Green Chef is a weekly meal delivery subscription service that sends ingredients to make meals that are fresh, sustainable, and organic.
Check out all of our reviews of Meal Delivery Services to see even more meal kit subscription box options!
Green Chef has plan size options for 2 or 4 people. You can choose between paleo, keto, balanced living, or plant-powered.
This is a review of the Green Chef Keto Plan that includes three 2-serving dinner options (at $12.99/serving) for two people, plus $6.99 shipping for a total of $85.93.
My Subscription Addiction paid for this box. (Check out our review process post to learn more about how we review boxes.)
About Green Chef
The Subscription Box: Green Chef
The Cost:
- Paleo - $12.99 per serving (paleo-friendly, gluten-free meals)
- Keto - $12.99 per serving (low-carb, gluten-free meals)
- Balanced Living - $11.99 per serving
- Plant-Powered - $11.99 per serving
ACTIVE DEAL: Limited Time Only! Free Salads for Two Months + 50% Off Your 1st Box. No coupon needed - just use this link.
The Products: Quick, chef-created recipes using organic, sustainable ingredients.
Ships to: The continental U.S. (except for some parts of Louisiana) for $7.99
Good to Know: You can find full nutritional breakdowns under each meal on the site. The calories and net carbs are listed on the recipe card for quick reference.
Green Chef 2-Person Keto Meal Plan July 2020 Review
Green Chef makes sourcing sustainable, organic ingredients top priority. They have a great ingredient list and include allergy warnings on their recipes. The prices per meal are higher than some other competitors, but like eating high-quality, organic food from the grocery store, it costs more.
They also have a page on their site that walks you through how to recycle all of the packaging.
As for shipping, you get to choose from weekly (1-3 boxes per week), bi-weekly, or monthly deliveries on Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, or Saturdays. The box is very well insulated and you don’t have to be at home when it is delivered. Your food will stay fresh and cool. Their website is very easy to navigate which makes it simple to change your delivery schedule or skip a week anytime. They now have 7 meal options to choose from!
Let’s check out these dinners!
Meal 1: Beef Patties With Balsamic Glaze, Sautéed Broccoli & Mushrooms with Pesto and Feta Cheese
Net Carbs Per Serving: 15
Calories per serving: 670
Total time, according to Green Chef: 30 minutes
Actual time: 35 minutes
These recipe cards are so handy! (If you can't find yours, check the bottom or sides of the box in between the protective insulation packets!) The front side features a beautiful picture of the completed meal, a mouth-watering description, all the nutritional info, the included ingredients, items you will need to prepare the dish, and any allergens. To top it off, if you have any questions or concerns, they have their phone number on the bottom of each and every recipe. Another great feature is that they color code the bags with the recipes for less confusion!
On the back, you will find a step-by-step guide with pictures on how to prepare your meal. Not only do they give you easy to follow instructions, but they also give helpful hints and tips. These beef patties were Charlie's picking, so let's see how they turned out...
The first step in this recipe is to preheat the oven to 400 degrees F and start chopping our produce. After doing a quick rinse, I chopped the broccoli into bite-sized pieces, cleaned the cremini mushrooms with a damp paper towel and chopped, and halved the shallot lengthwise before cutting into strips.
Next up was forming our beef patties. Using a medium-sized bowl, I added the ground beef, creamy herb-walnut pesto, salt, and pepper, and mixed with my hands. Forming the beef into two patties, I then added them to a hot pan with about 1-1/2 tablespoons of olive oil. I love my cast iron pan for these recipes because it's nice and large and creates the best flavor. While it's a little bit of a pain to get the pan itself seasoned correctly to keep food from sticking, it is totally worth it! The patties seared for about 3 minutes on each side. After they were done getting a light char, I transferred them to a lightly oiled, foil-covered baking sheet for about 5 minutes, until the insides were 160 degrees F.
While the burgers were in the oven, I heated some olive oil over medium heat and added the broccoli, mushrooms, and shallot to the pan. After a quick season of salt and pepper, I cooked these for about 10 minutes until the veggies were tender.
The final step was to make the balsamic vinegar with dijon mustard glaze. To make this glaze, I added 3 tablespoons of water and placed it in a small sauté pan over medium heat. I cooked until the glaze thickened and removed it from the heat.
When all of our components were finished, it was time to plate. I placed a pool of balsamic-dijon glaze on each plate, then topped it with the beef patties. I then added the sautéed veggies with pesto next to the patties and garnished with feta cheese. Yum!! I have to say, this was a great recipe, and I really enjoyed every detail of it. The beef patties were seasoned very well, and the addition of the feta cheese to the tops of them provided the perfect finishing touch. The pesto mixed with the produce was amazing, and really helped the mushrooms and broccoli shine. The balsamic glaze was quite vinegary, but I found it added to the dish when used in small amounts. I was very pleased with this recipe and would totally get this one again!
Meal 2: Steaks with Sun-Dried Tomatoes, Creamy Mushrooms, & Chard Salad with Hazelnuts
Net Carbs Per Serving: 13 grams
Calories per serving: 770
Total time, according to Green Chef: 30 minutes
Actual time: 35 minutes
We love steaks, and although we buy a quarter of beef from a local farmer, I was interested to see how the quality of these organic steaks compared with what we typically buy. I must say, the photo literally had me drooling as well, so how did it compare? Find out below!
In this recipe, we went ahead and chopped and diced our included produce. Before we could dice our sun-dried tomatoes though, we had to soak them in water until they softened. Otherwise, easy peasy!
