Think it’s impossible to make a healthy, Italian lemon ricotta cheesecake? This keto friendly recipe will blow your mind but won’t blow up your belly!
Sinfully-rich tasting desserts aren’t bad for your health because they contain tons of fat. On the contrary, it’s the carbs that go straight to your gut (or love handles).
When you eat natural, smart fats like grass-fed butter, which I include a lot of in this recipe, a few things happen….
The first benefit of natural fats is that they prevent cravings. Especially for snacky, high-sugar foods.
Almost everybody knows that too much sugar is not good for health. But relatively few people can precisely explain why.
It’s not just cavities that sugar takes the blame for, it’s weight gain. And here’s how….
In a simple sense, sugar that you eat becomes glycogen, or blood sugar. When your body doesn’t burn up all that sugar, say, from running 10 miles, your liver stores the glycogen as body fat for future use.
But if you eat a regular high-carb serving of lemon ricotta cheesecake every day and don’t work out like an Olympic athlete, you’re going to keep adding spare energy reserves.
In other words, you’re gonna keep packing on the pounds.
Calories In vs. Calories Out?
Moreover, even if you do workout a lot, it’s not as simple as calories in versus calories expended. However, even people who cut calories still have trouble losing weight.
That’s because when you eat sugar, the hormone, insulin, gets released. A little insulin is great for escorting sugar into the cells. But over time, insulin, causes your body to gain fat.
If you’ve been eating low carb for a long time, my apologies … you’re probably already well aware of these simple human physiology and nutrition concepts.
However, I feel like I owe it to the newcomers on this low carb recipe blog to hammer over the head the concept that eating fat doesn’t make you fat! It’s the sugar.
Now, compare a regular slice of lemon ricotta cheesecake to my recipe. My recipe contains only 5 grams of carbs per slice. (There’s 1 gram of fiber so net carbs is only 4 grams.)
According to EatThisMuch.com, a regular slice of this cheesecake has 34 grams of net carbs. And over 20 grams of those net carbs are glucose; you might as well inject that sugar straight into your veins.
Lemon Ricotta Italian Cheesecake: Why All That Butter?
Despite reading my above rant about how it’s not natural fat that makes you gain weight, perhaps you’re still a tad fat-phobic.
And maybe you’re wondering why this lemon ricotta Italian cheesecake contains six tablespoons of butter.
“Isn’t all that butter bad? That’s what my friend’s cardiologist said.”
Well, I don’t profess to know as much as a cardiologist. But cardiologists and medical doctors in general unfortunately receive very little training in nutrition.
Saturated fat for decades was blamed for heart disease. And many doctors and mainstream medical institutions still vilify it.
But the truth is, there’s no evidence that saturated fat causes heart disease. In fact, it might even be good for you.
Grass-fed butter contains essential fatty omega-3 acids. Cows eat grass. The grass contains the omega-3s. And when we eat grass-fed (but not corn-fed) butter, we benefit from the nutrients in the grass.
In addition, look at the nutrition facts at the bottom of the Italian lemon ricotta cheesecake recipe instructions.
You’ll notice that just one slice contains almost 20% of your daily value vitamin A.
Vitamin A is actually more potent than beta-carotene for carrots. So although it’s a common belief that eating carrots is good for your vision, grass-fed butter might be even better.
Grass-fed butter also contains vitamin E. Like vitamin A, E is an antioxidant that benefits the eyes. It’s also good for your brain and heart.
Both vitamins A and E are fat-soluble, which means all you need is a little fat for your body to absorb it.
My version of lemon ricotta cheesecake also will provide you with almost 13% of your daily value of calcium. And because of the cheese and almond flour, you also get a decent amount of protein.
Lemon Ricotta Cheesecake: Low Carb & Delicious
A regular slice of this dessert contains over 40% carbs.
For anybody trying to lose weight, even if you slash your calories by 500 a day, if 40% of your diet consists of carbs, you’re not going to have much luck losing those last stubborn 15 pounds.
In truth, I realize that an Italian grandma who is used to making a lemon ricotta cheesecake might wince upon biting into a slice with low-carb sweetener. However, we do have to make some sacrifices if we want to indulge from time to time.
Eating new sweeteners might take some getting used to. But I guarantee you will love this slice of low carb heaven. And, it may even taste better with a little vegan lemon curd on top.
P.S. Check out more of my delicious low carb cheesecake recipes like my no bake peanut butter cheesecake!
Italian Lemon Ricotta Cheesecake
Ingredients
Crust
- 2 cups almond flour
- 6 tbsp unsalted butter
- 1/4 tsp sea salt
- 2 tbsp low carb sweetener
Filling
- 16 ounces cream cheese softened
- 15 ounces ricotta cheese
- 1 cup low carb sweetener
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
- 2 tsp fresh lemon zest
- 1/2 tsp lemon extract
- 1 1/2 cups heavy cream
Instructions
Crust
- Preheat your oven to 350°F.
- Melt the butter in a microwave safe bowl.
- Combine the melted butter, almond flour, sea salt, and sweetener in a medium mixing bowl.
- Spray a 9in. glass pie pan with non-stick cooking spray and gently press the crust into the pan. Bake it for 12-15 minutes then remove it from the oven and set on a rack to cool.
Filling
- In a large mixing bowl or stand mixer combine the cream cheese, ricotta cheese, sweetener, the lemon and vanilla extracts, and the lemon zest.
- Blend everything together on medium speed until the filling is creamy and smooth.
- In another medium mixing bowl, use a hand mixer to whip the heavy cream until stiff peaks form.
