Hungryroot vs. Blue Apron 2024: Differences Revealed

Hungryroot and Blue Apron both appear pretty similar on the surface. But there are a few key differences between them. Blue Apron is a service that makes it easy and convenient for you to cook and prepare your meals. Hungryroot is more of an all-in-1 meal kit and grocery delivery service. And both companies cater to individuals and families.

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

Overall, I’ve found Blue Apron to be the winner for several reasons. It features prepared meals in addition to meal kits. Still, Hungryroot was a worthy contender, so read on to find out how they compare.

At a Glance: Who Won Each Category?

Menu Variety

Winner: Hungryroot

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. For a start, Blue Apron provides meal kits and prepared meals. This means that whatever meal you’re making (or heating up) will be enough for 1 to 2 servings unless you opt for 4-serving (Signature for Four) meals.

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 offers meals from many cuisines, too. 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 immediate. 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.

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 recipe cards in your deliveries – but they’re available on the website. Many of the meals are kid-friendly, of course, since it offers such a huge number of meals.

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.

There are dozens of recipes to choose from across 4 Blue Apron menus. These are Signature for 2, Signature for 4, Vegetarian (for 2), and Wellness (for 2). The Signature plan features omnivore-friendly meals, the Vegetarian plan contains veggie-friendly recipes, and the Wellness menu features nutritionist-approved recipes, including low-carb and low-calorie recipes.

I found that about half the recipes on the Blue Apron menu to be kid-friendly and more basic. The other half are more unique and contain more exotic ingredients. For example, the Oven-Baked Squash and Black Bean Tacos sound like an exciting recipe that the whole family will love.

But the meal kits and prepared meals aren’t all you can get from Blue Apron. It offers a very large selection of wines. These are available from the Blue Apron Market. There’s also an add-ons section with desserts, salads, appetizers, and sides, which are available in the mobile app or from your Blue Apron account page.

In addition, you can get special seasonal holiday boxes related to whatever’s going on at the time. Holiday boxes are bundles of meals you can make for your friends and family for holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas. These usually feed 6 to 8 people.

Sample Meals

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

Hungryroot's menu is also easy to browse. Its items also feature a list of principal ingredients presented in an engaging manner. But unlike its competitor, 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. 

Some Blue Apron's recipes that caught my eye are: 

• Best family-friendly dish: Seared Scallops & Truffle Orzo
• Best heat-and-eat meal: Soy-Miso Chicken & Udon Noodles
• Best ready-to-cook meal: Creamy Gochujang Pork & Gnocchi
• Best vegetarian recipe: Black Bean & Caramelized Onion Tacos

Hungryroot dishes that caught my attention were: 

• Best vegan meal: Vegan Chorizo + Black Bean Plate
• Best gluten-free dish: Steak with Salsa Verde + Black Beans
• Best vegetarian meal: Black Bean + Avocado Stuffed Sweet Potato
• Best pescatarian dish: Roasted Salmon with Grains + Sautéed Sweet Broccoli

Meal Customization

Winner: Hungryroot

Hungryroot caters to tons of different dietary preferences and allergies. You can pretty much customize your meals to your preferences, whatever they are.

Take a short quiz that’ll ask you a bunch of questions about your preferences before you even begin ordering from Hungryroot. You’ll be asked about 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.

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 doesn’t offer nearly as many customization options, which is why Hungryroot won this category. You really can’t filter down its menu as extensively as you can with Hungryroot. But just because it doesn’t let you customize as extensively as Hungryroot doesn’t mean you can’t at all.

You can substitute some ingredients in the recipes with Blue Apron’s Signature for 2 and Signature for 4 plans. For example, you could replace chicken with tofu or starch for extra veggies. You can also increase the portions of certain ingredients. Upgrading would allow you to select a more premium ingredient, like exchanging bistro steaks for New York strips.

Blue Apron offers a Vegetarian plan, but there aren’t any vegan options. It also doesn’t guarantee that any of the ingredients haven’t come into contact with major known allergens. As such, it’s not recommended to choose Blue Apron if you have a severe, life-threatening allergy.

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, since you’re getting 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, many vegetarian meals could be made vegan at home.

Overall, I was still impressed to see the ingredient replacement and upgrade options, even though Blue Apron’s customization options aren’t nearly as strong as Hungryroot’s. 

Ingredient Quality and Nutrition

Winner: Blue Apron

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

This provider buys meat from suppliers adhering to animal wellness standards. This means that you'll get meat from livestock that were treated humanely. Thus, it doesn't contain any antibiotics or hormones.

Hungryroot also strives to get organic food whenever possible. However, due to objective reasons, 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 boast high-quality ingredients. In other words, they’re free of artificial sweeteners, colors, high-fructose corn syrup, and preservatives, among other unwanted additives.

Finding nutritional information is easy. You only need to 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. As for Hungryroot, you’ll find the information below the Instructions section.

Ordering, Delivery, Unboxing

Winner: Blue Apron 

Ordering

Ordering from both sites is pretty straightforward. But I give Blue Apron an edge here. One of the reasons is that 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.

Blue Apron, on the other hand, makes ordering very simple. On the homepage, you can build your plan right away and choose the number of servings you want. The minimum Blue Apron order is 2 servings of 2 meals per week.

Delivery

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.

You can make changes to your order or delivery date as well. However, each individual will have a different cutoff time to do so. You can view the Changeable before date for each upcoming weekly delivery or monthly wine delivery in your account dashboard. Blue Apron also offers a mobile app for iOS and Android that makes it easy to view your upcoming deliveries and make any necessary changes.

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

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

Winner: Blue Apron

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.

Many of Blue Apron’s meals have a “Ready to Cook” label, which means all the ingredients are chopped and prepped for you. Any recipes that don’t have this label will require more prep as the ingredients come whole. That also means chopping and processing each individual item. You can also get a large selection of meal kits, which include several sheet pan and 1-pot recipes.

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

Winner: Blue Apron

Blue Apron offers support via phone and live chat. You can contact its agents from 10 am to 9 pm EST from Monday to Friday, and 11 am to 6 pm EST on Saturdays and Sundays. I found the customer support team to be highly responsive via live chat, so I always recommend trying that option first (unless you prefer speaking to someone directly on the phone).

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 wins this round in the photo finish. But each service offers something uniquely different, which may bring Hungryroot to the top, in some cases. 

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 $10.99 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 Enjoy meals starting as low as $5.59! from Blue Apron and 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 – 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 allergies, I found Blue Apron the better service.

Ordering from Blue Apron is simpler, and its delivery slots are more numerous. What’s more, you can order great wines affordably and pay less per serving with Blue Apron. 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 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. 

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 eight recipes for lunch and dinner per week (16 recipes in total) that you can organize any way you like. For example, you can choose four and 12, six and ten, eight and eight, or any other combination. Other grocery items like breakfast, snacks, and sweets range from zero servings per week all the way up to around eight 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 in this article to find out about all the different types of groceries you can get from Hungryroot.