The best recipe boxes tried and tested

If you're thinking of signing up to a recipe delivery service, bear in mind the value for money, convenience factor and any limitations, especially the terms around cancelling a subscription. We tested and scored popular brands to help you make your decision.

For more, visit our reviews section and find more than 400 practical buyer's guides offering unbiased advice on what foodie products and services are worth spending money on, including the best meal delivery services for when you don't want to cook at all, the best healthy meal box subscriptions and the best veg boxes to order to your door. We also have thousands of simple recipes for everyday mealtime inspiration.

Best recipe boxes at a glance

• Best overall recipe box: Gousto, from £24.99 for two meals
• Best healthy recipe box: Mindful Chef, from £22 for two meals
• Best recipe box for diverse recipe ranges: HelloFresh, from £31.98 for three meals
• Best for accessible healthy meals: Green Chef, from £22.50 for 3 meals
• Best letterbox-friendly recipe box service: SimplyCook, first box is free, just pay £1 postage
• Best organic recipe box: Abel & Cole, from £12 for one meal
• Best low food miles recipe box: Riverford Organic, from £12.45 for one meal
• Best recipe box for adventurous cooks: The Cookaway, from £28 to serve two
• Best recipe box for pasta: Pasta Evangelists, from £9 for one meal
• Best for indecisive cooks: Nonna Tonda, from £5.83 for one meal
• Best for video learning: Chefs for Foodies, from £14.95 per box

The best recipe boxes to order to your door in 2023

Gousto recipe box

Best overall recipe box

Score: 5/5

Pros:

• Wide choice of recipes and dietary options
• Meals quick to prepare
• Flexible subscription

Cons:

• Lots of plastic packaging

Read our full review of Gousto

Gousto is one of the original recipe box providers and its offering is accomplished. There are 60+ recipes on offer at any one time, with the menu rotating each week. The flavours are adventurous and the ingredients premium. This is the ideal choice for busy professionals who don't have time to shop, and want something quick, easy and tasty. It's also good for people who want to try cooking new dishes and need some inspiration.

Read about how to sign up for the Gousto recipe box.

Mindful Chef recipe box

Best healthy recipe box

Score: 4.5/5

Pros:

• Inventive recipes with no refined carbs or sugars
• Ethically sourced protein
• Range of serving sizes available
• Wide recipe choice

Cons:

• Some inaccurate cooking times

Read our full review of Mindful Chef

Mindful Chef is a health-focused food box delivery service, first launched in 2015. Each of the recipes are designed to be nutritious and low-carb, and all use ethically sourced ingredients from small UK farms and producers. All Mindful Chef boxes are gluten- and dairy-free, plus they mention Paleo-friendly options on the menu. The recipes we tried were delicious and well-portioned. The dishes are innovative and use different flavour pairings, so it's good for people who want some inspiration in discovering new dishes that are still healthy.

Read about how to sign up for the Mindful Chef recipe box

HelloFresh recipe box

Best recipe box for diverse recipe ranges

Score: 4/5

Pros:

• Different recipe ranges for every need
• 'Rapid' recipes take less than 20 minutes
• Can deliver when you're out

Cons:

• Repetition of side dishes
• Complexities from different serving sizes listed on one recipe card

Read our full review of HelloFresh

HelloFresh is another of the leading recipe box brands and was masterminded by Patrick Drake, formerly of the prestigious Fat Duck restaurant. The dishes on offer are adventurous and bold, drawing on interesting flavour combinations from around the world, with plenty of choice and ranges designed for different needs, from indulgent street food and gastropub-style meals to Weight Watchers approved healthy recipes or rapid 20-minute meals. Ingredients are, true to the name, fresh and high quality. The finished recipes were impressive and left us satisfied.

Read about how to sign up for the HelloFresh recipe box

Green Chef

Best for accessible healthy meals

Score: 4.5/5

Pros:

• Lots of dietary options to choose from
• Making healthy eating accessible
• Wide recipe choice
• Add-ons available, e.g. tofu, vegan burgers

Cons:

• Lots of washing-up midweek from some recipes

If you know you want to eat healthily but aren't sure where to start, or you want to make nutritious meals for your family, Green Chef is a great place to start. There are six diet options – vegan, vegetarian, pescatarian, lower carb, keto and flexitarian – so there's plenty of flexibility, and you'll never feel like you're eating 'diet food'. Even with its healthy mindset, recipes still feel indulgent and easily accessible as Green Chef aims to break down the barriers of healthy eating. All recipes are approved by nutritionists with menus changing weekly, and you can see recipe choices three weeks at a time to help you plan ahead.

