HelloFresh Review 2026: My Honest Experience

Overview

I’ve tested HelloFresh multiple times across the years, and I found it the best choice for busy people who prioritize home cooking. It offers a massive menu of 100+ recipes per week, plus add-ons. Most mainstream diets are catered for (including veggie and vegan), and you can mix and match meal categories each week. You can browse the large marketplace of add-ons once you’ve signed up. 

While you’ll find plenty of international flavors, HelloFresh also has a family-friendly menu with loads of choices for picky eaters. You can also swap certain ingredients, but it’s mostly limited to protein choices and dependent on availability. HelloFresh clearly labels recipes with allergen information, but cross-contamination is always possible. I found the lack of specific dietary filters made choosing suitable recipes more time-consuming.

I enjoyed cooking at home with HelloFresh every time. The straightforward recipes and pre-portioned ingredients were ideal for beginners. The produce was always fresh (as the brand name promised!), and the recipes were generally accurate, although some dishes took a bit longer to prep than advertised. In my last test, I tried several meals, from a vegan Mushroom French Dip Sandwich to a flavorful Pork Katsu, and found that HelloFresh's creative recipes were consistently tasty and easy to follow. 

I also like HelloFresh’s eco-friendly approach, which includes using mostly recyclable packaging. While some plastic remains, it's less than I've seen with other meal kit services. Ingredients are well-organized in paper bags, which helps speed up meal prep. Price-wise, it sits in the middle ground between budget and premium, so I’d recommend it to people looking to balance quality and value.

HelloFresh’s Menu: Quality Meals for the Whole Family

HelloFresh’s weekly menu offers 100+ recipes, including some prepared meals. These are organized into categories, making it easy to choose recipes that suit your taste and lifestyle. We regularly deep-dive into HelloFresh’s menu options, like in our roundup of HelloFresh’s best pescatarian meals or the best gluten-free options.

HelloFresh recently doubled the size of its menu, giving it one of the biggest menus around. This change added a few extra elements worth noting:

• More premium proteins – you’ll find more steak and seafood dishes in HelloFresh’s core menu. Other companies sometimes offer these proteins, but usually at a premium cost or for a surcharge.
• More seasonal veggies – The menu now features more veggies in their peak freshness. HelloFresh includes plenty of greens and “high value” veggies like corn on the cob, sugar snap peas, and bok choy, which I always keep an eye out for. Look out for Veggie Packed recipes, as these feature 2+ different veggies per meal.

Meal Options: Choose From a Range of Diets + Add Sides & Extras 

HelloFresh covers a wide range of dietary preferences, including meat, flexitarian, veggie, pescatarian, family-friendly, low-calorie, high-protein, and more. You can set certain preferences when you sign up during the quiz, but you can always choose from the whole menu.

HelloFresh initially selects recipes for you based on your chosen preferences. And if you forget to choose your own meals one week, HelloFresh will do it for you so you don’t miss your weekly delivery. Otherwise, any preferences work more like menu organizers than they are limitations on what meals you can choose. You can mix and match between them in any way you like.

You’ll also be able to choose from extras and sides in the Marketplace once you’ve confirmed your order size and plan category and entered your payment information. 

You can order between 2 and 6 recipes per week for 2, 3, 4, or 6 people, regardless of the plan you choose. The prep time is noted on the main menu under each meal image and if you click on an image you’ll see the recipes marked as “Easy”, “Medium”, or “Hard.”

HelloFresh Is a Good Choice for Both Adventurous and Picky Eaters 

HelloFresh is a great choice for families with young children. The company makes a point of providing balanced yet crowd-pleasing comfort food dishes that will suit pickier eaters. The One-Pan Easy Cheesy Chicken Quesadillas, for example, would be popular with kids and grown-ups alike. Plus, the option to pick up to 6 meals per week is ideal for larger orders.

 

But you’ll find some internationally inspired dishes for more adventurous palates. For example, the Honey Miso Broccoli and Sweet Potato Donburi with Scallion Rice and Sriracha Mayo is a Korean-inspired dish.

Customization Made Easy With HelloFresh 

With the customization option, you can swap out certain proteins or sides on several dishes. When I first ordered from HelloFresh, this feature wasn’t available. However, I find it super convenient since customizing the proteins and sides in my meals gives me more variety.

