Plated is a weekly meal kit delivery subscription that delivers you pre-portioned ingredients and recipes to help you make chef-designed recipes at home. They offer different weekly menus and randomly pick recipes for you based on preferences you submit when you sign up. If you'd rather pick your own recipes from the weekly menu, it's easy to hop in and change your order on their website or their handy-dandy app.
Plated is committed to using sustainably sourced seafood, seasonal produce, and meat that’s free from antibiotics and added hormones. Like most meal kits, Plated won't include standard pantry items (think salt, pepper, olive oil). They will, however, email you to let you know what pantry items you should have on hand for that week's box. Prep time and dietary details are listed in each recipe. And if you love a recipe, you can rate it and download a digital recipe card via your online account. (Highly rated recipes sometimes come back as "Encore" recipes for you to order again, so don't forget to leave your star rating each week!)
My Subscription Addiction paid for this box. (Check out the review process post to learn more about how we review boxes.)
This review is for the 2 recipes (4 plates) plan, which cost $48.00 per week (+ $6.00 shipping). I chose to have chicken, beef, shellfish, and fish as options to include in my recipes.
The Subscription Box: Plated
The Cost: Recipes begin at $12.00 per plate:
- 2 recipes (4 plates)= $48.00 per week (+ $6.00 shipping)
- 3 recipes (6 plates)= $72.00 per week (with free shipping)
- 4 recipes (8 total plates)= $96.00 per week (with free shipping)
- Dessert costs $4.00 per serving (available after your first order)
ACTIVE DEAL: Get 25% off your first four weeks (up to $159 in savings). No coupon needed - just use this link.
The Products: All of the pre-portioned fresh and seasonal ingredients you need to make chef-designed recipes at home in your own kitchen.
Ships to: 95% of the U.S. (Currently, Plated does not ship to Hawaii and Alaska, and there are also a few cities in Texas, including San Antonio, Corpus Christi, Laredo, and Midland, where they don’t yet ship.)
Good to know: Plated was recently purchased by Albertsons.
Check out all of our Plated Reviews and discover more meal boxes in the Meal Subscription Box Directory!
Keep Track of Your Subscriptions: Add this box to your subscription list or wishlist!
Sheet Pan Chicken with Roasted Fall Vegetables, Shallot Butter, and Champagne Vinaigrette
Calories per Serving: 790
Total Prep and Cook Time (listed): 40-50 minutes
Plated recipe cards come with a short description on the front and include the estimated prep and cook time and the calories per serving.
On the other side, you'll see a list of ingredients, what you'll need from your kitchen (ingredients as well as tools), recipe tips, and step-by-step directions with photos. I decided to start with the sheet pan chicken, there doesn't seem to be too much prep work and I love when I can just pop everything in the oven!
I started by chopping everything that I would need first. I am home full-time with my son so I was able to get this part of the recipe done earlier in the day. The thyme and rosemary were fresh and so fragrant, so you just want to pull the leaves off and do a little light chopping.
Making the butter was honestly the hardest part of this recipe, I thought! It was delicious since you are combining in the fresh thyme, rosemary, and shallots. However, I think it would be just as good and easier to season the chicken and put slices of butter on top before roasting. That is just my opinion though and the butter really does make this dish! Anyway, after you combine all of the ingredients into the butter, I rolled it into a log and placed it in the freezer.
Next, I put my super fresh Brussels sprouts and sweet potato slices on my sheet pan. I sprinkled some salt, pepper, and the remaining pieces of thyme over everything. I don't like to measure so I just did a light drizzle by eye of olive oil. Then, I just popped everything in the oven for 12 minutes. Easy!
While everything was roasting quietly in the oven, I started on my vinaigrette. All I had to do here was combine the champagne vinaigrette, dijon mustard, chives, and then just add salt and pepper to taste. This is something I am going to make from now on because it was so simple and boy did it really bring this whole dish together, but more to come on that!
After the veggies roast for 12 minutes, you want to add your chicken to the pan and top it with slices of that butter that was getting cold in the freezer. I am not super sure why you have to put the butter in the freezer since it is only in there for like 15 or 20 minutes, but either way, it comes out hard so it is easier to slice. Once your chicken is covered in that yummy butter, I just had to pop the pan back in the oven to roast for another 15 minutes. Again, so easy!
