8 Best Blue Apron Recipes 2023: Which Ones Will You Love?

Blue Apron provides a large selection of delicious, affordable, and healthy recipes from many cuisines. You can choose from a wide variety of meat, fish, beyond meat, diabetes-friendly, and health-conscious recipes.

It also offers many different heat-and-eat, fast-and-easy, family-friendly, and ready-to-cook international recipes, including Mexican, Korean, Thai, Middle-Eastern, Italian, Spanish, Japanese, French, and, of course, good old American. This isn’t an exhaustive list by any means, but it’ll give you a good idea of what to expect.

I’ll help you choose a handful of the most popular Blue Apron recipes that you could end up loving – whether you prefer ready-to-eat meals, cooking for yourself, or having access to meals that are very quick to prepare.

The Best Blue Apron Meals Reviewed

1. Rosemary-Garlic Ribeye Steak – Best Premium Steak Recipe

Key Features

• A popular recipe in the steak category

• Nutritional content: 1570 calories in two servings

• Ready in 45 minutes or less

The Rosemary-Garlic Ribeye Steak recipe is one of the most popular choices since it’s a premium meal. It requires cooking, but it usually takes around 45 minutes (or less) to prepare. You can expect a medium difficulty level here in terms of skills required.

Like me, you'll love this meal if you’re a fan of gnocchi. It’s not just regular, boiled, and boring gnocchi – instead, it’s a twist on a classic dish as it’s baked with creamed spinach, fontina, and crispy breadcrumbs for something way more special.

Lastly, I chose this meal as the top steak choice since ribeye is the best cut of steak. This is because I’ve always found ribeye very tender, juicy, flavorful, and simple to prepare – especially as a novice home chef.

2. Sheet Pan Smoky Salmon – Best Fast & Easy Salmon Dinner

Key Features

• A Fast & Easy recipe in the seafood category

• Nutritional content: 800 calories in total

• Ready in 35 minutes or less

This sheet pan smoky salmon recipe is fast, easy, and can be prepared on one single surface. You’ll be roasting potatoes and green beans, along with salmon topped with breadcrumbs, smoky spices, and butter.

I like the fact that it comes with fairly basic ingredients which makes it a family-friendly meal (provided everyone likes salmon). There’s not much hassle, and you really don’t have to be a master chef to prepare this meal quickly. As a Fast & Easy meal, you can expect the difficulty level to be fairly simple.

It’s also quite a low-calorie meal considering salmon is a fairly lean type of protein. This is great if you’re looking to control your calories – combined with potatoes, you’ll get a rich and tasty meal at not much of a caloric cost. This keeps you fuller for longer.

3. Mexican-Spiced Shrimp Bake – Best Fast & Easy, Vegetarian Mexican Meal

Key Features

• A Fast & Easy recipe in the Mexican seafood cuisine category

• Nutritional content: 650 calories in total

• Ready in 25 minutes or less

The Mexican-Spiced Shrimp Bake is another favorite on the Blue Apron menu and only takes about 25 minutes to prepare. It’s a meal from the Fast & Easy category, so you could expect the difficulty level to be easy. If you’re a fan of Mexican food, this might be a great option for you, especially if you don’t have a lot of time to spend cooking.

You’ll be cooking up some rice, a few vegetables, and the shrimp, then combining everything on a plate. The entire meal is very low-calorie thanks to the shrimp, and the rice ensures satisfaction and satiety thanks to its carbohydrate content.

Best of all, I liked seeing the inclusion of the tomatillo-poblano sauce. In my experience, adding a specific sauce to your meals is a great way to boost flavor and overall satisfaction.

4. Miso-Sesame Chicken – Quickest Heat-And-Eat Japanese Chicken Recipe

Key Features

• A top Japanese chicken meal in the Heat & Eat category

• Nutritional content: 370 calories per meal

• Ready in 5 minutes or less

Of all the meal delivery services that provide heat and eat, microwaveable meals, this Miso-Sesame Japanese Chicken recipe is one of the best I’ve come across. It features chef-prepared ingredients, and simply requires heating – with no cooking involved.

This is a good option for those who want to eat without the hassle of having to cook. If you have a large family, this could be the go-to recipe on busy nights.

Though it’s a heat-and-eat meal, it contains lots of fresh and flavorful ingredients like vegetables and brown rice. You’ll also get a prepared soy sauce along with it as well which will add a bit more flavor combined with the edamame beans and carrots.

5. Potato Hash & Egg – Fastest Vegetarian Egg And Hash Recipe

Key Features

• A popular vegetarian choice in the Wellness category

• Nutritional content: around 500 calories per serving

• Ready in 35 minutes or less

This one’s a bit different as the Potato Hash & Eggs recipe can be a great choice for breakfast, lunch, or even dinner. If you’re looking for a quick-to-prepare meal at any time of the day, this one’s very simple with just a few key ingredients. The difficulty level is very easy.

