Everybody loves a hot, fresh dinner, but not everybody has the time to prepare a complicated meal. Luckily, many meal delivery services offer oven-ready meals that require minimal preparation – or no preparation at all! But which service is right for you?
I’ve compiled a list of the best oven-ready meal delivery services to help you find one that works for you. Singles looking for a hot supper, working parents with hungry families, vegans, and fitness buffs – there’s something on this list for just about everyone.
Blue Apron wins my top spot thanks to its Ready to Cook kits and plan of convenient prepared meals. But every service on this list can provide you with quick, delicious dinners. Read on and you’re sure to find a meal delivery service you’ll love.
Blue Apron – Best service for oven-ready options
Factor – Best oven-ready prepared meals
Home Chef – Best customizable oven-ready meal delivery service
BistroMD – Best oven-ready weight-loss meal delivery service
International cuisines including Asian, Italian, and Middle Eastern
Over 80 combined meal kits and prepared meals available each week
Dietary options include vegetarian, diabetes-friendly, and low-calorie
Current deal: Enjoy meals starting as low as $4.00 + get your first week shipped for free!
Blue Apron offers a collection of international and American meals made with top-quality ingredients. Meals come in the form of kits or prepared meals, and both plans have oven-ready options.
You can cook various Blue Apron meal kits on a sheet pan. The Ready to Cook range comes with a recyclable oven-friendly tray. The ingredients arrive ready to use (no peeling or chopping required) so they can go straight into the oven. You’ll be tucking into a tasty meal in around 40 minutes.
If you’re more into quick Prepared & Ready meals, you can choose from Keto Friendly, 600 Calories or Less, 30g of Protein, and Carb Conscious plans. Unlike meal kits, which come in 2 or 4 servings, depending on your choice, these fresh, prepared options are single-serving dishes. You can heat them in the oven as well as the microwave, although they take a bit longer.
Blue Apron offers meal options for different preferences and skill levels. How-to videos and online demos on its website guide you through cooking its meal kits, although the oven-ready options are particularly easy. We tried Blue Apron and recommend it for anyone looking to put weeknight meals on autopilot.
Blue Apron also offers diabetic-friendly dishes, which is relatively uncommon for a non-specialist meal delivery service. Blue Apron’s Wellness menu consists mostly of meals that would suit the Mediterranean diet. In other words, it features lots of fruit and vegetables, as well as whole grains, lean proteins, and some dairy (but not too much).
Check Blue Apron's Market to delve into a variety of themed meal kits without needing a subscription. Its diverse selection includes Fast & Easy Meal Kits, Customer Favorites Meal Kits, and Ready to Cook Meal Kits, among other options, thus catering to different tastes and schedules.
With Blue Apron, you don’t have to sacrifice quality for convenience. All ingredients are high-quality, non-GMO, and responsibly sourced, with sustainably-sourced seafood and meat free of antibiotics and hormones. Blue Apron also works with more than 100 family-run farms to source local and seasonal ingredients where possible.
Blue Apron lets you order 2 to 5 meal kits per week for 2 or 4 people, meaning you can order between 4 and 20 servings. Prepared & Ready meals are available in batches of 4, 6, 8, and 10. Note that you can manually add any number of extra meals. The starting price is $4.00 per serving.
Zero-prep, non-GMO, preservative-free meals ready in minutes
Dozens of prepared meals plus add-ons
Keto, plant-based, high-protein and other menus
Current deal: Get up to $130 off + free shipping on your first box. Code: WEB130FREE
Factor’s prepared meals are as easy as it gets. Each meal comes in a tray that’s safe for microwaves or conventional ovens. Two minutes in a microwave or 5 minutes in a 375-degree oven (remove the plastic film first!), and your Factor meal is hot and ready to eat.
You can choose between 6 plans, which are Chef’s Choice, Keto, Calorie Smart, Flexitarian, Protein Plus, and Vegan & Veggie. No matter what plans you pick, you’re always free to order anything on the Factor menu.
The Keto menu is especially broad, with 15 or more keto items available each week. There’s also a good selection of Calorie Smart meals if you’re counting calories. But because Factor sends single-serving meals, those feeding families might want to look instead at our list of the best family meal delivery services.
Smoothies, soups, breakfasts, cold-pressed juices, and snacks are available in the Add-ons section. You can even order extra bulk proteins like fully-cooked bratwurst, salmon, and chicken wings.
