What's Green Chef Like? A Trio of CNET Editors Test the Healthy, Organic Meal Kit Service

10 hours ago 2

Pricing Starts at $12/serving

Type Meal kits

Recipes per week 30

Good for Organic, healthy, low-calorie, pescatarian, vegetarian, keto, gluten-free, Whole30, gourmet

Score Breakdown

Taste/results 7/10Value 7/10Ease of recipes 8/10Recipe variety 7/10Healthiness 9/10

Pros

Mostly organic ingredients and healthy recipes
Customizable menus
Good for those eating gluten-free, keto or paleo
Interesting recipes with unique flavors

Cons

Some recipes took longer than the website said
More expensive than other services
Portion sizes may be small for some
A lot of plastic used

What's Green Chef Like? A Trio of CNET Editors Test the Healthy, Organic Meal Kit Service
How Green Chef works
How much does Green Chef cost?
What are Green Chef meals like?
Green Chef pricing
What's the Green Chef menu this week? July 5-11, 2025
Verdict: Is Green Chef worth it?

My first go-around with Green Chef left a lot to be desired. The recipes felt unnecessarily complicated, with instructions that didn’t flow naturally and meals that sometimes seemed cobbled together without much cohesion. The company, which is owned by HelloFresh and bills itself as a USDA-certified organic company, must have gotten the message and has since overhauled its menus, streamlined its recipes, and restructured its plans to meet the moment.

After testing Green Chef again last year, the experience was vastly improved. Recipes were easier to follow, ingredients arrived fresh and well portioned, and meals came together quickly without sacrificing taste or nutrition. What stood out most was how much better the value felt, especially given the quality of the organic produce, responsibly sourced proteins, and nutrient-dense meals.

To further put Green Chef to the test and see where it ranks in 2025, I enlisted a CNET editor new to cooking and a vegetarian/vegan wellness editor to give several meal kits a try.

Here are our firsthand reviews of Green Chef meal kit delivery to help you decide if the healthy, mostly organic service is right for you.

How Green Chef works

Green Chef is a meal kit subscription, meaning it sends you ingredients for healthy, mostly organic meals along with the recipes to prepare them. When signing up, the service offers six main nutrition plans, such as Plant-Powered and Calorie Conscious, to guide your selections, but you'll still have access to Green Chef's full menu of over 50 meals per week. (See below for this week's menus.)

After choosing a meal plan type, you'll then choose how many meal kits per week you want to receive -- three or four -- and also how many servings per meal -- two, four or six.

After plugging in your payment info, you'll select meals from your plan and delivery date for the following week. Each week, you'll select your meals, and an insulated box containing the food will arrive on the doorstep on the day of your choosing. Green Chef ships to nearly every US zip code except for Alaska, Hawaii and some parts of Louisiana. Though it wasn't an issue for me, a critique I found in other Green Chef reviews was shipping delays -- albeit usually no more than a day or two.

How much does Green Chef cost?

Recipes per weekMeals for 2 (per meal)Meals for 4 (per meal)Meals for 6 (per meal)2 3 4

N/A	$13	N/A
$11.99	$11.99	$11.99
$11.99	$11.99	$11.99

What are Green Chef meals like?

Green Chef meals are healthy with plenty of options for special diets including keto, paleo, vegan and gluten-free. Expect lots of organic vegetables and lean meats with lighter sauces and seasonings. There is the occasional "cheat meal," such as truffle linguine with chicken and mushrooms or Salisbury steak and potatoes, but most of the dishes have high nutritional value with very few heavy cream-based sauces, cheese toppings or excess empty carbs.

There's a fair variety of fish and seafood options including salmon, tilapia and shrimp recipes. Some seafood recipes are included with a standard meal plan, while others are considered premium and cost as much as $9 more per serving.

Green Chef flavors will be familiar to most American eaters, and I'd say the company plays it safer than rivals such as Sunbasket or Blue Apron. I noticed a good deal of heat and punchy elements such as chimichurri, lime, peppers and Mexican spice. In a previous round of testing, I found some recipes to be odd, random and unappealing, but not so much in this latest round.

