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Despite the increasing popularity of plant-based diets, there still aren’t that many options for vegan frozen meals at the grocery store.
Purple Carrot is one brand available at major retailers like Target, Publix, and HEB that you may recognize from their plant-based meal kit delivery service. Their packaging makes the meals look delicious, but as we all know, reality doesn’t always meet expectations when it comes to frozen food.
As a dietitian, I wanted to review a few Purple Carrot frozen meals because I know how helpful it can be to have a convenient, nutritious option on hand for those times when life gets in the way. Ideally, those options would also taste great!
Keep reading to see whether I thought Purple Carrot met the mark!
Brief overview: Purple Carrot
Purple Carrot is a meal kit delivery and frozen foods company offering 100% plant-based, vegan meals. The company’s commitment to plant-based ingredients stems from their desire to provide meals that improve the health of their customers and positively impact the environment.
They offer eight different frozen meals, all of which are non-GMO and two of which are gluten-free.
Pros and cons
Pros:
- Quick to heat and eat
- Variety of cuisines and flavor profiles
- Many meals are rich in whole plant foods
- Good source of dietary fiber
- 100% vegan
- More affordable than other vegan frozen meal brands
Cons:
- Some meals are relatively low in protein
- High sodium content
- Flavor is hit or miss
- Vegetable portion sizes are small
Purple Carrot frozen meals review
I tested four different frozen meals, making each of them my lunch for the day. The meals I tried were:
- Plant-Based Meatball Marinara
- Spinach Artichoke Cavatappi
- Sweet Corn Elote Bowl
- Vegetable Tikka Masala
Price
Purple Carrot frozen meals are priced around $5 each. I got mine for $4.79 each at Target.
This is more expensive than a typical Lean Cuisine would cost you, but they’re a little more affordable than other vegan meals from Tattooed Chef, Daring, or Impossible Bowls, which are closer to $6 each.
Cooking process
Heating these meals was an absolute breeze. Three of the meals can be microwaved without even needing to slit the plastic film on top, so you can literally pop them straight in the microwave after opening the box.
The Spinach Artichoke Cavatappi has to be stirred halfway through, but it really doesn’t get any easier to prepare than these frozen meals.
I followed the microwave instructions exactly, which resulted in a hot meal every time — no frozen chunks to be found.
Appearance
Each meal looked pretty appealing, although not quite as beautiful as they appear on the packaging, which is par for the course with frozen foods.
It was obvious that the sauces in the Meatball Marinara and Sweet Corn Elote bowls had been thickened with something. It was noticeable, but not off-putting.
Each meal was colorful, which I find always makes a dish look more inviting. It also highlights the variety of produce used.
Taste
Overall, I thought these meals tasted great with one exception. Below, I’ve listed them in order of my favorite to least favorite:
- Plant-Based Meatball Marinara
- Vegetable Tikka Masala
- Spinach Artichoke Cavatappi
- Sweet Corn Elote Bowl
Maybe it’s just because I love pasta and already enjoy the flavor of Gardein Meatballs, but the Meatball Marinara was my favorite. It had a light yet flavorful tomato sauce that was slightly spicy, likely thanks to the crushed red pepper, and the meatballs had a pleasantly beefy flavor. I would have preferred more vegetables, however, so I had it with a side of baby carrots.
I also really liked the Vegetable Tikka Masala, which was super flavorful and creamy. The sweet potatoes added a nice hint of sweetness that balanced the slight spiciness. Did it taste as good as the tikka masala you’d get from an Indian restaurant? Definitely not, but it was pretty good for a frozen meal.
The Spinach Artichoke Cavatappi with white beans tasted a lot like spinach artichoke dip to me – creamy and a little spicy. It was surprisingly filling and had a nice flavor, but it wasn’t as flavor-packed as the other two meals. I also would have liked more artichokes since I like a lot of vegetables at my meals.
The Sweet Corn Elote bowl wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t that great either. It definitely tastes like frozen corn, which, again, isn’t a bad thing, but it’s not what you expect from elote or esquites (elote in a bowl). The dominant flavor was lime, which I felt overpowered everything else since the grains and chickpeas didn’t offer much flavor themselves. I wouldn’t buy it again.
Texture
I was pleasantly surprised by the textures of these meals! Freezing usually has a negative impact on texture, especially with vegetables and pasta, but Purple Carrot has done a great job working around this.
Meatball Marinara: I really loved the textures here. The orzo was perfectly al dente; it wasn’t mushy at all and had a pleasant bite to it. The Gardein meatballs were slightly dry on the inside, but had a great meaty texture, dense but not too chewy. I prefer this to the mushy texture of many plant-based meatballs. The asparagus was slightly softer than I prefer but still had a bite toit, which was a big win.
Vegetable Tikka Masala: Also a winner. The grains had a great chewy bite while the sweet potatoes were nice and soft, which made the whole meal pleasant to eat.
Spinach Artichoke Cavatappi: The pasta wasn’t quite as al dente as the orzo in the Meatball Marinara but still had a nice texture. I was worried it would be mushy, but this wasn’t the case at all. The sauce was very creamy as were the white beans, so it was nice that the pasta wasn’t too soft.
