This easy Chocolate Chip Cheesecake recipe can be made as a whole cheesecake or, as we prefer, impressive Chocolate Chip Cheesecake Bars. It is simple and almost foolproof, using cream cheese, sweetened condensed milk, chocolate chips, and an Oreo crust. Please try our go-to recipe for parties or take-a-dish occasions.
🥣Ingredients
Cream Cheese
Eggs
Mini-chocolate chips
Sweetened condensed milk
Oreo Crust—Oreo cookies, butter
Jump To (scroll for more)
- 🥣Ingredients
- 👨🍳How to Make Chocolate Chip Cheesecake—Step-by-Step Photo Instructions
- 🌡️When is a cheesecake done?
- ✔️Make it right every time
- ✔️Special tips for cheesecake bars
- 👨🍳Options and variations
- 📋Other Cream Cheese Recipes
- 🍴How to serve and store cheesecake
- ❓FAQs
- 👨🍳How to Prevent Cracks in Cheesecake
- 📖 Recipe
Featured Comment by LisaA:
"Delicious!!!! Thank you!"
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
This recipe has made the rounds among staff and parents at my wife's grade school for years. We have often made it as a full-size cheesecake and, more recently, as cheesecake bites for parties.
With six common ingredients, you will be amazed at how easy it is to make a real Philidelphia cheesecake with the same amount of work as the no-bake variety. It will leave them asking for the recipe—it has happened to me many times.
👨🍳How to Make Chocolate Chip Cheesecake—Step-by-Step Photo Instructions
1. Allow the cream cheese and eggs to rest for about 60 minutes at room temperature.
2. Butter a 9-inch springform pan for a full-size cheesecake. For cheesecake bars, line a 9 by 9 pan with crossed pieces of parchment paper.
3. Crush Oreo cookies and mix them with melted butter.
4. Crush the crust mixture into the prepared pan—no need to bake.
5. Using a hand or stand mixer, beat cream cheese until creamy—2 to 3 minutes. DO NOT over-mix.
6. Mix in the sweetened condensed milk and then the eggs, one at a time. Fold in half of the mini chocolate chips at the end of mixing.
7. Pour cheesecake batter into the prepared pan and sprinkle the top with the remaining chocolate chips.
8. Bake for 1 hour in a 300° oven until the edges are browning some, but the center may not look set. Turn off the oven and crack open the door for one hour.
9. Transfer to the refrigerator for cooling for at least six hours before cutting.
For more details, keep reading. See the Recipe Card below for complete instructions and to print.
🌡️When is a cheesecake done?
The edges will be slightly puffed and brown. There will still be a 2-inch to 3-inch wobbly spot in the center.
If you don’t mind a hole in the surface, the internal temperature should be 150° when done. Never over 160°, or it will crack.
✔️Make it right every time
The cream cheese and the eggs must be at room temperature before starting, or they will not combine easily. Remove the cardboard box from the cream cheese. I recommend 60 to 90 minutes, but approaching 2 hours makes the doctor in my worry. If you use cold ingredients, you will see more cracks and are more likely to have the center fall.
Sweetened condensed milk adds more creaminess and sweetness and helps the cream cheese set, making this recipe even more foolproof.
Cheesecake is not low-fat. Use full-fat cream cheese.
DO NOT over-mix. It will add tiny air bubbles, which will expand and cause cracks.
Quality matters—use good quality materials.
✔️Special tips for cheesecake bars
A few dots of butter will help hold the parchment in place. Keep the sheets long to pick up the cheesecake and remove it from the pan after cooling.
If the cheesecake sticks in the pan, put an inch of hot water in the kitchen sink and set the pan in it for a few minutes. It will come right out.
Cut just before taking to the party with a long sharp knife. Warm the knife with hot running water and rinse off every few cuts.
The bars, sometimes called squares or fingers, can be any size you want, but they are very rich, so smaller is a good idea.
For finger food at parties, I suggest cutting it into 64 one-inch square cheesecake bites.
👨🍳Options and variations
To make vanilla cheesecake
To make a vanilla Philadelphia cheesecake, add 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract to replace the chocolate chips and use the Graham crackers crust.
Graham cracker crust option
For Graham cracker crust: Crush about 12 whole sheets of Graham crackers to make about 1 ½ cups of graham cracker crumbs, and add 4 tablespoons of sugar and 5 tablespoons of melted butter.
