Hungryroot vs. Blue Apron 2026: Which Is Better?

Hungryroot and Blue Apron have quite different offerings. Blue Apron is a traditional meal delivery service with a range of meal kits and fresh prepared meals that you can order without a subscription. Hungryroot is more of an all-in-one meal kit and grocery delivery service.

Both services send you ingredients that you can cook on your own at home. So you might wonder exactly what sets them apart. My team and I have tried out each service to deliver our verdict on what differentiates them and which is our top recommendation.

Overall, I found Blue Apron to be the winner for several reasons. It features prepared meals in addition to meal kits, it has clearer recipe cards, and it's great value. Still, Hungryroot was a worthy contender, so read on to find out how they compare.

At a Glance: Who Won Each Category?

Menu Variety: Hungryroot Provides Both Meal Kits & Groceries

Hungryroot wins this category since you can access an entire grocery store's worth of food. Blue Apron and Hungryroot are different in some more fundamental ways, though. 

Hungryroot Offers Meal Kits + Virtually Any Other Grocery Item

Hungryroot is different in that it provides you with groceries as well as meal kits. Some of the groceries are single-serving, and some are multi-serving items like a tub of cookie dough or packs of fig bars.

Expect enough meals for the entire week, whichever way you decide to order from Hungryroot. One thing I should point out is that it doesn’t offer any breakfast meal kits. For that, you would have to use the grocery section or subscribe to Blue Apron. Meals include anything you can imagine, like pizzas, pasta, meat dishes with sides of veggies, and carbs like the Chimichurri Steak + Creamy Butter Bean Mash, and more.

Hungryroot sends you all the groceries you need to make virtually any dish, so the sky's the limit in terms of cuisines. You’ll find things like Korean, Italian, Mediterranean, Greek, French, Latin American, Middle Eastern, Indian, and many more.

Blue Apron Has Lots of Choice – So You Won't Get Bored

Blue Apron offers a large menu of meal kits and add-ons that span many cuisines. Options you’ll find on its menu are Korean, Japanese, Mediterranean, Italian, Classic American, Indian, Middle Eastern, and Latin American. It’s tough to get bored with Blue Apron – so if you want to be a bit more adventurous, you can opt for the meal kits.

Blue Apron’s skill level ranges from beginner to intermediate. Most dishes are simple to make, however, the Premium options give you the chance to learn new skills and step out of your comfort zone to create restaurant-quality dishes.

Both Competitors Cater to Different Experience Levels

Cooking skill levels required for Hungryroot meals can range from beginner to intermediate. I’ve found most of the meals to be pretty straightforward and simple to prepare, so you won’t have to bring any advanced skills to the table.

Unlike Blue Apron, Hungryroot doesn’t include image-based recipe cards in your deliveries. Instead, you'll get a sheet of paper with basic written instructions for every recipe. The recipes are simple and easy to follow but beginners may prefer to have color images.

Blue Apron delivers meal kits and prepared meals. Whether you like cooking or not, there’s something for everyone here. Its prepared meals are microwave-ready, and its meal kits can be cooked within about 15-45 minutes. Occasionally, a dish will require up to 55 minutes.

Blue Apron has a huge weekly menu to choose from. Its 100+ meals are split into clear sections, which makes it easy to skip through to the relevant dishes.

Dishes often feature seasonal ingredients, while others are staples or customer faves, so you’ll see them returning each week. There’s a good balance of new dishes and repeats, especially when you factor in all the customization swaps available, too. I found that about half the recipes on the Blue Apron menu were kid-friendly and more basic. The other half are more unique and contain more exotic ingredients.

In addition, you can get special seasonal dishes related to whatever’s going on at the time. This can be found in the top category on the menu.

Sample Meals: Both Tasted Great

Blue Apron Meals

Browsing Blue Apron's menu and choosing dishes is easy. The recipes feature informative labels and lists of key ingredients. Cooking times accompany dishes, which is pretty convenient for meal planning.

• Pork Chorizo, Potato, & Fig Bake: This dish combines savory chorizo with sweet figs, creating a unique blend of flavors you wouldn’t typically find together. It was easy it was to prepare, even though the combination of ingredients seemed unconventional. The recipe flowed smoothly, and you can save time by multitasking while the potatoes roast in the oven.
• Mushroom Farrotto: Farrotto is a healthy twist on traditional risotto, using farro as the base grain for added protein and fiber. This was our favorite dish of the week – rich in umami from the mushrooms and Parmesan. We loved discovering verjus blanc for the first time, which added a subtle and welcoming tang similar to white wine.
• Seared Scallops & Garlic-Herb Risotto: This dish offers a unique, elevated twist on classic scallops with a rich garlic-herb risotto. While it’s certainly not the most beginner-friendly, the effort seems to pay off with an impressive, flavor-packed meal. The combination of capers, artichokes, and pistachios adds an interesting touch, even if it might not have been my particular cup of tea – but to each their own!

