Most think that only lactose-intolerant people would ever need a dairy-free cookbook. But there are lots of other reasons for choosing a dairy-free lifestyle.
One benefit is that it’s more healthy to do so. Cutting out dairy removes excess saturated fats, sugar, and salt from your diet. It also restores your body’s acid/alkaline balance. For some, it even clears up their skin.
But because dairy products are so prevalent in our lives, it’s hard to get rid of them in an instant. This is why most dietitians recommend that people start gradually when transitioning into a dairy-free lifestyle. And that’s where dairy-free cookbooks really help.
They show you a wide range of options to try new food. If you’ve never considered using cashew or coconut milk as dairy substitutes, you’ll be surprised at how they can bring new flavors and textures to familiar comfort foods that usually use dairy-based ingredients.
The cookbooks will also inspire you to be more creative in the kitchen. Because when you learn that there is a whole world of dairy-free alternatives that are more nutritious, you can really go to town with your culinary exploits in your home kitchen.
The best dairy-free cookbooks are those that don’t only provide a diverse selection of flavorful dishes but also teach anyone how to create the pantry staples like nut-based milk, vegan cheese, or dairy-free butter. This frees you up from relying on commercial dairy-free brands so you can save more.
Other cookbooks are geared for the casual home cook but there are those that really help you ease into this eating lifestyle by featuring meal plans. These books take into account that a household may have diverse diet needs so the recipes for these meal plans can be easily modified to suit any dairy-free, gluten-free, or low carb eater.
One thing, I’ve noticed though when looking at the books in this category is that most of them don’t really have a lot of food photos to pair with their recipe selections. This can be frustrating for a lot of beginner cooks who rely on images for visual reference.
In this list, I’ve put together the best cookbooks that will make you consider cutting back on your dairy intake. These cookbooks have flavorful recipes and are user-friendly enough for everyday use in the kitchen. Here are my top 10 dairy-free cookbooks from Amazon.
Best Dairy-Free Cookbooks
- One Meal for All: Gluten Free, Dairy Free, Soy Free, Intermittent Fasting and Vegan Love to Cook Book Hardcover
- Dairy-Free Cookbook for Beginners: 101 Simple, Satisfying Recipes Paperback
- Dairy Free Keto Cooking: A Nutritional Approach to Restoring Health and Wellness Paperback
- The Dairy Free Comfort Food Cookbook: 110 Recipes of Familiar Favorites Paperback
- The Dairy-Free Kitchen: 100 Delicious Recipes Without Lactose, Casein, or Dairy Hardcover
- Go Dairy Free: The Ultimate Guide and Cookbook for Milk Allergies, Lactose Intolerance, and Casein-Free Living Paperback
- Eat Dairy Free: Your Essential Cookbook for Everyday Meals, Snacks, and Sweets Paperback
- The 30-Minute Dairy Free Cookbook: 101 Easy and Delicious Meals for Busy People Paperback
- The Everything Gluten-Free & Dairy-Free Cookbook: 300 Simple and Satisfying Recipes without Gluten or Dairy Paperback – Illustrated
- Whole Food Cooking Every Day: Transform the Way You Eat with 250 Vegetarian Recipes Free of Gluten, Dairy, and Refined Sugar Hardcover – Illustrated
1. One Meal for All: Gluten Free, Dairy Free, Soy Free, Intermittent Fasting and Vegan Love to Cook Book Hardcover
Each of the recipes featured in this cookbook are gluten-, dairy-, and soy-free. There are 69 of them that range from brunch and main dishes to sides and desserts.
The dishes are Italian-influenced and are based on two meals per day to accommodate those who are into intermittent fasting. The instructions are easy to follow with a shortlist of ingredients that are easily sourced from local markets.
Readers liked its bread and soup sections. One found this book very useful for patients with Hashimoto’s disease because the recipes do not use eggs, meat, or gluten. Another liked that its recommended meal plans can be enjoyed at the same time by people with diverse food needs.
Recommended for anyone newly diagnosed with food sensitivity/allergy or for home cooks looking for healthy recipes that are inclusive of all dietary restrictions.
2. Dairy-Free Cookbook for Beginners: 101 Simple, Satisfying Recipes Paperback
This cookbook takes on familiar food favorites and makes them dairy-free. There are 101 recipes here, which will appeal to meat-eaters and vegetarian/vegans including ones that teach you how to make your own almond milk, oat milk, cream cheese, etc. There are also meal plans as well as tips on shopping for ingredients, eating out, and stocking up your pantry.
