A complete comparison of these two meal kit services, including a review of the meals, the variety, the meal plans, pricing, and more.
Dinnerly and Blue Apron are two top meal delivery services. Each delivers nutritious and delicious meals right to your home. But how do the two compare?
Blue Apron helps you create impressive meals with premium pre-measured ingredients, while Dinnerly is an excellent, super-affordable meal kit service for picky eaters. Ultimately, they’ll help you avoid the grocery store and reduce meal prep time throughout the week.
At the Meal Kit Review, we recently re-tested both services for two weeks in 2024 to ensure our review and comparison reflect what both meal kits offer today. So, if you’re debating between these two meal delivery service options, our breakdown below on Blue Apron vs. Dinnerly can help you decide.
Short On Time? Our Winner is Dinnerly. Here is Why
- Great variety of simple, crowd-pleaser meals
- Affordable yet tasty option for weekly meal kit delivery
- Recipes to suit many diets, including low-carb, gluten-free, and vegetarian meals
- Meals are easy to cook while still tasting great
What is Blue Apron?
Blue Apron has been around since 2012 and was the first meal kit company to operate in the US. They focus on crafting meal kits with sustainable and high-quality ingredients. Their weekly menu is full of chef-crafted recipes to bring elevated cooking right into your kitchen.
What is Dinnerly?
Dinnerly is a budget meal kit service designed to bring affordable, tasty recipes right to your door. It reduces costs by using fewer ingredients per recipe and cutting down on packaging—then passes the savings on to you! The simple recipes are delicious and easy to cook, making Dinnerly a great choice for people with busy schedules.
Pros and Cons
Dinnerly Pros
- Easy on the wallet with affordable, crowd-pleasing recipes
- Meals to suit many dietary needs like vegetarian, low-calorie, or gluten-free friendly
- Extensive weekly variety of 100+ meals, plus add-ons
- Quick, easy-to-follow recipes for busy schedules
Dinnerly Cons
- Recipes are simple
- Some recipes require you to provide staples like eggs, vinegar, etc.
Blue Apron Pros
- There is a good variety of chef-designed meals on the weekly menu
- Delivers high-quality ingredients that are sustainably sourced
- Offers oven-ready meals, microwave-ready meals, and add-ons
- Meals suitable for many diets, including vegetarian and keto
Blue Apron Cons
- Some recipes are more complex and require more time to cook
- Fully prepared meal options are single-serving only
The Meal Plans
Blue Apron Meal Plans
With Blue Apron, you can choose a traditional meal kit plan for couples or four people or opt for the Prepared & Ready plan with microwave-ready single-serving meals. The meal kits plan includes 2 to 5 meals per week, while Prepared & Ready customers can get 4, 6, 8, or 10 meals per week.
During sign-up, you can specify preferences to get weekly recommendations from the full menu of 80+ recipes, choosing from Chef Favorites, Wellness, Family Friendly, Fast & Easy, or Veggies. Blue Apron customers can also shop add-ons, including breakfast, quick lunches, desserts, and more.
Dinnerly Meal Plans
With Dinnerly, you can get meals to serve 2 or 4 people and receive between 2 and 6 meals in your weekly box. The weekly menu offers 100+ simple and easy recipes to choose from.
When signing up, you can pick preferences to get recommended recipes such as Vegetarian, Quick & Easy, Picky Eater Approved, Low Carb, Low Calorie, or Gluten-Free Friendly. Dinnerly also offers a market with add-ons, including ready-to-heat meals, healthy breakfast options, snacks, and more.
The Meal Styles
Each meal kit service is geared toward a different type of home cook. Dinnerly is an excellent choice for quick, easy meals that taste delicious. These meals are beginner-friendly and require minimal cooking tools and utensils.
The flavors with Dinnerly tend to be classic, crowd-pleasing, kid-friendly recipes. There are 100+ recipes each week, with many classic comfort food options like pasta and burgers.
On the other hand, Blue Apron leans toward home chefs who want to level up their cooking skills. Some meals have longer 45-minute cooking times, incorporating more cooking techniques. While beginners can cook the Blue Apron meals, they’re best for those who have developed some skills in the kitchen.
Blue Apron recipes are chef-designed and tend to be more elevated than Dinnerly meals, though the weekly menu of 80+ recipes includes some more picky eater-approved options.
Is It Tasty? Our Experience
The Meal Kit review team has over six years of experience with Blue Apron and Dinnerly meal kits, and we recently re-tested both services to get an updated perspective on their 2024 offerings. Overall, we are satisfied with both of these meal kit companies!