Around half of the recipes can be customized by swapping the protein or side. These swaps often come with a surcharge, but you’ll know this before you select them. Some swaps include removing the meat to create a vegetarian meal. Home Chef has had this swapping feature for a while on its menu, so it’s great to see HelloFresh catching up!

Unfortunately, you can only see customization options when choosing your meals, so you need an active account.

However, swapping proteins and sides adds an extra charge and isn’t available for all recipes. Swapping also depends on ingredient availability. This means that while you might be able to swap chicken for salmon in a dish on the menu one week, you might not be able to the next time that dish is on the menu.

Room for Improvement: HelloFresh Isn’t Ideal for People With Food Allergies 

HelloFresh has taken steps to help people with intolerances or other food aversions. While you can’t swap particular ingredients you might be allergic to, dishes containing major allergens (like nuts, dairy, or soy) are clearly marked on the recipe cards.

One downside of HelloFresh’s extensive menu is that there aren’t any menu filters. You have to browse recipes by eye and read each recipe card to determine which recipes might suit you. This can be annoying if you need to avoid particular ingredients, or are trying to stick to a certain diet. Once you’ve entered your payment information and have signed up, browsing the menu is easier, though.

HelloFresh’s Menu at a Glance 

My Unboxing Experience With HelloFresh: Almost Perfect!

 

Ingredients for each dish arrive in their own paper bag. This made storage easy and there was no guessing what went with what. I’ve tried other meal kits where all the ingredients are simply dumped in the box, which was inconvenient and sometimes confusing. So, this was a massive plus for me!

 

Underneath the recipe bags, you’ll find the chilled proteins, which HelloFresh recommends freezing until a few hours before you want to cook them. Any other fresh ingredients should, of course, be kept in the refrigerator.

 

HelloFresh does a fair job of using recyclable packaging where possible. However, you can’t get away from the fact that there’s still plastic used. This is mainly small sachets for spices and sauces and larger bags for things like salad leaves. However, it’s not as excessive as other services I’ve tried.

 

HelloFresh purchases carbon offsets for 100% of its deliveries. I try to be an eco-friendly consumer, so this fact makes it much more likely that I’ll order from HelloFresh again.

 

The recipe cards are big, bright, and simple. I love recipe cards, as I hate following instructions on my phone or computer while I’m cooking. Plus, these are perfect for saving and referring back to later on in case I want to try and remake a dish!

 

Each card also contains full-color photos of every step, a complete list of the required utensils and pantry ingredients, and all prep and cooking time information. You’ll also find info on any available swaps.

 

The vegetables looked better than what I often see at the grocery store! Even though HelloFresh doesn’t offer many organic ingredients like its more expensive competitors do (e.g., Green Chef, which we wrote a full review about), the produce, proteins, and other ingredients looked high quality.

Cooking (And Eating) With HelloFresh: I Was Honestly Impressed!

HelloFresh claims that it tests each recipe 200 times before putting it on the menu. After trying these dishes for myself, I might just believe it! I was impressed by each dish I tested in terms of prep and flavor.

The recipes come in 3 difficulty levels – easy, medium, and hard. Hard recipes are practically non-existent, though, and the majority of the menu is labeled as easy. My order only included easy recipes, though one was a lot more involved than the others.

 

Some of my chosen recipes left me with piles of dishes to deal with afterward. If the thought of doing dishes sends chills up your spine, look for recipes labeled Easy Cleanup, Easy Prep, or One Pot. These include shortcuts to save you time and effort.

Shortlist of My Favorite Meals

Pork Katsu

 

HelloFresh’s “Better Than Takeout” Pork Katsu was the first dinner I cooked from my order. I found it to be a reasonably easy recipe to make, too. While it was fairly simple, everything came together in a delicious way.

Most of the prep was chopping the carrots and scallions. From there, I just had to bread and fry the pork while the carrots roasted in the oven. In my experience, recipes almost always take longer than advertised. In this case, dinner was on the table within a reasonable 45 minutes.

 

Thoughtful, flavorful touches set this recipe apart. For example, HelloFresh had me add ginger to the rice and sesame seeds to the carrots. These aromatic elements complemented the shallow-fried pork cutlets, which were nice and juicy when cooked just right.

Even though it wasn’t exactly a showstopper, this dish was darn tasty. While I wish it took a little less time to prep and clean up, I’d definitely make it again. And I’m going to start adding sesame seeds to my roasted carrots a lot more often, too.

