I’ll be honest: I've never considered going vegan. I consider lean proteins like chicken and fish to be staples of my everyday diet, so when it came time to test vegan meal delivery services for this article, I was skeptical I’d find any of them to be truly satisfying—let alone enjoyable to eat for weeks at a time.
I’m happy to report that I was wrong. These days, the world of vegan eating extends far beyond your classic bean-based stews and tempeh grain bowls. My colleagues and I tested seven meal delivery services with vegan options to find the ones with varied, tasty offerings we actually found ourselves looking forward to eating.
Our top picks
- Best vegan meal delivery service overall: Purple Carrot
- Best prepared vegan meal delivery: CookUnity
- Best for the wellness-minded: Sakara
If you’re curious about going fully plant-based but don’t know where to start, a meal kit can be a great way to simplify meal planning and introduce you to techniques and recipes that’ll help you in your vegan journey. Already vegan? Use these services to save time and mental energy, or to broaden your repertoire of plant-based meals. (Or if you're vegetarian, we have vegetarian meal kit recommendations for you too.)
Head to our top picks below, and scroll down to read about how we tested and the other vegan meal delivery services we tried.
The best vegan meal delivery service overall: Purple Carrot
Pros and cons
Pros:
- Entirely vegan menu
- Good variety of options
- Great grocery selection
Cons:
- Meals can sell out if you order last minute
- Meals may get swapped out depending on availability
- Meal service details
Specs
- Plan options: 2 or 4 servings per meal, choose between Meal Kits, Ready-to-Eat, or Mix and Match
- Average meal price: $11–$13.25 for Meal Kits, $5.99–$15.99 for Ready-to-Eat
- Shipping fee: Free on orders $100+
- Meal types: Breakfasts, lunches, dinners, grocery
Example meals
- Spicy Szechuan-Style Glass Noodles
- Italian White Bean Stew
- BBQ Burnt Ends
- Winter Squash Soup with sticky rice and sesame bok choy
Tested and reviewed by: Alaina Chou, commerce writer
About Purple Carrot: Purple Carrot is one of the only meal delivery services out there that’s entirely vegan. It offers a variety of kit-style and fully prepared meals, as well as an extensive selection of grocery items.
What we love: I’ve been testing meal delivery services for years now and have tried nearly a dozen different brands at this point—and I have to say, Purple Carrot is up there as one of the best meal kits I’ve used, vegan or not. The menu offerings are varied and actually interesting (somewhat of a rarity in the world of meal kits), full of dishes that don’t skimp on flavor and hail from a number of cuisines. In my two weeks of testing, I found it difficult to select each order’s meals because too many sounded tasty to me—a good problem to have.
My meals arrived on their intended delivery days in an insulated box lined with ice packs. Most ingredients were packed in plastic bags according to which meal they belonged to, and each bag had a side pocket with a recipe card in it. Some ingredients (like greens) were placed in the box loose in their own plastic packaging, but a quick glance at the recipe cards helped me determine what went with what.
While the meals I tried weren’t lightning fast, they each took around 30–45 minutes to make and were generally true to the cook time stated on the recipe card. Out of all of the recipes I tried, there weren’t any duds—each dish was straightforward to make and tasted great. Some favorites were unsurprising to me given my personal taste, like a warming coconut milk-based Winter Squash Soup with quinoa-speckled rice that had a delightful kick from some togarashi, or a refreshing Zaru Soba dish with a spicy scallion dressing. But others pleasantly surprised me: the BBQ Burnt Ends made out of some kind of mushroom-based meat alternative, for example, which were impressively satisfying and tasted shockingly like barbecued meat.
One of my favorite things about Purple Carrot is the grocery selection. There’s a great assortment of snacks, desserts, drinks, proteins, pantry products, and the like that you can add to your order, many of which I already know and love. In fact, the snack selection almost reads like it was pulled from BA’s healthy snack column, full of favorites like BjornQorn, Seven Sundays cereal, and Daily Crunch almonds. If one of the reasons you’re opting for a meal delivery service is to cut down on trips to the grocery store, Purple Carrot is a great choice.
What we’d leave: I placed my first order the day of that week’s cutoff, and more than half of the meal kit options were sold out by that point, so be warned that it’s best to select your meals well in advance.
My biggest gripe with Purple Carrot is that prior to receiving both of my orders, I got an email notifying me that one of my selections was swapped for something else because “the ingredients for the original meal didn’t meet our quality standards.” The first time this happened, the pre-made Vibrant Falafel Bowl I chose was switched out for a Mezze Platter that I had purposely deleted from my original suggested cart (hummus, pita, and tabouli just don’t feel like a full meal to me). The second time, a peanut noodle meal kit was swapped for a pesto risotto that would’ve taken a full hour to make, something I really hadn’t budgeted in time for. I wish there was a way to choose a substitution or just cancel the item entirely.
