Hungryroot vs. Green Chef 2024: Meal Delivery Showdown

Hungryroot vs. Green Chef is an interesting comparison as they have slightly different offerings. Hungryroot offers grocery-store-like variety. Green Chef offers specific dietary menus for particular health goals. Both provide meal kits for a variety of needs.

I’ve crunched the numbers and looked into all the details. And I’m giving Green Chef the nod in a very close comparison. I prefer the quality of the ingredients and the ease of ordering. What’s more, I didn't have a great experience with Hungryroot's questionnaire.

But all things considered, this was a close race. Based on your needs, Hungryroot might be the more desirable option for you. So, continue reading my Hungryroot vs. Green Chef comparison to find out more.

At a Glance: Who Won Each Category?

Menu Variety

Winner: Hungryroot

Hungryroot wins this first category. It simply offers more variety and selection than Green Chef. Hungryroot is kind of a hybrid between a grocery store and a meal delivery service. As such, it incorporates the best of both worlds. And that makes it hard to beat.

Hungryroot has well over 150 meal recipes, plus all the ingredients required, ready to purchase. In contrast, Green Chef carries over 40. Although 40 meals is undeniably a respectable number for a meal delivery service, it can’t compare to 150. But Green Chef is a better option if you're on a specialized diet. It offers more plans than Hungryroot that target specific dietary needs.

As for dietary options, Hungryroot offers omnivore, vegetarian, vegan, and pescatarian options. However, there are so many options to choose from and its filter is so effective. So, you can probably use it to construct a menu tailored to your liking with relative ease. The meal kit recipes are just for main meals but in the Groceries section of the website, there’s a Sweets tab so you can add on a prepared dessert if you wish.

Green Chef offers 8 different menu options for its meal kits. These are Mediterranean, Gut & Brain Health, Calorie Smart, Quick & Easy, Plant Based, Protein Packed, Keto, and Gluten Free. Plus, it has added a mix-and-match feature so that you can receive recipes from whichever diet/s you like. Also, you can get sides and other extras from Green Chef’s menu.

Both companies do a fairly good job in terms of the cuisines offered. Mexican, Middle Eastern, and Italian meals are present on the menu of both competitors. If you're more of a fan of French or Mediterranean cuisine, choose Green Chef. But if Thai or Indian cuisine is more to your liking, you should pick Hungryroot.

Neither service offers lists or tags for different ethnic cuisines. So, you’ll have to search for them by yourself. But since Hungryroot has a massive selection of ingredients, you can construct virtually any cuisine you want. 

Green Chef does a pretty good job in terms of cuisine. I went through the first 21 options on 1 of its menus and found the breakdown to be about: 6 American, 4 Middle Eastern, 3 Mediterranean, 2 Asian, 4 Tex Mex, and 2 Indian meals.

Again, with its grocery-store-like model, Hungryroot offers an enormous selection of extras. This includes bulk meat, snacks, and a whole slew of sides. Basically, whatever you can find in a grocery store. 

At the time of my Hungryroot vs. Green Chef comparison, Green Chef had 50+ extras on offer. These included desserts, snacks, bites, quick meals, and individual proteins, like tilapia and barramundi filets, among other alternatives.

As far as family-friendly or kid-friendly meals are concerned, Hungryroot does have a fair number of them. It also has a Kids tag among other groceries. Some such offerings are Baby Carrots 4 Pack, Organic Strawberry Beet Berry Yogurt Pouch, and Fruit Nut + Cheese Snack Pack. 

You can also browse kid-friendly meals among Hungryroot recipes. To do so, you have to select the Kids Meals option. An example of a child-friendly meal would be the Classic Turkey + Cheese Sandwich shown above.

In contrast, most of the Green Chef cuisines have fancy-sounding names. Of course, that’s really not a reason why kids couldn’t enjoy them. They just might not know what you’re feeding them. Regardless, Green Chef has 1 or 2 simple dishes like the Pork Chops with Glazed Carrots.

Both companies provide a broad range of meal options suitable for all ages. If your needs range from occasional meals during hectic times to full-week meal planning, your search with either competitor will be simple.

Sample Meals

Reviewing the menu is generally easy with both companies. But I think Green Chef has a more user-friendly menu interface because Hungryroot includes the main ingredients with pictures and meal names, making it a bit cluttered. Considering the number of dishes it offers, this makes searching the menu lengthy and more cumbersome compared to Green Chef.