Spread into the prepared baking pan. Bake for 10 minutes in a 350° oven until browning some. Remove to cool. Turn the oven down to 300° for the cheesecake.
📋Other Cream Cheese Recipes
Check out these other cheesecake recipes, like Easy Cheesecake Bars, Cheesecake Cupcakes, Blueberry Cream Cheese Coffee Cake, and Blueberry Cream Cheese Bars.
🍴How to serve and store cheesecake
Allow the slices to rest at room temperature for 10 minutes before serving. Top the vanilla cheesecake with fresh fruit like strawberries or blueberries.
You can store it refrigerated and covered with plastic wrap for 4 days or in the freezer, sealed airtight, for 3 months. I suggest cutting it into individual slices, freezing them solid, and then wrapping them tightly.
❓FAQs
The crust will seem like it is not enough, but it is. If you want it to go up the side more, increase the amount by about 25%.
This is a Philadelphia-style cheesecake, which is mainly cream cheese with additives. New York-style cheesecake usually has sour cream or heavy cream mixed in the batter.
There are several reasons.
1) Having the ingredients too cold at the start. This will prevent the ingredients from coming together smoothly, leading to over-mixing.
2) Just over mixing.
3) Undercooking.
These are some of the same issues that cause cracks. A water bath will help, but it will not totally prevent sinking. For instructions on using a water bath, see the section on crack prevention.
👨🍳How to Prevent Cracks in Cheesecake
First, cracks in the cheesecake happen. I have rarely had many issues; it is not the end of the world if it does happen. In addition to cooling carefully, here are some more tips.
- Air bubbles in the batter can cause cracks, so don’t overmix. Please make sure the cream cheese is warm to mix it easier and has no lumps. Add the eggs carefully, and don’t overmix since the eggs trap air easily.
- When it cools, the cheesecake will shrink slightly. If it sticks to the side while that happens, it will crack. So, be sure to grease the pan well and run a knife around the edge of the cake about 15 minutes after turning off the heat.
- Using a water bath is optional for me. Humidity can help avoid cracks and stabilize the temperature. I don’t usually do this. It is not complicated but can be a bit messy if you are not careful; just set the springform pan in a large pan of water during baking with the water coming up to ⅔ of the height of the cake pan.
- Avoid opening the oven door to keep checking the cake. Drafts and temperature changes can cause cracking.
- In general, an oven temperature for cheesecake should never be over 325°. This recipe uses 300°; if you are unsure of your oven's accuracy, check it with an oven thermometer.
- Overcooking is probably the most common cause of cracking.
📖 Recipe
Chocolate Chip Cheesecake or Cheesecake Bars
Video Slideshow
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Ingredients
- 24 oz cream cheese - room temperature
- 3 eggs - room temperature
- 14 oz sweetened condensed milk
- 12 oz mini-chocolate chips
Oreo Crust
- 18 Oreo cookies crushed - for about 1 ½ cups of crumbs
- 4 tablespoons butter
Instructions
- Remove the boxes from the cream cheese. Allow the cream cheese and eggs to rest at room temperature for 60 to 90 minutes. Then, preheat the oven to 300°.
- Butter a 9-inch springform pan for a full-size cheesecake. For cheesecake bars, line a 9 by 9 pan with crossed pieces of parchment paper. Dots of butter in the corners will help hold the parchment in place.
- Crush 18 standard Oreo cookies (about 1 ½ cups).
- Melt 4 tablespoons of butter.
- In a medium bowl, mix the melted butter into crushed Oreos.
- Crush the crust mixture into the bottom of the prepared pan using a fork. Break up any remaining larger pieces, and be sure to get complete coverage. It will not look like enough, but it is. Do not bake the Oreo crust.
- Start the filling with 24 ounces of cream cheese. Beat at a medium speed with a stand or hand mixer for 2-3 minutes to make it a little fluffy and creamy texture. DO NOT over-mix.
- Add one 14-oz can of sweetened condensed milk. Mix at a slower speed until combined. Now, add 3 eggs one at a time until smooth, but do not overbeat. At the end of mixing, fold in half the 12-oz pack of mini chocolate chips.
- Pour cheesecake filling into the prepared pan and top with remaining chocolate chips.
- Bake for 1 hour until edges begin to brown, but the center may not look set. Do not go poking it with toothpicks or anything else to check for done.
