The 7 Best Vegetarian Meal Delivery Services for Meal Kits and Prepared Meals, Tested and Reviewed

Best Overall: Hungryroot

Price Range: Varies by selection, but starts at about $8 per serving | What's on the Menu: Fresh meal kits | Good For: Both busy singles and families, customers with food allergies, kids | Preparation Skills: Basic chopping

How It Works

Part meal kit delivery, part grocery delivery, Hungryroot is a unique service that adds an extra layer of convenience to your weekly meal planning. After completing a brief quiz, the company curates recipe and grocery selections that fit your specific tastes. Hungryroot's meals cater to a variety of dietary preferences, including (but not limited to) vegan and vegetarian. Simply use the convenient filter options on the menu page to easily view all available options for your vegetarian diet.

The company's simplicity, flexibility, and commitment to sustainability all earned high marks from our testers. Many of Hungryroot's products are organic, and the company even packages deliveries in a specific way to curb ice usage and shipping weights. If you're looking to go the extra mile for the planet, Hungryroot may be worth a try.

Hungryroot is so flexible that your plan feels personalized. Because there are so many choices, the company lightens your cognitive load by walking you through a questionnaire about your preferences. Once your profile is complete, Hungryroot will send you suggested meals based on your preferences every week, and you can adjust them at any time based on a variety of preferences, ranging from your favorite flavor profiles to your level of spice tolerance.

How Much Does It Cost?

Plans range from just under $70 to nearly $260 per week. Pricing varies based on your order, and new customers can enjoy an introductory $30 discount. Hungryroot delivers everywhere in the contiguous U.S.; the minimum order of $70 will get you free shipping; otherwise, you’ll pay $6.99.

How to Prepare the Meals

Hungryroot’s items come in an insulated cardboard box and are kept cool with gel packs. Much like a grocery order, your items are not grouped according to recipe; you’ll want to read your recipe card and gather your ingredients before cooking. As your ingredients will be shipped fresh, you’ll want to store most of them in your refrigerator. While some of Hungryroot’s ingredients freeze well, its seafood, soups, and stews are best when refrigerated and consumed by the dates listed on the packaging. 

Recipes are printed on the back of your packaging slip, so you’ll want to be sure you don’t inadvertently toss this sheet when you unbox your delivery. Most recipes require only five or six steps and take about 20 minutes, with little hands-on time besides washing and chopping your produce.

Our Testing

We tested two vegetarian recipes from this service: 

• Spinach artichoke and mushroom tortelloni: We experienced a few minor setbacks during the testing process. For example, the cooking instructions on the tortelloni package varied slightly from those on the recipe, with the package indicating we should boil the tortelloni for 2 to 3 minutes, while the recipe indicated 3 to 4 minutes. We did, however, like the instructions for preparing the mushrooms; suggesting that we should wipe them clean instead of just rinsing them was a helpful tip.
• Paneer and cauliflower tikka masala bowl: This dish was the real standout. The paneer was perfectly firm, making it easy to cut and sauté. The pouch of tikka masala sauce had a great flavor, with one tester raving about its “smooth, sweet, and mild” flavor that even the tester’s spice-averse child enjoyed.

While Hungryroot doesn’t specify what kind of cooking skills you’ll need for its recipes, our testers all found the instructions simple and “nearly intuitive.” We didn’t find ourselves dirtying many dishes for these recipes, and we liked how veggie-forward even the non-vegetarian dishes were.   

Overall, Hungryroot offers a surprising amount of flavor for such uncomplicated recipes. It relies heavily on premade sauces, which keeps the dishes from veering toward blandness. While some more experienced cooks found the recipes to be a bit simplistic, this service nevertheless has a lot of appeal for home chefs who want someone else to handle the recipes and grocery shopping.

Best Variety: Mosaic Foods

Price Range: $4.99-$9.99 per serving | What's on the Menu: Frozen prepared meals | Good For: Single, smaller households, seniors, vegans | Preparation skills: None

How It Works

Mosaic is a plant-based meal subscription service offering breakfast, lunch, and dinner items in both vegetarian and vegan options. With veggie bowls, oat bowls, pizzas, and smoothies, Mosaic's frozen meals are mostly single-serving. However, the company also offers a small lineup of one-tray Family Meals like pot pie and lasagna. There's even a menu of special "Mosaic+" meals created by top New York City chefs, including Pierre Thiam, Pierce Abernathy, Einat Admony, Greg Baxtrom, and more.