 

Hungryroot Meals

Hungryroot's menu is also easy to browse. Its items also feature a list of principal ingredients presented in an engaging manner. But unlike Blue Apron, Hungryroot doesn't display the cooking time. You need to click on the dish to find out how long it would take you to serve it. 

• Creamy Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes: The microwavable potatoes cooked evenly in their packaging, and the roasted garlic also blended in smoothly. The crème fraîche added a rich, tangy creaminess that took them to the next level. The recipe suggests mashing with a fork, but a wooden spoon worked just as well, making the whole process quick and effortless.
• Creamy Garlic Chicken Shawarma Wrap: Chicken shawarma wraps are a Middle Eastern staple, packed with warm spices, tender meat, and creamy garlic sauce. This version keeps it simple with just 4 ingredients for a quick, satisfying meal. The pre-cooked chicken looked questionable at first but turned out flavorful once heated, and while the naan wasn’t traditional, it worked just fine. The garlic sauce is, of course, an expected addition to this classic dish.
• Paneer Tikka Masala: Paneer tikka masala is a popular Indian dish known for its rich, spiced sauce and tender paneer. This version uses premade masala sauce, which makes it quick and easy to prepare without sacrificing too much flavor. While it may not be the most authentic, it’s a great option when you’re looking for something fast and satisfying.

Meal Customization: Both Offer Customization, but Hungryroot Goes One Step Further

Blue Apron has a Customize It option for many of its meals, while Hungryroot caters to tons of different dietary preferences and allergies. You can pretty much customize your meals to your preferences, whatever they are.

Hungryroot Offers More Customization Options

Before you even begin ordering, Hungryroot starts with a short quiz that’ll ask you a bunch of questions about your preferences. You’ll be asked who you’re feeding (whether it’s just you or someone else as well), what your goals are (including weight loss, saving time, cooking less, wasting less food), what meat types you prefer, and more. However, I found the quiz took way too long.

You’re still free to browse the recipes and groceries section of the site. But, I highly recommend taking advantage of the quiz to get more personalized results. This way, you’ll be able to tell Hungryroot what ingredients you want to see more of, and what ingredients you want to see less of.

Hungryroot has a massive menu with an overwhelming number of filters. You can narrow down your options by protein, cooking time, spiciness, nutrition, diet, and much more – there's a lot of variety, but browsing is a lot more complicated than Blue Apron.

Dietary preferences include omnivore, pescatarian, vegan, and vegetarian. Allergens are catered to, including gluten, soy, dairy, tree nuts, peanuts, eggs, and shellfish. Anything you want to avoid is easy to do directly in the recipes section of the Hungryroot website.

Blue Apron offers customization options on many of its recipes, although these are mainly protein swaps. The menu filters are also quite useful, you can search by amount of protein, number of calories, and protein type (and it also takes into account the customization options, which is pretty handy).

Each menu item has dietary tags and a full list of all ingredients. You need to click on the meal image for this in case you want to avoid something specific. And, for the meal kits, it’s easy to substitute or simply omit any ingredients at home in order to make the meal low-calorie, low-carb, or even dairy-free. In that way, some vegetarian meals could be made vegan at home.

Ultimately, I was impressed with Blue Apron’s filtering and customization options, even though Hungryroot is a more flexible service overall.

Ingredient Quality & Nutrition: Blue Apron’s Ingredients Are Top-Quality

Blue Apron gets food from farmers practicing sustainable farming. Some of its ingredients are organic, certified by the USDA. As for seafood and fish, Blue Apron sources food rated as Good Alternative or Best Choice by the Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch, an authority on aquaculture and fishery.

Blue Apron buys meat from suppliers adhering to animal wellness standards. This means that you'll get meat from livestock that were treated humanely and that don't contain any antibiotics or hormones.

Hungryroot also strives to get organic food whenever possible. However, the bulk of its products don't contain organic or non-GMO ingredients. Still, the company sticks to its Root Standard, which ensures that its products feature tasty and easy-to-prepare ingredients from verified sources.

As a result, Hungryroot's meals feature high-quality ingredients. They’re free of artificial sweeteners, colors, high-fructose corn syrup, and preservatives, among other unwanted additives.

