is best!
Serve
- When ready to serve, slice pieces of cheesecake and serve with coconut whipped cream, if desired. Enjoy!
- Storage: The cheesecake will keep in the refrigerator for up to a week, and it also freezes well, up to 3 months. To freeze, cover well with aluminum foil to prevent freezer burn.
Notes
- Gluten free – Use gluten free graham crackers, gluten free oreo type golden cookies or gluten free gingersnap cookies.
- Allergies – Note that tofutti cream cheese does contain tofu. If you have a nut allergy, read the ingredients well on whatever brand you use, as Kite Hill contains almond and I’m not sure about other brands.
- DO NOT USE THE FOLLOWING BRANDS OF CREAM CHEESE: Daiya and Violife definitely won’t work here! For best results, use Tofutti brand. Trader Joe’s may work as well as Kite Hill, but I have the best luck with Tofutti.
- If you can’t find coconut cream, substitute full fat coconut milk. It works okay, but coconut cream is best.
- If you don’t have a springform pan, or want a smaller cheesecake, you can cut the cheesecake filling ingredients in half and use a regular 9-inch pie pan instead. It will still need about 40-50 minutes to bake.
At a bit of a loss! Total soup after an hour in the oven. After an additional 30mins… still soup. Currently trying to find a sealed container I can pour it in to dump it. Not sure where I went wrong. This was really upsetting.
Did you use tofutti brand vegan cream cheese? Many brands do not work properly, but tofutti has never failed me!
Hi Nora! I love your recipes!
I just have a silly question about your cheesecakes, do you use that water bath thing with them?
I know I didn’t see it in the recipe so I thought I’d just make sure 🙂 I was a complete baking novice, and now, cause of your website, I want to bake all the time! 🙂
No water bath. Just follow the recipe as is! How fun that you are baking! Enjoy the cheesecake, and happy baking!
Omg! Made this for Thanksgiving (Canadian here), and it got rave reviews!! I’ve never even baked a cheesecake before, and it came out perfectly.
I made a few minor changes.
I let the cheesecake cool on my counter about 1.5 hours before refrigerating, as I didn’t want to warm up my fridge, and I refrigerated it overnight.
I subbed biscoff cookies instead of Graham crackers, and I think I could have reduced the butter in the crust by 1-2 Tbsp, because it was kind of oily. I omitted the sugar in the crust, because the bicoff cookies were sweeter.
Thank you so much for the wonderful review and for sharing the changes you made! Happy Thanksgiving 🙂
I know you said tofutti is best but was wondering if anyone has tried it with miyokos? I really love their cream cheese. Thanks!
I haven’t personally tried that one, but I hope someone else has and can give use feedback. 🙂
I’m really looking forward to baking this tomorrow! Will slightly cutting back on the sugar alter the consistency of the batter or change is at all?
I haven’t tried reducing the sugar so I’m not entirely sure if it will affect the consistency or structure at all. You could try lowering it to 1 cup or 3/4 cup instead.
I reduced the sugar to 3/4 cup because I like it less sweet. The consistency is still good. Can’t tell you about flavor until tomorrow!
Made this for my husbands family! It was perfect! Set perfect and I used your ginger snap crust!!!! Can’t wait to make a different one at Christmas!! Thank you for all the great recipes!!
Welp, here I am, the night before Thanksgiving. Used TJs cream cheese, followed the recipe to a T otherwise. It boiled over in my oven, and is an ugly tin of soup. Bummer. I have no idea what happened.
Oh no! I’m sorry to hear that, Lauren. I always have the best results when I make this with Tofutti cream cheese. Trader Joe’s used to work for this recipe and my regular cheesecake but I guess they changed their formula and it doesn’t work well anymore.
I could only find one very sad, crumpled Tofutti so I bought it and augmented with 2 Miyokos. Turned out INCREDIBLE! Already started setting up straight out of the oven. Doesn’t make for a super dense cheesecake but I’m sure that will be fine after a filling thanksgiving.
