We tried Martha Stewart’s Marley Spoon meal kit – here’s our honest review

When it comes to building a kitchen empire, Martha Stewart has the recipe for success.

From countless cooking products to her own houseware line, the star’s cemented herself as the ultimate domestic doyenne over the years.

And if you’ve ever wished she could plan your dinners, too, you’re in luck; thanks to her longtime collaboration with meal kit company Marley Spoon, home chefs can purchase a subscription ($78+ $33+) curated by Stewart herself.

To see whether the subscription can really deliver Stewart-level dishes at home, we put a week-long plan to the test; read on for our honest review.

What is Marley Spoon?

Marley Spoon allows users to choose from over 100 weekly Recipes — including several straight from the kitchen queen herself — and receive a weekly box filled with the necessary, pre-portioned ingredients.

“It’s absolutely in keeping with my whole cooking philosophy,” Stewart said after the 2016 launch, per USA Today, noting that she’d tested “every single one of the available food kit companies” before partnering with the brand.

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Marley Spoon pricing and plans

The company offers several pricing options depending on how many meals you’d like to receive per week — and right now, new subscribers can save up to $250 on their first five boxes.

Prices range from $63.95 ($38.94 for new users) for two meals a week for two people to $220.55 ($79.46 for new users) for six meals for four people.

The subscription is also flexible, meaning you can skip a week or pause your subscription if needed. (Just be sure to read the fine print to make sure you don’t miss the weekly deadline.)

Martha Stewart x Marley Spoon Subscription

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Marley Spoon menu and recipes

While Marley Spoon curates a fresh menu of meals weekly, subscribers can customize their boxes in advance with a slew of options. I’m a vegetarian, so I selected three plant-based Recipes for my two-serving subscription: the Chana Masala with Spinach (by far my favorite recipe), the Asian Caesar Salad and the Falafel Burgers.

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Our review

Unlike Stewart, I don’t have a palatial ranch house and lavish budget, so I was skeptical about re-creating her Recipes. The instructions for each meal were extremely detailed, however, and I appreciated the photos included to illustrate each step.

While I wasn’t home when it was first delivered, the thoughtful pre-portioned packing had ice packs that kept my produce fresh for hours — all while taking the guesswork out of grocery shopping and meal planning.

The kit also introduced me to Recipes I wouldn’t normally try, and gave me the (beautifully packaged) ingredients to do so without stocking up on full-sized containers of products I wouldn’t use.

While the Chana Masala was as quick to prepare as advertised, the other Recipes I tried were pretty detailed and time-intensive. (The salad even required me to make my own croutons, an undertaking I wouldn’t normally associate with fast weekday meal prep.)

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The final verdict

If you’re someone who doesn’t mind recipes that take a little longer to prepare and want to outsource meal planning and prepping, this could be the kit for you.

Just be aware; if you’re looking for bare-bones, budget-friendly dinners that can be on the table in 15 minutes flat, this might not be your best bet.

After all, what could we expect from a chef who once posted a photo of caviar pasta and jokingly asked a commenter, “What’s queso dip?”