Finding nutritional information is easy. Simply select the dish and scroll down to the Nutrition section. In the case of Blue Apron, a pop-up window will appear once you click on View Full Nutrition. It’s worth noting, this information is only available 1.5 weeks before delivery. As for Hungryroot, you’ll find the information below the Instructions section.

Ordering, Delivery, Unboxing: Blue Apron Provides a More Streamlined Experience

Ordering: Both Simple, But Blue Apron Has Menus

Ordering from both sites is pretty straightforward. But I give Blue Apron an edge for its easy no-subscription ordering. You can go straight to the menu, see the prices, and add meals to your basket for ad hoc orders. Ordering is a bit more complicated on the Hungryroot site because it doesn’t have traditional menu pages like Blue Apron. Yet, if you complete the quiz at the beginning, it gets simpler after that.

Delivery: Blue Apron Has More Options

Blue Apron delivers anywhere within the contiguous US. There was a lot more choice than I was expecting when it came to delivery dates for Blue Apron. I was able to choose from roughly 20 different options, which I wasn’t expecting at all. This makes the service pretty convenient, as you’ll be able to choose the exact day that works best for you.

Hungryroot delivers to the contiguous US. Its minimum order depends on how many people are in your household. In general, your order can be anywhere from 3-8 recipes, serving either 2 or 4 people. Additionally, you can order as many grocery items as you want, including breakfasts, desserts, fruits, and snacks.

Changing your order is also quite easy. Keep in mind that you’ll need to make any changes before 7 pm EST on Monday or Thursday before your upcoming delivery. To see what day your next delivery will be dispatched, you’ll have to head to your account dashboard (My Hungryroot). Availability of delivery dates will depend on your exact location.

Unboxing: Both Are Well-Organized & Clearly Labeled

All Blue Apron ingredients arrive fresh and never frozen. The service recommends that you place all perishable items in the refrigerator immediately upon delivery. Each ingredient is packaged together with everything else, so it may take some time to sort it all.

But everything is clearly labeled for identification, so you won’t have to guess. Each recipe card will tell you exactly which ingredient you need. Everything is also preportioned with exact measurements, so you won’t have to do any measuring or weighing. The only exception is the meat. Each meat is packaged and portioned separately, so you know exactly what recipe it’s for.

The company recommends you store all temperature-sensitive ingredients in the fridge until they’re needed. You should use meat and poultry within 7 days, and any dishes containing seafood within 2. You’re also welcome to freeze these items until you need them – just make sure to take them out about 24 hours in advance to ensure they thaw correctly.

Blue Apron’s meal kits and prepared meals also come in recyclable boxes with insulation, keeping everything at the right temperature. The prepared meals come in recyclable, microwaveable boxes that you’ll just have to rinse out before recycling. As for the other materials, keep an eye out for #1 and #5 symbols on the individual packages for recyclability information.

Blue Apron delivers other items, too. For example, you can recycle most rigid plastic lids, trays, wine bottles, and recipe cards with either the #1, #5, #40, or #70 recycling designations.

Drained ice packs are also recyclable, depending on your location. Look for the #2 or #4 designations on the packaging material. Some materials like the spice blend sachets and film lids can’t be recycled.

Hungryroot’s ingredients come inside the delivery box with cooling packs to keep ingredients fresh until you can store or use them. Boxes, food protectors, and paper coolers are all recyclable. The ingredients all come packaged neatly, and ready for easy storage in the fridge.

You’ll get an official receipt along with the recipes you’ve chosen for the week when you first open your box. Each item is packaged individually, and you can easily locate the Use by or Enjoy within date ranges printed on each item's packaging. Since everything is packaged individually, you’ll be able to tell what’s for a recipe and what’s a normal grocery item.

Meal Prep: Blue Apron Offers Ready-To-Eat Meals

Blue Apron is the clear winner in terms of meal prep because it offers prepared meals. You can heat these up in the microwave in about 2 to 3 minutes, depending on the power of your microwave.

Hungryroot mostly offers meal kits you have to cook from scratch. A lot of the meals will take less than 15 minutes to make, but there’s a decent range of cooking times to be found.

Blue Apron’s meal kits are a bit more involved than Hungryroot’s. However you can search by overall cook time and active minutes to choose recipes that fit your skill level/desired effort.

Most sauces you’ll get from Hungryroot are ready-to-go from the package, like the Thai Green Curry Sauce and the Cranberry Sauce. That means zero prep for you. Most of the sauces you’ll get from Blue Apron, on the other hand, will have to be made from scratch. But with the easy-to-follow instructions, these really don’t take much time at all.