You can set your delivery frequency to one box every one, two, three, or four weeks, and it’s easy to pause or cancel your subscription by logging into your account (though Mosaic does, unfortunately, lack the convenience of an app).

Since Mosaic’s meals arrive frozen, they can easily be stored in your freezer for up to three months. However, if you keep your meals in the refrigerator, you must eat them within three days. This also means you’ll have to adjust your microwave time accordingly, as the thawed meals will heat faster than frozen. 

How Much Does It Cost?

Pricing depends on which items you select. Veggie bowls, for instance, are $9.99 each, smoothies are $7.99, and family meals (serving four) break down to $4.99 per serving. Mosaic has a more limited delivery area than other services, so you’ll want to double-check the website to determine if you’re within its service area. The company does deliver to most major metro areas in the Eastern and Western U.S., and orders over $100 ship free. If you do not meet that minimum, shipping is $9.99.

How to Prepare the Meals

Most of Mosaic Foods’ meals are intended to be cooked in the microwave; this makes preparation a matter of peeling back the plastic film covering the microwave-safe tray your meal comes in. The company’s family meals are the exception; these larger portions (which serve four) are packaged in an aluminum tray, making it easy to pop them in the oven and serve.

Our Testing

One of the dishes we focused on during our testing was the buffalo cauliflower pasta bake. This was one of the oven-ready family options, and while it took some time to cook through, this was not surprising for a frozen, family-size meal. The textures were better than expected from a frozen, plant-based meal and had a good flavor.

Best Budget-Friendly: Dinnerly

Price Range: $4.99-$8.04 per serving | What's on the Menu: Fresh meal kits  | Good For: Folks on a budget, comfort-food fans | Preparation Skills: Basic chopping

How It Works

One of Dinnerly's biggest selling points is its affordability, with prices ranging from $4.99 to about $11 per serving. The company can keep its prices low by limiting its meal kits to only six ingredients each. While that means lower costs for you, you'll also need to provide more of the basics from your pantry, like eggs, oil, flour, and butter.

While Dinnerly isn't a strictly vegetarian meal service, you can click the "make my box vegetarian" option when choosing your meal plan. You can also browse the onsite menu to get a glimpse of the available vegetarian options, which are labeled "veggie."

There's no need to create an account to view the full Dinnerly menu. All you have to do is click on "View Menu." If you want to place an order, simply follow these easy steps: First, indicate the number of meals and servings you require. Then, provide your location, email address, and delivery address. Choose the delivery day that suits you best. After you've added your payment details, you can pick the meals you want for your first delivery.

Dinnerly offers either two-serving or four-serving kits. You can subscribe to two, three, four, five, or six kits per week. If you'd like to change the meals Dinnerly selects for you each week, you can easily adjust your preferences by clicking on the "edit taste profile" link in your account settings.

How Much Does It Cost?

Prices range from $6.39 per serving on the high end to the aforementioned low of $4.99. Regardless of which plan you choose, shipping is $9.99, and meals can be delivered to all states except Alaska and Hawaii. 

How to Prepare the Meals

Dinnerly ships its meal kit ingredients fresh, and items are kept chilled in transit by a combination of insulation (which can vary based on your location) and a large ice pack. Proteins are separated from your produce and seasonings, and you should store all perishable items in your refrigerator until ready to use. 

You won’t find printed recipe cards in your Dinnerly delivery. The company only provides digital recipe cards to reduce costs and carbon footprint. These are always available in your Dinnerly account and can be accessed on your phone via the app or on your computer. You can also download your recipes as a PDF from Dinnerly’s website.

Our Testing

We cooked and tested Dinnerly’s vegetarian take on drunken noodles for this article. This dish, veggie drunken noodles with broccoli, peppers, and cilantro, was easy to assemble. Like most Dinnerly recipes, this dish came together in five steps, and the most we had to do was wash and chop the produce. We also liked the “extra credit” step Dinnerly suggested for the egg, with the recipe advising us to cook the egg for this dish sunny-side up if we preferred a runny yolk.

According to our testers, this dish was well-balanced, similar to the non-vegetarian dishes we tried. However, one tester found it “slightly salty.” Nonetheless, this vegetarian recipe only took 20 minutes to prepare and provided a generous amount of vegetables and textures, making it an excellent option for a busy weeknight.

