How the Meals Arrived
Everything arrived promptly and well chilled in a cardboard box, with all the ingredients and cooling packs efficiently layered inside.
Right on top were the recipes; brown paper bags containing the ingredients for each recipe were in the layer below. Ingredients like kale and green onions were wrapped in plastic and placed in each bag according to their corresponding recipe, so you can easily grab everything you need for a meal in one go — no hunting around. The raw proteins were at the bottom of the box on top of the ice packs.
While some packaging could be recycled curbside, like the box itself and some of the internal packaging, most of it was either not recyclable or needed to be taken to a facility for recycling, so unfortunately, it mostly ended up in my garbage. The quantity of packaging is an issue for meal delivery services in general, especially for consumers looking to be more environmentally sustainable.
Most of Green Chef meal kits are made up of whole produce, which you need to chop and prep yourself, with preportioned raw meat, dry goods, and some really excellent and time-saving prepared sauces and seasonings.
For the most part, the food seemed fresh and of good quality, though not always top tier. In particular, I had a few issues with the produce: Half of my Brussels sprouts for one dish were inedible, and there was some yellowed kale and really subpar tomatoes.
Cooking the Meals
Depending on what you order from Green Chef, you can dial up or dial down how much cooking you want to do. Most of the meals required a bit of effort for prep and multitasking, although it was still much easier than making these dishes from scratch, thanks to the prepared sauces and provided seasonings. You’re definitely not exempt from the cooking process, so don’t think you’ll be able to phone it in. But you won’t need to dirty every single pot and pan in your kitchen, either.
My role was mostly to dice and prep raw vegetables, cook grains and meat, and assemble the final dish using the sauces and preportioned pantry ingredients like nuts and dried fruit. As an experienced cook, it felt really manageable to prep exactly the amount given and not keep track of anything more complex than a grain cooking beside a browning meat. I didn’t have to dig deep for ingredients from my own stores — just salt, pepper, and cooking oil. I also didn’t need much in the way of specialty equipment. One recipe called for a stovetop-to-oven pan, but I could have improvised if I didn’t have one.
While I don’t think all the cooking was beginner level, I loved Green Chef meal kits as a way of learning more about different cooking methods. An issue in one recipe was that the cooking method didn’t quite line up with the ingredients, and I ended up with a dry chicken breast because I cooked it to the full recommended time. Overall, though, the recipes were easy to read and the instructions simple to follow. Nothing was terribly difficult to execute, but I certainly got my hands dirty, which is part of the fun.
The simplest dish to cook was the Creamy Truffle-Herb Linguine, which was essentially just boiling the pasta and preparing a very basic sauce with mushrooms, truffle butter, peas, and a creamy sauce base. It took less than the allotted 30 minutes, and the only prep work was cleaning and slicing the mushrooms.
The Corn and Bean Stuffed Peppers were the opposite, requiring the most prep, including cleaning and chopping the vegetables, preparing the rice, making the filling, making the base, and filling and cooking the peppers. It was still in the ballpark of the suggested time frame, but if you’re not a quick study, it could easily take longer. I was grateful, however, that all the dishes, including this one, came with prepared sauces.
Each of the remaining dishes had multiple components to juggle. They didn’t feel as challenging or hit the sweet spot of cooking enough to feel accomplished, but they came together without much friction.
For the Fajita-Style Spiced Shrimp and Steak Tacos, I cooked the two proteins separately on the stovetop, preparing the steak first, while I got the veggies into the oven. This was very smart and efficient. None of the elements were over- or undercooked, and all were ready to eat at about the same time. The recipe also called for warming the tortillas, which was a nice touch.
The Herbed Turkey and Kale Bulgur Bowls had a fair amount of knife work to get through, but none of it was terribly complicated and would be a great learning experience for a newbie. If you’ve never cooked whole grains before, this meal provides a great lesson. Aside from those tasks, the rest involved browning the meat and sautéing the kale while assembling the bulgur base. The two herby sauces included lifted this dish, and neither required more work than opening the packet.
The only dish that gave me trouble was the Mediterranean Chicken With Brussels Sprouts and Pepita Pesto, though it ended up being a favorite flavor-wise. This was largely due to the thin cuts of chicken provided. The recipe calls for a stovetop sear and oven finish, which left the chicken a bit dry, but this cooking method would have made sense for a thicker cut. The Brussels sprouts turned out fantastic, though, and I would absolutely order this dish again but make my own adjustments to the cooking time. This dish was the only one that required a stovetop-to-oven pan, which is not something every household has, so the method felt extra unnecessary.