Mushroom French Dip Sandwiches

 

This recipe was far and away my favorite of the week. Rich, beefy French Dip sandwiches are an indulgence, and this vegan variant with savory mushrooms was just as pleasurable. The potato wedges weren’t the most exciting side dish, but they complemented the meal well.

Sauteed mushrooms and red onions were a magical combination, but the real hero here was the jus (aka, the dipping sauce). This umami-bomb was made with mushroom stock instead of beef to keep it vegan, and it was super tasty soaked into the toasty baguette.

 

High-quality produce is an absolute must for plant-based cooking. I’m pleased to say HelloFresh easily met these standards. Vegetarian recipes often feel like an afterthought with more meat-focused meal delivery services, so HelloFresh gets major props here.

From start to finish, I spent about 40 minutes making this meal. That means the time estimate on the recipe card was actually accurate! The cleanup was also the easiest of the week, so this was definitely an all-around winner.

Street Cart-Style Chickpea Bowls

 

This complex vegan dish was quite the finale to my week of HelloFresh. The Middle Eastern-inspired recipe consisted of seasoned chickpeas, aromatic Jasmine rice, a simple cucumber salad, and garlicky pita bread. It was tasty but surprisingly labor-intensive.

The recipe card estimated just 10 minutes of prep and 30 minutes of cooking time. I wasn’t keeping close track of time, but I definitely spent over an hour fiddling about in the kitchen. You have to slice multiple veggies for the salad, and the rice is a whole thing too.

 

I had to do a lot of multitasking and dirty a lot of dishes to make this. Every component was tasty and went well together, but there were many discrete elements that all had to be prepared individually. Still, it was worth it.

This HelloFresh Hall of Fame dish was also a good example of how swapping ingredients works. I got the vegan version of the dish, which was centered around chickpeas. However, you can get the same street cart-style dish with diced chicken or ground turkey.

Recipes Summary

Prices: Pretty Level Across the Board, & Decent Value

HelloFresh’s pricing keeps it pretty square in the middle of the pack. Going with a more expensive service, like Green Chef, gives you organic produce as standard and caters to more specific diets (like keto), while cheaper services offer more basic recipes with fewer ingredients.

The price used to vary a lot depending on which size plan you chose, but recently, pricing has become more standardized. The highest price per serving is only for the smallest box size, and you’ll get the lowest price per serving if you sign up for at least 2 meals for 3 people or 3 meals for 2 people. If you’re interested, we also did some research to see how HelloFresh compares to the cost of grocery shopping.

The shipping fee varies depending on where you’re based, and it’ll be calculated once you’ve selected your plan and are ready to check out. As a guide, when I ordered from HelloFresh (to New York City), delivery was $10.99.

Not only are first boxes heavily discounted for new customers, but HelloFresh has also recently introduced a satisfaction guarantee on your first box, so you can easily get your money back if you aren’t happy.

Shipping & Delivery: Not Bad, but I’ll Use the App Next Time

HelloFresh delivers anywhere in the continental United States. According to the FAQ section, it also delivers to select zip codes in Honolulu, Hawaii, and Anchorage, Alaska. We only tested ordering to the continental states, so I’d recommend double-checking with customer services if you’re in either of those places.

HelloFresh lets you choose your delivery day, which isn’t something every service allows. You can also update your delivery day week by week if your schedule or preference changes.

There’s no way to specify a time, though, so just pick the day that works best for you. HelloFresh delivers anytime between 8 am and 8 pm. I work from home, so I just went with Monday. Even if you’re not in, the box is insulated enough so it can be left outside all day.

I was notified by email when my order had shipped. I expected a text message too – like we got when we tested Home Chef – but didn’t receive one. Still, I check my email often enough that it didn’t make a difference.

 

My order ended up arriving just after noon, despite the broad delivery window. Unfortunately, I didn’t know the box had arrived until I checked the tracking information on my computer. I’ve since learned that HelloFresh has an app, which makes it much easier to monitor your deliveries and I’ll use that next time.

If that’s not your thing, you can also set yourself up to receive text notifications directly from the courier service. HelloFresh uses FedEx, UPS, and some regional services. The courier service changes depending on where you live. Once you confirm your order, you’ll receive an email detailing your courier and tracking information.