Best Chef-Prepared: CookUnity

Price Range: $11.09-$13.59 per serving | What's on the Menu: Fresh prepared meals | Good For: Singles, foodies | Preparation Skills: None

How It Works

CookUnity bills itself as the first chef-to-consumer platform, aiming to deliver an affordable way to enjoy restaurant-quality meals at home. The company's single-serving meals are delivered fresh, fully cooked, and ready to heat and serve. The menu is diverse and changes frequently, so there's always something new for you to try.

To see those menus yourself, you can look through sample menus via the “Browse Our Menu” button about halfway down the website's homepage. When you're ready to sign up, you'll be prompted to enter your ZIP code, which CookUnity will use to populate its menu based on which delivery hub is closest to your home. This will also help you verify that you are within CookUnity’s delivery area, which excludes Alaska, Hawaii, Montana, West Virginia, North and South Dakota, and parts of Nebraska, Wyoming, and Colorado. From there, you'll select a plan size of four, six, eight, 12, or 16 meals per week, and then you'll enter your email address to set up your account. After that, you can begin selecting your meals for the week. 

How Much Does It Cost?

CookUnity's tiered pricing structure means the per-meal cost will depend on the number of meals you order. If you order four meals per week, you'll pay $13.59 each, but if you opt for the 16-meal plan, you'll only pay $11.09 per meal.

How to Prepare the Meals

CookUnity packages its meals in compostable single-serving trays sealed with plastic film encased in colorful, recyclable cardboard sleeves. While the meals are microwaveable, the chefs recommend reheating them in the oven for the best quality. Heating instructions for each dish are included on the sleeves, along with an ingredient list, nutrition facts, an expiration date, and the name of the chef who prepared the meal.

All meals arrive fresh and chilled, and they'll keep for up to seven days in the fridge. If you can't eat the meals within that time frame, you can freeze them for later; just make sure you thaw them in the refrigerator before reheating.

Our Testing

Our panel sampled CookUnity’s butternut squash ravioli during our testing. Created by chef Tony Perez, this distinctly autumnal dish features ravioli made with butternut squash and cheese, topped with additional butternut squash cubes sautéed in a garlic-thyme sauce. Microwaving this meal was as simple as peeling back the plastic film that seals it in its tray, pouring it on the garlic thyme sauce, and heating it for two minutes. The dish heated through in its allotted time and made for a quick meal with a nice sweetness from the butternut squash.

Best Gluten-Free: ModifyHealth

Price Range: $9.95-$12.95 per serving | What's on the Menu: Fresh prepared meals | Good For: Singles, seniors, folks with digestive issues | Preparation Skills: None

How It Works

A 100% gluten-free facility, ModifyHealth delivers fresh, fully-prepared, single-serving meals from four menus: Mediterranean, diabetes-friendly, and low-FODMAP in addition to gluten-free. The company also uses organic ingredients whenever possible. Add to that the company's substantial support, such as educational materials and dietitian, and you have a service with a thoughtful approach for folks with particular dietary needs.

How Much Does It Cost?

ModifyHealth’s pricing is uncomplicated: Breakfasts cost $9.95, and entrées cost $12.95, regardless of your chosen plan. Shipping is included, and the service is available in all states except Alaska and Hawaii.

How to Prepare the Meals

The meals from ModifyHealth arrive in an insulated, recyclable cardboard box filled with ice packs to keep them frozen. Each individually packaged meal is vacuum-sealed in recyclable trays, and you can store them in your refrigerator for up to 10 days or in your freezer for six to eight weeks.

When you're ready to cook your meal, you have two options: use the microwave or the oven. If you microwave the meal, you'll need to remove the cardboard band around it and vent the transparent film on top by puncturing it with a fork or peeling back a corner. If you use your oven, remove the meal from its plastic tray and put it into an oven-safe dish. Cooking times will vary depending on your method and whether or not you thawed the meal before cooking. Regardless, ensure your meal reaches an internal temperature of 165 degrees before you enjoy it.

Our Testing

For this review, we tested ModifyHealth’s “Longevity Stew with Black-Eyed Peas and Kale.” We found that it took a little longer to heat in the microwave than the directions indicated, and we felt it could have benefited from more seasoning. However, this was easily remedied with items like salt and pepper from our own pantry.

