Cheese, eggs, ham, spinach, and onions! A different household favorite!
| Prep Time: | 20 mins |
| Cook Time: | 1 hr 10 mins |
| Additional Time: | 2 hrs 45 mins |
| Total Time: | 4 hrs 15 mins |
| Servings: | 10 |
| Yield: | 1 9-inch savory cheesecake |
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 ½ cups diced bell peppers
- ½ cup diced yellow onions
- 1 pinch salt
- 2 cloves garlic, crushed, or to taste
- 4 large eggs
- ¼ cup all-purpose flour
- 1 ½ teaspoons kosher salt, or to taste
- ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1 pinch cayenne pepper, or to taste
- 1 tablespoon white sugar
- 1 cup creme fraiche
- 3 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, at room temperature
- ½ cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
- 3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
- 3 tablespoons chopped fresh tarragon
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh thyme
- 4 ¼ ounces plain crackers, finely crushed
- ¼ teaspoon dried Italian herb blend
- 3 tablespoons melted butter
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Butter a 9-inch springform pan well.
- Start the filling: Heat olive oil in a pan over medium-high heat. Saute peppers and onions with a large pinch of salt until onions just start to turn translucent, about 5 minutes. Stir in garlic and cook for 2 more minutes. Turn off heat and allow to cool to room temperature.
- While the pepper mixture is cooling, prepare the crust: Combine crushed cracker crumbs, dried Italian herbs, and melted butter in a mixing bowl. Stir until crumbs are coated.
- Transfer the buttered crumbs into the prepared springform pan and press down into an even layer. Set aside until needed.
- Continue the filling: Combine eggs, flour, kosher salt, black pepper, cayenne pepper, and sugar in a large mixing bowl and whisk until smooth. Add the creme fraiche, cream cheese, and Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, and mix until smooth. Stir in parsley, tarragon, thyme, and cooled pepper mixture until evenly combined.
- Transfer cheese mixture into the prepared springform pan. Tap the pan gently to settle the contents and place on a baking sheet.
- Bake in the lower center of the preheated oven until a skewer poked into the center comes out clean, 60 to 75 minutes. Let cool in the pan for 30 minutes. Run a knife around the edges and carefully remove the ring.
- Cheesecake should be thoroughly chilled in the refrigerator before serving, about 2 hours. Cheesecake can be served at room temperature, but it will not have the classic smooth, firm cheesecake texture, and will be more like a very light cheese quiche.
- You can use hot peppers instead of sweet, or a combination of both. I used water crackers for this, but any non-sweet cracker will do. You can use sour cream instead of creme fraiche. Use 1/2 cup any chopped fresh herbs you like in the filling.
- Feel free to add any other savory ingredients into this, like cooked crumbled sausage or crisp bacon.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 518 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 16 g |
| Cholesterol | 194 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 1 g |
| Protein | 12 g |
| Saturated Fat | 25 g |
| Sodium | 736 mg |
| Sugars | 4 g |
| Fat | 47 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
Looks great can’t wait for it to cool
Yummy
This was killer, fantastic, and superlative! However, I added 1 cup diced, smoked ham and 1 cup diced gruyere and spread it over the cracker crust, then added the cream cheese mixture, baked, cooled and refrigerated. Perfect!
I lost a bet and got sucked into doing a keto diet for 45 days. My biggest lament was my loss of Cheesecake. But Chef John came in right in right in the nick of time with a savory cheesecake that I barely have to modify to make it low carb. This will more than do to replace my favorite dish for the next month and a half. Many thanks.
One of the best original recipes I have ever made. Turned out just as advertised by Chef John. Serve chilled as suggested. It’s a texture thing. I would serve a thin piece of this as a salad course or as part of a cheese board with fruit for dessert. This went particularly well with sweet cherries.