Blue Apron is a subscription meal delivery service. Every week, they send seasonal recipes created by their culinary team and the pre-measured ingredients you need to make them at home.
Check out all of our reviews of Meal Delivery Services to see every meal kit subscription box option!
This is a review of the 2-person, 3-meal subscription plan ($9.99 per serving, or $59.94 per week). I normally cook for myself, but having meal kits delivered to my home has given me a way to lure friends over to help and enjoy the recipes with me. It's so much more fun with a buddy if you can spare one. No buddies? You'll have some leftovers then, so this doubles your value! In addition to their standard 2-Person subscription plan, Blue Apron also offers a Family Plan that features kid-friendly recipes and family-style meals for four.
My Subscription Addiction paid for this box. (Check out the review process post to learn more about how we review boxes.)
About Blue Apron
The Subscription Box: Blue Apron
The Cost: You can choose from a 2 person plan or a family plan:
For the 2 person plan, it's $47.95 ($9.99 per serving + $7.99 shipping) for 2 meals per week or $59.94 ($9.99 per serving + FREE shipping) for the 3 meals per week.
Family plans start at $79.92 ($9.99 per serving + FREE shipping) for the 2 meals per week, $107.88 ($8.99 per serving + FREE shipping) for 3 meals per week, or $143.84 ($8.99 per serving + FREE shipping) for 4 meals per week.
The Products: Fresh ingredients and recipes to make healthy meals at home.
Ships to: U.S. only
Blue Apron May 2018 Review
Blue Apron really cares about sustainability, high-quality produce, responsibly raised meats, the success of smaller farmers, and reducing food waste—which is all important to consider when choosing a meal kit subscription to go with.
You'll see the recipe cards right on top when you first open your box.
Blue Apron ingredients come packaged in a big silver cooler bag that's a lot like bubble wrap. Along with the plastic-wrapped ice packs in the box, the bubble wrap bag keeps the ingredients cool while they travel. A lot of the ingredients from Blue Apron come in bags, labeled, but you have to check out the recipe cards to know which meal they go to. Smaller items like butter or sauces come in a *newly updated plastic* "knick knack" bag so they don't get lost in the shuffle, and those are labeled with the meal name as well. I'm actually pretty stoked that they switched to plastic from brown paper because there was often leakage that got all over everything. The plastic bags are the same as the larger ingredients come in and recyclable as well.
If you choose recipes with meat, you'll find them all the way at the bottom, under this cardboard divider against the ice packs to stay cold.
Ok- let's get to the FOOOOOD!
BBQ Pork Burgers with Crispy Zucchini Fries & Smoky Ketchup
Calories per Serving (as prepared): 840 calories
Total Time According to Blue Apron: 35-45 minutes
Actual Time: 45 minutes
I can't recall making pork burgers ever, so I thought I'd give these a whirl. Plus, I love breaded zucchini!
There was VERY little prep with this one, which I loved.
The dipping sauce was just BBQ sauce and ketchup mixed together. Simple!
I then readied the breadcrumbs in a bowl.
And beat the egg in a bowl as well.
This part was actually kind of tricky. I had cut the zucchini into little sticks, then dipped each in the egg, followed by the breadcrumbs. The breadcrumbs really did not want to stick, so this looks like a big ol' mess. They went into the oven after this for a total of 22 minutes (rotating the sheet halfway through). If y'all have breading tips, I'm all ears.
Next, I mixed the pork with the mustard and some salt and pepper in a bowl. I then formed these lovely patties with my hands.
Into the pan of oil they go! I cooked each side for about 5 minutes.
By this time, the zucchini fries were done. Perhaps a little too done on one end...
The last step was to simply toast the hamburger buns in the pan.
Once on the plate, I topped each burger with remaining BBQ sauce and sliced pickles. Nothing too fancy about this one.
The burger was really quite tasty, but the zucchini fries were kind of a letdown. I think these should have had a mayo-based dipping sauce and the breading just didn't stick very well. Ah well.
Tokyo Beef & Rice Bowls with Soft-Boiled Eggs & Roasted Broccoli
Calories per Serving (as prepared): 860 calories
Total Time According to Blue Apron: 35-45 minutes
Actual Time: 40 minutes
There is something about food with egg on top that I don't normally get down with (unless it's breakfast), but I like rice bowls, so I went for it. It also happens to be one of the recipes in the Airbnb passport (I received a passport booklet and stickers in my box last month).
