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Green Chef is known for meal kits made with organic, seasonal ingredients. The variety of options, ease of cooking, and final results impressed our reviewer.

Bulgogi Noodle Bowls cookedShare on Pinterest
Cooked Bulgogi Noodle Bowl from Green Chef | photo by Kelli McGrane

Green Chef is a meal kit delivery service that emphasizes food quality and nutrient density, with a particular focus on using organic ingredients whenever possible. It’s a popular choice among health-conscious consumers.

In this article, we explain how Green Chef works, how it compares with the competition, and, importantly, how the food tastes! We’ll also share insights from our tester’s experiences with Green Chef.

MEAL DELIVERY SCORECARD

Our tester rated Green Chef across over 10 categories and allotted points from 0–5. The scores below reflect the average rating for each category.

  • Overall: 4.2
  • Sign-up, delivery, and cancellation processes: 5
  • Meal variety: 4.5
  • Nutrition: 4.5
  • Sustainability: 5
  • Ingredient quality and freshness: 4
  • Ease of preparation: 3.5
  • Taste: 5
  • Affordability: 2

Learn more about how we test meal kits.

Pros

  • offers meal plans to suit a variety of dietary restrictions
  • certified organic company, but not all ingredients are organic
  • offers some certified gluten-free meal plans
  • environmentally friendly
  • tasty, satisfying meals

Cons

  • a bit expensive compared with other meal kit delivery services
  • separate shipping charges
  • requires more preparation than premade meals
  • does not use exclusively organic ingredients
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Green Chef is a meal kit delivery service owned by HelloFresh, another popular meal kit company.

Although there are many meal kit services to choose from, Green Chef stands out for several reasons.

For starters, Green Chef is a U.S. Department of Agriculture certified organic company, meaning that all the ingredients in your meal kit are organic unless labeled otherwise. The company also holds a California Certified Organic Farmers accreditation.

Green Chef’s meal kits come with premeasured and prepped ingredients, including:

  • vegetables
  • seasonings
  • sauces
  • grains
  • meat
  • poultry
  • fish

Each meal kit also provides a colorful, easy-to-follow, recipe card.

Recipes are designed to take less than 30 minutes to make, though some customers comment that certain recipes can take closer to 40 minutes to fully prepare.

Green Chef meal plans

Green Chef currently offers eight meal plans:

  • Mediterranean: includes nutritious recipes with lots of veggies and healthy fats
  • Calorie Smart: contains 650 calories or less per meal
  • Quick & Easy: meals are ready in 25 minutes or less
  • Plant Based: vegan and vegetarian recipes
  • Protein Packed: provides at least 30 grams of protein per serving
  • Keto: contains less than 20 grams of net carbs per meal
  • Delicious Discoveries: a mix of globally inspired flavors and ingredients
  • Gluten Free: recipes are free of wheat, barley, rye, or triticale

You can select as many meal preferences as you’d like when signing up. While Green Chef will display meals that match your preferences first, you can still choose any recipes from their full menu each week.

Customers sign up for Green Chef through the company’s website. You can choose from the eight preferences listed above to suit varying dietary preferences.

Next, you can select your box size. Each week, you can opt to make two to four recipes, with two, four, or six servings each.

You can also choose the day of the week that is best for you to receive your shipments, and you will receive a weekly deadline based on that day. You must edit or skip your order by this deadline each week, or Green Chef will select your meals for you.

If needed, you can skip up to 4 consecutive weeks if you’ll be out of town or won’t need your meal kit during certain periods.

The company makes it easy to cancel your plan online at any time by navigating to the “Deactivate Your Plan” section in your account settings.

Currently, Green Chef offers delivery in the United States, except Alaska and Hawaii. Boxes are delivered Monday through Saturday between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. local time.

While each box is insulated and refrigerated to keep your ingredients fresh and cold, you can reach out to Green Chef’s customer service if you experience any problems with your delivery by phone, email, or live chat.

Green Chef offers a rotating menu with 47 meal kits to choose from each week, most of which feature seasonal, organic produce and sustainably sourced ingredients. You can filter which meals you see by selecting one or more of the eight meal plans, but you can also just choose from anything on the menu.

A few examples of current meals include:

  • Maple Cauliflower Power Bowl with Pecans and Miso-Tahini Sauce
  • Caribbean-Spiced Tilapia with Mango Salsa, Coconut-Lime Cauliflower “Rice,” and Creamy Chimichurri Sauce
  • Spicy Honey-Glazed Harissa Chicken and Schug Rice with Peas, Turmeric Cauliflower, and Almonds

Each meal selection includes detailed information on the nutritional value per serving, along with the specific ingredients that are provided and what you’ll need to have on hand.

Keep in mind that Green Chef doesn’t allow you to customize your box to omit specific allergens. Additionally, meal kits are processed in a facility that also handles food allergens, so cross-contamination is possible.

Ingredients

  • Organic produce and eggs, whenever possible
  • Proteins are raised with high animal welfare standards, and some organic beef, chicken, and wild-caught seafood is available
  • When organic ingredients are unavailable, Green Chef communicates with customers through labeling and in-box communications

Freshness and taste

Green Chef works closely with suppliers and aims to stick to seasonal ingredients whenever possible to maximize freshness.

Boxes are lined with insulated packaging to keep ingredients cool during transit. According to the company, most ingredients will stay fresh for up to 5 days after delivery, though the shelf-life of some recipes — including those that contain seafood — may be slightly shorter.

When it comes to taste, Green Chef scores high marks from customers and most meal kits are packed with produce and include a variety of herbs, spices, and seasonings to add extra flavor. Our reviewer also notes that recipes feature a wide range of diverse flavors and textures, making it a great fit for adventurous eaters.