Sweet Corn Elote Bowl: Here you get a little texture from the grains and a nice crunch from the pumpkin seeds, but overall the texture was underwhelming. I don’t think frozen corn lends itself well to elote, and the chickpeas didn’t do anything to improve the texture either.
Nutrition & health analysis
How do Purple Carrot frozen meals stack up nutritionally? Let’s get into the details below:
Nutrition Facts
Of course, the nutrition facts vary somewhat for each meal, as you can see below:
| Nutrient content (per meal) | Meatball Marinara | Vegetable Tikka Masala | Spinach Artichoke Cavatappi | Sweet Corn Elote Bowl |
| Calories | 450 | 420 | 380 | 450 |
| Protein | 22 g | 13 g | 14 g | 12 g |
| Carbohydrates | 53 g | 54 g | 53 g | 56 g |
| Dietary Fiber | 6 g | 8 g | 7 g | 8 g |
| Added Sugars | 4 g | 2 g | 0 g | 1 g |
| Fat | 17 g | 17 g | 12 g | 20 g |
| Saturated Fat | 2 g | 1 g | 1.5 g | 3.5 g |
| Sodium | 940 mg | 770 mg | 890 mg | 750 mg |
| Iron | 4.1 mg | 4 mg | 4 mg | 3 mg |
| Calcium | 100 mg | 60 mg | 80 mg | 120 mg |
These meals are high in sodium, providing 33-41% of the recommended sodium limit of 2,300 milligrams per day. If you’re on a strict sodium restriction or have high blood pressure, you may need to limit additional high-sodium foods on the same day you eat one of these meals.
Three of the meals were lower in protein than I’d like for a full meal, especially for vegans who are physically active or trying to build muscle, so they may not fit everyone’s needs. The Meatball Marinara was an exception, with 22 grams of protein thanks to the plant-based meatballs from Gardein.
That said, these meals are excellent sources of dietary fiber. I was pleasantly surprised by the iron content and love that they’re low in added sugar and saturated fat.
RELATED: Are OWYN Protein Shakes Healthy? (An RD’s Review)
Ingredients
Overall, I’m a big fan of the ingredients in these meals. I appreciate that Purple Carrot offers meals rich in whole-food ingredients like whole grains, vegetables, and beans. The “cheesy” sauce in the Spinach Artichoke Cavatappi, for example, is made from sunflower seeds.
Each meal is seasoned with herbs and spices, an excellent way to get more anti-inflammatory antioxidants and polyphenols in the diet. They’re also a huge flavor booster!
Of course, some meals contain highly processed ingredients, which some vegans prefer to avoid.
The Meatball Marinara contains Gardein plant-based meatballs made from textured soy protein and vital wheat gluten, while the Sweet Corn Elote Bowl contains a sauce made with Vegenaise (a vegan brand of mayonnaise) and a parmesan-style alternative made from modified potato starch and palm oil.
Personally, I don’t have a problem eating these foods as part of a balanced vegan diet that includes lots of other whole foods.
Gardein meatballs are a great way to boost the protein content of a meal, so I’d have no issue choosing the Meatball Marinara if I needed a quick post-workout meal. Similarly, Vegenaise is made primarily from heart-healthy oils and can be a tasty way to add healthy fats to a sandwich.
Remember that ultra-processed foods aren’t always inherently unhealthy. We have to look at their nutrition profile individually in addition to how they fit into our diets as a whole.
Sustainability
According to the United Nations1, plant-based foods are associated with lower greenhouse gas emissions and require less energy, land, and water to produce than animal foods.
Including more plant-based meals in your diet is an incredibly effective way to support the health of the planet and reduce your impact on climate change, and Purple Carrot meals can help you do this.
One disadvantage to individually-packaged frozen meals is the potential plastic waste. While it’s impossible to avoid all packaging, Purple Carrot reduces their plastic use by using recyclable bowls made from plant-based fiber. According to their website, they’ve avoided using over 188,000 pounds of plastic thanks to this strategy.
Purple Carrot frozen meals: main takeaways
Overall, I really enjoyed three out of the four Purple Carrot frozen meals I tested. I thought the flavors were unbalanced in the Sweet Corn Elote Bowl, but the other three meals tasted great.
Nutritionally, these meals are great for an occasional quick meal. They’re rich in fiber, vitamins, and minerals while being low in added sugars and saturated fat, and I like the variety of whole plant foods. Some are lower in protein than I’d like, but they do offer higher-protein options.
These meals are high in sodium, so I’d watch how much sodium you get the rest of the day. Depending on your health needs, they may not be the best choice for people with strict sodium restrictions.
If you’re a big eater or like a lot of vegetables, you may want to add a side of beans or extra veggies like I did.
All things considered, I think these meals are a great option to keep stocked in your freezer for those times when you need a quick, tasty vegan meal.
Looking for another helpful vegan frozen food review? Check out A Dietitian’s Meati Review: Is This Fungi-Based Steak Worth It?
The scientific information in this article was accurate at the time of publishing but may change over time as new research becomes available.
References
- United Nations. Food and climate change: healthy diets for a healthier planet. UN website. Accessed 11/25/24.