Green Chef support materials

Green Chef's recipe cards can be sent in printed form or found online. I found them to be clear and concise, with some helpful footnotes for beginners, such as a brief explanation of what a roux is. There's also an app that allows you to order or change meals and find recipes, too.

Our wellness editor appreciated that there was a produce origin label on the side of the box. Her recipe for creamy tomato pasta also came with a notice that, due to a shortage, the shallot that was included was not organic.

Add-ons

Add-ons have become a popular feature for meal kit services to pad your weekly order. They're convenient and can knock a few items from your weekly shopping list. Green Chef has partnered with meat purveyor Good Chop to offer meat add-ons, including chicken parts, beef packs and selections of seafood. You can also tack on some sous-vide egg bits or oatmeal for an easy breakfast. Prices vary but tend to skew a little higher than you'd find at a grocery store.

How easy are Green Chef meal kits?

Green Chef meal kits require some skill and are ideal for intermediate home cooks. Most are simple to prepare, often taking less than 30 minutes from start to finish.

As with many other meal kit services, Green Chef has a few more-involved meal kits that may take 45 minutes or more to prepare, but you won't find as many overly complicated recipes as you might with a service such as Martha & Marley Spoon or Sunbasket, and you don't need extensive cooking experience. That said, the average Green Chef recipe is slightly more complex than those from a beginner service like HelloFresh, Home Chef or Dinnerly.

I did notice that the project time to cook each recipe was a little off. The pan-roasted chicken with basil pesto took about five to seven minutes longer than the card indicated, for instance. Another, the simple pork and apple meatloaves, took about 10 minutes less than Green Chef predicted. Our wellness editor noticed the same with her black bean burritos, which took 10 to 15 minutes more than shown.

The ingredients for Green Chef's Roasted Squash and Bell Pepper Sandwiches on a white marble countertop.

Is Green Chef good for vegans?

Our wellness editor loved the three vegan recipes she received from Green Chef. The produce was fresh, the sauces were delicious, and the recipes themselves provided a nice variety of vegetables, greens, spices, seeds and nuts. Out of all the meal kits she's tested so far, these have been her favorite vegan recipes.

Is Green Chef healthy?

Our wellness editor had trouble finding the nutritional information for each recipe. For other meal kits, she could easily find the recipe via Google. However, for Green Chef, she had to go back to the menu for her chosen week and search for each individual recipe. The calories are listed on the recipe cards, but if you want more information, you might have to go through the site. This likely wouldn't be a problem if you have the app.

After viewing the nutrition facts, our wellness editor found that one recipe was higher in saturated fat (likely because of coconut milk being used), and that two recipes were higher in sodium than she realized. However, the latter could be easily adjusted since you control how much you season each dish. As a result, she recommends that everyone check the nutritional values of each recipe to make sure it fits their particular diet and preferences.

What we cooked and how it went

Barbecue pork and apple meatloaves with green beans and slaw: This meal was fantastic and one I plan to make again, with or without help from a meal kit. The apple added so much to both the meatloaf mixture and the slaw. It was also very simple, taking less time and effort than I anticipated. I would say the portion size was on the smaller side and might not be enough for a big eater.

Pecan-crusted trout with lemon caper sauce: This is a fail-proof flavor combination for me. I thought the dish was good, although the premade sauce was a little bland. The fish was fresh, and the dish as a whole was light but also satisfying.
Salmon with spicy mango salsa and potato hash: This is a perfect summer salmon dish with bright and bold flavors. It was very filling.

Mushroom and black bean enchiladas with chimichurri sauce: I'd be lying if I said I didn't miss having some chicken or pork in my enchiladas, but the flavors for this dish all worked well and the chimichurri was a big hit.

