Opinion 17 easy dairy-free recipes full of creaminess & flavour

Who knew avocado could whip into such a silky, airy chocolate mousse? We can’t pretend to fully understand the culinary magic at play here, but somehow avocado adds serious richness to this dessert while flying completely under the radar. The result is so decadent you’ll want to scrape the whole blender clean!

Protein-packed firm tofu is the star of this vibrant, plant-based palak paneer. It’s a blank slate that soaks up all the spices beautifully, while adding a satisfying bite to the creamy spinach sauce — which you can make with either coconut cream or thickened plant cream for dreamy results.

For this delightful dairy-free breakfast, you’ll need cartons (not cans) of beverage-style coconut milk, vegan butter, and coconut yoghurt for topping — all of which you can find at your local supermarket! The result is a stack of pancakes so fluffy and tropical you’ll feel like you’re on holiday.

Warning: Once you try this utterly divine dairy-free mac and cheese, you’ll never go back! Featuring a proper roux-based béchamel thickened with vegan butter, oat milk, and dairy-free mozzarella and cheddar shreds, it’s so indulgent and elegant that you’d never know it was plant-based.

This showstopping pasta bake tastes just as good as it looks. Make the dairy-free ricotta filling by blitzing up sautéed onion, garlic, and spinach with tofu, nutritional yeast, and vegan cream cheese — a gorgeously cheesy counterpoint to the vibrant tomato-based sauce.QAZ

Another way to build richness and creaminess in your savoury cooking is by using soaked and blended cashews — and this luscious mushroom stroganoff is a great way to put that simple technique to the test. Add some aromatic herbs and melt-in-your-mouth mushrooms to the mix, and you’ve got yourself a seriously hearty dairy-free dinner.

Arguably the most dairy of all dairy-based desserts, even ice cream cake can be made plant-based! Take your pick from the glorious (and ever-growing) range of plant-based ice creams at the shops, grab yourself some Oreos, and finish the whole thing off with a generous drizzle of chocolate sauce.

Set with agar instead of gelatine and made with soy or coconut milk instead of dairy, this panna cotta delivers the perfect wobble and that cool, creamy bite the dessert is famous for. A spoonful of jam or homemade berry compote on top is all it needs to look and taste extra luxurious.

Coconut yoghurt can make plant-based baked goods beautifully fudgy and moist, and there’s no better example to taste-test than these decadently gooey brownies, laden with chunks of both white and milk-style dairy-free chocolate.

Simmered dates form the base of this syrupy, nostalgic pudding, which gets drowned in a toffee-like sauce made from coconut evaporated milk, brown sugar, and vegan butter. Best served fresh from the oven with a scoop of vegan vanilla ice cream melting on top.

These pillowy cinnamon scrolls prove you don’t need dairy to make soft, indulgent sweet treats. Between the oozy cinnamon brown sugar filling and the tangy vegan cream cheese icing on top, you’ll be lucky if your batch lasts the day… Maybe make double!

Homemade potato gnocchi bakes beneath rustic tomato sugo and dairy-free mozzarella sauce (made with soy milk, nutritional yeast, and tapioca starch), which turns super stretchy and golden in the oven. It’s a labour of love worth every minute for the payoff of that first cheesy spoonful.

Equally at home next to a cosy winter spread or served cold at a summer barbecue, this no-fuss potato bake is pure comfort food. The sauce is made from a combo of dairy-free cheese, silken tofu, and nutritional yeast, plus a range of other seasonings that create the kind of dairy-free cheesiness that keeps you coming back for more.

If you’re looking for a filling family favourite that’s meat- and dairy-free, you can’t go past Nanna Mirella’s classic lasagne. It’s just as indulgent as the original and surprisingly easy to make, too! All you’ll need from the vegetarian section is some plant-based meat and a couple of types of vegan cheese.

This gorgeously earthy risotto gets its creaminess from almond milk, and its cheesy richness from the magic of nutritional yeast. Frankly, we can’t think of anything more tempting than truffle oil, lemon, toasted pine nuts, and mushrooms. Who needs dairy, anyway?

Considering how impressive ripple cake looks, you would not believe how easy it is to make. It’s essentially just whipped plant cream layered with chocolate ripple biscuits (plus peppermint extract and chocolate sauce to decorate). No baking required, just patience while it sets in the fridge! It’s 100% dairy-free and dangerously devourable.

Who could forget this classic? Banana bread is just as easy to whip up without dairy, and chances are you already have all the ingredients sitting in your pantry. Vegan butter is an optional extra — it spreads like normal and tastes amazing melted onto a slightly warmed slice.