diff --git a/.github/workflows/R-CMD-check.yaml b/.github/workflows/R-CMD-check.yaml
index a045f7ff..ac77d202 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/R-CMD-check.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/R-CMD-check.yaml
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ jobs:
   R-CMD-check:
     runs-on: ${{ matrix.config.os }}
 
-    name: ${{ matrix.config.os }} (${{ matrix.config.r }}) [Quarto ${{ matrix.config.quarto || 'release' }}]
+    name: ${{ matrix.config.os }} (${{ matrix.config.r }}) [${{ format('{0}', matrix.config.quarto) == 'false' && 'No ' || ''}}Quarto ${{ matrix.config.quarto || 'release' }}]
 
     strategy:
       fail-fast: false
@@ -27,15 +27,18 @@ jobs:
         config:
           - {os: macos-latest,   r: 'release'}
           - {os: macos-latest,   r: 'release', quarto: 'pre-release'}
+          - {os: macos-latest,   r: 'release', quarto: false}
 
           - {os: windows-latest, r: 'release'}
           - {os: windows-latest, r: 'release', quarto: 'pre-release'}
+          - {os: windows-latest, r: 'release', quarto: false}
           # use 4.1 to check with rtools40's older compiler
           - {os: windows-latest, r: '4.1'}
 
           - {os: ubuntu-latest,  r: 'devel', http-user-agent: 'release'}
           - {os: ubuntu-latest,  r: 'release'}
           - {os: ubuntu-latest,  r: 'release', quarto: 'pre-release'}
+          - {os: ubuntu-latest,  r: 'release', quarto: false}
           - {os: ubuntu-latest,  r: 'oldrel-1'}
           - {os: ubuntu-latest,  r: 'oldrel-2'}
           - {os: ubuntu-latest,  r: 'oldrel-3'}
@@ -49,16 +52,13 @@ jobs:
       - uses: actions/checkout@v4
 
       - uses: quarto-dev/quarto-actions/setup@v2
+        if: format('{0}', matrix.config.quarto) != 'false'
         env:
           GH_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
         with:
           version: ${{ matrix.config.quarto || 'release' }}
           tinytex: true
 
-
-      # replace with setting up QUARTO Pandoc for rmarkdown
-      - uses: r-lib/actions/setup-pandoc@v2
-
       - uses: r-lib/actions/setup-r@v2
         with:
           r-version: ${{ matrix.config.r }}
@@ -70,8 +70,11 @@ jobs:
           # install the package itself as we register vignette engine
           extra-packages: any::rcmdcheck, local::.
           needs: check
+          install-quarto: false
+          install-pandoc: false
 
       - uses: r-lib/actions/check-r-package@v2
         with:
           upload-snapshots: true
-          build_args: 'c("--no-manual","--compact-vignettes=gs+qpdf")'
+          args: ${{ format('c("--no-manual", "--as-cran"{0})', format('{0}', matrix.config.quarto) == 'false' && ',"--ignore-vignettes"' || '') }}
+          build_args: ${{ format('c("--no-manual","--compact-vignettes=gs+qpdf"{0})', format('{0}', matrix.config.quarto) == 'false' && ',"--no-build-vignettes"' || '') }}
diff --git a/DESCRIPTION b/DESCRIPTION
index 31df9667..27e4cc79 100644
--- a/DESCRIPTION
+++ b/DESCRIPTION
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 Package: quarto
 Title: R Interface to 'Quarto' Markdown Publishing System
-Version: 1.5.0.9000
+Version: 1.5.0.9001
 Authors@R: c(
     person("JJ", "Allaire", , "jj@posit.co", role = "aut",
            comment = c(ORCID = "0000-0003-0174-9868")),
diff --git a/NEWS.md b/NEWS.md
index ee42c502..88bccfb5 100644
--- a/NEWS.md
+++ b/NEWS.md
@@ -1,5 +1,8 @@
 # quarto (development version)
 
+- Make sure tests pass on CRAN checks even when Quarto is not installed by adding a gihub action to test when no quarto is available. Also fix tests that were
+not skipping when quarto was not available which failed on CRAN checks for MacOS and no binary were built. (thanks, @jabenninghoff, #282)
+
 # quarto 1.5.0
 
 ## Breaking changes
diff --git a/tests/testthat/helpers.R b/tests/testthat/helpers.R
index a5a79812..7e50a907 100644
--- a/tests/testthat/helpers.R
+++ b/tests/testthat/helpers.R
@@ -1,8 +1,8 @@
 # Use to test quarto availability or version lower than
 skip_if_no_quarto <- function(ver = NULL) {
   skip_if(is.null(quarto_path()), message = "Quarto is not available")
-  skip_if(
-    !quarto_available(min = ver, error = FALSE),
+  skip_if_not(
+    quarto_available(min = ver, error = FALSE),
     message = sprintf(
       "Version of quarto is lower than %s: %s.",
       ver,
diff --git a/tests/testthat/test-utils-extract.R b/tests/testthat/test-utils-extract.R
index cd6c5aa2..4ffd3f43 100644
--- a/tests/testthat/test-utils-extract.R
+++ b/tests/testthat/test-utils-extract.R
@@ -47,6 +47,7 @@ test_that("qmd_to_r_script() writes R file that renders", {
 })
 
 test_that("qmd_to_r_script() comment cells with eval = TRUE", {
+  skip_if_no_quarto()
   r_script <- withr::local_tempfile(pattern = "purl", fileext = ".R")
 
   qmd_to_r_script(
@@ -67,6 +68,7 @@ test_that("qmd_to_r_script() comment cells with eval = TRUE", {
 })
 
 test_that("qmd_to_r_script() ignore cells with purl = FALSE", {
+  skip_if_no_quarto()
   r_script <- withr::local_tempfile(pattern = "purl", fileext = ".R")
 
   qmd_to_r_script(
diff --git a/tests/testthat/test-utils.R b/tests/testthat/test-utils.R
index 0bee0093..1996acbd 100644
--- a/tests/testthat/test-utils.R
+++ b/tests/testthat/test-utils.R
@@ -112,6 +112,7 @@ test_that("write_yaml allows clean data", {
 })
 
 test_that("quarto_render uses write_yaml validation", {
+  skip_if_no_quarto()
   skip_on_cran() # Skip on CRAN as we current throw warning only on CRAN
   expect_snapshot(
     error = TRUE,