Boxes can be ordered for two or four people, with a maximum of five recipes per box. We tested out a selection of recipes including pinto bean tostadas – a meat-free dish with lots of colours and textures for a midweek meal that breaks you out of a 'meat, carb and veg' mindset when cooking. It involved lots of prep and chopping, but nothing complicated, and it came together quickly. We also tried double cheesy pork meatballs and peri peri chicken thighs – recipes that might not scream healthy at first glance, but had been cleverly developed.

Read about how to sign up for the Green Chef recipe box

Abel & Cole recipe box

Best organic recipe box

Pros:

• High quality organic ingredients
• Clear instructions
• Minimal packaging
• Good veggie/vegan options

Cons:

• Not much delivery day choice
• Expensive
• Some overly ambitious prep times

Score: 3.75/5

Read our full review of Abel & Cole

Abel & Cole started in 1988, and describes itself as an expert in 'organic, seasonal, wild food that's extra special'. The company is perhaps best known for its fruit and veg subscription services, so it's no surprise that its recipe boxes focus on quality ingredients. This USP means the service comes with a premium price tag, however the finished dishes deliver. For a company that prides itself on its sustainable message, we were disappointed by some of the excess packaging, however it has made efforts to use less plastic.

Read about how to sign up to the Abel & Cole recipe box

Phomo

Best for Vietnamese food

Score: 5/5

Pros:

• Great quality chicken and beef
• Delicious extras, including pickled veg, fresh herbs and chilli oil
• Big, bold flavours
• Easy to use, weighed out ingredients
• Vietnamese classic dishes, like pho and summer rolls

Cons:

• Expensive compared to some boxes
• Quite hands on in terms of cooking

Phomo was born out of love for the fresh, light and healthy dishes common to Vietnamese cuisine. What started as a way to bring phở (noodle soup) to home kitchens, now includes a range of delicious meals. We tried the Vietnamese BBQ for two and were thoroughly impressed. The spatchcocked chicken and steak arrived marinaded and vac-packed, to seal in maximum flavour. Along with mini packets of fresh herbs, garlic and chilli, salad dressing and pickled vegetables, as well as a jar of fiery sate sauce (of which we had lots leftover).

The chicken required cooking in the oven (or on the barbecue) and the steak called for a few minutes in the pan. All salad ingredients were washed and ready to be sliced. If serving two people, this made dinner for two nights, or you could make a big feast for four.

We found the vibrant flavours and high quality of ingredients were what you'd usually get in a restaurant. The lemongrass marinade was punchy, the nuoc cham dressing was the perfect balance of sour and sweet, and the barbecue butter sauce was mind-blowingly good. We would order this again for the sauce alone.

Phomo boxes do require quite a bit of chopping and cooking, and we had a few big items like baking trays to wash up. And we should mention they are a little more expensive than some other boxes, at £32.95 for the box we tried. However, we felt the meal was definitely worth the investment of time and money, and we'd consider this an alternative to eating out.

Try out a Phomo recipe box

SimplyCook recipe box

Best letterbox-friendly recipe box service

Score: 4/5

Pros:

• Fits through letterbox
• Long shelf life
• Covers wide range of cuisines

Cons:

• Majority of ingredients must be purchased separately

Read our full review of SimplyCook

SimplyCook is a unique service in that, unlike other recipe boxes, it's letterbox-sized. Each delivery contains four 'recipe kits' – dry ingredients in pots, to which you add your own fresh ingredients. The recipe list features a good mixture of cuisines, satisfying hot meals such as stews, curries and bowl food. It's a great option if there are cuisines you've not cooked before and are keen to try out before you commit to filling your storecupboard with new ingredients. The portions are generous and the finished dishes very flavoursome.

Read about how to sign up to the SimplyCook recipe subscription box

Riverford Organic Farmers recipe box

Best low food miles recipe box

Score: 3.75/5

Pros:

• Good quality organic ingredients
• Easy recipes to follow
• Great end results

Cons:

• Expensive
• Limited choice in recipes and serving sizes

Read our full review of Riverford Organic

The Riverford Organic recipe selection features an colourful mixture of recipe options, with plant-based, veggie and meaty meals to choose from. Each week, there are 12 very different recipes featuring seasonal veg to select from and the dishes on offer change weekly. The high-quality organic ingredients are impressive and the recipes are simple to make with delicious end results. However, there isn't as much recipe choice as other brands on the market, so your options are somewhat limited. Be prepared to pay out for superior ingredients with a corresponding price tag.

Read about how to sign up for the Riverford Organic Farmers recipe box

The Cookaway

Best for adventurous cooks

Score: 4/5

Pros:

• Interesting recipes to choose from
• 95% of packaging is recyclable
• Good quality ingredients
• Can choose halal meat

Cons:

• Expensive

Read our full review of The Cookaway.

