Dairy-free recipes from whatever's in your fridge

Dairy is in everything, until it isn't

Butter to start the onions. A splash of cream to finish. Cheese on top. Milk in the mash. Dairy is the default seasoning of most recipe writing, which is why cooking without it from other people's recipes means rewriting every dish in your head as you read it.

Grublin writes the dish without it in the first place. Set dairy once and Grub starts the onions in oil, finishes with coconut cream or stock, and tops with toasted crumbs or herbs, without being told each time.

What the check catches

The obvious ones. Milk, butter, buttermilk, cream, cheese, yoghurt, custard, ghee, kefir.

Cheeses that don't say cheese. Cheddar, halloumi, brie, gruyère, stilton, parmesan, mozzarella, feta, paneer, ricotta, mascarpone.

Milk components. Whey, casein, lactose. These are what catch people out in processed foods, and they are on the list.

The compounds. Crème fraîche and crème brûlée under either spelling, buttercream, cheesecake.

Safe lookalikes pass. Coconut milk, coconut cream, coconut butter, almond milk, oat milk, soy milk, rice milk, cashew milk, peanut butter, almond butter, cashew butter, nut butter, cocoa butter. A recipe that uses them is not wrongly rejected.

If a forbidden term appears in the finished recipe, Grub asks for another and you only see the one that passed.

What the check does not catch

• Hidden dairy in packaged goods. Bread, crisps, stock, sausages and chocolate often contain milk powder. The check reads the recipe's ingredient names, not the label on your packet.
• Lactose-free dairy. The check flags "milk" however it is qualified, so a lactose-free milk recipe would be rewritten rather than allowed. If you tolerate lactose-free dairy, you may prefer to leave dairy unset and type specific dislikes instead.
• Cross-contamination. Shared equipment, shared fryers.

The check reduces the chance of dairy reaching your plate. Read the label on anything in a packet.

Lactose intolerance, dairy allergy and "just prefer not to"

Grublin has one dairy setting and it is strict. That is right for a milk allergy and for most lactose-intolerant cooks. If you can handle hard cheese or ghee, which contain very little lactose, you have two options: leave the dairy rule on and accept stricter recipes, or leave it off and add "milk, cream, soft cheese" under dislikes, which steers rather than enforces. The first is safer. The second is more flexible.

Dairy-free and something else

• Dairy-free and gluten-free. The common intolerance pair. No flour in the sauce and no butter either.
• Dairy-free and egg-free. Set both. Mayonnaise, hollandaise and most bakes go; Grub reaches for oil-based dressings and aquafaba-style bakes where he can.
• Dairy-free with a nut allergy. Most dairy substitutes are nut-based. Set tree nuts too and the recipe uses oat, soy, rice or coconut instead.
• Dairy-free and vegan. Vegan already excludes dairy; set vegan and you are covered.

What you'll actually cook

Grub writes from your fridge or your craving, so there is no fixed list, but dairy-free pushes towards olive-oil and coconut-based cooking: curries and dhals, stir-fries, tomato-based pasta sauces, roasted vegetable trays, stews, soups finished with coconut cream, tacos, grilled fish and meat with salsas, rice dishes. Ask for "something creamy" and you get a recipe built on coconut, oat cream or blended beans. Ask for "a lasagne" and the white sauce is made from oat milk and olive oil.

Set your kit as well, so a dairy-free air fryer dinner is written for the air fryer.