Home Chef Review: 3 CNET Editors Gave the Popular Meal Kit a Try

Home Chef is amongst the most favorite meal kit companies and products in 2025, becoming a member of the likes of Blue Apron, Sunbasket, EveryPlate and HelloFresh. With dozens of meal kits and prepared meal subscription companies and products vying for your dinnertime dollars, Home Chef looks to yelp aside itself with essentially the most customizable recipes of any of them, allowing you to swap out one protein for one other or change meat with a plant-essentially based quite numerous. Home Chef meal kits are also just a number of the easiest to attain, with certain dishes spicy up no bigger than 20 minutes of your precious time.

Meal kits can build existence more straightforward and save time, but they’ll also be pricey and can no longer be most attention-grabbing for every eater. To be taught if Home Chef is charge it (and who or no longer it’s handiest for), a meal kit knowledgeable, an editor new to cooking and a wellness editor who also can be vegetarian save several meal kits to the take a look at. I’ve tested Home Chef already, making two weeks’ charge of meals. But I wished to compare notes and opinions with others. I asked two of my fellow editors to construct two to three additional meals each and each to evaluate how Home Chef used to be standing in the present ranks in 2025.

Right here’s our firsthand opinions of Home Chef meal kit transport.

What’s Home Chef and how does it work?

In a sea of competitors, Home Chef has emerged as a main meal kit transport service with an emphasis on flexible and customizable meal plans, and recipes that would perchance per chance per chance be tailored to your taste. The service launched in 2013, moral a year after Blue Apron, and used to be obtained by grocery big Kroger in 2018. For the reason that buyout, particular person Home Chef meal kits can now be bought in most Kroger retail outlets moreover to a mail-dispute subscription.

Home Chef is a subscription service for weekly meal kits, so there might be never always a online risk to aquire one or two meal kits. Contemporary customers tag in by the ranking situation or app and a short quiz helps pick which meal thought is handiest for you, moreover which recipes and substances must always be refrained from.

Then you definately’ll settle the selection of recipes per week — as few as two or as many as six — moreover what number of servings you would luxuriate in per recipe: two, four or six. Subscribers can decide to pick out their maintain meals each and per week or let the Home Chef crew pick them. You’re free to skip per week anytime you would luxuriate in and can add meals or servings (at cost) to your transport as you rush.

I stumbled on the meal thought selection and ordering assignment easy, determined and intuitive. When selecting meal kits, a major differentiator between Home Chef and others is that you might perchance per chance be ready to swap the protein in only about any recipe. Substitute substances embody several steak cuts, hen, small, scallops, mahi mahi and Now no longer potential meat. Sure top charge swaps will incur an upcharge of a pair of dollars, whereas others would perchance per chance per chance no longer.

Meals are delivered as soon as per week in neatly packaged cooler bins, with each and each ingredient pre-portioned in separate plastic baggage and prepared to be cooked. In our first transport, we also bought a miniature Home Chef binder that is made to shield your recipe pages for future use whereas you desire to must recreate meals, which used to be a pleasant touch. Meals must always be made within just a few days of arrival, as many substances will no longer be trustworthy for freezing.

What are Home Chef meals luxuriate in?

Home Chef meals are largely easy to put collectively and do not require a ton of technical skill. The corporate objectives to please a grand selection of eaters, and that way tons of comfort meals and dishes which would perchance per chance per chance be acquainted to American diets. That you would have the ability to no longer look a ton of surprising flavors both, with a complete lot traditional dinner recipes, including burgers with potatoes, baked hen or pork tenderloin with greens and a appetizing sauce, pasta dishes, teriyaki steak and peppers over rice or hen tacos. That’s to no longer assert you might perchance per chance per chance perchance no longer gain some extra ingenious menu objects, corresponding to prosciutto and butternut chowder or bruschetta and small risotto.

Home Chef provides top charge meals it refers to as the “culinary collection,” but they are priced otherwise (extra on that below). A moral tons of Home Chef’s seafood choices, corresponding to crusted ahi tuna and pan-seared mahi-mahi, tumble into the highest charge meal class, as attain increased-quit cuts of beef. In sticking with the theme of flexibility, you might perchance per chance be ready to pop this kind of top charge meals into your weekly dispute anytime (at a charge) whereas you are feeling luxuriate in. Below is an overview of Home Chef’s meal categories.

• Culinary Series: Top charge meal kits with increased-quality substances.
• Notify: Ready in quarter-hour or less.
• Fleet & New: Oven-ready meals that require nearly no prep.
• Oven-Ready: Meals that are available in an oven-ready tray.
• Family: Dishes which would perchance per chance per chance be handiest readily available in 4 or extra servings.
• Plus: Encompass top charge substances and recipes.

