June 23, 2023
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This Chefs Plate Meal Reviews post contains affiliate links and we may be compensated if you make a purchase. All opinions are our own.
Written By Alison Chew | Dietitian Verified by Rebecca Housh, MS, RDN
Chefs Plate is a subscription-based meal kit company that uses fresh and simple ingredients in all of its meals. The ingredients come already pre-portioned to make it easy on you and also to help minimize food waste. The recipes are simple and easy to follow and the wide variety of meal kit recipes to choose from will have you feeling like a chef in your own kitchen!
The cost of Chefs Plate is between $8.99 – $9.99 per serving and depends on the plan you choose if you are selecting for 2 or 4 persons, and the number of recipes you select each week, 2, 3, or 4.
Chefs Plate currently delivers to Ontario, British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia & Manitoba.
Most Chefs Plate plans ship FREE and some plans have a $6 shipping charge.
Chefs Plate is one of the more well-known meal kit services in Canada. We were impressed by their commitment to working with local and national farmers and suppliers for their poultry and meat and we couldn’t wait to try out some of the meals made with the freshest ingredients possible.
We were also happy to see that there are both vegetarian and non-vegetarian plans available, as well as a family plan, which keeps the spices to a minimum for those who prefer milder seasoning. The wide variety of meal kit recipes to choose from each week was also impressive. The only hard part was choosing which ones we wanted to try!
For our Chefs Plate reviews, we received the Veggie Pasta Primavera (with roasted broccoli and Parmesan Cheese), Meatball and Mushroom Risotto (with Parmesan and basil oil), and Spice Thai Fish Tacos (with sriracha lime sauce). Check out our unboxing video below for more details.
The Veggie Pasta Primavera was the first meal we prepared from our box. True to the claims on the recipe card, it was easy to prepare but tasted like an elevated pasta dish you might find in any restaurant.
The most important thing to keep in mind when preparing the meal kits is to read through the entire recipe first. Chefs Plate makes sure to include this as the initial step in all on all of their recipe cards. You’ll be asked to do some steps simultaneously, so you want to have a good handle on what steps to prioritize.
We began by boiling the rigatoni while we got on with roasting the broccoli and peppers in the oven. After the pasta finished boiling, we made the delicious primavera sauce, which included shallots, garlic, a cream sauce spice blend, and an Italian herb spice blend. We then added some of the reserved pasta water to the mix. (See? Reserving some pasta water is an important step that might be missed if you don’t read the entire card first!).
We then simmered the sauce and whisked in the cream cheese, vegetable stock, and cheese. Finally, we tossed the pasta and the roasted veggies into the sauce and gave it all a good stir. SHOP NOW >>
This pasta dish packed a punch of flavour! The roasted peppers were sweet and the homemade cream sauce was silky and smooth. The dish was a tad saltier than we are used to, so if we were making it again, we would adjust the seasoning to our tastes, which would be very easy to do! There were two good-sized portions of the pasta.
Overall, this pasta dish was excellent and we would definitely make it again and again. SHOP NOW >>
The Meatball and Mushroom Risotto recipe promised a creamy risotto dish flavoured with mushrooms and basil pesto and it did not disappoint. We wondered if the recipe could hold up to more traditional risotto recipes that take longer than the 35 minutes indicated here, and we are happy to report that this dish was wonderful.
Similar to many risotto recipes, we began with sauteing the shallots, mushrooms, rice, and the Italian herb spice blend. Now, this is where the recipe deviates from more traditional risotto recipes, we then added some cooking wine, warm water, chicken stock reduction, soy sauce, and peas. Adding everything at once takes out the labour of having to stand over the pot and continuously stir the rice, which we appreciated as we were pressed for time!
While everything was happily simmering away, we rolled out the pork meatballs and roasted them in the oven. Once everything was finished, we plated the rice and meatballs and drizzled over some of the basil pesto.SHOP NOW >>
This risotto was a bowl of comfort. The meatballs were seasoned perfectly and not at all dry and the rice itself was creamy and richly flavoured with mushrooms. There were 2 large portions of the dish, which could even have been stretched into 3 portions in a pinch.
Overall, the risotto was a delicious and quick version of the Italian favourite and we would happily eat it any night of the week! SHOP NOW >>
We love taco nights and were excited to try this Thai-themed twist! The recipe relied on a few simple ingredients that came together very quickly. We liked that we could adjust the spiciness of the sriracha sauce to appeal to all tastes.
We started out by sauteing the pepper and the onion until they became soft and caramelized. We sprinkled over half of the Thai Spice Blend and let it toast for a few seconds. The spices were very fragrant.
Next, we seasoned the Basa filets with salt, pepper, and more of the Thai Spice Blend. We pan-seared the fish for 4 minutes per side until cooked through.
While the fish was cooking, we quickly mixed together the mayo, sriracha, and lemon juice to make the sauce. Unfortunately, the lime was substituted with lemon in our meal kit, but the sauce was still very tasty. We knew that we would only want to add half of the sriracha to our sauce, so it wouldn’t be too spicy, so we did just that. In the end, the heat was perfect for us!
We warmed up the tortillas and then came the best part – assembling our tacos! We topped each tortilla with the sauteed veggies, seared fish, and green onions and then drizzled on the sriracha sauce. SHOP NOW >>
The fish tacos were simple in flavour and in execution. The veggies were lovely and caramelized and the fish itself was firm and clean tasting. The Thai seasoning was a bit salty for our tastes, and if we were to make this dish again, we would use less seasoning and avoid adding any additional salt. The sriracha sauce was a big hit and we would definitely make it again as an accompaniment to other dishes.
Overall, the Spicy Fish Tacos were a solid addition to our weekly dinner menu.SHOP NOW >>
Chefs Plate is a meal kit delivery service that offers subscriptions for fresh, simple meals you can make at home quickly during the dinner rush.
There is a huge variety of meal kit recipes to choose from each week and you might also have the opportunity to try new ingredients you’ve never cooked with before. We love the recipe cards and their easy-to-follow format. The pictures are also great to follow along with while you cook. Chefs Plate also makes it easy to skip a week (or weeks) in your subscription which is a good feature if you are going away, or you’d just like to take a break from the kits for a while.
While it’s great that you can skip weeks fairly easily by logging into your account, there is the risk that you might forget to do so and be sent a box automatically. This is common with most subscription services. Make sure you put a reminder in your calendar to skip weeks in advance if you know you won’t be using the service.
The meals took a little bit longer to prepare than indicated on the recipe but could take less or more time depending on how experienced you are in the kitchen. We also found the meals to be a bit salty if we seasoned them as per the recipe instructions. We would suggest saving the salt to add at the very end of the recipe and only adding as much as you see fit.
Overall, we thought that Chefs Plate was a great meal kit delivery service. If you’re a novice cook or an experienced veteran in the kitchen, you will enjoy cooking these meals. The ingredients are fresh and the recipes are simple. In most cases, you can have dinner on the table within 45 minutes or less which is just what the busy home cook is looking for. Chefs Plate meal kits are definitely ones to try.SHOP NOW >>
Looking for more Meal Kits? Check out our Meal Kit Directory >>
| This post has been reviewed and approved by our dietitian Rebecca Housh, MS, RDN, LDN for nutritional accuracy. | |
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 | Rebecca Housh is a registered dietitian based in Chicago, IL. She earned a Bachelor of Science in Human Physiology from Boston University and a Master of Science in Human Nutrition from the University of Illinois in Chicago. Rebecca is passionate about the idea of food as medicine in both preventative and therapeutic care. Her current professional interests lie in food security, food access, and nutrition for chronic disease. |