The next step is to make the chard salad. First, you place the chard in a bowl and drizzle with 1 tablespoon of the lemon-cumin dressing, massaging the leaves until they soften. Add the hazelnuts and drizzle with the remaining dressing, finished by a dash of salt and pepper.
Once the salad is complete, it is time to cook the mushrooms. Using a medium saute pan over medium-high heat, add 1-1/2 tablespoons of cooking oil. When the oil is hot, add the mushrooms with a pinch of salt and pepper. Cook 3-4 minutes. I then added the garlic and 1 tablespoon of butter. This cooked for about 1 minute when I could smell the garlic getting extra fragrant. I then reduced the heat and added the cream cheese with 1/4 cup of water. This simmered for about 5 minutes, and then rested.
Finally, it was time to get the bavette steaks going. I dried them off gently with a paper towel so the rosemary, basil, and sage blend would stick. Adding a bit more salt and pepper, I then placed them in a hot pan with oil. I cooked them for about 7 minutes on each side (I forgot to bring the steaks to room temperature before cooking...rookie mistake!!). I then let them rest on a cutting board for 3 minutes.
While the steaks were cooking, I started working on my pan sauce. I used olive oil and added the tomatoes with their soaking liquid, and the balsamic vinegar to the pan. I simmered this for 6 minutes until it thickened.
Check out that meal!! To plate this, I cut up the steaks and added the sauce, chard salad, and mushrooms on the side. I found the steak to be tender and juicy, and while not quite the size or caliber of our local farmers' steaks, they were really good. I enjoyed the freshness of the chard salad, especially with the hazelnut crunch in it. The sun-dried tomato glaze was interesting, and almost reminded me of a raisin chutney, but in small doses it was excellent with the steak. Our favorite parts were the steak and mushrooms though; those creamy mushrooms were fantastic!! I definitely would order this meal again!!
Meal 3: Chicken with Creamy Pan Sauce, Roasted Mushrooms & Artichokes, Green Beans with Almonds
Net Carbs Per Serving: 19
Calories per serving: 710
Total time, according to Green Chef: 35 minutes
Actual time: 40 minutes
After seeing this photo on the website, I couldn't resist giving them chicken with creamy pan sauce recipe a go. Keep reading to see how it turned out!
Again, we have the very nicely detailed instructions, thankfully, because I don't have much experience with artichokes!
Just like the other recipes, our first step was to rinse and chop all of our produce. For our green beans, we were to trim off stem ends and slice into 2 inch long pieces. All the produce I have received from this box has looked amazing, but that being said, the green beans this time around had some brown spots on them. I cut off what I could, but I was a little disappointed with the quality of these...
Again, we received a bag of sun-dried tomatoes. Before we could chop these we had to submerge them in water to soften them.
Our next step was to roast the mushrooms and artichokes. To do this, we tossed them with a bit of oil and salt and pepper. Spreading them out on a foil-lined pan, I roasted them in the oven for about 10 minutes, stirring halfway through.
To cook our chicken, I patted the chicken breasts dry with a paper towel and added the mustard-herb seasoning and salt. After I heated up cooking oil in my cast iron pan, I added the chicken, searing on each side for 3 minutes. I then transferred the chicken to a foil-lined pan and roasted until it was fully cooked which took about 10 minutes.
While the chicken was roasting, I started on my pan sauce. Using the pan that I cooked the chicken in, I added the yellow onions and cooked for about 3 minutes. I then added the tomatoes, cream cheese, and 1/2 cup of water, stirring until thickened into a sauce. I added a bit of salt and pepper and removed this from the heat.
In a separate pan, I added 1-1/2 tablespoons of oil and tossed my green beans into the hot pan. Once the green beans were lightly browned, I added 1/4 cup of water and cooked until the beans became tender. I removed them immediately from the heat and added in the almonds with a little bit of salt and pepper.
After the chicken rested for a couple of minutes, I cut them each into 5 slices and divided the components between the plates. This recipe was definitely a winner, as the chicken was moist and flavorful, and the sides were all fantastic! The green beans were tasty, especially with the almond crunch added, and the cream sauce was the perfect addition! Not only did I enjoy this, but my family did as well! I hope they offer this again in the future!
The Verdict: This month's Green Chef Keto box was definitely a top contender! I am happy to report that this month I had no leakage issues and all the ingredients (except for a couple of brown-spotted green beans) looked amazing. I love the convenience factor this box has to offer. I literally pick my meals online and they show up at my door, ready to cook. The prep time is relatively short, and cooking up these meals sort of makes me feel like Bobby Flay with all the frying and plating I have been doing! Because I haven't been super low carb, the higher net carbs per serving haven't pushed me over my allotted limit, but I do want to mention that some of these meals are higher carb than what you would typically eat on a keto diet. I have found that a serving can easily be split into 2 portions and still be filling. I know purchasing this box is more expensive than heading to the grocery store, but to receive these organic ingredients without having to leave the comfort of my home, I think it is worth the price, especially because the meals fit into my low-carb lifestyle!
To Wrap Up:
Can you still get this box if you sign up today? No, this week of meals has passed. But, you can sign up for the keto box today and preview the upcoming meals!
ACTIVE DEAL: Limited Time Only! Free Salads for Two Months + 50% Off Your 1st Box. No coupon needed - just use this link.
Value Breakdown: At $12.99 per serving for three meals on the 2-person Keto plan plus $7.99 shipping, the total comes to $85.93. This averages out to about $14.32 per meal.
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