I never had issues with missing ingredients, and the quality of the produce seemed high, but occasionally I’d receive something that didn’t quite make sense with the recipe—namely, a single giant bok choy instead of the called-for baby bok choy, which was hard to eat as a topping on soup when cut into quarters as the recipe suggested.
The best prepared vegan meal delivery service: CookUnity
Meal service details
- Plan options: 4, 6, 8, 12, or 16 meals per week
- Average meal price: $11–$14, depending on plan size
- Shipping fee: Yes (price varies per plan size and location)
- Meal types: Breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks, dessert, extra proteins, juices
Example meals
- Mission-Style Breakfast Chorizo & Egg Burrito with Salsa Verde & Crema
- Sesame-Ginger Tofu Poke Bowl with Pickled Cabbage and Yum Yum Sauce
- Shrimp Moilee Coconut Curry with Tomato Pepper Chutney & Curry Leaf Rice
- Almond Butter Energy Bites with Chocolate Chips & Coconut
Tested and reviewed by: Olivia Tarantino, senior commerce editor
Who is CookUnity best for? A convenience-first eater who still has exacting standards about their food, especially if they like a variety of cuisines.
About CookUnity: CookUnity is a prepared meal delivery service that partners with professional chefs to bring their recipes straight to your fridge. The focus isn’t so much on calorie counting or hitting macros—it’s about boosting flavor, exploring global cuisines, and making weeknight meals feel restaurant-quality.
The ordering process
The hardest part about ordering a week of meals from CookUnity is narrowing down what you want to eat. Everything looks good, and there are hundreds of options to choose from. As of writing, there were over 400 meals available for the week, covering everything from breakfast burritos to hearty dinners. If you forget to pick your own by the cutoff date, CookUnity will auto-fill your box based on your preferences or past orders.
With a chef-forward menu, CookUnity meals come from a variety of globe-spanning cuisines: Ghanaian, Indian, Mexican, Italian, the menu touches six continents. Most meals are regularly available, but there are new ones rotating in (and out), so you can branch out or stick with favorites you’ve already tried.
If you’re feeling fancy, some meals are marked “Premium” (such as Maryland-Style Crab Cakes and Lobster Tail & Steak Surf & Turf), which cost a few dollars more than the standard meals.
One thing I appreciated that seems unique to CookUnity: Each dish has a user rating out of five stars, along with comments from other customers. I found the reviews super helpful and ended up only choosing meals rated 4.3 and above.
What we love
As a food editor, I never thought I could like a prepared meal delivery service—until I tried CookUnity. If you properly plated some of my CookUnity meals they really could pass as something I’d order at a restaurant. The quality, cook, and flavor of each dish makes it clear that they’re developed by real chefs—people like José Garces and Esther Choi—and that’s the whole idea behind CookUnity.
The meals arrive fresh, not frozen, so you can either dig in straight from the fridge (like I did with a tofu “poke” bowl) or heat them up in the microwave for two minutes. You can choose anywhere from 4 to 16 meals a week, and the menu spans breakfast, lunch, dinner, sides, snacks, and even “protein-only” options like chicken Parmesan you can pair with your own pasta.
Thanks to their modified atmosphere packaging (it’s a thing), the meals stay fresh in the fridge for 4 to 7 days. That built-in flexibility is huge, especially if a last-minute dinner plan or spontaneous lunch out means you’re not eating every single meal you ordered right away.
Each dish also comes with a full nutritional breakdown. I found most meals to be pretty balanced in terms of protein and carbs, though a few clocked in around 1,000 calories—just something to note if you’re being extra mindful.
For my first week, I tried a range of cuisines, proteins, and chefs. I ordered two shrimp dishes to test whether seafood could survive a microwave. I was genuinely stunned when I peeled back the plastic film and was met with the hypnotizing scent of coconut curry smothering perfectly cooked shrimp. I’ve had overcooked seafood from other meal delivery services, but these shrimp were plump with just the right amount of snap. They tasted like I’d made them myself minutes earlier.
I also ordered crab cakes to see how a fried dish would hold up. The meal came with two cakes, so I microwaved one and popped the other in the air fryer to compare. Usually, microwaving anything fried turns it soggy and sad—not the case here. The air-fried cake was a bit crispier around the edges, but honestly? The microwaved one was just as good. Nearly identical.
Portion sizes also felt more generous than most other meal delivery services I’ve tried, especially when it came to the amount of protein in each dish. Nothing felt skimpy.