Some Hungryroot meals I'd always happily see on my plate are: 

• Best high-protein dish: Rigatoni with Lamb Bolognese

• Best pescatarian entree: Ricotta-Stuffed Salmon + Asparagus

• Best vegetarian meal: Beyond the Rainbow Sesame Ginger Stir-Fry

• Best vegan recipe: Tzatziki Black Bean Burger Bowl

As for Green Chef, I couldn't get enough of the following entrees: 

• Best special-occasion recipe: Sockeye Salmon with Cranberry Walnut Couscous

• Best keto dish: Spicy Turkey Egg Roll Bowls

• Best gluten-free meal: Mediterranean Shrimp Bowls

• Best quick-prep entree: Chicken with Creamy Pistou Salad

Meal Customization

Winner: It’s a tie

Hungryroot has more advanced customization tools, offering superior personalization options compared to Green Chef. On the other hand, Green Chef shines with its variety of specialized diet plans. Even so, Hungryroot would win this round if the personalization reflected my actual situation more accurately. For this reason, I call this round a draw. 

Hungryroot provides a meal personalization quiz for customized meal recommendations. A downside is that you'll only see these suggestions after completing the checkout process. Still, you can modify any selections you're not satisfied with once you finalize the purchase.

Hungryroot's quiz extensively explores your taste preferences and daily habits. It delves into any food dislikes or intolerances, preferred cuisines, and your choices regarding meals and meats. The quiz also considers your nutritional goals, such as low-carb or high-protein diets, and your snacking habits. It also asks how often you’d like to have snacks, lunches, and dinners each week, with options for all, some, or none.

Green Chef doesn’t have a meal personalization quiz. In other words, you choose your meals yourself, which may have its advantages.

Hungryroot has, probably, 1 of the best filters I’ve ever seen. It makes navigating the site and tailoring your menu a breeze. If you land on the Recipes page, you can tailor a vegan, vegetarian, pescatarian, or gluten-free diet among others in a single click. Or 2, if you want to cross-filter. The service also has a Groceries filter which filters based on Featured, Protein, Spice Level, and Dietary Needs – much like the Recipe filter.

Green Chef lacks a filtering system. On the bright side, it has tags pointing out the key features of every dish. But you'll still have to check out for yourself whether the meal is, for example, soy-, egg-, or peanut-free.

Hungryroot also has various "special kits." Some of them are Burgers and Starters + Sides in the Recipes section and the Dairy + Eggs and Cereal + Oats in the Groceries selection, to give you an idea. You can browse these at the top of the page, between the large image and the available offerings. 

Green Chef uses labels to bring unique and other special meals to your attention. These are Earth Month for meals containing sustainable ingredients and self-explanatory 10-Min Lunches and Chef’s Choice. A few Chef’s Choice meals weekly is a Green Chef outstanding feature. These dishes are ideal for a special occasion like a romantic dinner or some celebration.

Neither company has a specifically designed ingredient-customization feature. Still, in the case of Hungryroot, you can pretty much substitute whatever ingredients you deem appropriate as the site is set up like a virtual grocery store. As for Green Chef, you can simply replace any ingredient you get in your meal kit during prep. 

Each company notes that it processes most (or even all) of its ingredients in the same facility. This leads to the possibility of cross-contamination even for foods that are supposed to be completely free of some ingredients. In light of that, you might want to avoid using either company if you have severe allergies. Check out our 10 Best Allergy-Friendly Meal Delivery Services review for alternatives.

The only filter Green Chef has is its plans filter, which allows you to choose 1 or more options from its list of 8 dietary menus. 

In summary, Hungryroot has more advanced personalization tools than Green Chef. But, in my case, the quiz failed to produce a satisfactory result. At the beginning of the quiz, I mentioned that we are a family of 3 – 2 adults and a child under the age of 4. I pointed out that I want to get breakfasts, lunches, and dinners for each day of the week and some snacks and sweets.

The result I received was 4 meals (lunch and dinner) for 4 people each. OK, considering the child wouldn't eat as much as an adult, there would be leftovers for additional meals for us adults. But given the large menu, I was hoping for more variety. 

Basically, I was expecting a more personalized result considering the detail and scope of the quiz.

Ingredient Quality and Nutrition

Winner: Green Chef

Green Chef is an undisputed winner in this round. Unlike Hungryroot, which sources organic and non-GMO ingredients whenever possible, Green Chef is a certified organic meal kit service. In fact, it’s the first CCOF-certified (California Certified Organic Farmers) organic meal kit service on the market. 

If you subscribe to Green Chef, you can expect to get organic produce, eggs, beef, and chicken. Pescatarians can look forward to wild-caught fish. If organic ingredients aren't available, Green Chef will notify you in advance. Either way, rest assured that any substitutions will maintain a high standard of quality.

Green Chef works with local and family farms and craft economies. The company carefully selects its food production partners, prioritizing those who practice high animal welfare standards.

Both companies send you seasonal ingredients. They also steer clear of food containing artificial colors, preservatives, and other additions. 