Learn extra: Purple Carrot Evaluation: Healthy Plant-Essentially essentially based Cooking Made Straightforward

How easy are Home Chef meal kits to put collectively?

The meals we tried were easy to put collectively, which is without doubt one of many calling cards for the meal kit service. Home Chef has speedy-fire meals using new, pre-portioned substances that rob moral quarter-hour or as a way to construct. There are also some extra refined dinner initiatives that can rob as long as Forty five minutes. Or no longer it’s completely as much as you which form of meals you would luxuriate in to luxuriate in despatched, but beware: Ought to you let Home Chef settle your meals, you would ranking just a number of the Forty five-minute meals on your box.

Our Flex Editor bought two easy meals to rob a be taught at out, including a baked hen dish and burgers with carrots and fries. They were both extraordinarily easy to put collectively and tasty and she had no qualms regarding the quality of the meat or build. In fact, it used to be even her first time making burgers, and she in point of fact apt it a hit.

For the reason that simple hen dish used to be a one-pan meal, it allowed for many time to clear up any miniature messes that were made one day of the preparation whereas the dish used to be baking in the oven. She liked how seamless the recipes were. As an illustration, she made the tomato topping for the hen whereas the veggies were baking, so there used to be no wasted time in between steps.

Ought to you desire to luxuriate in something even extra efficient though, there also is known as a class of oven-ready meals that handiest require assembling the new substances in an aluminum baking tray (equipped) and popping it into the oven with nearly no chopping or prep. These are about as speedy and easy as meal kits ranking, but your bragging rights for a dwelling-cooked meal quit firmly intact. Some meals labeled hiss plus rob handiest 20 or 30 minutes to put collectively and these labeled household meals would perchance per chance per chance be assembled simply in a single pot and are designed to feed as much as six of us.

Improve materials

Each and each meal kit comes with a comprehensive description, nutritional info, prep time and a recipe card with substances and directions. It used to be critically good to luxuriate in a share on the recipe card that detailed what substances would perchance per chance per chance be aged bigger than as soon as so that you’re away beforehand of what you would must shield.

The recipe card facets a pleasant, grand, intellectual image so that you might perchance per chance be ready to visualize the dish and know what to try for, plus photos for each and each step of the assignment. There is also a Home Chef cell app that is functional and easy to utilize. All Home Chef recipes would perchance per chance per chance be stumbled on online in a pinch. The instructions for each and each dish I made were easy ample to apply but, ceaselessly, a bit of wordy. Home Chef tends to give even extra info than the frequent dwelling chef will need, perchance with true beginners in mind.

Our wellness editor does desire that Home Chef equipped extra info on where the build and other substances come from, or a minimal of what they are fabricated from. Let’s assert, when making the elotes quesadillas, in dispute to evaluate what is in the chipotle crema, she had to evaluate at the nutrition info online.

Home Chef enables you to swap without complications proteins

Home Chef’s grand dispute to fame is that its meal kits and plans are highly customizable to fit your needs or your household’s rhythm. That you would have the ability to swap or upgrade the protein in most of the weekly meals. If a meal entails a “customize it” button, that way you might perchance per chance be ready to leap in and swap the hen for pork, for instance. Some proteins, luxuriate in salmon, steak and plant-essentially based proteins, trigger an up-cost of $3 or $4 per portion.

Who’s Home Chef moral for?

We would perchance per chance per chance point out Home Chef for anybody who’s looking out to be taught to cook from scratch or lighten their meal-planning or grocery-taking a be taught load. As a result of varied Home Chef’s meals are immediate and easy to put collectively and can feed as much as six of us, right here’s one of many excellent meal kit companies and products for households or of us which would perchance per chance per chance be new to cooking. Or no longer it’s a long way regularly moral for folk which would perchance per chance per chance be pretty hiss about what they luxuriate in to cook and appreciate because you might perchance per chance be ready to construct so many modifications and swaps. As a result of Home Chef makes it essentially easy to skip weeks — and can no longer cost you for skipping — or no longer it’s big for folk that plug or luxuriate in unpredictable schedules.

Is Home Chef moral for vegetarians and vegans?

Our wellness editor, a vegetarian of two decades who in most cases eats plant-essentially based, tried three vegetarian meals from Home Chef. While they were tasty, the meals were all on the extra indulgent side with tons of cream and cheese. This implies that, this would perchance no longer be a moral fit for vegans, as Home Chef doesn’t supply vegan recipes. She also doesn’t luxuriate in that Home Chef would perchance per chance per chance be a moral selection for vegetarians shopping for additional healthy, non-comfort meals choices.