What we’d leave
While there’s a wide range of cuisines to choose from, it was surprisingly hard to avoid rice. Each of the six meals I ordered came with some kind of rice or pilaf. It didn’t bother me, because most of the flavor and focus is on the protein or veg anyway, but I noticed the repetition.
Honestly, I had such a good experience with CookUnity that I’ve already recommended it to friends, family, and coworkers after just a few meals. If I had to nitpick beyond the rice thing, I’d say there isn’t much I’d change. The food is genuinely delicious, the variety is impressive, and the convenience is hard to beat.
Pros and cons
Pros:
- No meal prep necessary
- Meals taste fresh even though they’re pre-made
- Wide variety of options (depending on region)
- Ratings and reviews for every meal
Cons:
- Options for the Midwest and Texas are more limited
- Not a ton of variety when it comes to plant-based protein options
Specs
- Plan options: 4, 6, 8, 12, or 16 meals per week
- Average meal price: $11–$14, depending on plan size
- Shipping fee: Yes (price varies per plan size and location)
- Meal types: Breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks, dessert, extra proteins, juices
Example meals
- Gochujang Tofu Bánh Mì
- Creamy Tofu Tikka Masala
- Sesame-Ginger Tofu Poke Bowl
- Vegan 'Chorizo' Chili Quesadilla
Tested and reviewed by: Alaina Chou, commerce writer
About CookUnity: CookUnity’s meals are all fully prepared—just enjoy from the fridge or heat and eat—and made in partnership with professional chefs. The meals arrive fresh, never frozen, and include options from a wide range of cuisines.
What we love: CookUnity is our all-time favorite prepared meal delivery service for a reason: the meals are flavorful, exciting, and taste freshly made, and the service itself is extremely well-designed. Given this, I was pleased to learn that CookUnity offers quite a few vegan options on its weekly menus (though I will note this depends on your region—but more on that below).
If you’re the kind of person who likes global cuisines and tires of eating the same thing over and over but doesn’t have the time to cook every night, this is the service for you. CookUnity’s vegan options on a given week might range from Middle Eastern Vegan Chili with Tahini & Green Sabzi Rice to Punjabi Chana Masala with Spiced Cauliflower & Cumin Rice—which is to say, the meals are all packed with flavor and a welcome departure from some of the more health-focused, gym bro-geared prepared meal delivery services on the market (though you can still filter for things like high protein, low calorie, or low carb if that’s a priority for you).
The CookUnity ordering process is intuitive: You’ll filter for vegan meals and any other dietary needs or preferences, then scroll through the menu and add whatever looks good to your cart. You can click into each meal to see the full nutrition facts and—my favorite feature—read starred reviews.
After testing a week’s worth of vegan meals from CookUnity, I was thoroughly impressed. The Creamy Tofu Tikka Masala tasted just as good as (if not better than) fresh takeout. The Tangy Tofu Pad Thai was zingy and bright, and incredibly filling thanks to the generous portion size. My favorite may have been the Gochujang Tofu Bánh Mì, which came neatly separated into components (the bread on one side of a divider, the filling on the other). While the majority of the meals I tried were microwave-friendly, the bánh mì was better suited for the oven, so I saved it for a day when I was working from home and it made for a lovely lunch.
What we’d leave: CookUnity’s menu varies depending on your region, and while there are typically dozens of vegan options available for those located on the East Coast, West Coast, or Florida, options for Texas and the Midwest are far more limited at the time of writing.
A lot of the menu options feature tofu. As a tofu lover I didn’t mind this, but it’s something to note if you’re not a fan of the stuff.
The best vegan meal delivery service for the wellness-minded: Sakara
Meal service details
- Plan options: Breakfast, lunch, and dinner or lunch and dinner, 5 or 3 days per week
- Average meal price: $140–$465 per week depending on your plan
- Shipping fee: No
- Meal types: Breakfast, lunch, dinner
Example meals
- Full Heart Brassica Bowl
- “Butter” Chickpea Curry w/ Seasoned Basmati Rice
- Endless Summer Granola w/ Pink Strawberry Mylk
- Sesame-Citrus Glow Salad
Tester: Emma Laperruque, associate director of cooking
Who is Sakara is best for: Wellness-focused people or those with specific dietary needs.
About Sakara: Sakara is a prepared meal delivery service with a focus on nutrient- and plant-rich meals made with whole foods, all of which are gluten-free, dairy-free, and vegan. They have two programs to choose between: a five-day “detox” and their Signature Nutrition Program, which is what Emma tested.