Tasting the Meals
Flavor was not missing from the Green Chef meals, and there was always a notable profile that was balanced and robust. However, the overall salt content and seasoning was a bit potent. But you could always omit some of the sauces or add a little less salt.
In terms of cooking time and texture, nearly every dish was spot on. Besides the slightly dry chicken in one meal, the meats were juicy; the vegetables were snappy; and each meal was filling and satisfying. I'd consider ordering some of my favorites again or riffing on those recipes to recreate them at home. I could even see ordering some of the meals that weren’t top on our list and making substitutions more to our tastes.
The Fajita-Style Shrimp and Steak Tacos were a solid favorite in my house, though we agreed it could have used a side dish. The tacos were flavorful and succulent, and the instructions didn’t dry out the meat at all.
Our next favorite was the Mediterranean Chicken With Brussels Sprouts and Pepita Pesto. While I would have liked a carbohydrate component, this meal was one of the low-carb options. It was satisfying and packed with herby, nutty flavors. The pesto had a lot of punch, and the mix of feta and almonds with the Brussels sprouts added richness.
Third on the list: Herbed Turkey and Kale Bulgur Bowls. I am a fan of whole grains, and I really loved this. The prepared sauces gave the nutty bulgur an herby kick, and the apricots and pistachios were a nice textural contrast. Overall, I’d be happy to eat this or something like it every day.
While they didn't necessarily taste bad, we didn’t like the Creamy Truffle-Herb Linguine and Corn and Bean Stuffed Peppers. Some in my house liked the pasta, and I didn’t think the truffle taste was terribly overpowering, but others didn't like the truffle flavor. The stuffed peppers just didn’t provide much in the way of texture or flavor.
Nutritional Quality of the Meals
I would have loved to see a bit more information on how Green Chef defines its labels for the gut and brain health, Mediterranean, and protein packed menus — I wasn’t able to find much specific information on the website. In the absence of evidence-based guidelines, we can’t be sure those claims aren’t misleading. That said, full nutrition information, including allergen information, is easily accessible for all dishes during menu selection, so people with nutrient restrictions or concerns can make informed choices.
Overall, my recommendation is to do your due diligence and review the nutrition information available. Also make sure that you can find balance with some of the nutrients in these meals as you make other daily choices. One meal won’t necessarily make or break your health; it’s the overall picture that’s important.
Why Trust Everyday Health
Tori Martinet, MS, RD
Author
Tori Martinet is an Intuitive Eating dietitian, food writer, recipe developer, and food photographer based in Southern California. She received a master's degree in nutrition from Columbia University Teachers College and spent nearly a decade as the director of wellness and sustainability for a premier food service contractor based in New York City. In her time there she crafted wellness and sustainability programming for clients like Google, Citigroup, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Harvard Business School, and the U.S. Open Tennis Tournament.
She has been a dietitian for nearly 10 years and currently works in private practice, dedicated to helping people pursue health without restriction and dieting. She also writes freelance food and nutrition content and has been featured in publications like Eating Well, Food & Wine, Shape, The Spruce Eats, U.S. News 360 Reviews, Verywell Health, and many more.
Reyna Franco, RDN
Medical Reviewer
Reyna Franco, RDN, is a New York City–based dietitian-nutritionist, certified specialist in sports dietetics, and certified personal trainer. She is a diplomate of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine and has a master's degree in nutrition and exercise physiology from Columbia University.
In her private practice, she provides medical nutrition therapy for weight management, sports nutrition, diabetes, cardiac disease, renal disease, gastrointestinal disorders, cancer, food allergies, eating disorders, and childhood nutrition. To serve her diverse patients, she demonstrates cultural sensitivity and knowledge of customary food practices. She applies the tenets of lifestyle medicine to reduce the risk of chronic disease and improve health outcomes for her patients.
Franco is also a corporate wellness consultant who conducts wellness counseling and seminars for organizations of every size. She taught sports nutrition to medical students at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, taught life cycle nutrition and nutrition counseling to undergraduate students at LaGuardia Community College, and precepts nutrition students and interns. She created the sports nutrition rotation for the New York Distance Dietetic Internship program.
She is the chair of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine's Registered Dietitian-Nutritionist Member Interest Group. She is also the treasurer and secretary of the New York State Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, having previously served in many other leadership roles for the organization, including as past president, awards committee chair, and grant committee chair, among others. She is active in the local Greater New York Dietetic Association and Long Island Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, too.