{"id":2076499,"date":"2024-11-11T18:35:54","date_gmt":"2024-11-12T00:35:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tasteofhome.com\/?p=2076499"},"modified":"2025-03-25T13:38:43","modified_gmt":"2025-03-25T18:38:43","slug":"purple-carrot-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tasteofhome.com\/article\/purple-carrot-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Purple Carrot Review: We Tried the Plant-Based Meal Service\u2014Here Are Our Thoughts"},"content":{"rendered":"Meal delivery services<\/a> make it so easy to prepare restaurant-quality dishes without spending precious time sourcing and shopping for ingredients. But for folks on a plant-based diet, sorting through menus on services like HelloFresh<\/a> means balancing limited options and oftentimes bigger upcharges for high quality dishes. That's where a service like Purple Carrot<\/a> comes in.\r\n\r\nUnlike many other meal kits for families<\/a> that offer a range of dietary types, Purple Carrot is a completely plant-based meal service<\/a>. It focuses on fresh, filling vegan meals that cook up quickly for parents and professionals. Of course, we had to see how it compared to our other favorite options (I'm looking at you, Gobble<\/a> and HungryRoot<\/a>).\r\n\r\nAlongside testing for this Purple Carrot review, we also tried over a dozen other meal delivery services to truly compare each option's strengths and setbacks. These range from all-encompassing meal delivery services like Marley Spoon<\/a> to heat-and-eat meals a la CookUnity<\/a>. Here's what we thought after enjoying a week of Purple Carrot meals.\r\n\r\n[SINGLE_AFFILIATE_PRODUCT superlative=\"We Tried It\" product_name=\"Purple Carrot\" short_description=\"Purple Carrot offers plant-based meal kits containing fresh ingredients, surprising flavors and filling portions.\" image=\"2065672\" image_credit=\"EMIKO FRANZEN FOR TASTE OF HOME\" pr_name=\"Purple Carrot\" pr_url=\"https:\/\/go.skimresources.com?id=131817X1598243&xs=1&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.purplecarrot.com%2F\" pr_display_text=\"Shop on Purple Carrot\" \/]\r\n

What is Purple Carrot?<\/span><\/span><\/h2>\r\n\"Purple\r\n\r\nBefore writing this Purple Carrot review, I thought the best a vegan could hope for in the realm of plant-based meal services was something like Green Chef<\/a>. While this organic and health-focused service offers many excellent plant-based options, it still focuses mostly on omnivore or flexitarian diets. However, this changed when I heard about Purple Carrot.\r\n\r\nPurple Carrot is 100% plant-based, meaning that the entire menu (around 16 options per week) is vegan-friendly. Within these selections, the brand also offers a range of options that cater to other diets, like gluten-free.<\/a> Apart from full-on meal kits containing ingredients and recipe cards, there are also ready-made meals that simply require a quick reheat in the microwave or oven. We love how accessible this makes plant-based eating, even for those tight on time.\r\n

Our Purple Carrot Review<\/h2>\r\nPurple Carrot's menu consists of around 16 options per week. These are divided into self-made meal kits that contain two to four servings and single-serve, pre-made meals. Each week, customers can choose either three or four self-made meals or 6, 8 or 10 pre-made meals. Extra meals are also available for an additional cost. The meals themselves are creative and appealing, with recipe names like One-Pot Buffalo Mac & Cheese and Chick'n and Dumplings with Oyster Mushrooms & Green Beans.\r\n\r\n[quote-card quote=\"I personally am not vegan, but I was vegetarian for a while, so I'm familiar with plant-based meat and actually prefer vegetarian meals sometimes. I was pleasantly surprised by these meals; they were all creative, while still tasting good with plant-based ingredients.\" name=\"sydney Manning\" title=\"Editorial Coordinator\" \/]\r\n\r\nPurple Carrot meals are divided into the following categories on the website: High-protein, less prep, soy-free, nut-free, chef's choice, gluten-free, healthy carbs, <600 calories, low sodium, breakfast, lunch, dinner, pantry, less prep, ready to eat, meal kits and grocery. Now, let's dive into this Purple Carrot review\u2014there's a lot to go over!\r\n

Delivery<\/h3>\r\nDeliveries take place on Saturdays. Customers can skip a week if they're out of town or plan on making their own meals for a week. For the purposes of this Purple Carrot review, we attempted to both skip a week and cancel our subscription. Both were easy to accomplish after navigating to our account settings.\r\n

Menu<\/h3>\r\nEditorial Coordinator Sydney Manning<\/a> volunteered her time and stomach to sample the menu for a week. After some consideration, she settled on a menu of Crunchy Cabbage Salads, Cacio e Pepe, Elote Tacos, Black Bean Crunchadillas and Creamy Peanut Noodles.\r\n\r\nWhile Purple Carrot offers several tabs that let you sort through popular modifiers (e.g., gluten-free or nut-free), it's worth noting that not all diets are supported on the platform. For instance, if you're on a keto diet, we recommend checking out our list of keto meal kits<\/a> instead\u2014there just simply aren't enough options on Purple Carrot.\r\n

Recipes and Prep<\/h3>\r\n\"Purple\r\n\r\nFor this Purple Carrot review, we chose a diverse range of meals, including items from the heat-and-eat menu. While Purple Carrot offers around 16 meals per week, many of those are \"fan favorites,\" so expect to see a few repeats each week. Aside from meal kits, Purple Carrot also has a grocery section with plant-based items such as desserts, pantry meals, meat substitutes, tofu, cereal, drinks, dips, protein bars, soups, fries, coffee beans and other various snacks and sides.\r\n\r\nPrep depends on the type of meal. The heat-and-eat meals are simple\u2014just pop them in the oven or microwave to reheat. For the meal prep kits, the time each recipe takes depends on its components. Sydney notes that she was supposed to get a physical recipe booklet, but she never received it (and customer service wouldn't resend it). That said, she was able to refer to the digital recipes, though she found those rather vague. If you have limited cooking knowledge, we recommend sticking to the ready-to-eat options.\r\n

Elote Tacos with Lime Rice & Jalape\u00f1os<\/h4>\r\nOverall, Sydney found this recipe very easy to make. There wasn't much to it besides the simple prep, like cutting the radishes and cilantro, stirring the sauce, microwaving the rice, charring the canned corn and then assembling the tacos. The instructions were pretty generic, but since it's such an easy recipe, she didn't run into any issues with being confused or hung up on a certain step.\r\n\r\n\"I love corn, so this was a favorite for me,\" she says. \"One thing I wish about this recipe is that there was some more crunch to it. There are radishes in this, but I felt like it still needed more oomph.\"\r\n

Creamy Peanut Noodles with Tofu & Mango Slaw<\/h4>\r\n\"Purple\r\n\r\nThis was very easy to prepare as a meal\u2014just pull back an inch of the film and microwave for two minutes. Voila! Sydney notes that the meal does have a \"frozen\" quality to it, but with the tofu and noodles, she found it very filling.\r\n

Pros<\/h3>\r\n