The ordering process
When you go to sign up for Sakara’s Signature Nutrition Program, you’ll choose between a plan that includes breakfast, lunch, and dinner, or one that includes just lunch and dinner. Sakara rolls out a new set menu every week, and there are no substitutions allowed, so the ordering process is mandatorily simple. You can choose between ordering a weekly subscription, or prepaying for 1, 4, 8, or 12 weeks at a time.
What we love
“All of the meals I received were straightforward and quick to prepare. A lot of them required no heating at all (for example, a parfait for breakfast or a salad for lunch),” says Emma. While some meals were designed to be briefly heated in an oven, Emma found that a quick zap in the microwave could also do the trick.
While breakfasts veered toward the sweet, Emma notes “these were not sweet sweets—they were super balanced, which I appreciated.” Some favorites were a pumpkin pie parfait with a maple-cinnamon granola and the coconut praline granola with cacao mylk.
“Sakara’s salads are excellent—a reliable delight to dig into in the middle of a busy workday,” Emma says. “They’re generously portioned, so you have enough fuel to power you through the afternoon. And they’re thoughtfully designed with a range of textures and colors.” Emma particularly liked the dressings, many of which she’d buy by the bottle if she could. Dinners were tasty, too, if perhaps a bit small depending what your appetite is.
What we’d leave
As someone who eats wheat flour, Emma notes that the gluten-free baked goods were hit or miss. But the main downside to Sakara is the pricing, which is $140–$465(!) per week depending on your plan. “But if you’re someone who prioritizes wellness and sees food as a source of nourishment and healing, you’ll like what you get. It’s also a great option for people who are gluten-free or vegan,” Emma says.
Pros and cons
Pros:
- Nourishing, healthy meals
- Entirely vegan (and also dairy- and gluten-free)
- Curated menu means all the planning is taken care of for you
Cons:
- Pricey
Specs
- Plan options: Breakfast, lunch, and dinner or lunch and dinner, 5 or 3 days per week
- Average meal price: $140–$465 per week depending on your plan
- Shipping fee: No
- Meal types: Breakfast, lunch, dinner
Example meals
- Full Heart Brassica Bowl
- “Butter” Chickpea Curry w/ Seasoned Basmati Rice
- Endless Summer Granola w/ Pink Strawberry Mylk
- Sesame-Citrus Glow Salad
Tested and reviewed by: Emma Laperruque, associate director of cooking
About Sakara: Sakara is a fully prepared, entirely vegan meal delivery service with a focus on nutrient-dense, whole foods. In addition to being vegan, the meals are all gluten-, dairy-, and refined sugar-free. The brand’s flagship offering is its Signature Nutrition Program, which is a set three or five-day menu that includes either breakfast, lunch, and dinner, or just lunch and dinner.
What we love: Sakara’s ordering process couldn’t be easier. The only decisions you’ll have to make are whether you want breakfast along with your lunches and dinners, whether you want three or five days of meals, and how many weeks you’d like to order (you can opt for a weekly subscription or prepay for 1, 4, 8, or 12 weeks at a time). You’ll receive a set menu of items, and there are no substitutions allowed.
When associate director of cooking Emma Laperruque tested the service, she found all of the meals easy to prepare. Many didn’t require heating at all, and those that did were ready after a quick trip to the oven or microwave.
Laperruque appreciated that while the breakfasts were often sweet, they “were not sweet sweets—they were super balanced.” Some favorites were a pumpkin pie parfait with maple-cinnamon granola and a coconut praline granola with cacao mylk.
Sakara’s salads were a highlight according to Laperruque: “They’re generously portioned, so you have enough fuel to power you through the afternoon. And they’re thoughtfully designed with a range of textures and colors,” she writes. The dressings were so tasty, Laperruque ended up wishing she had a full bottle to stash in the fridge for future meals.
What we’d leave: Portions can lean a bit small depending on your appetite. Laperruque also notes that as someone who eats and bakes with wheat often, she “found the gluten-free baked goods—such as a “chocolate love muffin” or “power pita”—more hit or miss.”
The main drawback to Sakara is the price. “At $140–$465 per week (per person!), depending on your plan, it’s the priciest option on this list. But if you’re someone who prioritizes wellness and sees food as a source of nourishment and healing, you’ll like what you get,” says Laperruque.
How we tested vegan meal delivery services
To test vegan meal delivery services, we pulled together a list of top contenders based on our research and previous testing. We ordered at least a week’s worth of meals from each brand, taking notes on each service’s user interface and ordering process, as well as how easy it was to filter for vegan meals, and how many vegan options were available on a given week.