Factor brings you prepared meals in a variety of international cuisines. Options range from Mexican to Indian, Thai to Italian (the Creamy Parmesan Chicken above is a good example), and many American classics. All dishes are a collaboration between dietitians and in-house chefs and are designed to be both tasty and nutritious.
You also receive a free 20-minute consultation with Factor’s registered dietitians. This personalized support can be very helpful for losing weight or addressing specific health goals. If you find their assistance useful, you can sign up for biweekly coaching sessions and unlimited messaging.
Factor’s meals get high marks for flavor, and Factor chefs use a variety of seasonings and sauces. After trying Factor, we found the meals to be of high quality and really tasty.
Factor's prices drop with larger orders. You can get 18 meals for just $103.41 on your first order using our link.
Swap, upgrade, or double-up on protein
Dozens of meals and extras on each week’s menu
Carb- and calorie-conscious meals available
Home Chef does many things very well. It has a large menu catering to people with different time availability and dietary needs. And it lets you customize most of its menu.
Home Chef is well known for its great selection of low-prep meal kits. It has an Oven Ready section on its menu, which is pretty unusual for such a mainstream service. There are around 8 of these kits a week. These dishes come with an oven-safe tin and only need minimal prep to get ready, like the Spicy Brisket Elotes Tacos pictured below.
The service’s menu offers a diverse selection of Culinary Collection gourmet recipes alongside comfort food classics. This makes it a great choice for both working parents and couples planning a date night at home. Find out about our experience with Home Chef in our tested review.
The Home Chef website provides cooking times, difficulty ratings, and spice levels. Moreover, filters allow you to exclude many problem ingredients when choosing recipes. You can also order extras like salad bundles, breakfasts, smoothies, and protein packs when placing your weekly order.
As well as Oven Ready kits, the Express section of the menu has several sheet pan options each week. You’ll also find a range of prepared “Lunch” meals that can be heated in a conventional oven as well as the microwave.
The Customize It feature is Home Chef’s secret weapon. Customize It options let you swap, upgrade, or double up on protein. This isn’t offered on the Oven Ready kits, but it is offered for most of the sheet pan recipes in the Express meal kits section.
While Home Chef has a good selection of vegetarian entrees, you’ll find very few if any vegan options. Strict vegans may want to check out a purely plant-based service like Purple Carrot instead.
Home Chef caters to various niche dieters. For example, you can choose calorie-conscious meals with 625 calories or less per serving or carb-conscious recipes with under 35 g of carbs per serving. But if you’re on a strict keto plan, look for the Keto-Friendly menu tag. You’ll find around 6 to 8 weekly options, which is great to see.
Prices start at $9.99 per serving. You can order meals for 2, 4, or 6 people per week, making Home Chef a great option for bigger households.
Meals and support designed by medical and dietary professionals
Over 150 breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snack items available
Gluten-free, diabetes-friendly, menopause, and other menu options available
BistroMD offers flash-frozen prepared weight loss meals designed by dietitians. Founded in 2005 by Caroline Cedarquist, a bariatric physician, BistroMD offers an alternative to overly processed diet meals that leave you feeling unsatisfied. Dieting is hard, but fresh, tasty, ready-to-eat meals you just pop in the microwave or oven make it a lot easier.
BistroMD provides a suggested menu every week, but you have the option to swap out any meals that don’t strike your fancy. While you will find some vegetarian entrees and seafood recipes, BistroMD meals are really designed for dieting omnivores.
In addition to its main meals, BistroMD also offers EATS (Essential and Tasty Snacks). EATS include diet bars and protein snacks, as well as desserts like cookies and cheesecake.
The Women's plan suggests 2 EATS per day, while men get 3 EATS. These snacks limit cravings during the day and help you resist the temptation to cheat on your diet. We tried BistroMD and think that it’s a great choice for those serious about weight loss.
All BistroMD meals have 450 calories or fewer (the Shepherd’s Pie above comes in at 360) but include all the nutrients you need. You have access to house dietitians. They can help with suggestions on exercise, stress management, and keeping the pounds off after you reach your desired weight.
There are 7 programs to choose from, all of which cover a number of health conditions. These are Signature, Gluten Free, Heart Healthy, Diabetic, Menopause, Keto Flex, and Vegan.