- Fold the whipped cream into the cream cheese mixture. Be gentle but be sure to completely mix all the ingredients.
- Pour the filling into the cooled crust and refrigerate the pie for at least 4 hours before serving.
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Notes
Nutrition
Note on Nutritional Information
Nutritional information for the recipe is provided as a courtesy and is approximate only. We cannot guarantee the accuracy of the nutritional information given for any recipe on this site. Erythritol carbs are not included in carb counts as it has been shown not to impact blood sugar. Net carbs are the total carbs minus fiber.
About Lisa
Lisa has been creating low carb recipes for herself and sharing them with others since 2010. She loves to experiment in the kitchen and find new ways to create low sugar foods that taste like high carb favorites! Her recipes have been featured on popular magazine sites including Fitness, Shape, Country Living, Women's Health, and Men's Health. Lisa lives in Southeastern Connecticut. Connect with her and Low Carb Yum at:
elsa fisk says
HI, I use muffin tins with liners put some of the crust into the botton of each and baked for less time. When cooled, I placed a couple blueberries in the bottom then filled each muffin with the filling and refrigerated. Very good. Always add flavor lots lemon peel does improve the intensity of flavors. great receipe. also freeze them take them out as neede
Lisa MarcAurele says
Thanks for sharing your tips for making mini cheesecakes!
D says
Hi can this cheesecake recipe be made with no crust, your recipe filling only? Any special suggestions how to do?
Lisa MarcAurele says
It’s light like a mousse so it might not slice well.
Gail Sprlyan says
Hi, this sounds and looks amazing and going to make for the new year. Can this be frozen. many thanks
Lisa MarcAurele says
Although I haven’t tried with this recipes, other low carb cheesecakes have froze well for me. I just thaw them in the refrigerator when I want to serve.
Jenny Olise says
Can I use lemon juice rather than lemon extract ? I’d rather keep it natural
Lisa MarcAurele says
Lemon extract is natural, but you can certainly use juice and or rind instead.
Tracy Anderson says
Can you tell me the nutrition facts when using the full crust recipe but half of the filling, I had way too much so will half the filling next time and only put half in this time. Just started keto so would be very helpfull.
Lisa says
We are unable to do custom calculations, but you can use the recipe analyzer at MyFitnessPal.com to do it yourself easily.
Laura says
How many servings are the nutrition facts based on
Lisa says
One slice after cutting the entire cheesecake into 16 thin slices.
Kathleen Ciulla says
Thank you for this recipe! This is perhaps the best cheesecake I’ve ever had! I still feel extremely guilty eating it and it satisfies every sweet craving I have ever had! I too added double the lemon zest and lemon flavoring and reduced the sweetener to 1/2 cup. Fantastic!!!!
I look forward to trying more of your recipes!!
Lisa says
Thanks for sharing your mods. I tend to reduce sweetener in recipes to half when making for myself, but others tend not to like it as they are used to real sweets.
Kimi Merton says
Hi!!!
So I made this and by the time I finished I had enough filling for 2 pies, what happened, so easy fix, I filled the crust and another container sans crust
Woohoo!!!
2 desserts from one recipe…
But seriously what did I do wrong???
Lisa says
Maybe you just had a shallower pie pan.
Tina says
Wow! I didn’t know commenting on a recipe included critiquing one’s grammar as well!!?
I have just started on keto and made this last night . I didn’t have a pie pan so I used a 9×9 square glass pan.
I feel 1 cup sugar amount could be cut down considerably. I used Swerve and Pyure (equal proportions) and next time will try half of the sugar content. I thought maybe since I’ve started keto, my sweetness tastebuds are diminishing, but it was just too sweet. Not that it will stop me from eating it however!
The filling is delicious, and I can’t wait to try the ‘finished’ product tonight.
Also, it made a lot of filling, almost too much for the piecrust. A little extra is great though, as this filling is tasty!
Thanks for sharing your recipe!
Lisa says
The taste for sweet certainly decreases after you’ve been low carbing for a while.
Rodney Chamness says
Made this today pretty disappointing. Not much flavor even adding extra lemon extract.
Lisa says
Fresh lemon zest is where most of the flavor comes from. Did you use the full 2 teaspoons?
Christina says
Well, first of all, AMAZINGLY GOOD! But, I confess that since I had neither a fresh lemon nor lemon extract, I used what I had lemon sugar free jello. This pie is perfectly gorgeous and tastes as goood as it looks. I did have fresh raspberries so I made raspberry sauce that made it even better and prettier. Thank you for this great, low carb, fabulous dessert.
Lisa says
Good thinking on the last minute sub! Glad that worked out for you.
Diana Gray says
I made this tonight. I can not wait to try a slice tomorrow, as I licked the spatula! Yummy. I did put a bit more lemon extract in as we love lemon anything. My husband, who does not like artificial sweeteners, is looking forward to tomorrow. He licked the bowl!
Lisa says
Extra lemon flavor can never hurt. Enjoy!
_T_T_ says
Avid low-carber, also since ’01. Just a tip from a writer: A paragraph can and mostly *should* contain more than one sentence. Meanwhile, I’ll be making this recipe. Thanks!
Lisa says
Paragraphs should definitely be at least 2 sentences. But when writing for web, it’s often easier to read, particularly on mobile, if broken down into smaller pieces.
Bobi says
Love your recipe. Unfortunately I’m allergic to tree nuts. Is there a ratio to replace almond flour with coconut flour or lupine flour? Thanks
Lisa says
You can replace one-for-one with finely ground sunflower seeds. I’m not familiar with lupine flour and coconut flour requires other changes.