Then we got to cooking. We unboxed the deliveries in our own homes and cooked through each meal (or reheated it, if pre-made), paying attention to how straightforward the instructions were, the quality of the ingredients, and, of course, how the meals tasted.
Other vegan meal delivery services we tested
Forkful
Meal service details
- Plan options: Choose between deliveries of 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, or 20 meals per week (each meal is one serving and meant for one person)
- Average meal price: $9–$13 per serving, depending on plan size
- Shipping fee: $10
- Meal types: Heat-and-eat breakfasts, lunches, and dinners; add-on desserts (brownies, cookies, doughnuts) and snacks (trail mix)
Example meals
- 12-Hour Mojo Pulled Pork with Sweet Plantain
- Signature Ground Turkey Italian Bolognese
- Red Lentil Coconut Curry
- BBQ Crusted Chicken Breast with Mac N Cheese
- Blueberry Pancakes with Eggs, Pork Sausage, Bacon “Grand Slam”
Tested and reviewed by: Abbey Stone, senior commerce director
Who is Forkful best for? Folks who want healthy meals handed to them on a platter (literally).
About Forkful: Forkful bills its meals as “chef-crafted and dietitian-approved”—this means that all recipes were vetted by nutrition experts and then cooked for you before being packaged (in a plastic tray) and sent to your door. Because the meals arrive fully cooked and fresh rather than frozen like the TV dinners of yesteryear, you can heat them in the microwave or on the stove and have a nutritious meal ready in a matter of minutes. The brand’s focus on healthy dishes is made clear in the number of plant-based, gluten-free, and high-protein options, as well as clear labeling of the eating styles each meal is friendly to (for example, a Paleo or keto diet).
The ordering process
The Forkful website's landing page is admittedly bare bones—you have the option to “explore the full menu” and peruse example recipes, or you can click “get started,” which directs you to an order page.
From there, you select your diet—there are eight options, such as low-carb, gluten-free, plant-based, and keto—and the number of meals you’d like delivered each week. Meal quantities start at six per week and go up to 20. After you register and enter your payment information, you’re asked to confirm your allergies (a nice safety touch).
Each week you choose your meals from the recipes available. Meals are delivered on Mondays, and you can select the date you’d like your first box. You have until the Friday before your delivery each week to select or change your meals.
What we love
Forkful helps take the guesswork out of nutritious eating. If you’re a busy person, prone to running from the office to the gym and then collapsing on your couch, only to be greeted by the haunting specter of dinner, Forkful is a gift. By signing up for this service, you ensure healthy, tasty meals make their way into your gullet—within minutes of realizing you’re hungry, if necessary—without your having to expend any extra energy on meal planning, grocery shopping, or ingredient prepping.
Each dish is clearly labeled with the diets it accommodates, including trendier eating plans like Paleo and keto, and the full nutritional information is readily available on the Forkful website for folks who are counting macros or calories.
The meals I tried were well-seasoned and flavorful, even if the dishes themselves lacked in creativity. (Mac and cheese and taco bowls, for instance, are crowd-pleasers but nothing you haven’t seen before.)
Beyond the nutrition profile, the speed with which these meals can be prepared and consumed is Forkful’s real selling point. Because the dishes are shipped fresh (kept cool with ice packs) rather than frozen, they heat up in under three minutes. However, I’d recommend taking the extra time to warm your food on the stovetop, which helps retain the ingredients’ intended texture.
What we’d leave
Let me be frank: It’s hard for me to get super excited about any meal that comes in a plastic tray, which is how many of these prepared meal services (Forkful, but also HelloFresh, Factor, Tempo, Fresh, and others) package their meals. The photos on Forkful’s website also aren’t doing their dishes any favors. However, once I got past the lackluster wrapping, I found the meals to be full of flavor.
Ingredient quality and freshness did seem to vary from dish to dish, with the animal proteins being the most inconsistent. The chicken in my penne Parmigiana turned rubbery after being heated in the microwave, for example. However, switching to a stovetop preparation helped on this front immensely—I’d recommend you do the same, unless you truly don’t have a few extra minutes to spare.
My one note about the ordering process is that I wish it were possible to receive fewer than six meals per week. If you’re looking to feed one single person, six feels like a lot of Forkful meals to eat before the expiration dates.
Pros and cons
Pros:
- Easy and fast to make
- Excellent interface for sorting by dietary restriction
- Meals seem quite healthy
- Packs and transports well
Cons:
- Some meals were bland
- Not the most visually appealing.
