Updated on Dec. 12, 2024
We tested Hungryroot for three months to see how it compares to other meal delivery services. Spoiler: it's the hybrid meal kit of our dreams.
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PSA: There’s an easier way to meal prep dinner for the week. And no, it doesn’t involve cooking everything on Sunday evening and portioning it out into containers. While that’s a wonderful option for some households, it’s time-consuming, requires a lot of prep and let’s be honest—it’s tiring. We all know that a popular alternative to planning lunch or dinner for the week is choosing one of the best meal kit services. But we found another option that only takes 20 minutes.
The secret is Hungryroot—aka the hybrid meal delivery service that combines the ease of ordering groceries online and planning dinner recipes. The Hungryroot reviews are in: this kit left us impressed with the nutritious meals and pantry goods available. Here’s everything you need to know.
HUNGRYROOT.COM, GETTY IMAGES
Hungryroot is an all-in-one meal delivery service that delivers recipes with pre-prepped ingredients and pantry staples.
When shopping for meal delivery plans, you have a few different choices: a kit that sends pre-portioned ingredients to transform into a gourmet meal (hi, HelloFresh), ready-to-eat delivery that sends nutritious, one-serving meals (just heat and eat!), and with Hungryroot, a hybrid option that sends recipes with pre-prepped ingredients and pantry/fridge staples.
Hungryroot is part grocery delivery and part meal kit. Similar to Thrive Market or Misfits Market, Hungryroot sends a box full of groceries like fruit, veggies, chips, sweets and more. But it doesn’t stop there—they send recipes to ensure the ingredients you receive easily transform into delicious meals. Bonus: they offer plenty of tasty options for gluten-free meals, vegetarian dishes and plant-based meals.
I loved that Hungryroot offers nutritious groceries or meal kit options from trusted sources that are easy to prepare. Each of the meal kits is also customizable for those that need to avoid gluten, nuts or dairy or adhere to plant-based diets.
All of the food provided is also free of artificial sweeteners, partially hydrogenated oils, high-fructose corn syrup, artificial colors and artificial preservatives. Plus, Hungryroot uses entirely recyclable packaging and EnviroIce ice packs which are leakproof and made with non-toxic and drain-safe gel.
When looking into the brand, I discovered that Hungryroot can be delivered to 48 states (not Alaska or Hawaii) and comes three to five days after the order is placed. Once they arrive, most of the meal kits can be made in 10 minutes or less which is great for families, couples or solo diners.
Hungryroot reviews aren’t complete with some testing. I tested a variety of recipes and pantry offerings for three months. I’ve reviewed 10 other meal kit services before Hungryroot, so I was intrigued to see how this one compared. I evaluated and rated the service based on ordering experience, packaging and delivery, ingredient quality, taste and overall cooking experience.
Hungryroot works by first asking about diner preferences. Upon ordering my first box, I was impressed with the thorough Hungryroot questionnaire required before signing up. While some may find this annoying, I appreciated the service getting to know the nitty gritty about my lifestyle, like dietary restrictions, preferred cooking methods, my palate and what I want to get out of the service. Out of all the meal kits I’ve tested, Hungryroot stands out for its in-depth questionnaire. There’s a lot more to know about a person’s cooking habits other than desired servings or ingredients to avoid. And for that, Hungryroot scored an A+ upon placing my order.
After the questionnaire, I landed on the recipe page to pick out my meals and fridge/pantry items for the week. Depending on the serving quantity you select during sign-up, Hungryroot grants you credits (or coins) so you know exactly what ingredients fit into one delivery. Meals require more credits than grocery items, and I was able to easily pack four dinners and roughly 10 grocery goodies in my box—all for about $140 at two servings for each meal.
My Hungryroot box arrived on a Friday. The packaging showed zero signs of leakage—which is a total win-win if you’ve ever experienced a drippy, soggy mess when ordering meals online (speaking from experience here). The packaging is 100% recyclable and produces less waste than other meal delivery services I’ve tested. Inside, my pantry and grocery staples included pretzels, pre-sliced pineapple, black beans, broccoli florets, chips and hummus, 90-second rice, cinnamon twists, oat milk, white pomegranate peach tea and a few other items.
As for the meals included? I received four total, including ingredients and step-by-step instructions for spicy black bean and fajita veggie tacos, salmon with potatoes and broccoli, sesame ginger chicken and veggie stir fry, and garlicky hummus black bean burger bowl. Time to get cooking!
Now for the impressive part with Hungryroot reviews: the meals require just four to five ingredients, meaning less prep, cooking time and cleaning overall. Even better, there’s just one simple recipe sheet included for all the meal instructions. The first recipe up is the black bean burger bowl with broccoli and garlicky hummus. The broccoli was pre-prepped into florets. I added seasonings and popped them into the oven for 10 minutes. Then, I heated the black bean burgers in a pan for about five minutes. I kid you not, my meal was plated and ready to devour within 20 minutes thanks to the pre-prepped ingredients.