The Cookaway is the recipe box to choose when you're getting bored of your own cooking repertoire and want to try something new. Based around menus from eight different cuisines, there are over 180 recipes to choose from, designed by expert chefs that specialise in Malaysian, Pakistani, Spanish, Indian and more cuisines.

There is no subscription method here, you simply choose a recipe you want to cook – most come as a main and accompaniment in one box, and others may even have more dishes if you're choosing a meze or tapas-style feast. Recipes will introduce you to new ingredients and learn more about different global cuisines than the cliche dishes we may know. They also host free cook-alongs to join as you make your dish. It is expensive, so works best as a one-off treat or cooking experience to do as a couple and enjoy, rather than a shortcut for midweek cooking.

Read more about how to order a The Cookaway box.

Pasta Evangelists

Best recipe box for pasta

Score: 4.5/5

Pros:

• Quick and easy to prepare
• Minimal plastic packaging
• Good for freezer filling

Cons:

• Dishes rotate regularly
• Can get expensive if ordered often

Read our full review of Pasta Evangelists

Billing itself as the first fresh pasta recipe box, Pasta Evangelists deliver fresh pasta to your door, complete with quality sauces and garnishes. There's a decent selection of recipes to choose from and you can add as many as you'd like to your basket - handy for filling up the freezer. Recipes serve one or two, but again you can add as many portions as you need if you'd like to serve more people. Slightly different to other recipe subscription boxes, there is minimal cooking involved as everything is done for you. Meals are ready in minutes - simply boiling the pasta and reheating or melting sauces - with impressive results.

Read about how to sign up to Pasta Evangelists

Nonna Tonda

Best for indecisive cooks

Score: 4.5/5

Pros:

• Quick and easy to prepare, no cooking skills required
• Fresh and high-quality ingredients
• Great results

Cons:

• Gets expensive if ordered often
• Limited dietary filters
• No recipe choice

Read our full review of Nonna Tonda

If you get overwhelmed by choice, Nonna Tonda is the pasta delivery service for you. A hybrid of a meal delivery service and a recipe subscription box, Nonna Tonda delivers two pasta dishes a week. The only choice is whether to go meat or vegetarian or a combo – there’s only one of each on the menu. Just boil the pasta, reheat the sauce, and dinner is served. You can also add an antipasti selection to your order, which changes weekly.

We were impressed by how compact our delivery was, deceptively containing two pastas to serve two, and two antipasti selections in a cardboard box. Each pasta, cheese and sauce comes in a sleek cardboard box, so it's clear which elements go together. A lot of the packaging is recyclable and reusable – we kept the resealable bags that our ciabatta and pasta came in to use again. Finished recipes were impressive, and we'd be tempted to order more as a treat for busy weeks.

Sign up to a Nonna Tonda pasta subscription

Chefs For Foodies

Score: 4/5

Pros:

• Chef-led video to watch
• Complex recipes made simple
• Learn a new skill

Cons:

• Lots of plastic packaging
• No physical recipe card

Read our full Chefs for Foodies review

Best for video learning

Chefs for Foodies describes itself as 'recipe kits by award-winning chefs'. It's not a recipe subscription box – it's more like a restaurant meal kit, so you just pick one recipe you want to try at a time. Chefs and restaurateurs share their skills and expertise in signature recipes, whether that's a chicken tikka masala from the head chef of an Indian restaurant, pizza kits from Italian masters of pizza dough, or classic recipes such as beef wellington from MasterChef winners. We tested the chicken tikka masala, and appreciated the breakdown of step-by-step results and delivery of complex spices that would be tricky to source on our own. The amount of plastic packaging was disappointing, but Chefs for Foodies has told us that they're working on it.
Try out a Chefs for Foodies recipe box

How we tested recipe box subscriptions

Members of the BBC Good Food digital and cookery teams each tested a week of each recipe box subscription. There were several key criteria that teams based their verdict on:

• Range of recipes: was there plenty to choose from, and did recipes rotate regularly if you were going to repeatedly buy? Were all dietary options covered? Was it possible to scale recipes up or down to serve different family sizes?
• Ease of cooking: after testing several recipes from each service, we were looking for clear instructions (photos and obvious step-by-step methods were a bonus), accurate suggested cooking times and clear ways to distribute ingredients between elements and steps.
• Quality of the ingredients: some of the recipe boxes provided organic ingredients, but regardless we were looking for ethically sourced, fresh, high-quality ingredients.
• Packaging: with small quantities of ingredients individually sent, packaging can quickly add up. We looked for packaging to be sustainable, with minimal plastic where possible.
• Quality of the finished recipes: the all-important cooking results! After accurately following the recipes, we wanted delicious meals that we would want to cook again. Portion size and balanced meals was also considered.
• Value for money: how does the subscription compare to cooking from scratch? Would it be practical to regularly get a recipe delivery, or would it be more of a one-off purchase?

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