Specs
- Plan options: 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, or 16 meals per week
- Average meal price: $9–$13 depending on plan size
- Shipping fee: Yes ($10–$16)
- Meal types: Breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks, dessert
Example meals
- General Tso's Cauliflower
- Lentil Bolognese with Mushrooms and Linguini
- Mexican-Inspired Tofu Sofritas Bowl
- Red Lentil Coconut Curry
Tested and reviewed by: Noah Kaufman, senior commerce editor
About Forkful: “Forkful is a fully prepared meal service that prioritizes ease, speed, and dietary considerations both in its branding and its actual meals. All of them are ready to eat after less than three minutes in the microwave, and, if you're keeping to a particular diet, the Forkful site makes it very easy to see and filter only the meals you want,” writes Kaufman
What we love
Kaufman appreciated that he “could easily filter to include only plant-based (that's Forkful's designation for vegan) meals.” The ordering process was simple: “All meal options clearly showed a calorie and carb count (not something I was considering, but some may find that useful) and had a clickable link that showed all the nutrition facts and ingredients.
I simply toggled the number of any given meal I wanted and clicked done. It was easy to log in and change any meal up to the drop-dead date before shipping, about three days before delivery was scheduled,” he writes.
Of the 11 vegan meals on offer the week Kaufman tested, there were some “nice surprises” in the bunch. “The coconut curry was quite flavorful as were the tofu sofritas and (in the biggest shock to me) the vegan sausage patty that came with a pancake meal,” says Kaufman.
“As someone who has eaten his share of prepared lunches and dinners (mostly from the freezer aisle at Trader Joe's), the niche Forkful fills is quite clear. I like the convenience it offers, particularly when it comes to lunches (although each meal is filling enough to eat as dinner as well). Mexican and Indian dishes had nice flavor pops and I'd happily reorder any of them. It's also worth mentioning for anyone suspicious of what a microwave will do to the texture of say, pasta or rice, that these meals can be cooked in a skillet, and they have a noticeable texture improvement when they are,” writes Kaufman.
What we'd leave
Kaufman notes that while the meals were easy to unbox and store, “because they all come with the same Forkful sleeve covering the box, the only way to tell one meal from another when it's time to eat is look at the tiny label on the side of the package.”
While there were a reasonable number of vegan options (11) considering Forkful doesn’t specialize in vegan meals, Kaufman says “they tended to seem very safe. A lentil bolognese was filling, but a little bland. General Tso's cauliflower seemed to just sub out chicken for precut cauliflower florets.”
“If you're looking for a service to really replace your cooking, Forkful may be a bit too basic,” he concludes. “Some dishes ate pretty bland (the General Tso's cauliflower for example), and had one-note textures. One of the big surprises to me, as someone who has eaten from lots of different meal delivery services (prepared and not) was that the instructions were the same for every single meal. The microwave time was the same, the skillet time was the same. I would expect the meals to cook up somewhat differently depending on what the ingredients were.
Finally, while I tend not to be too hard on prepared meals when it comes to presentation, these did have a food-as-fuel look to them that just wasn't terribly exciting.”
Mosaic
Pros and cons
Pros:
- Easy to reheat and serve, either on the stovetop or in the microwave.
- The meals left me feeling sated
- They were neither under-seasoned nor painfully salty—impressive for frozen dinners.
- There were several flavor profiles to choose from. None of the options felt repetitive.
Cons:
- Lacking in texture; meals easily become mush after heating
- Would love to see them offer some fully vegan pizzas (many include faux meat toppings but still used dairy milk cheese)
- Many dishes use seitan or TVP, the texture of which some may be averse to
Specs
- Plan options: 6, 12, or 18 meals per week
- Average meal price: $6–$12 per serving
- Shipping fee: Free for orders of 12 or 18 items
- Meal types: Breakfast, lunch, dinner
Example meals
- Peanut Butter, Banana, & Cacao Oats
- Tangy Thai Stir Fry
- Spinach Saag & Tofu
- Jerk Lentil & Plantain Bowl
Tested and reviewed by: Kelsey Jane Youngman, senior service editor
About Mosaic: Youngman writes: “Mosaic offers frozen, fully-cooked plant-based meals that aim to make it easier to eat a vegetable-centric diet. They offer grain & veggie bowls (like Jerk Lentil and Plantains, Pesto Cavatappi, Spicy Enchilada, Indian "Butter" Tofu, etc.), vegetable-crust personal pizzas, bottled smoothies, soups, pre-topped oatmeal, and large format family-style meals (like a Curried Lentil Shepherd's Pie, or a Thanksgiving Dinner Bake).”
What we love
“Ordering was easy,” writes Youngman. “You first select the number of meals you'd like to receive and the frequency of your shipments, and then individually select each meal from the different categories. Each listing includes a full color picture of the dish, full ingredient list, allergy warnings, reheating instructions, and nutrition information. You're charged by the item, and you can cancel or reschedule the cadence of your deliveries anytime.
