The best meal delivery services and kits of 2026, tested and reviewed

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Nowadays, there's a meal kit delivery service for just about anyone, whether you're on the hunt for a new recipe and don't mind a little chopping, or if you want a meal you can just pop in the microwave. Regardless, the best meal kits take all the guesswork and shopping out of cooking. All the meal kits we've tested cost around $8 to $20 a serving — more than you'd usually spend on groceries, but way cheaper and healthier than eating out every night.

We've tested dozens of meal kits and meal delivery services to find the best for everyone, whether you're cooking for your family, have dietary restrictions, or need pre-made meals. Our top pick is Blue Apron, which offers customizable, tasty meals without requiring a subscription. For fresh, heat-and-eat meals, we're continually impressed with Factor's quality and flavor.

The best meal kits we've tried

Best overall: Blue Apron

Best for quick dishes: HelloFresh

Best pre-made: Factor

Best for special diets: Sunbasket

Best for variety: Home Chef

Best vegan: Purple Carrot

Best overall

Blue Apron has earned its status as one of the best meal kit services. Blue Apron offers well-composed, flavorful, and creative dinner ideas featuring high-quality ingredients and easy-to-follow recipes. Over the last few years, every delivery we've received has been on time, completely accurate, and neatly packaged. We also love that ordering from Blue Apron doesn't require a subscription — while you'll save by creating an autoship order, you can order options a la carte without any strings attached.

There's something for just about everyone. The sizable weekly menu is filled with delicious and thoughtful recipes that make it difficult to choose just a few a week. There are plans and options for omnivores, vegetarians, and health-conscious eaters. The portions are decent, and sometimes there are enough for leftovers. Plus, with meal kits, heat and eat meals, and assemble and bake recipes, you can choose how much time and effort you'd like to commit to cooking.

The plans are customizable, but extras add up quickly. We love that the service is customizable, with meal plans for two-person and four-person families and add-ons like meat and seafood bundles, spice blends, and premium meals from celebrity chefs. One downside to all the extra options is that it's considerably more expensive than standard meals, and you can quickly spend double that if you factor in premium meals and shipping.

Best for quick dishes

HelloFresh shines with quick meal kits with easy preparation. Of the many meal kits we tested, HelloFresh had the most accurate estimated preparation times, and they rarely exceeded 30 minutes. For cooks with busy schedules, the service makes it easy to squeeze in a full and complete home-cooked meal.

Just because the meals cook fast doesn't mean they aren't delicious. Even though you won't be spending that much time cooking, the final meals are interesting and delicious. For example, the Tuscan Shrimp and Orzo was easy to prepare, requiring nothing but shrimp, orzo pasta, and roasted tomatoes, but it was still a flavorful meal that took less than half an hour to cook.

The menus are flexible. Like its competitors, HelloFresh has a recipe archive where you can get the instructions for all your favorite meals (not just the ones that are on the docket this week). And if you have dietary restrictions, HelloFresh lets you select a veggie-friendly menu right from the get-go, helping to avoid sifting through recipes that you won't be able to eat. The service also has some add-ons, including snacks, desserts, pantry basics, and produce.

Read our full HelloFresh review. 

Best pre-made

Factor is the best place to buy pre-made meals. We tried 56 pre-made meals from eight different services, and Factor came out on top. The meals tend to have generous protein portions and be lower in starches and carbs. You can also choose from calorie-smart, keto, vegetarian, or vegan meals.

The meals are fresh, not frozen, though they are freezer-friendly. Unlike some pre-made meal services, Factor meals don't arrive frozen and are meant to be eaten within seven days. They are freezer-friendly, though the final product can lose some texture. When I froze one dish, I ended up with a wonderful garlic pork tenderloin but a watery Asiago cauliflower mash.

