‘I tried Gousto’s Christmas recipe box – it’s the ideal cooking shortcut’

Gousto has welcomed dozens of new festive meals to its menu ahead of Christmas, with family favourites like turkey, Brussels sprouts and stuffing all featured.

The lineup comprises 29 themed dishes, eight of which are brand-new recipes that have joined existing Christmas offerings.

As a competitor of the likes of Hello Fresh and Green Chef, Gousto boasts time-saving and waste-minimising meals that customers can select to build their supply of weekly dinners that are delivered to their door in one neat box.

Many are designed to be prepared in as little as five minutes, though the Christmas edition boxes also include festive staples like the one hour Christmas dinner with all the trimmings.

Express.co.uk tried and reviewed four of Gousto’s festive recipes ahead of December.

Express.co.uk tried and reviewed meals from Hello Fresh, Gousto and Green Chef to see which brand offers tasty meals, from a variety of cuisines, that are easy to cook at home.

READ MORE: Martha Stewart’s recipe for 15 minute lentil soup is and ‘so fast’

The Christmas Gousto box included four varied meals each with a unique festive twist. These were:

• Crispy chicken and cranberry bao buns
• King prawn and sprout fried rice
• Stuffing-inspired sausage and cranberry gnocchi
• One-hour Christmas dinner and all the trimmings

Each one arrived with all of the main ingredients in the box and a recipe card complete with detailed instructions to cook the perfect meal.

A few additives like seasonings and oil were required in places, but for the most part, Gousto provided everything needed to make the Christmas dishes – including small portions of ingredients like honey, sriracha sauce, mayonnaise, and Marmite.

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King prawn and sprout fried rice

We started the week with an Asian-style dish that resembled Nasi Goreng, though with the festive addition of Brussels sprouts.

The meal comprised fresh prawns, rice, sriracha mayonnaise and sprouts which came together to produce a really tasty dinner. However, one thing that really bothered me was the lack of vegetables.

While this was undeniably enjoyable to cook in a short time of just 10 minutes from pan to table, the only vegetables were the sprouts. To supplement this, we decided to add sliced mushrooms which were cooked in the rice and topped the portions with with fresh spring onions.

In terms of portion sizes, there was plenty to enjoy between two people, though we also decided to add some leftover vegetable spring rolls for extra substance. I would recommend this meal for Gousto customers planning their order, even for those who don’t love sprouts as they tasted great with the sauce and spiced rice. However, I’d say an extra side of vegetables is essential to up the number of greens on the plate.

• Cooking level: Easy
• Time: 10 minutes
• Overall rating: 7/10

Gnocchi and bao buns

Having gained an extra person for dinner on this occasion, we decided to serve two of the Gousto meals at once to cater to three appetites. While the stuffing-inspired sausage and cranberry gnocchi were not designed to be served with a side of crispy chicken and cranberry bao buns, both tasted great in their own right.

The buns were easy to heat in the microwave with no steamer needed and came with a generous amount of chicken to fill them with. A side of potatoes also came in this kit, which seemed peculiar as the flavours were quite different and they held up the cooking time by quite a while. Though the cranberry flavour was nice with the shredded chicken stuffing, the buns felt stodgy and quite underwhelming as a festive dish, plus they took a staggering 45 minutes to cook.

• Bao Buns cooking level: Medium
• Time: 45 minutes
• Rating 5/10

When it came to the gnocchi, however, this was hard to fault. Not only was it quick to make but the stuffing flavour was mouth-watering and really tasted great as a standalone meal. The ingredients were high quality and the squash was a nice addition to the spinach for a more vegetable-heavy dinner.

Overall, the recipe created a really lovely balance of festive flavours and felt like a unique twist on the classic Italian dish.

• Gnocchi cooking level: Easy
• Time: 10-15 minutes
• Rating: 9/10

One-hour Christmas dinner and all the trimmings

The last Gousto meal in the box was the Christmas dinner which I would brand the ultimate cooking shortcut. Included in the kit was a turkey joint, gravy ingredients, potatoes for roasting, parsnips, red cabbage, carrots and Brussels sprouts.

Pigs in blankets were also meant to be included in the kit though these were swapped out for whole sausages in our case, which seemed like a lot of meat for one meal. However, we made do nonetheless and were pleasantly surprised by the results.

Unlike the other meals, this one had no shortage of vegetables and it did exactly what it claimed on the recipe card: produced a Christmas dinner in one hour. The meat was easy to cook, as were the vegetables, though I’d say that the potatoes did not have enough time to cook until perfectly crispy. In fact, ours were only slightly crispy on the outside and needed at least 30 minutes more to turn crunchy and golden.

That said, the flavours and quality of the ingredients were hard to fault in this case, so Gousto really has made it possible for everyone to whip up a complete Christmas dinner in a very short time.

• Cooking level: Medium-hard
• Time: 55 minutes
• Rating: 8/10

The meal kits are available to order at gousto.co.uk until January 1, 2024, with delivery available from November 25, 2023 to January 5, 2024. Gousto boxes are available in a regular size (two adults per meal, two to five recipes per box), or large (four adults per meal, two to four recipes per box).

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