Both providers make the ingredient details and nutritional values of the meals easily accessible. Click on the product, and this information will appear as soon as the window opens. Both competitors in my Hungryroot vs. Green Chef analysis list calories, proteins, carbohydrates, and other values. But Green Chef does so more clearly than its competitor.

Ordering and Delivery

Winner: Green Chef

Green Chef wins this category because its ordering process is far more succinct than Hungryroot’s, and its delivered ingredients are better organized. Indeed, the ingredients are even color-coded. That’s hard to beat.

Hungryroot uses a lengthy, but pretty straightforward ordering process that consists of several consecutive filters. It runs through a series of questions you must answer to tailor the preferences to your individual tastes. There are about 2 dozen screens before you get to the checkout.

Green Chef is also straightforward. And much shorter. It requires only 5 steps, which are selecting a plan, registration, address and payment details, and picking meals. 

If you need to change an order on Hungryroot, it’s a pretty easy process. It even allows you to edit individual recipes. Check the FAQ for the details.

Green Chef also allows you to change your meals (but not the individual recipe). You just have to make the alterations by 11:59 PM EST 5 days before the delivery. It, too, uses an FAQ to describe the process.

Hungryroot delivers to most zip codes in the 48 contiguous United States. At the current time, it doesn’t deliver to Alaska or Hawaii. Delivery times depend on the order finalization date.

If your order is finalized on Monday, you can expect your delivery on Thursday, Friday, Saturday, or Sunday. If your order is finalized on Thursday, you can expect your delivery on Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday.

Green Chef also delivers to most areas in the 48 contiguous United States. It delivers Monday through Saturday from 8 AM to 8 PM. You’re free to choose the delivery day that works best for you. 

If you need to reschedule your Hungryroot delivery, you must make the changes before 7 PM EST on the Monday or Thursday prior to your delivery. It’s a pretty simple process. You just have to be aware that once the order is finalized, it can’t be changed.

If you need to reschedule or change a Green Chef delivery, you do so on the Settings page. You can change the number of your servings, your delivery date, your email/snail mail addresses, your password, and/or payment information. You can also skip/unskip weeks as desired. Just make sure you make all your changes no later than 5 days prior to your delivery.

Both companies have an app that makes managing your delivery process and account even easier.

Unboxing

Winner: Green Chef

The Hungryroot box includes a paper cooler and food protector, Enviro Ice or Earthwise Ice Pack, and your food. Aside from the recipes, you’ll get as many individual grocery items as you ordered. These can be snacks, fruit, or whatever.

A Green Chef box contains all your premium pre-measured, pre-prepped ingredients, plus the easy-to-follow recipes required. The recipe cards and the kit bags are all color–coded. That makes cooking a breeze! Lastly, all the packaging materials are reusable, recyclable, and/or compostable.

Hungryroot ingredients are fairly well-organized. The shelf-stable items are separated from the refrigerated items. The refrigerated items are packed with recyclable Enviro Ice (Or Earthwise Ice Packs) to keep them cold.

All the Hungryroot items are clearly labeled. Plus, since the refrigerated items come in a cooler, it’s easy to just store them in the fridge as soon as you get them. Green Chef is, likewise, clearly labeled with excellent storage instructions.

As a rule, all Hungryroot items that come in the cooler should be cold to the touch. If not, you should contact Customer Service to assist you. Otherwise, the items should be put in the refrigerator as soon as possible.

The same can be said for Green Chef and whatever perishable items you receive in your Green Chef order. Refrigerate them as soon as possible (by the end of the day on the day you received them at the very latest).

I touched on this briefly above, but it bears repeating. Most of the Hungryroot packaging is recyclable. The individual items may require inspection for the details, but the Enviro Ice can be poured down the drain or into the garden. You can recycle the box, paper cooler, and protector with your cardboard.

All the Green Chef packaging is made from materials that are either compostable, reusable, or recyclable. The only exception is those cases in which food safety protocols prevent such. One such example is tofu sent in vacuum-sealed plastic wrap.

Meal Prep

Winner: It’s a tie

This category was a tie. While Hungryroot offered some shelf-stable and ready-to-eat foods like smoothies and cereal, Green Chef excelled in providing pre-prepped ingredients. You can prepare the quickest Hungryroot’s meals in like 5 minutes and Green Chef’s in 10 or so. Beyond that, the 2 companies were comparable in other metrics of Meal Prep.

You have to prepare Hungryroot meals from the delivered ingredients. They don’t come pre-prepped and frozen. However, you have the option of freezing the meals yourself and they’ll last 3 months. 

I sent an email asking Hungryroot if the company had any microwave meals. The companysaid that they do, but when I checked the menu and couldn’t find any microwavable meals.