I just made this for Thanksgiving with a pecan and date crust. I followed all the instructions to the T. It looks super authentic and hope it tastes as good as it looks. I’m a bit concerned that the center will collapse but hoping two days in the fridge will prevent that. I used Kite Hill cream cheese and Trader Joe’s coconut cream. I did sub monk fruit for the sugar to reduce calories and praying it doesn’t alter the consistency. Thanks for all your wonderful recipes!
I hope it turns out well, thank you!
I made this for a weekend family meal. This cheesecake recipe tastes wonderful. It was not complicated to make but definitely needed more time in the oven. At the 60 minute mark it was nearly pure liquid. I left it in the oven at 350 for an additional 10 minutes and then turned it up to 400 for about 18 minutes and that helped alot. It was perfectly set after sitting in the fridge over night.
I also have never written every view for anything.
I fell upon your website when I was looking for a vegan recipe for carrot cake recipe to take to church. I am a very good home baker. I do not touch vegan baking. I saw the pumpkin cheesecake recipe and thought I should try it reading the recipe over and all the reviews. I was pretty concerned about whether or not the cheesecake would set up. The first thing I will say is that I almost put in coconut milk instead of cream in the middle of the recipe, ran to the store and got the coconut cream. It was well worth the trip and the cost of the brand you recommended. The cheesecake turned out firm and delicious. I have sent your website to my friends and family for a healthier alternative to cheesecake. I can’t believe it worked. I’m so excited to have everybody try it at church. The flavor is excellent and I will add this to my keepsakes recipes. I’m still very concerned about trying no egg cake baking but when I do it, I will use your site again. Thank for all your hard work and expertise.
Thank you so much for your amazing review and feedback, Melanie! Your kind words made my day 🙂 It makes me so happy to hear you loved the cake and plan on trying more of my recipes. Happy baking!
Made this and it was delicious! Definitely didn’t firm up until I froze it though. After 12 hours in the fridge it was still pudding but freezing helps, I would recommend!
Leaving this comment for others who couldn’t find all of the ingredients listed. I tried this with Treeline vegan cream cheese and golden Oreos for the crust. I had to add more Oreos for the crust than what was called for. After making it, I left it to set over night. By the next day it had *mostly* set. Some pieces were perfect, and others were a little droopy. The taste, however, was fantastic. You would never know it was vegan. I would make this again.
Can I turn this into mini cheesecakes in a cupcake tin? (I can use liners if need be.) If so, how much will I need to adjust the time?
You probably could, yes. I’d say 15-20 minutes is all the baking time you’d need.
We made it! Delicious! Question-what could we do differently to have a crispy crust?
I know this is late but it will help others. Pre-bake the crust for 10-15 minutes at 350 degrees. Let cool, add the filling, and then bake as the
recipe calls for. I do this and it really makes a difference.
This recipe turned out amazingly!!! This was my second recipe from your site that has just blown us away with how easy it is to make and how wonderful the dish turned out.
How much should I fill my 9” springform pan? I used all the filling, which filled it right to the top of the pan, then had trouble getting it to set. My presentation wasn’t great, but it is delicious! Hoping for some pointers so I can make it for thanksgiving, thanks!
Hmmm it will be pretty full, but baking long enough and then chilling for a very long time should make it set well. Make sure to bake it for the full hour, let it sit in the oven for 10 more minutes and follow the instructions to let it chill overnight for best results. If cut after 6-8 hours, the middle will still be a bit soft. Hope that helps!
I am planning on making your vegan pumpkin cheesecake for Thanksgiving in a few days. I live in a small town and the only Coconut Cream I could find is a 15 oz can of “Real Cream of Coconut”. Will this work or should I substitute full fat coconut milk? Thank you for your help.