The majority of the meals in every category are vegan, with the big exception of the pizzas, which all contain real cheese and are vegetarian. But each meal is very clearly labeled as Vegan or Vegetarian, and also includes tags for other dietary information (Wheat Free, Nut Free, No Sugar Added, Grams of Protein, Spice Level, etc.). The flavor profiles span dal and chickpea curries, Mexican enchilada bowls, Thai rice noodle stir-fries, Southern BBQ mac and cheese, etc. and I imagine most folks could find several dishes they'd enjoy.
The unboxing was seamless. The meals were packaged securely, with dry ice and recyclable packing materials. Each meal comes in a box or bowl with a full color image of the meal, nutritional information, an ingredient list, and clear reheating/serving instructions. You don't need any additional ingredients or special equipment for the microwave (you can zap most meals in their original containers). For the stovetop, you'll usually need a few teaspoons of water, a neutral oil of your choice, and a nonstick pan. The Family Meals reheat in the oven and come in oven-safe aluminum containers.”
Of the 12 meals Youngman tried from Mosaic, there were some hits. The Vegan Carbonara was a winner: “The tofu-based creamy sauce was thick and rich, with a savory, smoky flavor from the tofu "bacon" and a fresh vegetal sweetness from green peas. The noodles maintained a pleasant bite too. Plus it packed in 27 grams of protein,” says Youngman.
What we'd leave
Texture was the main issue Youngman ran into—ingredients like rice often turned to mush after reheating. “These are really high-quality for frozen meals. They are properly seasoned and include a variety of well-cooked vegetables and a range of flavor profiles. However, they're still frozen, pre-cooked dinners. There's not much texture on offer, and I personally could not rely on these for the majority of my meals. Moving forward, I'd keep a few on hand in my freezer for nights I don't want to rely on take-out but don't have time or energy to cook,” she writes.
Green Chef
- Original photo by Brittany Loggins
- Original photo by Brittany Loggins
- Original photo by Brittany Loggins
About Green Chef: Eating “clean” might mean something different depending on who you ask, but according to its website, Green Chef is the first CCOF (California Certified Organic) meal kit company and, as of 2026, is also the first to offer select recipes that are “Certified Clean” by Clean Label Project. That means that, in addition to organic produce and locally and sustainably sourced ingredients, certain Green Chef recipes are free of many toxins and contaminants as well as an overall ban on things like artificial colors and flavors. Green Chef also caters to a variety of special diets—including keto, gluten-free, vegan, vegetarian, Mediterranean, low-calorie, and high-protein—and when you sign up, you can set your preference to “healthy meal kits for families.”
Why it's great for families: Green Chef is a high-end meal kit service that prioritizes sustainability and quality ingredients. So if your goal is to feed your family organic home-cooked meals—but you don’t want to spend hours in the kitchen every weeknight—this is a great option. Another plus is that you’ll likely also save money by subscribing to Green Chef over shopping the grocery store for organic ingredients. When contributor Lizzy Briskin tested Green Chef, she found that the cost per serving for a Green Chef meal was up to half the cost of shopping for the same organic ingredients.
What we love: The selection is impressive, and the recipes are reliable and flavorful. Briskin enjoyed the shrimp in her Southwestern Shrimp Tacos With Corn Slaw recipe, noting that, “often, frozen shrimp can be rubbery and flavorless, but these were juicy and sweet. There was plenty of fajita seasoning to coat every crustacean, and the tacos were fully loaded.” We also appreciated that the ingredients were organized by recipe and that the instructions were easy to follow, thanks in part to pictures on the recipe cards.
What we’d leave: In repeat testing, many Bon Appétit staff and contributors find that these meals do take a little more work and time—and produce more dirty dishes—than other kits on this list.
Specs:
| Type of meal delivery service: | Organic meal kit service |
| Typical prep and cooking time: | 30 minutes |
| Gluten-free options: | Yes |
| Plant-based options: | Yes |
| Add-ons available: | Yes |
| Average meal price: | $11.99 |
| Additional shipping fee: | $10.99 per box |
Pros and cons
Pros:
- Really well packaged
- Overall good, well-balanced flavors
- Dynamic, interesting dishes, if somewhat monotonous
Cons:
- Seemingly not a lot of variety in types of dishes for vegan meals
- Some directions could be simplified or streamlined
Specs
- Plan options: 6, 12, or 18 meals per week
- Average meal price: $11.99
- Shipping fee: $10.99 per box
- Meal types: Lunch, dinner
Example meals
- Teriyaki Tofu Bulgur Bowls
- Black Bean Mushroom Enchiladas
- Orange Coconut Braised Tofu Over Rice
- Coconut Curry Glazed Cauliflower
Tested and reviewed by: Joe Sevier, senior cooking and SEO editor
About Green Chef: Green Chef falls into the category of “classic meal delivery services” in that it specializes in kit-style meals, with the option to add on things like breakfast items, meat and seafood sampler packs, ready-to-blend smoothie kits, desserts, and beverages. The service has a focus on (mostly) organic seasonal produce, whole grains, healthy fats, and the like.