The meals are specifically designed to taste amazing when reheated. The Factor chefs are well aware of the limitations of reheated food. Instead of including crunchy elements, a texture almost impossible to get in the microwave, the meals contain foods that do well when reheated. For example, you'll see things like creamed spinach, polenta, and shrimp in a cream sauce. Overall, this made for a more successful menu.

There's a good variety. Two to three new meals are added to the menu every week, so there's a good variation for regular customers. Also, these meals are easy to store because they're flat on the bottom and top — great for stocking your freezer.

Check out our full Factor meal delivery review.

Best for special diets

Sunbasket excels at sourcing organic, responsible ingredients. As a USDA-certified organic company, Sunbasket stands out for its use of organic produce and clean ingredients. Over 99% of the produce it sources is organic, and it takes seasonality seriously when developing its recipes. In addition, it provides responsibly raised meats and poultry, focusing on antibiotic- and hormone-free meats, pasture-raised or grass-fed animals, and wild-caught seafood. Sunbasket will impress anyone who takes sourcing seriously and wants to eat more responsibly and sustainably. 

There's a plan for almost every diet. When you sign up for Sunbasket, you can choose a pre-curated plan based on certain dietary preferences, such as paleo, pescetarian, or diabetes-friendly. You can also mix and match meals yourself. The menu is easy to sort by features like soy-free, dairy-free, or ready in under 20 minutes. 

It makes meal prep as convenient as possible. When it comes to the actual cooking process, Sunbasket looks to make things as easy as possible and takes care of some of the more tedious components for you. For example, butternut squash will come to you pre-cut, and cauliflower rice comes pre-ground so you don't have to pull out your food processor. The sauces are also premade, not to mention the tastiest of all the meal kits we tested. 

Plus, you can add on a ton of extras. Sunbasket is much more than an organic meal kit service. It provides add-on options like egg bites, hummus, bagels, and meats from vetted brands that tend to be paleo, gluten-free, vegan, and/or Non-GMO Project Certified. 

Read our full Sunbasket review.

Best for variety

This is the meal kit for adventurous eaters. Omnivores who love eating anything and everything can appreciate Home Chef's large and diverse menus. The range of cuisine and ingredients should appease even the pickiest of eaters. 

It's best for flexible households, not strict diets. Although there are ways to make the recipes vegetarian, Home Chef isn't the best for people with certain dietary restrictions, but it does work well with everyone from couples to large families (you can order up to six servings) who enjoy exploring all types of food. 

Ordering meals is easy and intuitive. The online experience feels streamlined and intuitive, so even newcomers to the meal kit world will feel immediately at ease. You can skip meals and add or substitute protein options without any trouble, plus filter recipes of cook time and meal type. 

It's a dependable, no-frills service. All in all, Home Chef is simply a consistent and enjoyable meal kit experience. It doesn't have extra frills like snacks, breakfast, or wine, but you never feel like you're sold short regarding recipe variety. If you need a meal immediately, you can even find Home Chef microwavable meals at your local Kroger store. 

Read our full Home Chef review.

Best vegan

Purple Carrot is perfect for lifetime vegans and plant-based newbies alike. It's easy to join the plant-based lifestyle, thanks to all the new brands cropping up and services like Purple Carrot that cater to these specific needs. Plant-based diets are healthy and better for the planet because growing ingredients requires less water and produces fewer carbon emissions than raising cows and other livestock. 

The meals are creative and tasty.. Purple Carrot is especially great for people who are transitioning to a more plant-based diet or aren't sure how to cook meat or dairy. It shows you how there are always creative workarounds and flavor combinations, resulting in filling, delicious recipes like Warm Japanese Yam & Shiitake Salad and Parmesan Gnocchi with Melted Summer Squash & Basil. Plus, most of its non-produce items are organic, though all other ingredients can vary on organic or non-GMO status. 

It makes it easy to go plant-based. Changing your eating habits is never easy, but Purple Carrot makes the shift just a little more manageable. I'm not strictly plant-based, but I am trying to eat less meat, and Purple Carrot gave me nice inspiration for how I could continue eating this type of diet, even if I don't personally continue the subscription. 