The crispy hash, kohlrabi, and kale combine in the oven under a layer of fontina cheese. This creates a very interesting texture.

You’ll be eating pasture-raised eggs, scallions, bell peppers, and hot sauce as well. The final ingredient to top it all off and round out the flavors is garlic. 

6. Shawarma-Spiced Chicken – Quickest Middle-Eastern Chicken and Rice Recipe

Key Features

• One of the most popular Fast & Easy recipes

• Nutritional content: 580 calories per serving

• Ready in 25 minutes or less

If you’re looking for something tasty, with low calories, the Shawarma-Spiced Chicken could be a good fit. It only takes about 25 minutes to prepare and caters to those who enjoy more middle-Eastern style cuisine. You can expect a very easy cooking level here.

There are a few more ingredients on offer here – couscous, golden raisins, labneh cheese, and roasted almonds. The primary spices you’ll find here are ground coriander, cumin seeds, garlic powder, smoked sweet paprika, and ground turmeric.

In terms of vegetables, you’ll find tomatoes, tomato paste, and bell peppers. I like the fact that it’s quick and easy to prepare something this different in such a small amount of time.

7. Roasted Red Pepper Pasta – Fastest Family-Friendly Vegetarian Pasta Recipe

Key Features

• A good vegetarian option for the entire family

• Nutritional content: 840 calories per serving

• Ready in 25 minutes or less

This family-friendly vegetarian Roasted Red Pepper Pasta is simple to make and takes very little time to prepare. It’s also served with broccoli and parmesan, making it palatable for adults and children alike.

Some other ingredients to note are the cream, capers, Calabrian chili paste, partly-skim ricotta cheese, and tomato paste. Everything can be prepared in a single pan, with the exception of the broccoli, which gets roasted in a pan beforehand. The cooking level here is very easy.

If you’re interested, and if you aren’t necessarily vegetarian, you could also add 10 oz of no added hormones, antibiotic-free hot Italian pork sausage. This would bring the total calorie count up to 1230 – and would still take the same amount of time to prepare.

8. Hot Honey Butter-Glazed Pork – Fastest Carb-Conscious, Low-Calorie Pork Recipe

Key Features

• A good recipe with a bit of heat and sweetness

• Nutritional content: 550 calories per serving

• Ready in 30 minutes or less

If you’re someone who likes some more interesting flavors like spiciness and sweetness, and you like pork chops, this could be a good pick. This recipe offers up an impressive amount of good-quality food at a very low cost in terms of calories consumed.

The Hot Honey Butter-Glazed Pork is great if you’re watching your carb intake as well. It can be prepared in 30 minutes or less, depending on how large you cut your potatoes, and how thick the pork chops are when they arrive. You’re looking at an easy level of cooking here.

Some other ingredients to keep in mind also are green beans, vegetarian Worcestershire sauce, hot sauce, and grape tomatoes. Something else to note is that the pork chops can easily be swapped out for chicken breast as well, depending on your preferences.

Quick Comparison Table

Bottom Line: Are the Meals from Blue Apron Worth Your Time?

In my experience, there’s so much on offer at Blue Apron that it’s difficult not to find something that suits your preferences. Whether that be vegetarian, chicken, beef, pork, turkey, or seafood, there’s something on offer for everyone.

I also like that there are plenty of different cuisines to choose from. This is nice to see as it means you may never get bored of the service, and you’ll always be able to try out something new.

Certain recipes even let you switch different proteins - for instance, some recipes allow you to replace pork chops with chicken breast, and some vegetarian pasta dishes can include pork sausages.

FAQ

Does Blue Apron have good meals?

Blue Apron offers about 19 weekly meals, so there’s bound to be something for everyone. It also rotates its meals every week, so you’ll find new and exciting options.

There are different recipes from several cuisines including Mexican, Korean, Japanese, Italian, Spanish, American, and many more. Some of the recipes are heat-and-eat, and some are meal kits that require cooking by following a recipe card.

How long does it take to prepare a Blue Apron meal?

It depends on whether you have a prepared meal or a meal kit. The heat-and-eat prepared meals can all be heated in about five minutes, and most of the meal kits you’ll cook yourself can be prepared in under 45 minutes.

Some meals can even be prepared much quicker. The Shawarma-Spiced Chicken is an example of a meal that can be cooked in under 30 minutes.

Does Blue Apron come with recipes?

Yes. Each delivery comes with detailed recipe cards with step-by-step instructions. All you need to bring to the table (pun intended!) is salt, pepper, and your favorite oil of choice. For me, that usually means olive oil.