Thank you to Blue Apron for sponsoring this post. The first 25 readers to click here will receive $30 off their first Blue Apron order. Enjoy!
Hi, friends! Matt and I are officially back to using Blue Apron, and honestly, it feels good to have it in our weekly dinner routine again. We took a break for a while, but we definitely missed the convenience, the variety, and the fun of cooking something a little more interesting at home.
Pictured above: Soy-Marinated Chicken Tenders with Japanese sweet potatoes and sweet chili slaw. I accidentally used the chicken breasts meant for another recipe instead of the tenders, but it still turned out delicious.
As many of you know, we used Blue Apron nearly every week for years before taking a break. Matt needed to follow a gluten-free diet for a period of time for medical reasons related to Lyme disease, and Blue Apron does not currently offer a gluten-free meal plan. While we were away, we tried Sun Basket and enjoyed it for a while. I shared a more detailed comparison of those meal delivery services in this post, if you are curious.
Over time, though, the recipe options started to feel a little repetitive for us. Each week, I kept noticing that we had already made many of the available meals. When Matt began adding gluten back into his diet last month, we both knew we wanted to return to our old favorite. For full transparency, we restarted our Blue Apron subscription about a month ago and have been paying for it ourselves each week, except for the week of meals featured in this review.
If you are not familiar with Blue Apron, it is a meal kit delivery service that sends chef-designed recipes and pre-portioned ingredients straight to your door. The idea is simple: you choose your meals, the ingredients arrive ready to cook, and you make dinner at home without having to plan a menu or wander around the grocery store. I especially appreciate that the ingredients are portioned for the recipe, which helps reduce food waste.
For us, Blue Apron makes weeknight dinners feel much easier. Meal planning has never been our strongest skill, and having recipes already selected and ingredients ready to go takes away a lot of stress. It also encourages us to try new flavors, cooking techniques, sauces, grains, vegetables, and combinations that we might not think to make on our own. Another helpful feature is the flexibility to skip weeks whenever needed, which is especially useful during busy seasons.
We use the two-person plan and receive three meals per week, with two servings per recipe. Sometimes we even have a little left over, especially lately, since my stomach feels very limited thanks to the baby. Blue Apron now offers eight meal options per week, which is an improvement from the six choices they used to provide. I also love that you can choose any combination of meals you want. That makes the service feel more flexible, especially when you are in the mood for both a steak dinner and a vegetarian recipe in the same week.
Another thing I have always liked about Blue Apron is that the recipes feel fresh and creative. I cannot remember seeing the exact same meal appear twice on our menu, and that variety keeps cooking at home from feeling boring. The recipe cards are also beautiful and easy to follow, with helpful photos and clear steps. The meals often feel restaurant-quality, but they are still approachable enough for a weeknight dinner.
One of our recent favorites was the Seared Steaks and Mashed Potatoes. The homemade steak sauce was excellent, and the mashed potatoes were rich, cheesy, and comforting. Even my very picky pregnant appetite approved. The original recipe included roasted carrots, but I am not a fan of cooked carrots, so we swapped in roasted asparagus that we already had and needed to use. We still enjoyed the carrots raw on the side, which worked perfectly for us.
The other meal we made and really enjoyed was Spiced Chicken & Garlic Rice with Toasted Pumpkin Seeds and Roasted Honeynut Squash. This dish had great texture and flavor, and the toasted pumpkin seeds were such a simple but delicious finishing touch. They added crunch and made the whole meal feel more special.
As I mentioned earlier, I accidentally used the chicken breasts for the chicken tender recipe, so we ended up using the chicken tenders for this meal instead. It was an easy mistake, and the recipe still worked out well. I am blaming pregnancy brain for that one. Matt also decided to turn my plate into a little face with hair, which made us both laugh. I have a feeling playful dinner presentations like that will be a big hit with our daughter one day.
Have you tried Blue Apron yet? If you have, I would love to know which meal has been your favorite. One that still stands out to me is their Furikake-Topped Salmon with Fresh Edamame and Miso-Sesame Black Noodles. It was unique, flavorful, and memorable in the best way.
If you have not tried it yet, don’t forget that the first 25 readers to click here will receive $30 off their first Blue Apron order. Happy cooking!