If you're on a mission to shed some pounds or keep your health in check, BistroMD has got your back. It's also the right fit for people who'd rather spend less time cooking and more time doing, well, anything else. The fixed menu is 1 of the few downsides to this service. But with more than 150 meals to choose from, depending on the plan, you're unlikely to get bored.
Prices start at $6.59 per serving for the full, 7-day plan that provides 20 meals and adds My Night. However, you can choose between 2 or 3 meals per day, 5 or 7 days a week. BistroMD also offers a 15% discount for couples and families.
Premium natural and organic ingredients
More than a dozen meals per meal plan
Keto, Paleo, and Plant-Based menu options available
Eat Clean is a good choice for fitness-focused people who want a regular supply of healthy prepared meals. You don’t have to chop vegetables beforehand or clean pots and pans afterward. You just heat, eat, and get back to your workout.
You can choose meals from a number of cuisines, including Indian, Latin American, Hawaiian, Chinese, Indian, and classic American recipes. The dishes tend to be relatively basic, which makes them good for picky eaters. But they have enough variety to keep you from getting bored.
Eat Clean is particularly suitable for people following a keto or paleo diet. The meals are designed to be low in carbohydrates and high in healthy fats and protein, which is perfect for these diets. However, if you're looking for high-quality, prepared vegan meals, you may be better off ordering from a dedicated plant-based service like Purple Carrot.
There are 4 Eat Clean meal plans, which are Traditional, Keto, Paleo, and Plant Based. Choose a plan carefully because Eat Clean doesn’t let you select meals outside your chosen plan.
For people on a specialized diet who are eating as part of a fitness plan, this isn’t a big problem as it helps them resist the temptation to eat forbidden foods. Others may find this limiting and will do better with a more generalized and flexible service like Blue Apron.
We tested Eat Clean and found it a convenient way to fuel your body with all the necessary nutrients. All of the meals come with instructions to heat them in the oven, but you’ll have to transfer them to an oven-safe dish first and cover them with foil, so there’s an extra step.
You can order a minimum of 6 and a maximum of 20 Eat Clean meals per week. Prices start at $4.30 per serving.
Committed to sustainability, including reduced waste and smarter packaging
Over 60 recipes each week
Dietary options include vegetarian, pescatarian, and calorie-conscious
HelloFresh is 1 of the best-known meal kit services in the country, with over 2.6 million American customers. It’s well-known for its excellent customer service and wide collection of recipes. You can always find it near the top of our list of the best meal delivery services. Additionally, the menus are well-organized and labeled which makes it easy to find the meals you want.
HelloFresh rates its recipes as Easy, Medium, or Hard, enabling you to select recipes based on your cooking skills. Easy Prep and Easy Cleanup recipes are convenient and perfect for busy evenings.
Under 20 Minutes meals require minimal preparation and cleanup. The Chicken and Gnocchi Bake pictured above comes with oven-safe aluminum pans you can use and later recycle after you finish the meal.
But if you’re looking for meals for special occasions, I highly recommend the Hall of Fame, Best Recipe 2024, and Premium Picks recipes. These may require intermediate or advanced cooking skills to prepare. But the results are well worth the effort and, in some cases, the extra cost.
The HelloFresh menu offers 6 plans that cover many diets, which are Meat & Veggies, Veggie, Family Friendly, Fit & Wholesome, Under 20 Minutes, and Pescatarian. Note that you have the freedom to order items outside your meal plan(s).
HelloCustom lets you customize some entrees by swapping out proteins or sides. We tried HelloFresh and found it a great choice for families with young children.
You may find limited choices on the HelloFresh menu if you’re on a specialized diet. But if you’re an omnivore or flexitarian looking for a reliable, easy-to-use meal delivery service that’ll keep your household well-fed, HelloFresh is a great choice.
HelloFresh's serving sizes are perfect for both families and couples. Larger meal boxes come at a higher overall cost but offer better per-serving rates, while smaller boxes cost more per serving. For instance, if you order 6 meals for 4 people, your first box costs $107.75 with our link.
Seasonal vegan ingredients add variety to your diet
Dozens of entrees each week plus extras
Soy-free, nut-free, high-protein and other options available
Purple Carrot offers a wide range of plant-based meals. Depending on your preference, you can opt for meal kits or prepared meals. Moreover, you can buy vegan pantry items from this service.