Does it have sugar and other ingredients added to it? If so, it probably won’t work very well unfortunately. I would sub full fat coconut milk, trying to use only the thicker white parts. Hope that helps and you enjoy it!
Hi,Nora i’ve made two of your cheesecake recipes now and they both haven’t set well. I followed the recipe to a T and it’s just not working. I’m wondering if you could help me narrow down what i’m doing wrong.
What brand of cream cheese are you using? Are you making any substitutions at all? What pan are you baking in? And are you truly letting it cook as long as the instructions say, as well as chilling it for many hours or overnight? Hopefully I can help!
I’m using tofutti like you said,and i’m not making any substitutions,i’m using the pan you said to use in the recipe,and yes i let it cook for exactly what you said and i let it chill for that amount of time it’s been well over that amount of time and it still didn’t set right.
Sorry to butt in here, but are you using canned coconut cream? I was thinking maybe you are using the wrong kind. I think Nora uses the coconut cream you find next to the canned coconut milk, not something that is in the refrigerated aisle. I think that contains ingredients that might be an issue in this kind of baked good.
Could you make this a sweet potato cheese cake by subbing sweet potato purée and the spices you use in sweet potato casserole? Cinnamon, nutmeg, brown sugar, vanilla?
I’m sure it would work the same, yes!
This is the best recipe!!! I bake vegan desserts for a local tea room and decided to try this recipe for a yummy fall dessert. I couldn’t believe how delicious it was!!! They sold out in a couple hours and called to order more. Thank you for sharing your recipes, they are amazing!!
Wow, that is so great to hear, I’m happy it sold out and they wanted more! Thanks for sharing!
Hi, I have loved every recipe of yours I have made. I want to make the recipe as well, and have a few questions about the foil & the crust. With the foil, how do you smooth out the wrinkles if you’re covering the bottom and sides with 2 layers. Also, how far do go up the sides with the crust? I haven’t made my own cheesecake before, so I’m a bit nervous.
Hi Maddi! The foil can be wrinkly, you just want it to cover the bottom and up the sides of the pan a little bit. You can go up just a little bit, about 1/2 inch, or more, it really doesn’t matter too much. Hope that helps and you enjoy the pumpkin cheesecake!
I will definitely be trying this recipe!
Just a note – at the beginning you say nut and soy free (or no tofu or nuts, which folks might take to mean nut and soy free). The recipe only accomplishes that if you use the TJ’s brand of vegan cream cheese. Tofutti has tofu (surprising no one), and kite hill has almond milk. It’s left your recipe blurb thing misleading, especially since you enthusiastically recommend Tofutti.
Hi Kelley! I hope you enjoy it if you try it! I can see how this could be misleading, I will change the wording a bit to be less confusing. Thanks for pointing that out!
Were there supposed to be directions for if you didn’t have a springform pan?
Yes, I’ve added them in. 🙂
Any replacement fir the coconut cream ? Can you you regular soy or almond milk ?
No, those are both too watery. You might be able to use cashew cream.
I’m personally not a coconut flavor fan – in your opinion, can you detect the coconut flavor from the coconut cream?
I understand the fat from the cream is likely very important to the product. I’m just always hesitant to make recipes like this that have coconut because of the potential coconut flavor.
I have the same question for your other cheesecake recipes here.
Thank you for your time and delicious recipes!
For this recipe and all my cheesecake recipes, there is truly NO coconut flavor. I’ve never had anyone ask me if there was coconut in them, the other flavors overpower it. Hope that helps! Thank you!
Very helpful! I’ll try one of them soon and report back for others like me 🙂 Thank you! All of your recipes are awesome!
I want to make this recipe tomorrow!! I do have one question, which may sound stupid. I have never used coconut cream before… do I only use the white cream part or the watery part as well?
For this recipe, you use the entire can, even if there is some watery clear liquid. It should be mostly cream though, unless you get a dud can for some reason. Hope you enjoy the cheesecake!