Customer Support: Blue Apron Has Phone Support

You can get in touch with Blue Apron in a few different ways. You can email, call, or text them. These channels are available Monday to Friday 9 am to 9 pm ET and Saturday 11 am to 6 pm.

If you have issues with an ingredient, you’ll need to contact the team by email so you can attach a photo of the affected ingredient or meal. You should do this within 7 days of the delivery. While Blue Apron doesn’t send out replacements, it will credit your account.

Hungryroot offers support via chat, help ticket, or text message from 10 am to 6 pm EST, 7 days per week. Blue Apron’s hours of operation are definitely a bit better – but it’s still great to see that both services offer excellent support.

I found Hungryroot’s support email to be quite responsive, friendly, and professional, as with Blue Apron. The agent replied to my question in about 1:15 hours, which is way above average for email support. My question was answered completely, and the agent gave me all the information I needed without having to email back again.

Both companies answer tons of common questions in their FAQ sections. I highly recommend heading to the relevant FAQ section first as your question may very well have already been answered. Each FAQ section is fully searchable for the exact keyword you’re looking to get answered.

Pricing: Blue Apron’s Price per Serving Is Lower 

Blue Apron offers a lower per-serving pricing at around $5.74 after discounts are applied. Hungryroot prices begin at $8.99 per serving. However, Blue Apron’s shipping fee is a flat fee of $9.99 regardless of where you live or how much you order. Hungryroot’s shipping fee is $6.99 if you spend less than $70 – and it’s free for orders over that amount.

Offers for new customers can bring down your prices. The latest I found was $20 off your first 2 orders from Blue Apron and LIMITED TIME: 30% off + free gift in every delivery from Hungryroot.

Any grocery items you choose from Hungryroot will vary greatly in pricing, depending on what exactly you’re ordering. Items include produce, sauces and condiments, meats and seafood, grains, bread, pasta, pantry items, eggs, and more – which is pretty much anything you can find at your grocery store.

Hungryroot vs. Blue Apron – Pros & Cons

Hungryroot

Pros

• Access to a grocery store’s worth of foods

• Minimal ingredients, minimal effort

• Convenient premade sauces and proteins

Cons

• Not always the most authentic

• Some ingredients look unappetizing at first

• More basic meals

Blue Apron

Pros

• Unique, restaurant-quality meal kits and prepared meals

• High-quality, fresh ingredients

• Great for learning new techniques

Cons

• Some recipes are complex

• Can be time-consuming

• Caters to limited dietary needs

Hungryroot vs. Blue Apron – Quick Overview

And the Winner Is: Blue Apron

Overall, it’s a pretty close call, but Blue Apron is the winner here. While Hungryroot offers a much more extensive selection and caters to more diets, I found Blue Apron the better service.

Ordering from Blue Apron is simpler and it has more delivery slots. What’s more, you can choose between kits and prepared meals. I was also impressed with how it sources its ingredients.

Nevertheless, Hungryroot remains an excellent choice if you’re looking for a slightly different business model to the standard meal kit service. It has a great (albeit lengthy) mealtime customization quiz that considers several factors and helps tailor recipe choices to individuals.

Hungryroot also provides free shipping once you reach an easily achievable spending threshold. This is a great perk that most services don’t offer and is definitely worth factoring into your decision (Blue Apron does offer free shipping if you have a Blue Apron+ membership). For more top-rated services, check out our top meal delivery services of 2026. 

FAQ

Are Blue Apron meals already cooked?

Some of them are and some of them aren’t. With Blue Apron, you can choose from a large selection of both prepared meals and meal kits. Both options give you lots of choices in terms of international cuisines like Latin American, Korean, Japanese, Italian, classic American, and many more. The prepared meals can be heated up in about 2 to 3 minutes, depending on the strength of your microwave, and the meal kits can be cooked in around 20-45 minutes.

How many meals do you get with Hungryroot? 

With Hungryroot, you can get a combination of 8 recipes for lunch and dinner per week (16 recipes in total) that you can organize any way you like. Other grocery items like breakfast, snacks, and sweets range from zero servings per week all the way up to 12.

What kind of groceries does Hungryroot have? 

Hungryroot provides almost any groceries you can find at a regular grocery store. Items include fresh vegetables, fruit, pantry items, meats, legumes, cereals, and tons more. Check out the Meal Variety section to find out about all the different types of groceries you can get from Hungryroot.