It's more labor intensive than other kits. Unlike other meal kits I've tested, Purple Carrot often requires blenders and food processors to make its sauces, so make sure you have these appliances on hand and are prepared for a little extra cleanup afterward. 

*Price at the time of publication

What to look for in a meal kit delivery service

Meal kits vs. prepared meals: Already prepared meals save the most prep time because you just heat them up and enjoy. However, meal kits give you more flexibility in what ingredients you choose to include. Plus, the meals tend to taste better as they are freshly cooked, so you have a better chance of getting a delicious meal sight unseen. We found that the reheated texture and taste varied widely. If you're not sure what type is right for your needs, consider a service that provides both.

Pricing: Most of the services we looked at cost about $10 per serving, plus or minus $3. You can usually save a few dollars by ordering more meals each week or by signing up for a long-term contract. Also, you can often find discounts and promo codes when trying out a new service. 

Dietary needs: Many services have menus that cater to common dietary needs, but it's not always a robust selection. If you eat a vegan, gluten-free, low-sugar, keto, or other diet, look for a service that has plenty of weekly menu items that will meet your needs. Purple Carrot and Sunbasket are geared specifically for dietary restrictions.

Flexibility: You want to be able to change your meal plan as you travel or your needs change. Look for a service that lets you pause for a week or two and adjust the number of meals you receive. During a particularly busy week, you might not have time to cook even from a kit, so consider your schedule and how willing the service is to accommodate.

How we test meal delivery kits

Whenever we tested a new service, our first priority was that the meals tasted good. Any service that didn't pass our taste test was not included in this guide. The rest of our criteria evaluated how easy it was to prepare and customize the services, as well as the menu variety. 

Ease of preparation: Meal kits are intended to make cooking at home easier, so we noted which brands have recipes that require more work to prepare. We considered whether recipes require kitchen tools beyond basic pots and utensils, whether the kit provides whole or prepped ingredients, and how much time passes from start to finish.

Menu variety: If you're going to order from one of these services regularly, you'll want a variety of options. We noted which services had rotating menus or frequently added new meals and if there were multiple portion sizes available. 

Delivery: We looked for services that delivered to a large geographical area, as well as how easy it was to skip, pause, or change scheduled deliveries.   

Customization: People have different mealtime needs and wants, so we evaluated the customization of each meal kit. We looked at available add-ons, like wine or side dishes, and whether you could curate your box of meals or if there were pre-made bundles. 

Dietary restrictions: We looked for meal kits that can be enjoyed by most people, regardless of dietary restrictions. Below, we listed each of our top picks and the dietary options they offer.

Meal kit delivery service FAQs

Are meal kit delivery services worth it?

Generally, meal kit delivery services are worth the price if you don't want to deal with the hassle of finding recipes, making a shopping list, and heading to the grocery store to grab the right ingredients. We think they're especially worth it for busy people, those trying to reduce their food waste, or folks who are always looking to try a new recipe.

What are the cons of meal kit delivery?

The biggest con of meal kit delivery is that they're expensive. But with grocery costs increasing, you might not actually be saving much money buying ingredients yourself.

Also, meal kit packaging is substantial, bulky, and not always made with eco-friendly materials. And there are limited options available, which poses a problem for picky eaters or those with dietary restrictions.

Finally, even the most basic meal kits still require cooking effort and preparation time. It's not difficult to find excellent pre-made meals, though.

What are the different types of meal kit delivery services?

Typically, meal kits contain ingredients and a recipe, with various levels of preparation required. Depending on the service, this could look like pre-cut ingredients that you cook and season, or a box full of fresh meats and veggies that you chop and prepare yourself.

Freshly prepared meals arrive fully ready to eat, so you just need to pop them in the microwave or oven to enjoy. A few brands even offer frozen meals.