What we love
“This was the best packaged kit I've ever reviewed. Each meal was bagged in its own brown paper sack (which can be used as a garbage bag as you cook through the meal). The box was still well chilled after sitting in my lobby for several hours, and the packaging was recyclable. The ingredients were really fresh and well-packed, with very little damage. The only thing I threw out was about two sprigs of wilted cilantro,” writes Sevier.
What we'd leave
Some meals were less successful. The prep for the Coconut Curry Glazed Cauliflower “was a little all over the place,” says Sevier, who notes that the use of multiple pans and both the oven and the stove could’ve been better streamlined. The black bean enchilada dish was “good, not great,” and “really could've benefitted from a dairy element,”—Sevier suggests a cashew yogurt.
The bigger issue, though, was that the vegan options felt limited. “I ended up with two curries and two, essentially stir-fries with tofu,” says Sevier. He also notes that “there is also no filtering option to see just vegan recipes.” While “plant-based” is a filter option, only some of the meals in this category are fully vegan.
HelloFresh
Pros and cons
Pros:
- Simple, straightforward dishes
- Fast, low stress
- Easy clean-up
Cons:
- For more seasoned vegans cooks, the creativity is lacking for vegan options
- Lots of plastic waste
- Produce-quality is a hit or miss (some had gone bad before I could cook that meal)
Specs
- Plan options: 2–6 meals per week; 2, 3, 4, or 6 servings per meal
- Average meal price: $9.99
- Shipping fee: $10.99 per box
- Meal types: Breakfast, lunch, dinner, dessert, extras
Example meals
- Turkish-Spiced Chickpea Bowl
- Mooshu Tofu
- Warm Vegan Arugula & Grain Bowls
Tested and reviewed by: Jaia Clingham-David, research fellow
About Hello Fresh: Clingham-David writes: “HelloFresh dominates nearly 75% of the market share for meal delivery kit service in the US, and it’s easy to see why. The brand embodies no-brainer weeknight cooking: unfussy recipes, easy-to-follow instructions, and familiar flavors. It’s a great choice for people with busy schedules who want low-stress meals.”
What we love
Clingham-David’s meals arrived neatly bundled and labeled, and she appreciated how clear the recipe card instructions were. “Most components are premeasured, especially sauces, which is great for efficiency but quickly becomes a pile of plastic wrappers on your counter,” she says.
“The dishes are pleasant but predictable. Nothing excites your palate, but the meals are comforting in a “I just need a home-cooked meal” kind of way,” Clingham-David writes. “The Vegan Turkish-Spiced Chickpea Bowl was a savory explosion of flavor with hearty chickpeas and a lemon hummus sauce. The pistachio-studded spiced rice was a delight when mixed with roasted veg. I also enjoyed the Mooshu Tofu. It was originally listed as only vegetarian on their site, but after clicking on the details, I saw that the only non-vegan part of the recipe is a pat of butter for the rice––an easy substitute. This dish reminded me of a less gluttonous version of Chinese takeout, crispy bits of tofu doused in a sweet soy glaze plus a slight crunch from the purple cabbage.”
Overall, Clingham-David suggests that HelloFresh could be a good option for busy beginner vegans “learning how to build a well-balanced meat and dairy-free meal.”
What we'd leave
HelloFresh offers no way to filter for vegan recipes, and only three of the 21 vegetarian options on offer the week that Clingham-David tested were fully vegan. “However, many options that are labeled veggie (not vegan) only call for butter (which isn’t even included in the delivery box), meaning that those meals could be ordered by a vegan and the butter could be easily substituted with oil,” she writes.
“Looking only at dishes with the 'vegan' label, the choices were variations of the same thing: grain, veggie, and legumes. They were enticing, but because I crave variety in my weekly dinners, I wasn’t fully satisfied with the options,” says Clingham-David.
Clingham-David was previously vegan for 10 years, and explains that “for more advanced vegans, this service may be too boring. It’s clear from the UX that this is not a platform meant for vegans—many of the descriptions are clearly copied from a meat version of that dish.”