The Meal Kits menu includes several combined breakfast or lunch items. Still, the selection of dinners is the largest among its meal kits, 16 at the time of my review. Dinners come in 2 or 4 servings, depending on your choice, lunches in 2, and breakfasts in 4 servings.
Prepared Purple Carrot meals require less than 5 minutes in the microwave. Unlike other services higher on my list, there are no oven instructions as Purple Carrot hasn’t tested them in the oven. So you’ll need to transfer them to a suitable dish and guess at the temperature and timings yourself to heat them up in the oven.
You also get access to the Plantry, where you can buy vegan breakfast items and pantry staples like cashew cheese and vegan desserts. Purple Carrot was one of the first companies to offer vegan meal kits. And it still scores highly on our list of the best vegan meal delivery services.
Instead of processed meat substitutes, Purple Carrot’s dishes bring vegetables forward, with recipes from a number of plant-friendly world cuisines. You’ll find Middle Eastern delights like the Za’atar Spiced Tempeh pictured above alongside many other international vegan delights.
You may find it inconvenient that Purple Carrot only shows the current week’s menu. I wish Purple Carrot provided the next several weeks' meals as Blue Apron does. But after reviewing Purple Carrot for several years, I can say that its menu is consistently excellent.
Compared to other services, Purple Carrot's menu is modest. But it stands out as the best plant-based meal delivery service for longtime vegans, plant-based newbies, or anyone looking to increase their veggie intake. We tried Purple Carrot meals and felt that the recipes would please even dedicated omnivores.
Prices start at $11.00 per serving. The minimum meal kit order is 3 recipes for 2, with a maximum of 3 recipes for 4 people per week. Single-serving prepared meals come in packs of 6, 8, or 10.
Top Plans | |||||||
Top Plans | |||||||
Our Rating | |||||||
Our Rating | 9.6 | 9.8 | 9.5 | 9.5 | 9.3 | 9.6 | 9.4 |
Best Offer | |||||||
Best Offer | $4.00 Per Serving | $103.41 Per Box | $9.99 Per Serving | $6.59 Per Serving | $4.30 Per Serving | $107.75 Per Box | $11.00 Per Serving |
Minimum Order | |||||||
Minimum Order | 2 meals for 2 people | 6 prepared meals | 2 meals for 2 people | 10 prepared meals | 6 meals | 2 meals for 2 people | 3 meal kits for 2 people/6 prepared meals |
Meal Types | |||||||
Meal Types | 5 - 60 min meal kits and prepared meals | Prepared meals | Kits, speedy kits, oven-ready | Prepared meals | Prepared meals | Meal kits, speedy kits, prepared meals | Meal kits, prepared meals |
Prep Time | |||||||
Prep Time | 5-45 min | 2-3 min | 5-50 min | 2-3 min | 3 minutes | 5-50 min | 3-40 min |
Active Deals | |||||||
Active Deals |
With so many choices, finding the service that’s right for you can seem like a daunting task. Here are some suggestions to help you find the oven-ready meal delivery service that best suits your needs.
Narrow down your dietary needs: If you’re on a specialized diet like paleo, vegan, or weight-loss, look for services that offer a dedicated and varied menu that meets your requirements. We have a number of guides that can help you, like our list of the best paleo meal delivery services.
Consider your budget: I’ve included services at different price points so you can find a service that meets your needs but won’t break the bank. But don’t be afraid to spend a bit more to get healthy meals that make dinnertime exciting. And if money is tight, there are still lots of great options on our list of the best cheapest meal delivery services.
Consider the extras provided: Numerous meal delivery services include extra items such as proteins, snacks, and grocery products with your order. These additional features can reduce your shopping time and give access to premium quality ingredients.
Don’t be afraid to switch: It may take several tries until you find a meal delivery service that fits your needs. All the companies on our list offer easy cancellation, so if you’re not satisfied check out another meal delivery service company on our list of the best meal delivery services.
Factor wins our vote for the best prepared meal delivery service. Factor sends healthy single-serving meals designed by registered dietitians and prepared by chefs. Its recipes get high marks for taste and variety, and its menu offers selections for a number of specialized diets like keto and vegetarian/vegan.
Purple Carrot is a 100% plant-based service that offers vegan meals and pantry staples. You can order vegan meal-kits, fully prepared meals you simply heat and eat, or Less Prep meals that are ready in 25 minutes or less.