Pan-roasted chicken with basil pistou, Swiss chard and rice: This recipe features surprising elements including sweet diced dates and punchy artichokes. Everything worked in perfect harmony to create an excellent dish. My only issue is that the recipe took me a little longer than expected.
Ancho-lime sweet potato bowls: One of the better plant-based, meal kit recipes I've made. Absolutely loved the addition of lime zest to the white rice and have added that trick to my normal rice-cooking routine.

Caribbean shrimp with coconut rice, mangos and chard-cabbage slaw: Coconut rice is one of my very favorite side dishes, so my expectations were high. This was solid, but it was another one that didn't blow me away. I thought the rice needed something additional to punch up the flavor.

Roasted squash and bell pepper sandwiches: Our wellness editor loved this vegan, Mediterranean recipe and even ended up with extra salad for lunch the next day. Since she's careful about her sodium intake -- the amount in this recipe is 1,110mg, 48% of the daily value -- she didn't season the dish as much as specified. The veggies were fresh, the pesto was flavorful and delicious, and she even enjoyed the salad with its goji berry blend, cashew "parmesan" and sunflower seeds, a great mixture. Her kit didn't come with the Italian seasoning it should have, but she was easily able to mix this together at home.

Green Chef's Roasted Squash & Bell Pepper Sandwiches on speckled plates.

Creamy tomato pasta with roasted veggies: While this vegan, low-sugar recipe does have a higher amount of saturated fat because of the coconut milk (17g, or 85% of the daily value), our wellness editor enjoyed the veggie additions of squash and grape tomatoes. Plus, the coconut milk did not overwhelm the entire dish, thanks to the added ground tomatoes and umami stock concentrate. This recipe was topped with vegan cashew "parmesan," which she found to be a nice dairy-free replacement.
Black bean burritos and spiced cauliflower: Another low-sugar, vegan recipe, our wellness editor thought these burritos were delicious, too. However, they did take 10 to 15 minutes longer to prepare than the stated 30 minutes. She also got confused when "veggies" were mentioned in the recipe and ended up adding the cauliflower to the burrito mixture when it was supposed to be a side. Regardless, she enjoyed the burritos and appreciated the added fiber, but was careful about adding sodium since the amount of 1,760mg is 77% of the daily value.

The burrito mixture for Green Chef's Black Bean Burritos & Spiced Cauliflower in a pot on the stove.

Dijon-walnut organic chicken & potatoes: Our flex editor found this meal quite easy to make, since both the chicken and the potatoes are cooked in the oven. There was also a very generous amount of potatoes in the recipe, and even the apples and green beans complemented each other. The meal took her longer than what the recipe card stated, but that has been par for the course during her tests since she is not a frequent cook.

a green plate with chicken, potatoes and green beans on a wooden kitchen countertop

Street cart-style beef tenderloin bowls: I loved the spices and Schug sauce used in these bowls and they were quite easy to make, too. Although the beef tenderloin was slightly more chewy than I'd prefer, I still was a big fan of this meal. However, when comparing my meal to the photo on the recipe card, the size did pale in comparison.

Who should try Green Chef?

Green Chef is one of the best meal kit options for those looking to eat organic food and want simple, healthy meals. It's also a solid choice for vegetarians and vegans since the plant-based menu includes nine hearty vegetarian and vegan meal kit selections per week, like orange miso tofu or artichoke "crab" cakes. Green Chef recipes feature interesting ingredient combinations, making it a good choice for adventurous eaters. It's also good for eating gluten-free, keto or paleo.

Who shouldn't try Green Chef?

Because it starts at $12 a serving, Green Chef is probablyn't a great pick for someone on a tight budget. (See our list of the best cheap meal delivery services for that.) I also found portion sizes small, so big eaters may not find the recipes filling enough.

Green Chef pricing

Pricing for Green Chef meals starts at $11.99. You can order as few as six servings per week (the most expensive cost per serving) or as many as 24 (the cheapest per serving). There's also a $11 flat-rate shipping fee for each box.