With both Blue Apron and Dinnerly, the boxes were well-packed and easy to sort, and the produce we received was high-quality and looked great! Both kits also include comprehensive, full-color recipe cards – this is a new update from Dinnerly, and we love the change!
Best Meal We Enjoyed from Blue Apron
We loved the Chipotle Chicken Tostadas with Black Bean Mash & Tomato Radish Salsa from our recent Blue Apron meals. The crunchy homemade tostada shells were the perfect base for the deliciously seasoned chicken and mashed black beans. To top it off, the fresh tomato and radish salsa added a fresh, bright contrast to really elevate this meal!
This dish was tasty, satisfying, and surprisingly easy to make in 35 minutes, even with the tostadas being homemade from fresh tortillas.
Best Meal We Enjoyed from Dinnerly
With Dinnerly, we were impressed with the Veggie Tempura Pancake with Sesame Snap Pea Salad. This creative and unique dish packs in tasty flavors with few ingredients. We loved the tempura pancake, which uses a simple batter to coat fresh cabbage for a satisfying crunch, and the lovely bright side salad of sesame snap peas. The hoisin sauce and garlic mayo on top of the pancake were just the right pop of flavor with minimal effort!
We expected making a giant pancake to be tricky, but the recipe walks you through it step-by-step, and we were amazed at how quick and easy it was to prep.
Other Popular Meals To Try
Blue Apron Meals
- Baked Cheesy Pesto Chicken with Mashed Potatoes & Garlic Herb Green Beans
- Romesco Shrimp & Couscous Skillet with Spinach & Tomatoes
- Shawarma Chicken Bowls with Rice, Tzatziki & Almonds
- Miso-Glazed Salmon with Fried Rice & Spicy Mayo
- Mexican-Style Beef & Rice Bowls with Fresh Tomato Salsa & Lemon Mayo
- Spicy Peach & Goat Cheese Pizza with Caramelized Onion & Fresh Mozzarella
Dinnerly Meals
- Red Coconut Curry Rice Noodles with Broccoli, Peppers, & Peanuts
- Garlic & Herb Pan-Roasted Chicken with Ranch Macaroni Salad & Sauteed Broccoli
- Cheesy Black Bean & Corn Polenta Casserole
- Salisbury Steak & Buttery Peas with Mashed Potatoes & Gravy
- Low-Carb Creamy Cajun Shrimp with Buttery Grits
- Creamy Baked Chicken Alfredo Gnocchi with Peas
The Ingredients Quality
Dinnerly’s meal kits include fresh produce, MSG-free food (except for some sauces/seasoning), and primarily USA-sourced meat. You’ll notice that the meat options are fresh and of excellent quality. When it comes to produce, there are typically lower numbers of organic ingredients in each box due to the focus on fresh and affordable pre-measured ingredients.
In comparison, Blue Apron uses ingredients from its network of 100 family-run farms, ensuring it delivers fresh vegetables, fruits, and high-quality meat in each box. The service prides itself on sourcing hormone—and antibiotic-free protein from well-treated animals. Some, but not all, of the produce provided by Blue Apron is organic, with an emphasis on quality and sustainable practices.
Diet and Lifestyle Support
When it comes to diet support, both Blue Apron and Dinnerly have plans to suit some, but not all, specialty diets. Ultimately, Dinnerly comes out ahead here with a wider variety of dishes to fit more dietary needs.
With Dinnerly, you can easily choose a plan to support a Vegetarian, Kid-Friendly, Gluten-Free Friendly, Low-Calorie, or Low-Carb diet. Their menu also includes clearly marked dairy-free and Pescatarian dishes, though they don’t have a specific plan for these diets. The weekly recipes are clearly labeled, making finding those that suit your preferences easy.
As for Blue Apron, their focus is on restaurant-quality, adventurous meals. In terms of plans, they offer a Veggie with vegetarian meals and a Wellness plan for healthier meals, plus a family-friendly option for kid-friendly dishes. On the weekly menu, vegetarian recipes and those with 600 calories or less are clearly labeled, but it can be harder to sort for other dietary preferences.
Optional Add-ons
Both Dinnerly and Blue Apron offer some add-ons, so your weekly meal kit delivery can offer even more staples to cut down on trips to the grocery store.
Market by Dinnerly offers a weekly selection of grocery items, including extra ingredients for your meals, snacks, and desserts. You can shop each week’s choices when editing your recipe selections for that delivery, and they will ship in your meal kit box. Dinnerly doesn’t let non-subscribers preview the weekly add-on selections from the market, so only current members can see what’s available week-to-week.
With Blue Apron, you can shop selected add-ons when choosing your weekly meals. They have breakfast options, desserts, salads, extra proteins, and even some of their oven-ready single-serving meals. However, there are not many grocery staples like drinks or ready-made snacks.