Recipes are concise with easy-to-follow directions. All of them include servings, cook/prep times, allergen options, substitution tips, and nutritional information. Photos are minimal. Samples of the dishes include Caribbean Shrimp and Quinoa, Mexican Sweet Corn, Belgian Waffles, and Vegan Mac and Cheese.
Readers enjoyed the wide selection of quick recipes. One liked the “Option” feature in the recipes which gave a lot of useful tips for swapping ingredients. Another liked the section on recommended brands to use.
Recommended for anyone looking for dairy-free versions of comfort food favorites.
3. Dairy Free Keto Cooking: A Nutritional Approach to Restoring Health and Wellness Paperback
This cookbook is a keto roadmap for lactose-intolerant eaters. It includes healthy meal plans that range from paleo, AIP, egg-free, nut-free, to 30-minute meals as well as a list of keto-friendly food.
Recipes are accessible and easy to assemble. Each one comes with a short guide on how to modify the recipe for various food allergies and color photos of the dish. Ingredient lists are short and the ingredients can be easily found in local grocery stores. Samples of the selection include Slow Cooker Pork Carnitas, Cowboy Style Beef Ragout and Cauliflower Mash, Sweet and Spicy Barbecue Ribs, Blackened Shrimp Fettucine Alfredo, and Flourless Chocolate Lava Cake.
Readers found this a useful entry-level cookbook for anyone shifting to a keto diet but have food allergies. Another found its allergen index very convenient and easy to use.
Recommended for lactose-intolerant keto eaters or anyone looking to cook meals for people with food allergies or sensitivities.
4. The Dairy Free Comfort Food Cookbook: 110 Recipes of Familiar Favorites Paperback
This cookbook features dairy-free recipes of American comfort food like pancakes and mac n’ cheese. It also includes an extensive list of how to modify the dishes to accommodate other food allergies and dietary restrictions.
Recipes are simple and easy to follow. The ingredient lists are short and the ingredients are easy to find, but at least half of the recipes will use a commercial dairy-free product like dairy-free buttery spread, dairy-free cheddar shreds, or plant-based whipped cream. Servings info, as well as prep and cooking times, are stated for each recipe.
Readers found this book a good introduction to eating dairy-free. Those who tried the recipes found them reliable and delicious.
Recommended for anyone looking for dairy-free family friendly recipes.
5. The Dairy-Free Kitchen: 100 Delicious Recipes Without Lactose, Casein, or Dairy Hardcover
This cookbook provides tips on how to spot hidden dairy in everyday foods and how to keep up your calcium levels using non-dairy sources. There are recipes here for making dairy-free butter, cheeses, creams, milk, and yogurts. It also includes a section that provides a menu of meals and desserts that children will like.
Recipes are easy to follow and use measurements that are in U.S. volume and metric. There are not a lot of food photos and some might find the tone of the book preachy but the selection offers a lot of choices for picky eaters. Samples of the recipes include Quiche Lorraine, Maple Walnut Sugar Scones, Figs stuffed with Cashew Blue Cheese, Creamy Potato and Leek Soup, Asparagus Risotto, and Coconut Crème Brûlée.
Recommended for anyone trying to avoid dairy in their diet or the casual cook trying out dairy-free recipes.
6. Go Dairy Free: The Ultimate Guide and Cookbook for Milk Allergies, Lactose Intolerance, and Casein-Free Living Paperback
This is an expanded edition of the Diary Free Made Easy Guidebook which was released in 2006. Along with an updated FAQ, it now includes over 225 dairy-free recipes.
There’s a lot of useful tools here for transitioning to a dairy-free diet. There’s a comprehensive list of dairy substitutes, detailed chapters on calcium and the dairy-free lifestyle, an Infant Milk Allergy Checklist, and grocery shopping information to help you choose genuine dairy-free products.
Recipes, meanwhile, are accessible and use common ingredients and kitchen appliances. There are no food photos of the dishes but those who have tried the recipes said that they are delicious. One liked that they can be easily modified to create lots of variations.
Recommended for beginners to the dairy-free lifestyle and anyone looking for a comprehensive reference cookbook on lactose intolerance.
