Home Chef is a subscription meal delivery service that sends a weekly box of “perfectly portioned, premium ingredients, spices & sauces, and easy, step-by-step recipes.”
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The Subscription Box: Home Chef
The Cost: Meals start at $9.95 per serving, and delivery is free for orders over $40.
The Products: Fresh ingredients and chef-designed recipes— everything you need to make restaurant-quality meals at home.
Ships to: 90% of the US. (You can check to see if Home Chef delivers to your zip code here.)
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When you first sign up for Home Chef, you take a short quiz about your meal preferences and dietary restrictions.
Based on this quiz, Home Chef selects meals for you each week. If you’d rather receive different meals, it’s easy to swap them. You can also skip a week whenever you like.
I think the Home Chef website is very user-friendly, and I like how many meal options they offer. Most weeks, Home Chef offers 10 dinner options, a breakfast, a smoothie, and a fruit basket.
When my box shipped, I received an email with tracking information.
Now, on to the food!
Meal #1- Turkey Chili with Cheddar Cheese
Calories: 938 per serving
Prep Time: 25-35 minutes
Difficulty: Easy
With the cold weather we’ve been experiencing here in the northeast, I’m been on something of a soup and stew kick. When I saw this week’s menu, chili was a no brainer!
This dish was quick to pull together: I browned ground turkey, added onion and seasoning, and then mixed in crushed tomatoes, tomato sauce, water, and kidney beans. The recipe called for cooking the chili for a minimum of 10-12 minutes but pointed out that a longer cooking time helps develop flavor and improve taste. Since I wasn’t in a rush, I let the chili cook for about 45 minutes. When it was ready, I transferred it into bowls and topped each portion with sour cream, diced onion, and cheddar.
I usually make vegetarian chili at home (which requires a ton of chopping), so this seemed like it was a breeze to prepare. The flavor was rich, hearty, and comforting, and I like that Home Chef provided a variety of different toppings. The cheese, onions, and sour cream were a welcome addition and added some nice texture and creaminess. Chili may not be the fanciest meal, but it was a comforting dinner after a cold day.
Meal #2- Charred Caprese Tartine with Spinach Salad and Garlic Vinaigrette
Calories: 577 per serving
Prep Time: 25-35 minutes
Difficulty: Easy
I absolutely love the combination of tomatoes, mozzarella, and basil, so my next meal pick for this week was Charred Caprese Tomato Tartines.
This was another dish that was really easy to prepare, After slicing the basil, halving the tomatoes, and chopping some garlic, I was ready to cook!
First, I grilled mini baguettes and then charred the tomatoes. I made the vinaigrette by mixing Champagne vinegar with olive oil, salt, and pepper. I used some of the vinaigrette to make a spinach salad, and the rest I put on the tartness with the charred tomatoes, basil, mozzarella, and pine nuts.
These tartines were kind of like a cross between a Caprese sandwich and a margarita pizza, and they were really tasty! The crunchy baguette was a great base for the soft mozzarella and warm tomatoes, and the fresh basil and pine nuts added nice texture and freshness. My only complaint about this dish is that the spinach salad felt a little like an afterthought, but I thought the sandwich was great.
Meal #3- Caramelized Shallot & Sun-Dried Tomato Spaghetti
Calories: 979 per serving
Prep Time: 25-35 minutes
Difficulty: Easy
My last meal pick for this week was Caramelized Shallot & Sun-Dried Tomato Spaghetti. I couldn’t really tell from the title of this dish what the sauce would be like, but I thought from the look of the photo that it would be thin, maybe olive oil or a light cream sauce.
Instead, it turned out that this sauce was definitely on the thicker side— more like an alfredo sauce.
I boiled the pasta and then made the sauce by combining garlic, heavy cream, and parmesan. Next, I caramelized shallots and tossed the pasta with peas, rehydrated sun-dried tomatoes, and cream sauce. I divided the pasta between two plates, topped each one with caramelized shallots, and garnished the plates with parmesan and parsley.
I liked the various components of this dish, but the sauce was a bit heavy for my taste. Even though the peas and tomatoes added freshness and acidity, I found the sauce too thick and cloying. My husband loved this dish, though, so it’s totally a case of this dish just not being right for me personally— not a problem with the dish itself.
Verdict: Home Chef offers great variety when it comes to meal selection, and I like that the menus often feature classic dishes and comfort foods. Despite not personally being a fan of the spaghetti dish, I think this week’s recipes were pretty great. My husband enjoyed the pasta dish, and I loved both the chili and tartines. In terms of value, Home Chef is very competitively priced in the meal box subscription market. Their meals start at $9.95 per serving, which is cheaper than Plated ($12 per serving) and on par with Blue Apron ($9.99 per serving) and Hello Fresh ($9.90 per serving).
Do you subscribe to Home Chef? Which dishes did you pick last week?
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