Purple Carrot vs. Green Chef: How Do They Compare?

Here’s how these two meal delivery services compare at a glance.

Purple Carrot

Purple Carrot is a service that delivers plant-based meal kits directly to your door.

Each week, you can choose from various dinner recipes to create your own custom menu and supplement your order with plant-based breakfasts, lunches, and premade snacks.

You can choose a 2-Serving Plan with 3–4 dinners per week or a 4-Serving Plan with 2–3 dinners per week.

All meals are accompanied by detailed recipes with step-by-step instructions and preportioned ingredients.

Green Chef

Green Chef is an organic meal kit service that provides healthy recipes and premeasured ingredients each week.

You can choose from plans tailored to several diet patterns, including:

• Balanced Living. This plan provides a selection of nutritionally balanced meals that contain meat, seafood, and plant-based proteins.
• Keto + Paleo. This option includes meals high in protein, rich in healthy fats, and low in carbohydrates.
• Plant-Powered. This plan offers a variety of plant-based recipes, including both vegan and vegetarian options.

You can select 3 or 4 meals per week with 2, 4, or 6 servings in each recipe.

Here’s a closer look at the menu for each service.

Purple Carrot

Purple Carrot has a rotating weekly menu with an array of meals and snacks to choose from.

Depending on which plan and how many servings you select, Purple Carrot offers 4–8 dinner options each week.

There are also two breakfast and lunch recipes per week, along with an assortment of fully prepared snacks.

Here are a few examples of meals on the menu:

• Smoky Two-Bean Chili with Tortilla Chips & Cilantro Ranch Drizzle
• Vegetable Panang Curry with Jasmine Rice & Cashews
• Blood Orange Chia Pudding with Pumpkin Seeds & Vanilla Yogurt

Items that are low calorie, high protein, and free of nuts, gluten, or soy are marked on the menu, making it easy to navigate if you have food allergies or intolerances or specific dietary preferences.

You can also view the nutritional value, list of ingredients, and preparation instructions for each recipe before ordering.

Green Chef

Green Chef boasts a rotating weekly menu for each meal plan, with each meal featuring a range of healthy, organic ingredients.

Most plans provide around nine recipes to choose from each week, which you can use to build your own menu.

Here are some of the meals Green Chef offers:

• Greek Beef & Feta Patties with Kale, Squash, Artichokes, Red Peppers & Creamy Caper Sauce
• Southern Chicken with Dijonnaise, Cheesy Sautéed Broccoli, and Jasmine Rice with Tomato
• Bulgogi Noodle Bowls with Pad Thai Rice Noodles, Broccoli, Creminis, Red Peppers & Cashews

Items that are heart-healthy, vegan, or gluten-free are marked on the company’s website, allowing you to customize the menu to your dietary needs and goals.

All recipes also include nutritional information as well as details on the ingredients and preparation time required.

Here’s how much each service costs.

Purple Carrot

Purple Carrot plans vary in price depending on how many servings you select and whether you select any optional add-ons.

In addition to breakfasts or lunches, you can purchase a variety of plant-based snacks from the menu.

Here’s how much Purple Carrot costs:

• 2-Serving Plan: $11.99 per serving
• 4-Serving Plan: $9.99 per serving
• Breakfasts: $4.49 per serving
• Lunches: $8.99 per serving

Shipping is available throughout the contiguous United States, and delivery is free for both the 2-Serving and 4-Serving plans.

Green Chef

The cost of Green Chef can differ depending on which plan you select.

Here’s the price for each plan:

• Keto + Paleo: $12.99 per serving
• Balanced Living: $11.99 per serving
• Plant-Powered: $11.99 per serving

Delivery costs $8.99, and shipping is available throughout most of the contiguous United States.

Purple Carrot provides a variety of plant-based foods, which may be beneficial for weight loss. Similarly, Green Chef caters to several diet patterns that could help improve body composition.

Purple Carrot

All recipes from Purple Carrot are vegan.

Studies suggest that plant-based diets could be beneficial for weight control and may even decrease body fat (1, 2).

Other research has found that those following a vegan or vegetarian diet are less likely to have overweight or obesity and tend to have a lower body mass index (BMI) than those following a more traditional eating pattern (3, 4).

Purple Carrot also provides several low calorie meals, clearly labeled on its menu, that could help support weight loss.

Furthermore, Purple Carrot promotes eating more healthy meals at home, which could be linked to improved diet quality and reduced body fat (5, 6).

Green Chef

Green Chef makes it easy to add more nutritious whole foods to your diet, which can contribute to weight loss and improve overall health.

Although Green Chef doesn’t offer a specific meal plan for weight loss, it does provide information on the nutritional value for each recipe, including the number of calories in each serving.

Green Chef tailors meals to several eating patterns that have been linked to weight loss, including plant-based, Paleo, ketogenic, and low carb diets (1, 7, 8, 9).

Like Purple Carrot, Green Chef encourages members to enjoy more home-cooked meals and provides portion- and calorie-controlled recipes, which may support weight management and improvements in body composition (5, 6).

Here are some of the other benefits associated with each service.

Purple Carrot

Plant-based diets have been linked to many powerful health benefits and can help support brain function, enhance blood sugar levels, and improve heart health (10, 11).

Switching to a plant-based diet may be a way to decrease your carbon footprint, as studies show that plant-based foods typically have a lower environmental impact (12).

Purple Carrot is also committed to promoting sustainability and uses mostly recyclable packaging.

What’s more, it can be a convenient alternative to other services, as it’s one of the few companies that offers options for breakfast, lunch, and snacks as well as dinner.

Green Chef

Green Chef meals are made with mostly organic ingredients and are free of steroids, growth hormones, genetically modified organisms (GMOs), and antibiotics.

The company also partners with local suppliers whenever possible to source the highest quality ingredients available.

Plus, all the packaging is made from recyclable, reusable, or compostable materials, and the company can offset 100% of carbon emissions from operations.

Green Chef is also one of the few meal delivery services offering options suitable for a gluten-free diet.

In fact, all recipes on its Keto + Paleo plan are grain-free and certified gluten-free. That means they’re safe options for people with celiac disease or non-celiac gluten sensitivity (13, 14, 15).

Here are a few of the drawbacks to consider with each service.

Purple Carrot

According to Purple Carrot, although most non-produce items are organic, many recipes do contain conventional ingredients due to sourcing constraints. So, Purple Carrot may not be ideal if you prefer to eat mostly organic foods.

There’s also limited information on where Purple Carrot sources ingredients, which could be a key consideration if you prefer to eat locally grown foods or support local businesses.

Because of the risk of cross contamination, you may need to be cautious when ordering meal kits from Purple Carrot if you have severe food allergies or intolerances.

Additionally, there are very few options suitable for certain diet patterns, such as ketogenic, low carb, or Paleo diets.

Green Chef

Compared with similar services, Green Chef can be relatively pricey, with plans starting at $11.99 per serving.

In addition to each plan’s base price, there’s also a fee for shipping.

Furthermore, although Green Chef does offer certified gluten-free recipes on its Keto + Paleo plan, meals are manufactured in a facility that handles other common food allergens.

Therefore, if you have severe food allergies or sensitivities, you may need to consult with your doctor before using Green Chef.