My package was left outside my door. In the past, I’ve had them left outside my apartment building, so this was much more convenient as the boxes can be pretty heavy!

 

How HelloFresh Works: Step by Step Guide

HelloFresh makes it super easy to sign up, but it’s also possible to see the menu first without inputting your credit card information – just click on Our Menus on HelloFresh’s home page.

Once you’ve decided you’re ready to sign up, you can do so by working through the sign-up quiz. HelloFresh’s quiz is easy, but it’s gotten quite a bit longer over the years that I’ve been reviewing it. Now you have to click through several screens inputting details about yourself, your taste, and routine before you get to the meal plan page (where you’ll see pricing).

How to Sign Up for HelloFresh (Just 6 Simple Steps)

1. Click on See Pricing & Plans on the homepage and fill in your zip code: This will start you off with the sign-up quiz. The first page asks you to input your zip code. If you sign up via a discount code (like ours) you’ll usually be taken to this page of the quiz with the discount already applied.

2. Answer a few questions about yourself. This includes how many people you will be cooking for, what your goals are (i.e saving money, less waste), what your priority at mealtimes is (i.e quick recipes, family recipes), and your eating style (veggie, meat, flexitarian).

3. Fill out details about your taste and routine: You’ll be asked questions on your nutrition preferences, what ingredients you wish to avoid, your favorite cuisines, favorite flavors, favorite proteins, what type of meals you enjoy and how often you want to eat with HelloFresh. You can change these answers later in the Food Profile section of your account.

4. Review your recommended meal plan. Here, you can manually change the number of servings or weekly recipes. You’ll also be able to see regular pricing as well as prices with a coupon code applied. Once you hit Continue, you’ll be prompted to create an account, so you’ll need to add your email address.

5. Add your delivery address and billing address. You can check your final order summary and add any promo codes if they haven’t been automatically applied. You can also click Edit to choose your first delivery day and leave instructions for your delivery person if you’re not at home (including a space for any access codes).

6. Input payment information and check out. Once you’ve entered your credit card or other payment information, just check the box to agree to the terms and conditions, have a final check of your order summary, then hit Place order and select meals. Then you’ll be officially signed up!

When you’re finished, you can then choose your meals. HelloFresh will automatically recommend meals for you based on your answers to the sign-up quiz, but you can easily go in and swap these out for recipes of your own choosing. If you want to have a say in the dishes you receive, I recommend making these changes right away so you don’t forget!

Managing Your Subscription

HelloFresh makes it easier than most companies to skip weeks, cancel your subscription, or make other changes to your order. For in-depth assistance, check out our step-by-step cancelation guide.

The change request deadline is 11:59 pm PST, 5 days before your next scheduled order. You can pause, cancel, customize recipes, adjust your delivery day, or any other order details as long as you meet this deadline.

You can skip a week or pause your subscription with the touch of a button. Pausing your subscription is as easy as logging into your account and opening up your settings menu.

This page is also where you can select your meals. If you don’t choose your own meals (or pause your subscription) by the 5-day cutoff, HelloFresh will send you a selection of meals based on your chosen meal plan.

Customer Service: Honestly, 5 Out of 5 Stars!

I had a very positive experience with customer service. HelloFresh’s customer support features include live chat, an iOS- and Android-compatible app, a phone line, a chatbot, and an extensive and easily searchable FAQ section.

I was connected to a HelloFresh live chat agent within about 1 to 2 minutes every time I reached out. You can even contact the live customer support chat via the app on your mobile device, so a live agent is always just a few taps away.

When I tried the live chat, it was immediately clear that I was chatting with a real person called Kyla. I’d received a coupon by email after I had ordered (typical, right?), so I reached out via online chat to see if I could apply it to an order that I had already placed.

I've never experienced such excellent customer service before. Although Kyla was unable to provide the entire discount, she refunded a portion of my money and deposited the remaining part into my account. Honestly, it was almost unbelievable.

I also tested out what it’s like to pause or cancel your HelloFresh subscription and wrote about it in this short blog post.

The FAQ section is easy to use. You’ll find Action Buttons to Help Yourself, which can help you solve common queries like updating your account or changing your order. Below that, you’ll find a robust set of Help Articles, which you can search using keywords.

The FAQ section from HelloFresh is straightforward and gets right to the point. For example, I was curious about how to recycle the packaging. A quick search using the word "recycle" gave me all the info I needed.