Best Ready-to-Heat: Factor

Price Range: Check website | What's on the Menu: Fresh, reheatable prepared meals | Good For: Singles, folks who want additional nutritional guidance | Preparation skills: None

How It Works

Factor is a health- and fitness-oriented service, delivering a well-curated variety of fresh, single-serving meals and a decent selection of unique add-ons. Our testers were very impressed with the quality and flavor of Factor's dishes, which cater to various dietary preferences, including keto, vegan, and vegetarian. Since all meals are single-serving, Factor is better suited to active, busy adults than families with children.

There's a lot to love about Factor, from the wide range of meal plans and the high quality of the flavor-packed meals to the friendly customer service associates available via live chat. All meals are ready to enjoy after only two minutes in the microwave or seven minutes in the oven, making them a perfect choice for those with limited cooking time. Compared to other companies, Factor seems to have ready-to-heat dialed in perfectly.

How to Prepare the Meals

The meals from Factor are freshly prepared and ready to eat with just a few minutes of reheating in either the microwave or oven. Each meal is packaged in a BPA-free plastic tray with a plastic film covering. A cardboard sleeve provides the list of ingredients, heating instructions, and expiry date. You can store your meals in the fridge for up to a week, but freezing isn’t recommended as it can affect the quality. If you must freeze them, do so before the expiration date.

To heat the meals in the microwave, puncture the film covering of the tray a few times and place it in the microwave. If you prefer to use the oven, remove the plastic film and any plastic sauce containers and place the meal on a baking sheet before sliding it into the oven. The heating time for meals is around two minutes in the microwave and 7 to 11 minutes in the oven.

Our Testing

We cooked and tasted two vegetarian meals from this service:

• Vegetable ratatouille with mascarpone polenta: The tomatoes in this dish provided a nice zing of acidic flavor that contrasted nicely with the creaminess of the polenta.
• Smoked tofu almond stir-fry: The smokiness of the tofu in this recipe rounded out the salty tang from the soy vinaigrette.

For both dishes, we were impressed with the textures of the food we sampled, made all the more impressive by the fact they were both prepared in the microwave. Factor pleasantly surprised testers who were initially suspicious of microwaved meals, noting that the company took obvious care in selecting ingredients that would reheat well.

Best Eco-Friendly: Daily Harvest

Price Range: $5.99-$11.99 per serving | What's on the Menu: Frozen prepared meals | Good For: Singles, seniors, vegans | Preparation Skills: Blending or heating 

How It Works

Daily Harvest is a 100% plant-based meal delivery service, shipping a unique lineup of frozen items. Smoothies and Harvest Bowls are the most popular items, but the company also offers flatbreads, soups, seed and grain bowls, veggie bakes, dairy-free frozen treats, and more. The company also accommodates a range of dietary needs with a well-designed, filterable menu.

If you want to browse before committing, Daily Harvest lets you explore its menu freely–you don’t even need to create an account. But if you do decide to sign up, the process is easy; you just enter your email address and ZIP code, select a box size, and proceed to fill that box with the items of your choosing. Upon entering your shipping address, you can also choose a delivery day (a nice detail if you want to ensure you’re home when your shipment arrives).

Of course, excess packaging can be an unfortunate side effect of ordering a meal delivery service. Our testers found that Daily Harvest did a great job of being eco-friendly, with its thorough and helpful packaging page with instructions on how to dispose of nearly every piece properly. 

How Much Does It Cost?

Dishes range in price from $5.99 to $11.99, and the plans offer a lot of flexibility. Three box sizes are available, and you order based on the size of the box you choose:

• Small: 9 items per box
• Medium: 14 items per box
• Large: 24 items per box
  

All boxes are available either as a subscription or a one-time order, and pricing varies depending on the menu items you select.

How to Prepare the Meals

Preparing your Daily Harvest meals is almost ridiculously simple. Smoothies must be blended with a milk or milk substitute of your choice (not included with your order); Harvest Bakes and flatbreads need to be baked in the oven, and overnight oats must soak, well, overnight. That’s it. 

Our Testing

Our testers prepared a variety of Daily Harvest’s offerings, including:

• Mint and cacao smoothie: Testers enjoyed this smoothie’s rich chocolate flavor, and we appreciated how this was achieved without added sugar.
• Kabocha chai oat bowl: This oat bowl was another favorite due to its rich flavor, which reminded us of pumpkin pie.
• Tomato and zucchini minestrone soup: This one would have benefited from additional seasoning, but beyond this minor quibble, the overall flavor was still good.