I knew the soft boiled egg would be a problem, but everything else seemed easy enough. The eggs were the first thing to get cooked, but I had a lot of trouble peeling them without ruining them. I had to try hard not to break them completely open to let the yolk out.
Sauce, as always, was the easiest part. This was soy glaze, soy sauce, and some water.
I cut up the broccoli and then it went into the oven for 15 minutes (this is how they looked when I pulled them out).
While the broccoli cooked, the beef was cooked for a total of about 7 minutes. I transferred it to a plate but left the fond.
Next, the onion and chopped ginger went into the same pan for 5 minutes (until browned).
Then the sauce and beef went back in with the onions and ginger for just another minute (seasoned with salt and pepper too).
The secret rice was also done at this time, so we were all set to plate (or...bowl, as it were).
Here are all of the pieces assembled in a bowl, sprinkled with furikake. It looks really nice, except for that poor egg.
To be honest, I didn't love this as much as I wanted to. I found the beef to be kind of chewy and even though it was filling, it just didn't wow me.
Poblano Pepper & Mushroom Tacos with Jalapeño-Lime Rice
Calories per Serving (as prepared): 570 calories
Total Time According to Blue Apron: 35-45 minutes
Actual Time: 35 minutes
If you've read a lot of my past meal kit reviews, you know I love tacos. I really love poblano peppers in tacos, plus mushrooms are a fave, so I went with this vegetarian selection.
A fair amount of prep work was involved with this one- lots of slicing and dicing.
Crema and lime zest made the topping for these tacos. Zesting is probably my least favorite thing with cooking. It just really annoys me for some reason. Luckily, I didn't need too much (just 2 teaspoons).
In hindsight, I think I cut the mushrooms a bit too small, but here they are cooking in a pan for a total of 7 minutes, adding some salt + pepper.
The mushrooms were transferred out and the onions and peppers went in for 6 minutes, until soft. They were also seasoned with salt + pepper. I ended up using only a little over half of the onion,because I'm not a huge fan. Since these are veggie tacos though, that was one of the main parts of the ingredients. Blerg.
After that, the chopped garlic and half of the spice blend when into the pan and mixed in. The mixture seemed really dry at this point, but it didn't call for any liquid yet. 2-3 minutes went by...
Finally, I added back in the mushrooms, the demi-glace, and a much-needed tablespoon of water. Only a minute was needed to get this all mixed together, and after I turned off the heat, I added the juice of 2 lime wedges.
At this point, I added all of the jalapenos and the rest of the lime juice to the cooked rice I had been saving.
The last direction was to warm the tortillas in the microwave (or oven). Since I don't have a microwave and didn't want to fire up my whole oven for this, I just laid the tortilla on my gas burner for a few seconds, flipped it with tongs, and then a few more seconds on the other side. You have to be careful with this method and always pay attention because the tortillas will catch fire if you leave them for too long (which is not very long at all). Just a few seconds on each side will do the trick. But again, that's just the way I do it, not the way Blue Apron says to.
So- there really wasn't that much to these that made them filling. Partly because I didn't use the whole onion (as a preference), but overall I think this holds true for a lot of veggie options. They just don't seem as filling as the meat ones, by volume.
The crema went on top, along with grated cotija cheese, and it was served with the jalapeno lime rice on the side. I ate the leftovers of these a couple days later and ended up reheating the filling with the rice together and stuffing all of it into the tortilla to make a much more satisfying meal, IMO. There's a lil' #blueapronhack for you.
Verdict: This month's Blue Apron recipes didn't hold up to last month in my book. I wasn't in love with any of them, but the pork burgers were probably my favorite. They all can't be winners, but I just chose some bum recipes or made some rookie mistakes with these. Ah well!
To Wrap Up:
Can you still get this box if you sign up today? Since Blue Apron menus change weekly and you must choose them ahead of time, you won't be able to order these dishes unless they are offered again in the future.
Coupon – New customers, get 5 meals free with your first two orders! No code needed, just use this link No code needed, just use this link
Value Breakdown: At $59.94 for this box (with free shipping), you're paying $9.99 per serving.
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Tell me what I did wrong with my Blue Apron recipes this month. Any breading or egg-peeling tips for me?
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