Home Chef is a meal kit subscription that delivers a weekly box of the pre-portioned ingredients needed to make 2-6 meals that feed two, four, six, or eight people. Home Chef advertises easy recipes that can be made in about 30 minutes. They offer vegetarian, gluten-free, and calorie/carb-conscious recipes.
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This is a review of my customized delivery that includes three 2-serving dinner options (3 x $9.95/serving) with $7.99 shipping, bringing the cost of this box to $67.69.
Please note that Home Chef shipping costs may vary. Some readers are charged for delivery while others report free shipping. Check your account to confirm what your shipping costs will look like, as they may be different than mine.
This box was sent to us at no cost for review. (Check out the review process post to learn more about how we review boxes.)
About Home Chef
The Subscription Box: Home Chef
The Cost: Meals for 2 start at $6.99 per serving. Shipping costs $13.99 for orders under $49.99 and $7.99 for orders over $49.99. (Note that some subscribers have reported that they are not charged shipping fees. Check your account to confirm what your shipping costs will look like.)
The Products: Fresh ingredients and chef-designed recipes — everything you need to make restaurant-quality meals at home.
Ships to: 98% of the U.S. You can check to see if Home Chef delivers to your zip code while signing up.
Home Chef June 2021 Review
When you first sign up for Home Chef, you take a short quiz about your meal preferences and dietary restrictions. They ask what you like to eat, as well as what you tend to avoid. Based on your answers, Home Chef will choose recipes for you to receive each week. As is the case with most meal kit services, you can log in and hand-select the recipes you’d like to receive. Note though, that the more particular you are with your diet, the fewer options you’ll have.
Now, on to the food!
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Meal #1: Garlic-Thyme Roasted Chicken with Green Beans and Apples, 525 calories per serving
Prep & Cook Time: 30-40 minutes | Difficulty Level: Intermediate
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One of the things I love most about meal kit delivery services is that they frequently push me out of my comfort zone when it comes to recipes and ingredient pairings. That was certainly the case with this dish. I mean, apples and green beans? I don't think those two have ever shared a sauteé pan in my kitchen before, but as soon as I saw the combo, I was intrigued.
Home Chef did not let me down. Despite my initial uncertainty, this dish delivered. The apples and beans worked well together. The "green" flavor of the beans married well with the sweetness of the apples, and the caramelization on the shallots bridged the flavors together and helped the whole dish make sense. One small thing to note is that the apple I received was clearly a different variety than the one shown on the recipe card, which meant my finished dish looked a bit different than the one pictured. But that's no big deal. The chicken featured in this dish was pretty standard: seared chicken with sauce. The sauce was creamy (though maybe a bit thin), and while it was tasty, I thought the veggies were the star of the show. Altogether, though, this was a fun and unexpected weeknight dinner. The sheet pan cooking method meant easy prep and minimal dishes, and the meal was tasty and not too heavy. I'm looking forward to mixing apples and beans together again soon. I think I might add some butter, rosemary, and a cinnamon stick to really play up the flavor of the apples.
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Meal #2: BBQ Gouda Juicy Lucy with Cheesy Center and Macaroni Salad, 1038 calories per serving
Prep & Cook Time: 30-40 minutes | Difficulty Level: Intermediate
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Home Chef frequently features creative burger recipes on their menu, and I found this one too decadent to resist! I just love the idea of cooking up burgers and macaroni salad for dinner like I'm enjoying my own private indoor barbecue. Let me explain just how crazy indulgent these burgers are. You start by stuffing the patties full of cheese, cook them until the inside gets nice and melty, and then stack them up on a bun topped with pickles, crispy onion, and BBQ sauce.
There was a little cheesy explosion in the center that I was concerned might affect the success of this dish, but I needn't have been worried. The ooey-gooey patty was delicious. There were a lot of flavors going on in this burger, but it all worked. It actually reminded me of a burger you'd see featured on the menu at a specialty burger joint! Each bite was a little bit different. One would be big on rich cheese flavor. The next would highlight the tangy BBQ sauce. Then I'd get a big mouthful of crunchy onion. I couldn't get enough! Now, did I need a big side of macaroni salad on the side of this burger? Probably not. A salad or potato wedges would probably have been a more sensible choice (that would surely have brought down the whopping 1038 calorie count), and the pasta felt like a little bit of an afterthought when compared to the burger. The burger was crazy good, and the macaroni salad just didn't have much to add in the flavor department. It needed something, but I'm not quite sure what. Celery? Boiled egg? Something.
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Meal #3: Thai-Style Peanut-Crusted Salmon with Green Onion Rice and Sesame Slaw, 860 calories per serving
Prep & Cook Time: 35-45 minutes | Difficulty Level: Intermediate
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My final meal pick for this shipment was Thai-Style Peanut-Crusted Salmon. I'm a sucker for Thai flavors, and I love salmon, so this seemed like a perfect fit. Prep for this dish was fairly straightforward. I cooked some rice and made the slaw by combining pre-made dressing with olive oil and cilantro. But the prep instruction for the salmon caught my attention. To make the crust, Home Chef had me combine peanuts with panko breadcrumbs. I'm not sure I would have ever thought to mix these two together to use as a breading for fish, but wowzer is it clever.
I have cooked salmon a hundred different ways, and this recipe showed me something new. The nutty coating was delicious, and after topping with the sweet chili sauce... yum. Crunchy, crispy, nutty, sweet. All the flavors highlighted the richness of the salmon and added some textural interest. My only issue with this dish had to do with the rice. I enjoy a big plate of food and this dish hit the spot, but if I'm honest, I'm not sure the rice added a whole lot. There wasn't really enough sauce to mix into the rice, so most of my rice bites were fairly plain. Even a little lime juice in the rice would have helped up the flavor dynamic. But I loved the salmon and the savory slaw.
Verdict: This month's Home Chef box was pretty great. I was introduced to some new flavor combinations, and there were a couple of things that really wowed me. First of all, that crusted salmon. SO good. I also loved the burger and had a lot of fun whipping up a super-indulgent dinner that would have been right at home on the menu of a gastropub. On the other end of the spectrum, I thought the macaroni salad and white rice were a little underwhelming, but overall, this was a pretty solid box.
In terms of value, this box cost $59.70 with $7.99 shipping, bringing the cost of this box to $67.69. Is this the cheapest way to get dinner on the table? Maybe not, but it's certainly less expensive than dining out or ordering food delivery. For me, I appreciate the value in what Home Chef provides. I love being able to skip a trip to the grocery store, and the meal kits make dinner prep a breeze.
To Wrap Up:
Can you still get this box if you sign up today? No, this week's meals have passed. But, you can sign up for Home Chef today and receive meals next week!
Value Breakdown: This box costs $59.70, or $9.95 per serving. Shipping is $13.99 for orders under $49.99 and $7.99 for orders over $49.99.
Check out all of our Home Chef reviews and our list of the best meal kit subscriptions! And check out our weekly meal kit menu round-up to see what's coming up on the Home Chef menu.
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