7. Eat Dairy Free: Your Essential Cookbook for Everyday Meals, Snacks, and Sweets Paperback
This is a compilation of more than 100 dairy-free recipes for breakfasts, lunches, dinners, and snacks. It includes menu plans and substitution lists for different food allergies. Samples of the selection include Mushroom-Pesto Pizza, Shake & Bake Buttermilk Chicken, Peanut Power Protein Bars, Chocolate Banana Split Muffins, Southwestern Sunrise Tacos, and Strawberry Cheesecakes.
Recipes are simple and straightforward with color photos of the dishes. They have also been kitchen-tested with options for gluten-, egg-, soy- and nut-free preparations. The ingredient lists are short and most use whole foods/unprocessed ingredients. Measurements are in U.S. volume.
This cookbook also gives you a basic template of how to make nut milk but doesn’t use the traditional way of soaking the nuts and seeds overnight. It relies heavily on nutritional yeast which may not suit those suffering with dysregulated digestion.
Recommended for people just starting on a dairy-free lifestyle.
8. The 30-Minute Dairy Free Cookbook: 101 Easy and Delicious Meals for Busy People Paperback
This is a selection of quick dairy-free recipes that use easy-to-find and affordable ingredients. Most of them use gluten-based substances but they can easily be replaced with commercially available gluten substitutes. There is also a section that teaches one how to make dairy-free staples like butter and sour cream.
Samples of the recipes include Creamy Ranch Summer Pasta Salad, Sicilian Deep-Dish Pizza, and PB&J Cookies. Each one comes with nutritional info with labels that identify it to be vegan, egg-free, meat-free, or gluten-free.
Readers found this cookbook very useful for transitioning to a dairy-free diet. Another found it well-organized and the recipes tasty.
Recommended for anyone looking for quick, everyday dairy-free recipes.
9. The Everything Gluten-Free & Dairy-Free Cookbook: 300 Simple and Satisfying Recipes without Gluten or Dairy Paperback – Illustrated
This is a comprehensive selection of recipes for the gluten-sensitive and the lactose-intolerant. It includes some meal plans that use the recipes and an easy substitution list for more variation. Most of the featured dishes are familiar favorites like Homestyle Waffles, Corned Beef Hash, Double Chocolate Muffins, and Baked Vanilla Cake Donuts but there are also international recipes like Moroccan Chicken, Swedish Meatballs, French Onion Soup, and Sticky Asian Wings.
Those who have tried the recipes found them very accessible with ingredients that are easily found in local stores. Some will require specialty gluten-free items which can also be used in other recipes so nothing is wasted.
Recommended for beginner to skilled home cooks and cookbook collectors.
10. Whole Food Cooking Every Day: Transform the Way You Eat with 250 Vegetarian Recipes Free of Gluten, Dairy, and Refined Sugar Hardcover – Illustrated
More than just a recipe book, this book is also a teaching guide on how to approach ingredients and food groups when planning a meal. It contains a lot of advice on how to prep a dish and how to assemble together ingredients like seeded crackers, marinated beans, steamed veggies so that the meal is nourishing. This is a grain-heavy cookbook that may not appeal to low-carb eaters but it does use gluten-free and dairy-free ingredients.
Instead of presenting recipes by meal type, this cookbook provides base recipes and their variations. Readers are encouraged to be creative and use whole food, local and organic ingredients. Samples of the selection include Sunflower-Poppy Seed Bread, Rosemary Butternut Squash Soup with Toasted-Hazelnut Milk, Lemony Roasted Cauliflower with Coriander, and Chili-Coconut-Lime Baked Tempeh.
Recommended for creative home cooks and those looking for dairy-free, whole food-based recipes.
Top Pick
EAT DAIRY FREE: YOUR ESSENTIAL COOKBOOK FOR EVERYDAY MEALS, SNACKS, AND SWEETS by Alisa Fleming
This is a great entry-level cookbook for anyone looking for healthy, dairy-free food. There’s a lot of information on ingredients like oils, nuts, and grains which is useful for knowing how they react in certain recipes.
The recipes are well-organized, easy-to-do, and are geared towards accomodating a wide variety of dietary restrictions. Usually, most lactose-intolerant eaters also suffer from other food sensitivities and this book takes care of that by providing options for ingredient substitutions if one is also allergic to gluten, soy, or nuts.
Best of all, it has color photos of every recipe which beats all the other books on this list. Visual readers will find this very useful.
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