If Hungryroot offers microwavable meals, they must be a rare occurrence. There is, however, a small number of ingredients you can cook in the microwave. These include 2 types of potatoes as well as popcorn.

Some Hungryroot sauces come in bottles and are, therefore, premade. Others, though, come in packets that require you to mix them up. Although that’s usually relatively easy, those sauces don’t qualify as pre-made. Similarly, some types of ingredients, like broccoli florets, come pre-chopped. But that’s not necessarily true of all ingredients offered.

In contrast, Green Chef offers a large variety of pre-chopped ingredients and pre-made sauces. The company takes its pre-prep work very seriously.

Customer Support

Winner: Hungryroot

I wasn’t impressed with the customer support of either company. Hungryroot provided a few options to reach its Customer Support department. These were email form, text, and a limited chatbot that simply searched the FAQs.

In contrast, Green Chef offered a live chat and a phone number. However, when I tried out Green Chef’s “live chat,” I managed to send a message through it but got no response. A few days later, I sent a similar message and the bot just pulled up an FAQ. I was never able to speak to a real person.

So, although Hungroot's Customer Support department wasn’t stellar, it won this category. If Green Chef had a live chat that was actually “live,” it probably would’ve won. But, as I never spoke to a human, I can’t really conclude if it was “live” or not. So, Hungryroot wins.

Cancelation on Hungryroot wasn’t difficult. The process is detailed in the FAQs.

1. Go to your Account and click Settings

2. Scroll down and click Account Details

3. Click Cancel Account

4. Click Continue to Cancel on the Hold Menu

5. Provide your reason for canceling and click Continue to Cancel again

6. Give more details on your reason and click Continue to Cancel again

7. Provide some feedback and click Continue to Cancel one last time

8. You’re done.

Cancelation on Green Chef was pretty basic, too.

1. Log into your account

2. Open the menu in the top-right corner

3. Select Settings

4. Scroll down to Account

5. Click Deactivate Your Plan

6. Provide a reason

7. Click Deactivate Now

8. You’re done.

Pricing

Winner: It’s a tie

This category is difficult to call because special discounts make the competing prices a little murky. In the case of Hungryroot, the final cost also depends on the number of meals the service suggests when you complete its questionnaire and your dietary habits. All things considered, I think a tie would be the fairest outcome.

Hungryroot’s lowest price per serving comes with the 16-serving (8 lunches and 8 dinners) meal plan at $8.99. Green Chef’s lowest price per serving comes with its 4 meals for 6 people plan (24 servings) and is $9.99 per serving.

Hungryroot also has a whole slew of add-ons like snacks and individual proteins. It’s, basically, an online grocery store … with one caveat. You must purchase a meal kit of recipes to purchase the groceries. The groceries are purchased in conjunction with your meal plan. The costs are typically a couple of bucks per serving. You can’t purchase grocery items a la carte.

Hungryroot offers free shipping on any order above $70 (which is most orders). Orders below $70 have a $6.99 shipping fee. Green Chef has a standard shipping fee of $9.99.

The minimum order on Hungryroot is 6 servings (3 meals with 2 servings) which comes out at $70. On Green Chef, it’s also 3 meals for 2 people.

Hungryroot vs. Green Chef – Quick Overview 

And The Winner Is: Green Chef

My Hungryroot vs. Green Chef comparison was close, but Green Chef is the winner. I don't think you can go wrong with either competitor. It literally came down to a few nuances that tipped the scales in favor of Green Chef.

Being an organic certified meal kit delivery service works heavily in Green Chef's favor. It also takes the top spot on our list of the best organic meal delivery services. What's more, the service's eco-friendly practices, low carbon footprint, and reduced food waste play a significant role in its victory here.

Hungryroot leads in meal diversity, outpacing Green Chef in this regard. Its meal customization and filtering capabilities are notably advanced. If the quiz results had more accurately reflected my needs, I'd have found it more impressive.

Another thing to note is the user experience of each site. Whenever I visited the Green Chef site, it worked like clockwork. In the case of Hungryroot, I've experienced times when the site showed a "403 Forbidden" error message. The malfunction could last up to half an hour, which considerably affected my user experience.

FAQ

Are Hungryroot groceries expensive?

When you take into account the convenience of ordering from your computer, the savings in gas, and the low shipping cost, it’s entirely conceivable that the average American may actually find that they save money when shopping at Hungryroot.

Are Hungryroot meals healthy?

The company takes all the necessary precautions to keep its food within dietary regulations.

Is Green Chef good for one person?

So, Green Chef is fine for a single person as long as that person knows they’ll eat each meal more than once or have an extra-large serving size.