The Best Vegan Meal Kits and Delivery Services

Thistle is the best healthy, (mostly) single-serving premade meal kit I've tested (Read my full review here). With the most laborious meals requiring just a flash in a hot pan to enhance flavor, these refrigerated meals are mostly a mix of gluten-free, fruit-focused breakfasts; inventive, fresh salads; and preprepared bean- and pasta-forward veggie dinners.

The Mexican-inspired corn and poblano pepper salad was solid and hearty; the lemongrass shirataki bowl—a cold noodle salad dish—hit all the right elements of savory-spice and varied texture. Thistle’s vegan take on cheesecake with tres leches-esque coconut vanilla mousse and tahini caramel was perhaps the best vegan dessert I’ve ever had. Without a discount, this plan is a bit above my price point, but it remains one of my favorite vegan meal kit services I've tested.

WIRED reviewer Matthew Korfhage liked Hungryroot's AI tool that micro-customizes menus for dietary restrictions or preferences (Read his full review here), which also makes this a great meal kit for vegans. It wasn't as adventurous or had the plant-centric freshness of others I've tested, but Hungryroot would be great for those with kids who need more tame options, or for people who want familiar choices, like those easing into a plant-based diet. However, with its AI-assisted customization options, you can easily curate it to your tastes.

Nearly all the meals I prepared were solid but one-note, needing an extra element to add complexity—acid from a squeeze of lemon, or red chili flakes for heat improved many of these dishes. Throughout my week of testing, meal kits required little prep and only took about half an hour or less to make. They were varied but basic, with a lemongrass tofu and broccoli stir-fry, cauliflower tacos, and American fare like a veggie burger with sweet potato fries.

Like its sister brand Splendid Spoon, Mosaic has plans that start at six, 12, or 18 items per week, and unless you choose the family plan, all meals are single-serving, starting at $10. You can have the company send you an assortment, or you can customize choices yourself. For testing, I got about a dozen of Mosaic's most popular vegan veggie bowl meals ($12). Each one was ready to eat, taking five minutes or less to reheat in the microwave. The meals were high in protein with 13 to 30 grams each, averaged about 400 to 500 calories per meal, and had about 30 percent of the fat and sodium needed in a day.

Since reheated food can get mushy quickly, Mosaic smartly adds shreds of cabbage, crunchy nuts, and hearty greens for more diversity in texture. A vegan Indian "butter" tofu with pops of raisins and dates, a decadent vegan carbonara, and a tangy Thai stir fry were standouts. Although the meals were sometimes high in sodium and fat, I often found myself needing to add more salt, pepper, hot or soy sauce, especially to the tofu-centric dishes.

This plan has vegan, gluten-free frozen meals, smoothies, and juices. Plans start at six, 12, or 18 items per week, and you can customize further with different items. Once you pick the plan, you can choose any item in Splendid Spoon's catalog of 50 premade smoothies, soups, noodles, dishes, and juice shots, or you can have the company send you an assortment of items. I tested Splendid Spoon's 5-Day Detox Program, which has 30 items and requires no subscription. Daily, you'll eat a warm breakfast like a soup, and for the rest of the day you'll have four soups, dishes, or smoothies, plus a superfood shot.

The detox plan is “designed to reduce inflammation, reinforce clean eating habits, and support a healthier gut microbiome.” You're supposed to follow a 16:8 intermittent fast during the day, and the plan comes with a scheduled guide of what to eat. Let's just say I was, um, clearing out the shop, having only fibrous, gingery juices and bean- and kale-centric soups five times daily. It definitely affected my gut biome, but I found it difficult to stick to the plan and eat so much during the day—that's a whole lotta liquid food.

But as far as frozen meals go, this was one of the tastiest I've tested. Splendid Spoon does it right texture-wise, focusing on spicy, aromatic, bean soups and chilis like cauliflower tikka soup and tomato quinoa chili. If you don't go with the detox plan, I think trying out Splendid Spoon is worth it, if not to just have some flavor-packed, reheatable hearty frozen soups on hand for winter or lazy nights.

Daily Harvest is a gluten- and dairy-free, plant-based, premade frozen meal delivery service. (Read my full review here.) The meals consist of smoothie blends and oatmeal for breakfasts, plus soups, harvest bowls, grains, and pastas for the rest. The meals are mostly low-calorie and high-protein, and just require heating in a microwave or on the stove, with some things like soups and smoothies requiring a blender or food processor.

Unlike most plans I've tested, which change weekly and have a curated menu, Daily Harvest lets you choose your meals à la carte, and its whole selection is available online (including prices). A restaurant-quality chickpea and coconut curry harvest bowl was a standout; a black bean and vegan cheeze bowl was bland, one-note mush. Oftentimes the flavors were a bit dull for me, and I grew tired of the mushy consistency. However, if you’re a solo vegan who wants to do minimal cooking, or just use the frozen grains as bases for a more lively meal, this is a solid option.

Besides Purple Carrot, Sunbasket was my favorite of the vegan meal kits I tested, I just wish they had more vegan options weekly. Sunbasket has both premade, heat-’n’-eat meals and meal kits that you need to prepare, along with marketplace items you could buy from the grocery store, like fish and bread. Most weeks there are only two to three vegan dinner options, so this isn't going to be a meal plan that vegans can eat all week, but it's a super tasty and quick way to supplement meals. (If Sunbasket had more vegan choices, I'd be subscribing.)

During testing, everything I had was delicious and took about half an hour to prepare. (Unlike the meal kit norm, meals that promised to take 20 minutes stayed within that range.) A fresh black bean and quinoa Buddha bowl was topped with seared veg for a warm umami flavor and fresh avocado for creaminess; I still dream of the cold udon noodle salad with gingered tofu and pickled vegetables; and a quick pre-prepped chop suey was a solid stir-fry.