Additionally, I discovered that HelloFresh has an extensive recycling program and even provides a dedicated page to help you properly dispose of your packaging.

How HelloFresh Compares to Other Meal Delivery Services

To see how other services stack up compared to HelloFresh, check out our list of the best alternatives.

🆚 HelloFresh vs. Green Chef

Green Chef is the best organic meal kit service out there right now. All its ingredients are non-GMO, and the produce is CCOF- and USDA-certified. Prices are a bit higher than HelloFresh’s. However, you’ll find options that cater to a wider range of diets, including keto-friendly, gluten-free, plant-based, and high-protein meals.

HelloFresh offers good-quality produce, but not always organic, so Green Chef may be a better option for you if the price is right.

🆚 HelloFresh vs. Home Chef

Home Chef is one of the most popular meal kit delivery services in the industry. The per-serving price is a bit more expensive than HelloFresh’s and varies by dish. Dietary plans are less varied than HelloFresh and only include Carb-Conscious and Calorie-Conscious.

Home Chef has a smaller menu than HelloFresh, with around 30 recipes each week. However, it offers a unique range of low-prep meal kits, including 15-minute kits, oven-ready kits, and microwavable options.

🆚 HelloFresh vs. Marley Spoon

Marley Spoon has a similar offering to HelloFresh, in that it has a large menu of meal kits and its goal is to make home-cooking easier, tastier, and less wasteful. It has a similar sized menu and caters to a range of mainstream diets, like HelloFresh, including heaps of choice for families.

I like that the main menu has lots of useful filters, which you don’t get with HelloFresh. But when we tested Marley Spoon, we found that some of the recipes required quite a few pantry staples that weren’t included with the kit (like rice wine vinegar and flour) – more than we experienced than with HelloFresh, which only expects you to have the basics.

My Verdict: Is HelloFresh Worth It?

I think HelloFresh is totally worth it. In my experience, the recipes were well outlined and resulted in tasty meals. Plus, the customer service I received was hands-down outstanding.

I think most people eating mainstream diets will be happy with HelloFresh’s meals. The company continues to expand its diet and customization options over time, making it one of the biggest menus I’ve ever reviewed. It’s probably my top choice for families, with most of the menu appealing to kids as well as adults.

Despite the weekly variety on offer, if you don’t eat meat or fish or have allergies, you might feel like your choices are a tad limited. And if you follow a niche diet, like vegan, paleo, or gluten-free, you’ll be better off with a more specialized meal delivery service.

If you’re still not sure that HelloFresh is right for you, you can see how it stacks up with other top meal kit services. Elsewhere, we’ve tested the leading companies and shortlisted the best meal delivery services out there.

FAQ

What is HelloFresh?

HelloFresh is a meal delivery service offering family-friendly meal kits that you can cook in the comfort of your own home. When I tried it out, I found the recipes fairly easy to put together. Offerings range from one-pot wonders to craft burgers and globally-inspired gourmet dishes.

Which HelloFresh plan is best?

HelloFresh doesn’t have plans per se. You’ll choose a range of preferences when you sign up (and you can update these in your Taste Profile as well). These will filter the menu based on your personal preferences, like type of kit, dietary requirements, likes and dislikes, but you’ll always be able to choose from the entire menu each week.

Are HelloFresh portions small?

HelloFresh offers generous portions on most of its dishes. Meals labeled Calorie Smart may be smaller to stay within the 600-calorie range, but there are many heartier meals. In my experience, even the lower-calorie meals were quite filling. It has recently increased its portion sizes to be even heartier, with 20% larger chicken breasts and double the amount of rice and couscous in certain meals.

Are HelloFresh and EveryPlate the same company?

EveryPlate is owned by HelloFresh, which also owns organic meal kit service Green Chef. At EveryPlate, you’ll find a weekly menu and hearty portions but the meals are simpler to reflect the lower price.  HelloFresh isn’t too expensive though, and you'll have plenty of meal choices each week.

Does HelloFresh have dog food?

HelloFresh operates The Pets Table. It specializes in providing human-grade, fresh, and dried recipes tailored for dogs. It offers a 2-week trial box, allowing pet owners to test their service. Just like the HelloFresh plans, you can select a personalized plan to perfectly meet your pup's dietary needs.