Green Chef’s pricing depends on how many servings per meal you need. Prices are the same regardless of which meal type you choose. Shipping is $10.99 per order.

2 servings per meal4 servings per meal6 servings per meal
3 meals per week: $13.49 per serving

4 meals per week: $12.99 per serving
2 meals per week: $12.99 per serving

3 meals per week: $12.49 per serving

4 meals per week: $11.99 per serving
3 meals per week: $11.99 per serving

4 meals per week: $11.99 per serving
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Photo by Kelli McGrane

Healthline Nutrition Editor Kelli McGrane, MS, RD, put Green Chef to the test twice, for a week in the summer and a week in the winter. For each, she chose meal kits from Green Chef’s Plant Based and Mediterranean meal plans, and made:

  • Bulgogi Noodle Bowl
  • Creamy Pesto Penne Bowl
  • Apricot Chickpea Couscous Bowl
  • Sriracha Tamari Beef Bowl
  • Japanese Cabbage & Carrot Fritter
  • Butternut and Porcini Linguine

Recipe selection: “I actually had a hard time narrowing down my selection, as multiple recipes caught my eye,” McGrane said. While she found plenty of options to choose from year-round, McGrane preferred the meal kits available during the summer.

Delivery: Meal ingredients were delivered in a large box with plenty of ice to help keep the food cold during transit. The ingredients were further grouped by recipe in a paper bag. “I really like this feature, as it keeps your ‘fridge organized and saves you time because you don’t have to go looking for individual ingredients,” she said.

While McGrane notes that the amount of plastic and packaging used could be a drawback for some customers, she appreciated that Green Chef provides a note with instructions for how to recycle those items.

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Photo by Kelli McGrane

Ingredients: All of the ingredients were delivered fresh and appeared to be good quality, according to McGrane. “Only the shredded carrots were starting to look a little brown toward the edges, though they were still perfectly tasty.”

Preparation: Because the ingredients were premeasured, McGrane found the meals relatively quick and easy to prepare. “Overall, the recipes were easy to make and full of flavor, she said. “With the exception of chopping a few vegetables, I was able to do most of the cooking one-handed with my kiddo on my hip.”

However, some of the directions could have been clearer. She also didn’t like that many recipes required multiple pots and pans, making cleanup a little longer.

Taste: McGrane loved the variety of textures in each dish she prepared and was impressed overall by the flavors. “The recipes were packed with multiple types of vegetables, and the seasonings provided were flavorful without being overly salty.”

Still, she found the proportions of ingredients to be a bit inaccurate for certain recipes and ended up with extra servings of certain ingredients when preparing her meals.

“Despite a few minor complaints, the process was very convenient, especially when I factored in the amount of time I saved by not having to plan meals.”

“While Green Chef is one of the more expensive services, I found it to be the most enjoyable one I’ve tried so far in terms of creative recipe options and ingredient quality.”

— Healthline Nutrition Editor Kelli McGrane

The verdict: Green Chef impressed Kelli McGrane. From the selection of meals to the flavors of the food, this meal delivery service proved to be one of her favorites. “While Green Chef is one of the more expensive services, I found it to be the most enjoyable one I’ve tried so far in terms of creative recipe options and ingredient quality.”

Most of the ingredients Green Chef uses, including produce and eggs, are certified organic. But the company may use conventional substitutes when an organic ingredient is not available.

If you want to keep your diet 100% organic, you could choose not to use the conventional ingredients in your Green Chef box. Green Chef will notify you when conventional ingredients are used, so you’ll always be aware of what is organic and what is not.

Additionally, this service is a good fit for families following these diets:

  • vegetarian
  • vegan
  • keto
  • paleo

It may also be a good fit for families who want to incorporate more nutritious, home-cooked meals and dine out or order in less often.

Besides Green Chef, there are plenty of competitors in the meal kit space.

Green ChefSunbasketBlue ApronHelloFresh
Price$11.99+
per serving
$11.49+
per serving
$7.99+
per serving
$9.99+ per serving
Shipping $10.99
per order
$9.99
per box
$10.99
per order
$10.99
per order
Diets offered• keto
• paleo
• vegetarian
• vegan
• gluten-free
• Mediterranean
• high protein
• low calorie
• paleo
• diabetes-friendly
• vegan
• vegetarian
• pescatarian
• low carb
• gluten-free
• keto
• Mediterranean
• vegetarian
• mix of low calorie and low carb meals
• vegetarian
• vegan
• low calorie
• low carb
• Mediterranean
• high protein
Highlightsmostly organic ingredients (when possible)
mostly organic ingredients (when possible)
• non-GMO
• certified sustainable seafood
• some organic ingredients
some organic ingredients

Yes! Green Chef is a reputable meal kit company with many positive reviews from customers. In fact, reviewers report very few issues regarding the food or food quality and note that customer service is typically quick to resolve any problems that pop up.

Green Chef and HelloFresh are two different meal kit services owned by the same parent company. HelloFresh acquired Green Chef in 2018.

Green Chef uses high quality, mostly organic, and seasonal ingredients. It can definitely fit into a balanced diet plan and offers options for many healthy eating patterns, including Mediterranean, plant-based, and high protein diets.

Green Chef is a meal kit service that delivers boxes filled with fresh ingredients on a weekly, biweekly, or monthly basis to allow you to make chef-curated meals in the comfort of your own kitchen.

Green Chef stands out from the crowd because it uses mostly organic ingredients and offers meal plans suited for people with specific dietary needs, including:

However, Green Chef’s cost may not fit well with some budgets. But as tester Kelli McGrane points out, with a discount offer on your first few boxes, it might be a lower barrier to see if Green Chef is right for you and your family.