I Tried The New Blue Apron Meals and Was Impressed by the Quality and Speed of My Dinners

The meal kit pioneer just reinvented itself, and the result is quicker dinners that deliver on taste and flexibility.
blue apron review

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The OG meal kit giant, Blue Apron, is still innovating in the world of home-cooking-meets-delivery. This month, the company unveiled a shiny new rebrand that includes a refreshed ordering experience and a business model geared toward busy people (or at least people who don’t want to cook all the time—which, same).

The brand is doing away with the subscription model it pioneered in the meal kit space. You can still save a few bucks by opting into autoshipping if you want the familiar set-it-and-forget-it approach, but for those of us who just want a few meals here and there when things get hectic, Blue Apron won’t lock you into any long-term commitments.

The options have also expanded. The menu now includes over 100 weekly meals, with 75 that are further customizable (you can swap shrimp for salmon or ground beef for pork, for example). There are also more heat-and-eat prepared options for people who want to do as little cooking as possible.

I tried the new Blue Apron model. Here’s what I thought.

What’s the Blue Apron ordering experience?

Instead of going through a lengthy sign-up flow that requires personal details like your email, zip code, food preferences, and allergies, new and existing customers are directed straight to the weekly menu to select meals. Like shopping for a new back-to-school wardrobe, you simply scroll through the options and add whatever catches your eye to your cart.

There are now three types of Blue Apron meals:

  • Assemble and Bake, which require less prep work and fewer dishes than a traditional meal kit (the meal is often cooked in a foil baking dish that comes in your delivery).
  • Dish, which are entirely premade and just need to be heated in the microwave or oven.
  • Meal Kits, i.e., Blue Apron’s original bread and butter. Think recipe cards and preportioned ingredients. You’ll need to chop veggies and spend some time at the stove.
blue apron - blue apron meal kit assortment

Blue Apron Meal Kits

Image may contain: Food, Food Presentation, Meal, Business Card, Paper, Text, and Bowl

Dish by Blue Apron

Blue Apron Assemble and Bake

Blue Apron Assemble and Bake

Since there are no plans or subscriptions, you’re free to select as many meals from each category as you’d like.

While I appreciate this flexibility, I was a little overwhelmed by the expansive menu. Currently, you can only filter the meals by cooking time (5, 15, 30, 45, and 60-plus minutes) and protein type. I’d love to see filters for allergens or other dietary preferences.

In addition to full meals, you can also order bottled, premixed smoothies and extra proteins à la carte, most of which are raw.

Each item is priced per serving, and Assemble and Bake and Meal Kits can be ordered for two or four people. Dish meals each serve one. Per-serving prices range from $6.99 (a pork and sausage breakfast burrito) to $13.49 (a meal kit of Bacon Gouda Prime Beef Burgers with BBQ Mayo and Arugula Salad). Autoshipping saves you 5% per box. There’s a $35 order minimum, and standard shipping costs $9.99.


What to expect in a Blue Apron box

After you place an order, Blue Apron keeps you in the loop with plenty of emails and texts. I ordered in August, and my boxes arrived sufficiently packed with ice packs. Everything was cold, and the raw proteins were kept at the bottom of the box in direct contact with the ice.

Dish meals arrive in labeled plastic trays, while Assemble and Bake and Meal Kits come in labeled clear plastic bags filled with ingredients. There’s no way around it: If you’re doing any amount of prep or cooking with Blue Apron, these meals will fill your trash can with packets, trays, and tiny plastic bags—not to mention the giant ice packs and cardboard boxes.


What I liked about Blue Apron

Meal Kits

I sampled the Chili Crisp Beef Bao Buns Meal Kit, which is billed as a 25-to-35-minute endeavor. It was involved but not stressful. The buns arrived premade and just needed warming. My tasks included searing shishito peppers, slicing a cucumber for a quick pickle, mixing a three-ingredient spicy hoisin mayo, and shaping and cooking beef patties to fill the buns.

The four-step instructions suggest using the same skillet for the shishitos and patties, which I appreciated to minimize dishes. The grass-fed beef was excellent—juicy, flavorful, and high-quality even with minimal seasoning. The whole meal took me under 30 minutes and was overall a satisfying dinner. The quick-pickled cucumbers were a bright, acidic counterpoint to the rich buns.

Dish

The Dish options from Blue Apron generally adhere to a formula of protein, veggie, and sauce. Some are more starch-heavy, including the Coconut Korma Chicken I tried, which comes on a bed of saffron-infused rice. This dish is marked as a “customer favorite,” and I can see why. There’s an ample amount of rice, the chicken thighs are juicy and tender, and the coconut korma sauce is deeply flavorful and rich.

Dishes arrive refrigerated, and they’re hot and ready to eat after three to five minutes in the microwave. The sauce on the chicken and rice dish comes in a sort of chilled butter button. It melted into the chicken and rice and coated every grain. If you don’t have a microwave, the dish can be heated in the oven.

Assemble & Bake

I tried the Sheet Pan Shrimp Panzanella Assemble and Bake meal. It’s billed as a 20-minute recipe, and this was pretty accurate. Aside from tearing up a baguette, I had to do almost no prep work. I didn’t have to touch a knife or cutting board, just a baking sheet and a mixing bowl. The instructions were clear and easy to follow, and I loved the finished dish.

The kale and fresh dill were both in great shape after transit. There was plenty of shrimp for two people, and the crispy bread and salty olives made for an excellent meal. This dish relied on a premade sachet of roasted garlic pesto, which saved most of the prep time.


What I didn’t like about Blue Apron

Overall, I was impressed by the quality and variety of Blue Apron’s meals, though I did run into a few small drawbacks.

For instance, the beef bao bun meal kit only included microwave reheating instructions for the buns, which could be limiting if you don’t own one. The flavor was still enjoyable, but it leaned more toward a fun hamburger-with-hoisin twist rather than a classic bao. On the plus side, the shishito peppers were excellent (I wish there were more!), and the beef itself was juicy and flavorful.

The packaging can feel a little excessive, especially if you’re cooking multiple meals in a week. That said, it’s fairly standard for meal kits, and the trade-off is that every ingredient arrives neatly portioned and well-protected, which makes cooking faster and easier. Though I felt the time estimates were accurate, some of the instructions, if you opted for a four-person meal rather than two, were harder to follow.

I was sent the incorrect recipe card for one of my meals. All Blue Apron recipes are online, but the format requires you to click to advance to the next step, which can get messy during cooking. One of my meals was also missing an ingredient, which fortunately was mayo, so I could make the replacement from my own fridge.

Finally, oil, salt, and pepper aren’t included, and some of the seasoning directions are on the broad side (“season with salt and pepper”). While that could be tricky for beginners, it also leaves room to adjust the seasoning to your own taste.


The verdict: Is Blue Apron worth it?

Blue Apron’s higher degree of flexibility, along with the variety of flavors, meal types, and time commitment, makes it a great choice for saving time in the kitchen without sacrificing taste and quality. There’s something for every palate, schedule, and culinary ability, and the meals are cheaper than you’d likely pay for delivery. Plus, there’s no grocery shopping (though the $10 delivery fee is a pain).

I’d reorder from Blue Apron to cover a week when I don’t have the time or simply don’t feel like cooking. As long as you don’t mind taking out the trash an extra time or two, it’s a smart way to get a variety of tasty dishes on the table with minimal to no prep work.

blue apron - blue apron meal kit assortment

Blue Apron Meal Kits


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