Once you are done roasting, you can plate. Don't forget to drizzle that champagne vinaigrette over everything. That's it, so easy and look at that delicious plate of food that looks like I cooked all day!
This dish was seriously incredible! I am always seeing sheet pan chicken recipes, but I have never made one because I thought it might be too much prep work. However, this was super easy and just so good. The vinaigrette really brought all of the flavors together and combined with the herb butter so well. This is going to be a recipe that I will be keeping to add to my weekly recipes. A great meal for anyone that loves fresh food, but doesn't have time to chop and cook all day.
Vietnamese Caramel Chicken with Roasted Chinese Broccoli and Basmati Rice
Calories per Serving: 870
Total Prep and Cook Time (listed): 35 - 45 minutes
My second recipe for the month was the Vietnamese Caramel Chicken. There were a few steps that took a bit more TLC so I enlisted my husband to help with this dish.
I started by cooking the basmati rice. This is super quick and easy, just add water and salt. Let it boil and then fluff up that delicious rice. Easy!
There was a good amount of chopping so I did that while my husband focused on the rice. Here we have all of those yummy fresh ingredients of Chinese broccoli, cilantro, scallions, garlic, and peanuts. The box did come with ginger, but I am not the biggest fan in food so we kept the ginger out of this dish.
After all of that chopping was done, I put the broccoli and chicken on a pan with olive oil, salt, and pepper to taste. The card did note to put this all on two sheets, but I decided to use one since it seemed to all fit. Another callout is that the card said to cook this for 7 to 9 minutes, I kept mine in longer because I just don't feel comfortable cooking chicken for only 9 minutes.
We moved onto the soy caramel, which to me, was the hardest part because it requires patience. I started by sautéing the scallions and garlic in half of the chicken stock provided. Let this all simmer and come to a light boil.
Once that is to a boil, I added the brown sugar. You have to let this simmer until it gets darker, and then I was able to add the soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, and the rest of that chicken stock. I waited for this all to come to a boil and then lowered to medium heat. From here, you basically just stand and stir constantly until the sauce gets super thick like a maple syrup. I let my husband stand watch! While he watched, I removed our sheet pan of chicken and broccoli and then added the two pieces of chicken to our sauce to soak it all in.
Here is what our pan looked like out of the oven. I probably overcooked the broccoli slightly, but I thought it was still really yummy. Plus, the chicken wasn't undercooked which is all that matters to me.
Time to plate! I put the basmati rice that we cooked at the beginning, covered it in the Chinese broccoli and chicken. You will have extra sauce in the pan which I highly suggest drizzling over everything when it is in the bowl. Top it all off with the chopped peanuts. That's it, you are left with a super authentic looking dish!
The flavors in this dish were incredible mainly from that yummy caramel sauce that I wasn't patient enough to cook. Big thanks to my husband for helping! I will say though that I thought the chicken was a bit fatty which I don't typically enjoy. However, the sauce mixed with that crispy broccoli was incredible and the entire dish tasted like something we got from a restaurant.
Verdict: This was my first time receiving Plated and I was really happy with both meals! I have tried other food boxes that have left me wanting more, literally I would finish my dinner and still be hungry. Plated was hearty and everything was extremely fresh. I think for the price, you really are getting your money's worth just by looking at the fresh ingredients that I got this month. I did, however, think the pieces of chicken were a bit on the fatty side, but nothing that we couldn't trim off and still enjoy. Each recipe was easy to follow and tasted very authentic, I know I will be cooking the sheet pan chicken again and again!
To Wrap Up:
Can you still get this box if you sign up today? No. The Plated menus change weekly and you need to lock in orders before shipments go out.
ACTIVE DEAL: Get 25% off your first four weeks (up to $159 in savings). No coupon needed - just use this link.
Value Breakdown: This box cost $54.00, which is $13.50 per meal (adding in the $6.00 shipping fee).
Would you eat the meals I cooked from Plated this week?
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