diff --git a/conda-recipe-cf/meta.yaml b/conda-recipe-cf/meta.yaml
index ba582674..4effa580 100644
--- a/conda-recipe-cf/meta.yaml
+++ b/conda-recipe-cf/meta.yaml
@@ -34,8 +34,10 @@ requirements:
 
 test:
     commands:
+      - pip check
       - pytest --pyargs mkl_random
     requires:
+      - pip
       - pytest
     imports:
       - mkl_random
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index 145723cc..0476dba7 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -50,7 +50,7 @@ classifiers = [
   "Operating System :: POSIX",
   "Operating System :: Unix"
 ]
-dependencies = ["numpy >=1.26.4", "mkl"]
+dependencies = ["numpy >=1.26.4"]
 description = "NumPy-based Python interface to Intel (R) MKL Random Number Generation functionality"
 dynamic = ["version"]
 keywords = [