Facebook PixelPlated Subscription Box Review + Coupon – January 2017 | MSA
My Subscription Addiction
My Subscription Addiction
Our reviewers research, test, and recommend the best subscriptions and products independently; click to learn more about our editorial guidelines. We may receive commissions on purchases made through links on our site.

Plated Subscription Box Review + Coupon – January 2017

Lindsey Morse
ByLindsey MorseApr 11, 2017 | 11 comments

Plated-december-2016-box

Plated
3.7 overall rating
43 Ratings | 23 Reviews

Plated delivers a weekly box of pre-portioned fresh and seasonal ingredients, everything you need to cook their chef-designed recipes at home in your own kitchen. Each week, they offer a different menu, and you can select which dishes you’d like to make, how many plates of each dish you’d like to serve, and when you’d like to receive your delivery. You can skip a week at any time.

At least three of the dishes offered on every menu are vegetarian. Plated also regularly rotates in vegan and dairy-free options. They’re committed to using sustainably sourced seafood, seasonal produce, and meat that’s free from antibiotics and added hormones. (Check out Plated Menus to see what's coming in future weeks!)

Plated also makes it easy to pick recipes that suit your lifestyle. Each recipe clearly lists calorie content and prep time.

Plated-december-2016-box-inside

Check out all of our reviews of Meal Delivery Services to see every meal kit subscription box option!

My Subscription Addiction pays for this subscription. (Check out the review process post to learn more about how we review boxes.)

Plated-december-2016-review

The Subscription Box: Plated

The Cost: Recipes begin at $12 per plate.

  • 2 recipes (4 plates)= $48 per week (+ $6 shipping).
  • 3 recipes (6 plates)= $72 per week (with free shipping).
  • 4 recipes (8 total plates)= $96 per week (with free shipping).
  • Dessert costs $4 per serving.

LIMITED TIME DEAL: Save $30 off your first order, no coupon required, 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 US. (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.)

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!

Plated-december-2016-recipe

Each week, Plated offers a different menu with 11 dishes to choose from. After your first order, you can also add on dessert at a cost of $4 per serving. There are two different desserts available each week.

Plated-december-2016-email

When my box shipped, I received an email letting me know that I would need to have the following “pantry items” on hand: olive oil, black pepper, and kosher salt.

Plated-december-2016-pack

Plated packs every box with meats on the bottom, surrounded by cold packs, and everything else on top, bundled by recipe.

Meal #1-  Saucy Meatball Sliders with Classic Caesar Salad

Calories Per Serving: 760

Cook Time: 35-45 minutes

Plated-december-2016-meatball-recipe

I’ve been subscribing to Plated for almost two years now, and this is one of the first recipes I ever ordered. It still sticks out in my mind as one of my favorite subscription box meals ever, so when I saw it was back on this week’s menu as a featured encore recipe, I couldn’t resist adding it to my box!

Plated-december-2016-meatball-prep

After cleaning and prepping all of my ingredients, I made the meatballs by mixing ground beef with ricotta, breadcrumbs, an egg, and a little bit of marinara. I arranged them on a baking sheet and baked them in the oven at 450.

Plated-december-2016-meatball-salad

While the meatballs cooked, I made caesar dressing by combining anchovy paste, mayo, Parmesan, lemon, and garlic paste and drizzled it over romaine lettuce.

When the meatballs were done, I tossed them in sauce, toasted the slider buns, and then assembled the sandwiches.

Plated-december-2016-meatball

The sliders were just as good as I remembered. The meatballs were tender, moist, and full of flavor, and I’m a big fan of Nello’s jarred sauce. I also love that Plated sent enough Parmesan to top each slider with a big heap of cheese! The salad was great, too. Plated’s caesar dressing is some of the best I’ve ever had— I can’t believe it was so quick and easy to make!

Meal #2- Baked Penne with Roasted Mushrooms and Ricotta

Calories per Serving: 840

Cook Time: 40-50 minutes

Plated-december-2016-penne-recipe

My next meal choice for this box was Baked Penne with Roasted Mushrooms and Ricotta.

Plated-december-2016-penne-prep

Unlike the last dish, this recipe provided ingredients to make the sauce from scratch. I cleaned and chopped the provided veggies, roasted the mushrooms, and made the sauce from onion, garlic, tomato paste, red wine, and chopped tomatoes.

Plated-december-2016-penne-raw

I let the sauce simmer, and I cooked the pasta. When both were ready, I assembled the pasta dish. I stirred the sauce into the pasta along with Parmesan, mushrooms, and parsley and then transferred it into a disposable pan that was included in the box. I topped the pasta with ricotta and mozzarella and baked it in the oven at 450.

Plated-december-2016-penne-baked

When the cheese melted and started to brown, it was ready!

I divided the pasta between two plates and topped each portion with chopped parsley.

Plated-december-2016-penne

The pasta was tasty and really cheesy. Plated provided a mushroom medley for this dish, which added a nice meatiness and lots of flavor. Also, I have to say that this recipe made a ton of food! Divided between two, our plates were heaping! (I think I could have easily divided this between three or four if I’d added a side dish like a salad.)