All of this still adds up to Green Chef being on the more expensive end of the meal kit category -- not entirely surprising, considering these meal kits feature mostly organic produce and meats. That said, with the improved quality of recipes, the higher-than-average prices didn't bother me as much as the last time I tested it.

Packaging and environmental friendliness

Green Chef claims to be the No. 1 most sustainable meal kit company, but those are fuzzy stats, and I found there to be a good deal of plastic waste. That said, the box, coolers and ice packs are all recyclable and the recipes all come in paper bags, unlike the large plastic bags used by Home Chef.

Our wellness editor also appreciated that the kits themselves came in paper bags and liked that the ice packs were labeled with recycling information and the plasticfilmrecycling.org website, where you can find drop-off locations in your area. However, like with other meal kits, she does wish there was a way to donate the ice packs for reuse and less plastic packaging inside the paper bags.

What's the Green Chef menu this week? July 5-11, 2025

Fiber and/or sodium smart

Pistou chicken couscous bowls
Roasted salmon with lemon butter sauce
Truffle linguine with chicken and bacon
Caramelized onion cheeseburgers
Curried turkey and mango pitas
Beef and mozzarella lasagna
Lemon barramundi with bulgur pilaf
Chicken pesto penne and tomatoes

Gluten-free

Mediterranean Shrimp Bowls
Cobia with lemon-basil caper sauce
Lemon-basil pork filet with capers
Coconut shrimp soup with bacon
Pistachio-crusted barramundi
Creamy chimichurri pork chops
Pork filet with creamy pistou
Peruvian-style barramundi and chimichurri
Indian-style butter chicken
Creamy ancho turkey soup
Pork filet with almonds and dates
Pork filet with warm mushroom kale salad
Turkey, black bean and sweet potato chili
Walnut chicken and honey thyme sauce
Italian shrimp and creamy "rice"
Sockeye salmon with spicy apricot sauce

Plant-Based weekly menu

Greek salad flatbreads
Chickpea salad sandwiches
Creamy tomato cavatappi
Creamy risotto with parmesan broccoli
Southwest summer squash boats
Pesto white bean and mozzarella wraps
Potato pot pie with herby croutons (vegan)
Baja cauliflower bowls (vegan)
Breaded cauliflower and peanut sauce tacos (vegan)
Curry-spiced sweet potato wraps (vegan)
Spices tofu and roasted corn tacos (vegan)

Dairy-free

Salmon with red peppers and olives
Chicken with sriracha tamari pan sauce
Chicken with peanut sauce
Grilled sesame-soy beef tenderloin

Calorie Smart weekly menu

Monterey jack smothered chicken
Trattoria chicken and pan-seared polenta
Beef tenderloin with porcini cream sauce

Ready to heat

Tomatillo pulled pork with rice
Butter chicken with turmeric rice

Verdict: Is Green Chef worth it?

Green Chef shines particularly bright for anyone committed to healthy eating but without the time (or desire) to start from scratch every night. Whether you're cutting carbs, eating plant-based, following keto or paleo, or avoiding gluten, Green Chef offers curated plans to match your goals. With its revamped approach, we now consider it the best healthy meal kit service -- an ideal choice for busy people who want to eat clean, without the prep work and guesswork that often comes with it.

In the recipes we tackled, the meats and produce were fresh and arrived in good shape. I enjoyed some bold flavors, such as apple and pork meatloaves, and bright sauces, many of which had a homemade quality. Green Chef also deftly caters to niche eating plans such as gluten-free, keto and The Mediterranean diet is perfect for a gluten-intolerant person.

Our wellness editor also thinks that Green Chef is a great pick for vegans and vegetarians, thanks to its tasty recipes, fresh produce, and variety of ingredients. With cheaper per-serving prices and options for steak and seafood on the standard meal plan, Blue Apron is still my pick for the best meal kit service in 2024. But if you're interested in cooking mostly organic meals that don't skimp on taste, Green Chef is your best option.

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