The next three dishes followed the same formula: cook the protein, season and bake the sides (like potatoes, rice or veggies), top with the included sauce (if applicable) and voila! Dinner is on the table in well under 30 minutes.
Overall, My Hungryroot meals were tasty, but the flavor profile and ingredients are more basic than other meal kit services I’ve tested. Compared to HelloFresh or HomeChef, Hungryroot isn’t trying to teach you new cooking techniques or introduce you to new flavors. It’s all about efficiency.
The meals are still high quality; they’re just a little more ordinary. And in my opinion, that’s a-okay because you’re not always going to be in the mood to cook a restaurant-quality meal. We all need something nutritious yet tasty and cooked in 30 minutes or less every few weeknights, and Hungryroot delivers.
One of the downsides that I found with this brand was that there were a lot of single-use plastics to get rid of. While some of these materials are recyclable, this may not be ideal for the eco-conscious consumer. Also, some users have reported that there are occasional missing or wrong items included. But, Hungryroot’s response to any customer issues is generally positive (despite sporadic issues with resolution times)
Here at Taste of Home, we’ve been testing meal kits since they first came on the market. Our expert reviewers and product testers have sampled dozens of meals from all the top players, including Green Chef and Dinnerly. With decades of culinary experience, our team then rates these kits on ease of ordering, delivery experience, freshness, and, of course, flavor.
Madi Koetting is a pioneer of Taste of Home‘s social media and editorial team with hands-on experience testing and reviewing top products for more brands including Reader’s Digest, The Everygirl, Stylecaster, Family Handyman and more. She has reviewed thousands of products in the home and lifestyle sphere, with specific experience with kitchen gadgets and appliances. Given her extensive experience, she is an excellent candidate to review Hungryroot.
Nancy Snyder is a shopping editor and professional dietitian with experience at Taste of Home, Family Handyman, Reader’s Digest, Women’s Health, The Pet Collective, MyFitnessPal, Prevention and Bustle. At these publications, she has effectively honed her skills in cooking and identifying the food industry’s top trends, recipes, subscriptions and products. Given all of her previous experience, she is an excellent candidate to review Hungryroot.
Alexandra Mantella, Content Updates Editor at Taste of Home, updated and contributed research to this piece. She has over five years of experience in product testing, research and commerce writing. Previously, she served as a commerce content update editor at Bob Vila.
Not all of the brand’s food is certified organic and non-GMO, but they do try to source organic options whenever possible.
Hungryroot meal plans start at $65 per box. Plans are customizable based on how many people you’re feeding, and the recipes and pantry goods you select, so the price varies. My plan cost around $140, which included 8-10 pantry goods and four recipes (two servings each).
You can easily cancel your Hungryroot subscription by navigating to your account and clicking “cancel account” under “account details.”
With plenty of meal delivery options, how does Hungryroot compare to popular options like Marley Spoon and Blue Apron? Part grocery delivery, part meal kit, you’ll notice from Hungryroot reviews that this doesn’t fit into just one category. That’s why we call it a hybrid meal service—it combines the convenience of ready-to-heat meal kits and the joy of cooking your own recipes. Plus, you can stock up on grocery staples like milk, produce, snacks and dessert all in one click.
While popular meal kit services send pre-portioned ingredients for recipes (like one whole potato or three bell peppers that need to be chopped), Hungryroot takes care of the tedious slicing and dicing by sending veggies or protein ready to plop in a pan to sear or sauté. It’s this feature alone that makes me come back to Hungryroot. Less prep work and dishes to clean means more free time—who can say no to that?
From all the Hungryroot reviews out there, if you take one thing from mine, let it be this. I’ve tested 10 popular meal kit services and Hungryroot is by far the least time-consuming when it comes down to cooking in the kitchen. The one-stop-shop model makes it a breeze to customize my recipes based on dietary needs or allergies and grab all the pantry goods I need for the upcoming week.
The meals aren’t the most wow-worthy, but they get the job done when you need under 30-minute meals that fill the whole family’s belly with nutritious ingredients. For this reason, I recommend this service as one of the best meal deliveries for families, individual households and anyone who wants dinner on the table in less than 20 minutes.
VIA MERCHANT
Hungryroot is a meal kit service that delivers simple recipes and good-for-you groceries in one place.
Ready for the easiest meals ever? Customize your meal plan on Hungryoot’s website where boxes start at $65. Bonus: the price includes pantry essentials, so you can feel good about how far your money goes with this service. Wondering what’s for dinner is truly a thing of the past, thanks to Hungryroot.
