Blue Apron is a subscription meal delivery service. Every week, they send seasonal recipes created by their culinary team and the pre-measured ingredients you need to make them at home.
Check out all of our reviews of Meal Delivery Services to see every meal kit subscription box option!
Blue Apron really cares about sustainability, high-quality produce, responsibly raised meats, the success of smaller farmers, and reducing food waste—which is all important to consider when choosing a meal kit subscription to go with.
Blue Apron ingredients come packaged in a big silver bag that's a lot like bubble wrap. Along with the plastic-wrapped ice packs in the box, the bubble wrap bag keeps the ingredients cool while they travel.
In addition to their standard 2-Person subscription plan, which features three weekly seasonally-inspired meals for two, Blue Apron also offers a Family Plan that features kid-friendly recipes and family-style meals for four.
This is a review of the 2-person, 2-meal subscription plan ($9.99 per serving, or $47.95 per week). I normally cook for myself, but having meal kits delivered to my home has given me a way to lure friends over to help and enjoy the recipes with me. It's so much more fun with a buddy if you can spare one. No buddies? You'll have some leftovers then, so this doubles your value!
My Subscription Addiction paid for this box. (Check out the review process post to learn more about how we review boxes.)
The Subscription Box: Blue Apron
The Cost: You can choose from a 2 person plan or a family plan.
For the 2 person plan, it's $47.95 ($9.99 per serving + $7.99 shipping) for 2 meals per week or $59.94 ($9.99 per serving + FREE shipping) for the 3 meals per week.
Family plans start at $69.92 ($8.74 per serving + FREE shipping) for the 2 meals per week, $104.88 ($8.74 per serving + FREE shipping) for 3 meals per week, or $139.84 ($8.74 per serving + FREE shipping) for 4 meals per week.
LIMITED TIME DEAL: Now through 11/27, save $25 off your first AND $25 off your second box with this link!
The Products: Fresh ingredients and recipes to make healthy meals at home.
Ships to: U.S.
Check out all of our Blue Apron Reviews and find other meal boxes in the Meal Subscription Box Directory!
Keep Track of Your Subscriptions: Add this box to your subscription list or wishlist!
I am tickled by the care that went into protecting the persimmon for this recipe (it's inside the cylindrical carton on the left).
Harissa-Baked Chicken with Farro, Persimmon, and Goat Cheese Salad
Calories per Serving (as prepared): 690
Total Time According to Blue Apron: 25-35 minutes
Actual Time: 30 minutes
I've actually used harissa in a recipe before for Dinnerly back in August, so this is my second time running into the hot pepper spice.
This recipe was pretty involved and kept me busy the whole time, either with prepping, baking, or cooking.
The first thing I did was make the harissa sauce using the paste, yogurt, olive oil, and vinegar (plus salt and pepper). Half was put aside and the other half stayed in the bowl.
I proceeded to dip the chicken breasts into the sauce to coat and then placed them on a baking sheet.
While those cooked, I prepped all of the produce, which included cutting up the persimmon into cubes and marinating it with vinegar in a bowl. I have never prepared a persimmon, and I can't recall ever even eating one, so I was excited to try it!
By the time everything was chopped and prepped, the chicken was done baking and came out of the oven.
Next, I gave my attention to cooking the carrots until softened in a pan with olive oil.
I then added the minced garlic and roughly chopped collard greens.
Once everything was soft and sauteed, I mixed it together with the marinated persimmon and the farro I had cooking that I never told you about.
Everything was then plated with parsley garnishing the chicken, goat cheese topping the salad, and the harissa sauce I had set aside for dipping.
The chicken this time was a bit on the dry side, I think because the cuts themselves were super thin. Or maybe I just baked them too long (I was house-sitting for a friend and using their unfamiliar oven). I'm not a huge cooked carrot person, and wouldn't normally go for fruit hanging with carrots and collard greens, but boy was that salad good! My first taste of persimmon was awesome! It's kiiiiinda like a mango, but not really. You should try it if you get a chance!
Blue Apron ingredients always come all together in the box, but most items are labeled with the recipe they belong to. There's also a "knick knacks" bag that bundles the smaller items together.
Ancho Beef Tacos & Cheesy Sweet Potato with Pickled Jalapeno & Lime Sour Cream
Calories per Serving (as prepared): 770
Total Time According to Blue Apron: 25-35 minutes
Actual Time: 30 minutes
I love tacos, but I normally receive recipes for chicken ones. I was stoked to try my hand at some spicy beef tacos this time!
This recipe required quite a bit of prep work with slicing the radishes, sweet potato, and scallions, plus grating the cheese (maybe one of my least favorite things to "prep"?).
I started with thinly sliced radishes, which made me long for a mandoline, once again (as I did with Home Chef this month). They went into a bowl with salt, pepper, and lime juice to marinate.
I then took the already cubed beef out of the package and added it to a pan of oil to cook.
Once browned, I added the ancho paste, water, and white part of chopped scallions.
By this time, the sliced sweet potato I was secretly baking came out of the oven (after 22 minutes). A few of them got a little burnt, but we will all live.
I generously added the shredded Monterey jack cheese on top of each, plus the roughly chopped marinated jalapeno peppers. They went back into the oven to get all melty.
I then quickly whipped up the sour cream with lime juice and salt and pepper.
The sweet potatoes came back out with melty goodness abound.
Before plating, I warmed the flour tortillas in the toaster oven for a few minutes. Be sure to keep your eye on them so they don't get too crispy.
I ended up eating these for lunch on a weekend, and holy moly were they good! The beef went into the tortilla first, followed by the marinated radishes, then the lime sour cream, and topped with some scallions. If you read my reviews regularly, you know I'm not big on sweet potatoes, but these were AWESOME. I'd actually really like to try them with regular Yukon or red potatoes, but the slight sweetness was a good match with the spicy jalapeno.
Verdict: The Blue Apron recipes I chose this week were pretty amazing. Even though the meats were good, I think the sides to both of these stole the show! I was loving the ancho beef flavor for the tacos though and was happy to enjoy persimmon for the first time! It's always a fun journey with Blue Apron to try new things and discover new ways to prep familiar foods. It always makes me feel accomplished in the kitchen! I also liked that both of these recipes were on the quick side.
To Wrap Up:
Can you still get this box if you sign up today? Since Blue Apron menus change weekly and you must choose them ahead of time, you won't be able to order these dishes unless they are offered again in the future.
Coupon – Now through 11/27, save $25 off your first AND $25 off your second box with this link! Or, get three free meals on your first order! No code needed, just use this link
Value Breakdown: At $47.95 ($9.99 per serving + $7.99 shipping) for this box, you're paying $11.99 per meal.
What did you think of my meals from Blue Apron this week?
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