Is Home Chef wholesome?

Though Home Chef does supply calorie-wide awake, carb-wide awake and vegetarian meals, in step with the three vegetarian meals that she tried, our wellness editor would no longer assert that Home Chef is wholesome. She needs that her recipes had less cream, cheese and pasta with extra of a highlight on wholesome grains and build. However, this all will rely on what recipes you ranking and your maintain dietary preferences. This implies that, she recommends checking the nutrition info for each and each recipe online.

How necessary does Home Chef cost?

Home Chef’s meal kits are bought per kit and you might perchance per chance per chance perchance be ready to yelp as many as six per week. The per-serving tag is $10 for nearly every thought with the exception of for the smallest — two meal kits with two servings each and each — which clocks in at $12 per serving. This locations Home Chef appropriate in the middle when put next with other companies and products. Home Chef is a pair of dollars dearer per meal than Blue Apron and EveryPlate, but more cost effective than top charge companies and products luxuriate in Sunbasket and Green Chef.

However, whereas you tag in this day, you get 30% off your first dispute, which brings the associated price all the most effective way down to $7 per serving, plus free transport (which is before all the pieces $11 per transport, one of many costlier surcharges of any meal kit service) and the service provides frequent discounts and promotions that can bring the associated price of your box down.

What I cooked and the most effective way it went

The three of us cooked 11 Home Chef recipes in total. Ingredients arrived new and intact and not using a spills or spoilage. Fairly just a few the meals I made were ample and a few were greater than that. But just a few proved to be a bit of clunky or overly easy and never charge the associated price, critically brooding about you might perchance per chance be ready to aquire the the same substances for roughly 50% less (I did the mathematics).

Right here’s a plump breakdown.

One-pot pork chili con carne with bacon bits: This pork chili gave the impression overly easy first and major effect but modified into out to be one of many excellent of the bunch. Let’s moral assert I will be adding bacon to my chili from right here on out.

Candy potato bowl with poblano pepper and cilantro-lime rice: This recipe used to be very clunky and and not using a doubt no longer charge the per-serving tag. The poblano used to be a long way too grand. I handiest added three-quarters of it after dicing and the completed dish used to be nonetheless blueprint too hot, even for a spice lover luxuriate in me.

Moo shu pork tacos: This recipe used to be a dapper-fun, speedy and easy meal kit to attain. It took no longer as much as twenty minutes and the flavors were balanced and attention-grabbing, as a result of the toasted sesame oil and fascinating sriracha.

Keto-pleasant pork stuffed peppers: I loved these low-carb Italian-model peppers moral sexy but, as soon as more, with such easy substances, or no longer it’s though-provoking to abdominal paying $10 to $12 per serving.

Honey sriracha hen with crispy wontons used to be an oven-ready meal, that way all I essentially had to attain used to be assemble the hen breast, precut greens and edamame in a baking tray (equipped) and cook for 20 minutes. The temperature and timing were on point and the hen got right here out delicate, whereas the greens stored their snap.

Bruschetta small risotto: This recipe used to be essentially the most refined Home Chef meal kit I cooked. Risotto famously requires a bit of additional consideration than most dishes, but it if truth be told used to be nonetheless pretty easy to construct and a scrumptious meal in the tip. I would perchance per chance per chance luxuriate in wished a bit of additional detailed instruction on tending to the risotto, critically if I were a newbie learning the ropes of the rice dish.

Minecraft mushroom fields beef burger with truffle potato and carrot “torch” fries: This recipe used to be our Flex Editor’s introduction into burger making and she used to be completely chuffed with how they modified into out. Of route, you can’t rush unfriendly with pairing a burger with fries, however the carrots were a pleasant addition. The kit equipped ample beef for four burgers and the build and substances were all new. Even supposing it used to be a beautiful easy meal, the easy mushroom sauce helped luxuriate in it up and added a tasty flavor.

Sheet pan tomato salsa hen with roasted butternut squashlotes: This meal used to be even extra easy than the burgers because it used to be a one-pan meal that required minimal prep and dishes, making it an most attention-grabbing weeknight dinner for a busy household. The hen had a tasty flavor, however the cutlets were relatively skinny in contrast to the photo of the meal equipped by Home Chef, so it wasn’t essentially the most filling dinner.

