Dairy-Free, Make-Ahead Brunch

November 8, 2017 10:57 AM

Can y'all please recommend some dairy-free, make-ahead brunch recipes for 4-6 adults? I seek main courses, not side dishes. I would prefer something that is easily transported via a quick car trip and that requires less than 20 minutes to prep for serving at our destination. My kitchen equipment and cooking skills are above average and I am in a US city with easy access to international markets for special ingredients.

Dairy-free is the only dietary requirement.

posted by juliplease to Food & Drink (11 answers total)

Response by poster: (For clarity's sake, I recognize I could probably whip up something in 20 minutes at my destination, but our destination is the new home of a set of brand new parents, so I am trying to reduce the overall impact of my visit - and show up with food. Thus, I don't mind throwing something in the oven to reheat, but I want to avoid needing a bunch of their home utensils/ingredients.)
posted by juliplease at 11:07 AM on November 8, 2017

if you fancy something sweet, I vote for french toast casserole. You could bake and then transport it, if the car trip is quick, or bake part-way then finish at your destination, or settle in with some coffee and just bake it there.

If savoury, maybe a big pan of hash? You could pre-cook the hash at home on the stovetop, transfer it to a big casserole dish, take it over, make little holes in the hash, toss in some eggs, and bake in the oven.
posted by halation at 11:09 AM on November 8, 2017

Poached/steamed salmon, served cold or at room temp. The best method I've tried for the salmon is steaming it atop lemon slices. Cut lemons into 1/4" slices and lay them in a shallow pan. Place salmon pieces on top, and add water just to the top of the lemon slices. Cover and cook on medium-low until salmon reaches 120-125 degrees...just cooked. Remove from pan and let cool. It will be ridiculously tender

Once it's cool, it's not terribly fragile. You can serve just with a sprinkling of salt. Accompany with a salad; hold back the dressing till you're about ready to eat.
posted by wryly at 11:10 AM on November 8, 2017 [2 favorites]

This situation fairly cries out for a Spanish tortilla. And you can add other ingredients (like tomatoes, onions, spinach, etc.) to the classic potato recipe. Or just consider it a fritatta and throw in whatever you want.
This is actually better at room temperature.
posted by flourpot at 11:14 AM on November 8, 2017 [5 favorites]

Biscuits and vegan / faux sausage (the fake sausage is near the produce, now, in most mainstream grocery stores). Awesome. If you can make the biscuits yourself, so much the better (they take about 9-11 minutes to bake, but my favorite recipe asks you to let the dough rest for 30 minutes).

Scrambled tofu. Keeps better than eggs. You can add peppers/onion/carrots if you want. Do add a pinch of turmeric for color and flavor.

Simple boiled lentils with rice, served with zaatar spice mixture. Great if you just want "something simple" for breakfast.

Lots of soups are great for breakfast.
posted by amtho at 11:15 AM on November 8, 2017

Best answer: I'm assuming some here are thinking eggs are dairy, a misconception I hear quite often. Eggs are definitely not dairy, so you really can make any baked French toast using coconut or almond milk. It will transport well and like halation wrote, you can heat it in the oven once you get there.
posted by Dolley at 11:42 AM on November 8, 2017 [4 favorites]

I’ve never done it, but I imagine it wouldn’t be too hard to make a dairy-free quiche. Just use vegetable shortening in the crust, and either skip the milk in the filling and just do eggs, or add some unsweetened nut milk. Precook whatever meat or veggies you want to add so they don’t get watery. Bonus: you can serve it hot/cold/room temp. Quiche is always good!
posted by Weeping_angel at 12:34 PM on November 8, 2017

Ooh! Or you could make shakshuka! Make the tomato base ahead of time, then bring raw eggs in shells, crack them there, and cook it really quick.
posted by Weeping_angel at 12:43 PM on November 8, 2017 [2 favorites]

Fruit salad, poached salmon, orzo salad? All of it can be made in advance and served cold.
posted by DarlingBri at 1:15 PM on November 8, 2017

You could do steel cut oats in a crockpot overnight then just transport the whole thing with a variety of toppings. It’s definitely not finger food though and maybe it needs to be? I just read a recipe for a sweet potato and rice breakfast bowl; the sweet potatoes are glazed with maple syrup which sounds delicious, you could build on that or a regular potato hash brown casserole with onions and peppers. I have also made pancakes recently with almond milk and they worked out fine. Stacks of pancakes reheat surprisingly well or you could roll them around things - jam? Ham? - and put them in a casserole dish to be reheated.
posted by mygothlaundry at 8:33 PM on November 8, 2017

Response by poster: French toast with very carefully selected dairy-free bread and almond milk, plus hash browns, bacon, and mimosas, did the trick. This was the recipe I used, except I skipped the margarine in the topping entirely and just added more maple syrup until it was really well combined with the pecans and sugar. That worked out nicely, even without properly substituting the fat. Thanks, all!
posted by juliplease at 12:01 PM on November 12, 2017 [1 favorite]