Pricing
Of course, budget is an important consideration when choosing the right meal kit for you. Dinnerly wins out here for keeping costs low. Here’s what you can expect to pay for both meal kit services in 2024.
Dinnerly
Per Meal Cost: $6.24-8.49 per serving
Shipping: $11.99 a box (first box ships free)
Blue Apron
Per Meal Cost: $7.99-12.49 per serving
Shipping: $10.99 a box (first box ships free)
The Delivery Box
Dinnerly and Blue Apron meal kits arrive in clearly branded cardboard boxes that are well-insulated to keep food fresh. Both companies strive to make their delivery boxes as sustainable as possible, including many recyclable items. The items in each box are well-organized. Dinnerly does not package ingredients individually per recipe but is carefully stored in the inner cardboard tray – great for popping right into your fridge!
Blue Apron states that over 85% of its packaging is recyclable by weight. This includes carton boxes, molded fiber containers, plastic bags, metal cans, and glass bottles.
Meanwhile, Dinnerly states that the box and the separator inside it are SFI-certified, meaning they are made of paper sourced from sustainably managed forests. All plastic bags and containers are recyclable as well.
Subscribing & Managing Your Account
Each meal kit delivery company has a straightforward process for subscribing and managing your account online or in their mobile app. You simply follow the onscreen directions and prompts, which allow you to note dietary preferences, box size, number of portions, delivery information, etc. Then, you can pick your meals for the first week!
Once you’ve signed up, you can easily manage your account, skip a week, or even cancel your subscription right from the website or app.
What Do Customers Think Of It?
What Customers Think of Blue Apron
Overall, Blue Apron customers love the tasty recipes that help teach them new cooking techniques and the high quality of ingredients.
On Reddit, @Alternative_Basis611 says, “I’ve been cooking Blue Apron’s for nearly 2 years now and I love them. Great portions, diverse cuisine.”
Another Reddit user, @distractme86, says, “The recipes are solid. I thought it was a lot of fun!”
Blue Apron App Score & Reviews
In the Apple App Store, the Blue Apron app has an average rating of 4.7/5 with over 40K ratings and reviews. Here’s a quick snapshot of what customers had to say:
What Customers Think of Dinnerly
Dinnerly customers appreciate the simple and easy recipes, which are great for kids and picky eaters.
Redditor @EventualLynx says Dinnerly offers “home-cooked meal that my kids are willing to eat, less ingredients, and less time-consuming to prepare and cook overall. I would recommend Dinnerly to anyone.”
Another Reddit user, @Chase-531, says, “Dinnerly is a solid little meal kit company” adding that “Their recipes are pretty basic but usually pretty tasty.”
Dinnerly App Score & Reviews
The Dinnerly app has an average score of 4.7/5 stars in the Apple App Store, with over 6.1K ratings. Here are a few recent customer reviews:
Customer Support
Blue Apron and Dinnerly offer extensive FAQ sections on their websites where you can get quick answers to many common questions about signing up, deliveries, and more. If you still have questions, here are the customer support options offered.
Dinnerly has a customer service line you can call during business hours or fill out their contact form to get an email response to your question.
Blue Apron offers an online chat service, or you can contact their customer service line during business hours. There is also an online form where you can submit a request with your question to get an email response.
Delivery Area
It’s essential to make sure the meal kit service you’re looking at delivers to where you live! Both services are similar in terms of delivery area, with Blue Apron having a slightly larger service area.
Blue Apron delivers to the 50 contiguous United States, while Dinnerly states they deliver to most of the contiguous United States. With both services, you’ll enter your address to confirm they can give to your area as part of the signup process.
Why Trust Us? Our Review Methodology
Our team at The Meal Kit Review is made up of industry experts with years of experience trying various meal delivery services on the market.
We take a hands-on approach to our review process, going through the full process of signing up, ordering meals, unpacking the delivery, and making and enjoying each recipe. This lets us give you honest, firsthand experience with each service to help you choose the best fit for you.
Bottom Line
Overall, Dinnerly and Blue Apron are both meal kit services that provide delicious, high-quality food. Each has pros and cons and will meet the needs of different customers.
Blue Apron is most suitable for those who want to improve their home kitchen skills with exciting recipes and are willing to pay more. If you’re looking for a budget-friendly option geared toward kids and classic simple meals, Dinnerly is an excellent choice for a great meal kit! This makes Dinnerly our winner in this comparison!
From our long experience, Dinnerly meals are always delicious, and the quality of the ingredients is excellent. Plus, with its many market items and desserts, Dinnerly is a great way to enjoy meal delivery kits without breaking the bank.