Vegetarian Home Chef recipes

Mexican-model elotes quesadillas: While our wellness editor stumbled on this recipe easy to construct in about 35 minutes and scrumptious, it used to be on the extra indulgent side. Though each and each serving used to be 610 calories, it did luxuriate in 71% of the every day cost of salt and 80% of the every day cost of saturated tubby. This implies that, our wellness editor went gentle on the salt, cheese and crema. She also added pinto beans for additional variety and fiber.

Cozy gnocchi soup: Once more, whereas tasty, this recipe used to be on the heavier side with a cream sauce infamous, Parmesan cheese and gnocchi. Our wellness editor had anguish finishing the dish because it used to be so filling. It also contained 80% of the every day cost of sodium, so she used to be careful no longer as a way to add additional salt one day of the cooking assignment.

Tacky basked spinach rigatoni: Just like the quite numerous two vegetarian meals, this used to be on the heavier side with the cream sauce infamous, butter, Swiss cheese and a French roll. It used to be tasty, but after two other indulgent meals, our wellness editor wished something a bit of lighter and additional build-forward.

Home Chef packaging and environmental friendliness

In a old search, Home Chef bought the worst inexperienced ranking of four main meal kit companies and products that were tested for plastic extinguish in packaging. Each and each recipe is housed in its maintain plastic receive, and there are many miniature plastic baggage and containers within them. Moreover the intense plastic linked with each and each meal, most of the the leisure of the packaging is recyclable, including the bins, insulation sheets and ice packs.

Our wellness editor thought that Home Chef would perchance per chance attain a greater job packaging its substances, since just a number of the the same substances were repackaged two or three times for one recipe. Individually, she also stumbled on the binder to be a extinguish because or no longer it’s no longer something she needs in her kitchen and would luxuriate in most favorite the recipe cards on their maintain. (However, whereas you point out to stick with Home Chef for a extraordinarily long time, she acknowledges that the binder would perchance per chance per chance be good to luxuriate in on hand.) Such as other meal kits she’s tested, she needs there used to be extra biodegradable or compostable packing, or a technique of sending the ice packs assist for reuse.

Our editors’ experiences when put next

Editor Title	Cooking experience	Meals preference	CNET feature	Key opinions on Home Chef
David Watsky	Skilled chef and meal kit knowledgeable	Gluten-free	CNET’s Kitchen & Home Tech Senior Editor	– Person-pleasant service struck a honest appropriate steadiness with consistently moral meal kits that were unpretentious and easy to put collectively. – Realized many recipes clunky and never charge the $10-$12 per serving cost. – Preferred the power to swap proteins and skip weeks. – Total, Home Chef would perchance per chance no longer be charge the associated price in contrast with other companies and products luxuriate in Blue Apron.
Corin Cesaric	Beginner cook	Meat and veggies, plus plant-essentially based choices	CNET’s Successfully being & Home Flex Editor	– Realized the ease and quickness refreshing. – Had no concerns regarding the quality of the meat or build.
Anna Gragert	An experienced dwelling cook	Vegetarian, health-wide awake	CNET’s Successfully being & Wellness Editor	– Now no longer the excellent meal kit service for vegetarians or vegans. – Meals were tasty but on the indulgent side and never as wholesome as most favorite. – Prefers extra accessible info on ingredient sourcing and less plastic packaging.

The final verdict on Home Chef

This person-pleasant service struck a honest appropriate steadiness with consistently moral meal kits that were unpretentious and easy to put collectively. I love the power to commerce proteins in almost any recipe and I am obvious households with picky eaters will, too. Within the tip, tons of the meal kits I prepared moral felt unrefined and just a number of the recipes were a bit of clunky. I would perchance per chance let that spin if Home Chef meal kits cost no longer as much as they attain, but at $10 to $12 a serving, tons of the meals I made moral didn’t seem charge the associated price.

However, in our most most recent tests, Flex Editor Corin Cesaric, who’s a self-proclaimed amateur cook, stumbled on the easiness and quickness of her two meals refreshing. As for Anna Gragert, our wellness editor and a vegetarian of two decades, she stumbled on that Home Chef is no longer the excellent meal kit service for vegetarians or vegans.

Evaluation that with Blue Apron, one other meal kit service I’ve tested, which provides excessive-quit recipes corresponding to bistro steaks and roasted trout, for a more cost effective tag per serving than Home Chef whereas you keep in mind transport. Blue Apron and other meal kit companies and products don’t enable for as necessary customization as Home Chef. If that is main for you and the crew you are feeding, Home Chef would perchance per chance per chance be the valid fit to construct your dinner routine a snap.