- Turn off the oven and crack open the door to cool. About 15 minutes into cooling, run a knife around the edge of a full cheesecake to help release it from the pan. Cool in the oven for 1 hour before transferring to the refrigerator for 6 hours more. After refrigerating, you may remove the cheesecake from the pan and cut.
Recipe Notes
Pro Tips
Instru- This is not a "for two" recipe and will not scale down well.
- Allow the eggs and cream cheese to rest at room temperature for at least 60 minutes before starting.
- The crust will seem like it is not enough, but it is. If you want it to go up the side more, increase the amount by about 25%.
- Watch the edge to tell if this is done. The edge will be browning some, but the center may not look set. Do not go poking it with toothpicks or anything else to check for done.
- If you don’t mind a hole in the surface, the internal temperature should be 150° when done. Never over 160°, or it will crack.
- Be sure to run a knife around the pan to release the cake from the pan about 15 minutes into cooling.
- Cool it in the oven with the door partly open.
- Cool for at least 6 hours in the refrigerator. DO NOT cut this before properly cooling.
- Store refrigerated for 4 days. Also, it will freeze very well for about 3 months.
Your Own Private Notes
To adjust the recipe size:
You may adjust the number of servings in this recipe card under servings. This does the math for the ingredients for you. BUT it does NOT adjust the text of the instructions. So you need to do that yourself.
Nutrition Estimate
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Editor's Note: Originally Published December 20, 2013. Updated with expanded options, refreshed photos, and a table of contents to help navigation.
Jan says
I haven't made this yet so I'm not rating it. I wanted to ask a question. I couldn't find the Pumpkin Cheesecake recipe that you referred to in a comment. My granddaughter loves it and I made one using a recipe I found and it was a total failure.
Dan Mikesell AKA DrDan says
Hi Jan,
Welcome to the blog.
I emailed you a PDF and a link to the Wayback Machine archive. https://web.archive.org/web/20231130012808/https://www.101cookingfortwo.com/easy-pumpkin-spice-cheesecake/
Dan
Nancy says
delicious
Karleen Taylor says
Wow! If this taste anything like it smells it’s a 10! Laughing about “don’t go poking around with a toothpick!” That’s exactly what I am tempted to do. Thanks so much for all the hard work you put in your recipes. We have a Golden, too. Best breed of dogs!
Leslie says
Usually make morning before serving, how many days can I make it in advance? Love this cheesecake! 5 stars
DrDan says
1-2 days is good. At 3 days, texture is changing some. But it freezes great, I have done that many times with this cake. So I would not cook more than 1 day ahead since there will be leftovers.
Happy Holidays
Dan
DrDan says
Thanks for the comment and rating. I love this cheesecake but it is just too good to make often. I have a pumpkin cheese cake post going up soon.
DrDan
LisaA says
Delicious!!!! Thank you!
Madeline says
So excited to try this! My best friend loves chocolate chip cheesecake and I've been wanting to make it for a surprise. So excited about trying this!! Thanks, DrDan!
SG says
I've been making this for years. A couple of changes though. I add 2 tsps of vanilla to batter. I also coat choc chips in alittle flour (1tsp) before adding to batter. This helps them from sinking in cake. I bake at 325 for an hour with a pan of hot water (1 in deep) on rack below for moisture. Lastly, I turn off oven and leave it in oven for about 30-60 minutes with door ajar to cool down to ensure no cracking. Hope this helps!!
DrDan says
Thanks for the hints.
DrDan
Linsey says
This is my first time ever making a cheesecake so I looked up online some tips and it said you were too leave it in the oven and just crack the door and let it cool I. There? I hope that's not true because I didn't do this and it's already out of the oven and it's look kinda weird
DrDan says
Just let it cool at room temperature for an hour then refrigerate. Initially the center looks not done but it looks much better after cooled. The "crack the door" thing is a way to slow the cooling and decrease cracking. We have never had much of any cracking with this recipe without doing the slow oven cooling.
DrDan
Jessika says
Looks good but how many calories? Do you know?
DrDan says
Lots and Lots... I ran it through a calorie analyzer and it is about 7000 for the whole cake. That is a rough estimate and no guarantees, I usually like to do a hand calculation but seems about right.
Eat small slices.
DrDan
Pam says
Excellent! There's no dessert better than this!
DrDan says
Yep.... Excellent.... not much else to say other than it really is not hard to do.
DrDan