Meal #3- Peanut Chicken Curry with Sticky Rice

Calories: 660

Cook Time: 30-40 minutes

Plated-december-2016-chicken-recipe

My last meal pick for this box was Peanut Chicken Curry. Plated’s photo of this dish made it look too good to pass up!

Plated-december-2016-chicken-prep

I tend to think of curry as being complex and time-consuming, but this recipe was simple and quick! I began by bringing a can of lite coconut milk to a simmer and stirring in peanut butter, gochujang, ginger, fish sauce, and lime juice.

I cut chicken breasts into bite-sized pieces and then sauteed them in a little oil. When they were no longer pink, I added them to the sauce along with some fresh spinach.

While the curry simmered, I cooked the sticky rice and then kneaded it until it was nice and sticky.

Plated-december-2016-chicken

When everything was ready, I plated the curry with rice and topped it with bean sprouts.

Plated-december-2016-chicken-detail

This dish came together for me in less than 30 minutes, and the flavor was incredible. I’d be impressed if I was served this dish in a restaurant, so I’m thrilled that I was able to make it myself at home! The sauce was delicious— rich, peanutty, tangy, and a little spicy. So good!

Verdict: This box from Plated was outstanding. All of the dishes were great, and the sliders and curry were both fantastic. Plated is a little pricier than some of the other subscription meal boxes out there (Home Chef, Hello Fresh, and Blue Apron are all a bit more affordable), but Plated consistently comes up with recipes that really wow me. For that reason, it’s one of the meal boxes I look forward to most every month.

Do you subscribe to Plated? Have you tried any of the meals I picked this week?

Starting at $35.85
Active Deal
Get 25% off your first four weeks (up to $159 in savings)
Subscribe Now
This weekly meal kit delivery subscription lets you select from a diverse, ever-changing menu of 20 recipes per week that feature responsibly sourced meats, sustainable seafood, and seasonal ingredients. They're also the only meal kit box to offer add-on desserts! Choose to receive everything you ne... read more.
Lindsey Morse
Lindsey Morse

Lindsey is a professional baker, cold brew coffee addict, and rosé aficionado who loves writing about food and wine. When she’s not sharing her love of subscription boxes with the world, you’ll find her in the podcasting studio, perfecting her cake decorating techniques, or cursing her way through the New York Times daily crossword puzzle. 


Join the Conversation

Please do not enter your email address in the Name field or in the comment content. Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *. Remember to post with kindness and respect. Comments with offensive language, cruelness to others, etc will not be approved. See our full comment policy here.

11 comments

Gabby

I have been using plated since October, and I have to agree the meatball sliders were such a hit that I ordered them again the next time they were up! So easy to make, and definitely more than enough food. I have a seafood allergy, so unfortunately it is rare that I am able to have caesar dressing. I appreciate the fact that Plated gives you the recipe for the dressing and kept the ingredients separate so that I could just leave out the anchovy paste!

I checked all the subscription services and found that I could find at least 2 meals for most weeks that I would want to eat on plated, whereas the other services I couldn’t. I’ve never had a problem with any of my boxes and have re-made meals on my own many times now from plated recipes.

Reply ButtonReply

nursermk

As always, your photos make it all look so easy and delicious… On comparing between this, Blue Apron and Hello Fresh, this one shows the contents and packaging as fresh, generous, with a nice variety and few problems. My friend had lots of problems with HF (spilled and/or spoiled contents, missing ingredients which made me nervous about them, and BA menu choices are not as interesting to me, but that is a matter of taste.

Reply ButtonReply

Michelle

Yum! Every one of those dishes was drool worthy.

Reply ButtonReply

May

I got the Meatball Sliders as an encore recipe too since I loved them so much the first time, and they were just as delicious as I remembered! I also had the chicken curry, which I loved and was similarly surprised about how easy it was to make.

Tonight I’ll be making my final dish for the week – fish tacos. I hope they’re equally tasty!

Reply ButtonReply

Amy

I saw they have dairy-free options and vegan options. My husband would love this.

Reply ButtonReply

Jessica

I agree too. That curry was AMAZING. My husband loved it. We’ll have to go and see if there’s anything we’re willing to swap out over the next two week’s worth of meals for those meatball sliders.

Reply ButtonReply

Kristin

I have been debating on the sliders, thanks for the review.

Reply ButtonReply

Macy

You should definitely try them while they’re still available! One of my favorite Plated meals ever! We make them at home all the time now, and the salad is equally fantastic!

Reply ButtonReply

Nicole

I agree with this review – this is one of the meals I really remember from Plated. I’ve ordered it each week it’s available this month! I would recommend it!

Reply ButtonReply

Debbie

I had the curry and loved it! So did the picky hubby, it was a winner of a dish. Looks like I need to add the sliders next time they hit my menu. 🙂

Reply ButtonReply

Kate

I made the meatball slidera last night and they were awesome. The caesar salad was also really good. My husband loved this recipe and I immediately went on the website and reordered for the end of January. I hope they bring this back again soon.

Reply ButtonReply