Over the last nine months or so I’ve incorporated a handful of Huel’s Hot and Savory meals into my weekly routine as I embrace the reality that while I may be vegan and understand a great deal about nutritional fundamentals, I need to pay better attention to my overall micro and macronutrient consumption. Over that same period, I’ve also taken to more consistent physical training.
I feel the Hot and Savory meals get a lot of coverage due to how long they’ve been on the market so I won’t include a review of those in this piece, but for those unfamiliar, they are bags of dried meals either in a grain bowl or noodle style that you measure into a reusable, microwavable cup Huel sends you. Either pour in boiling water or microwave and in roughly 7-10 minutes you have a relatively tasty cup of mac and cheese or Thai curry. Each bag holds roughly 7 servings and runs $26.30 at the moment. That’s not so bad really if you’re doing what I do and replacing meals during the work week with cups of Huel. Buying 3 bags a month is roughly $78 if you subscribe and that is an entire month of lunches during the week.
That cost-effective approach to replacing work lunches with nutritionally balanced and high-protein meals (each Hot and Savory meal is roughly 24-25g of protein) is why I took the risk to try Huel in the first place. I was also won over by the marketing backstory of how the company approached formulating meals that were actually good for you with the aid of nutritionists and nutritional scientists. Huel’s early days were primarily as a meal replacement shake company that has since expanded, making its most immediate competition Soylent.
Unlike Huel, Soylent’s creator used himself as a test subject to learn food science in a way that always made me uneasy about trying those meal replacement shakes. I’m not entirely convinced by the tech bro biohacking schemes to save time on everyday activities (like cooking food) just to focus on doing tech bro things. But I do understand the need to save time or have a satiating thing to drink or eat when you’re at your busiest. And that’s what I needed!
Since Huel’s early protein shake days, they’ve added various protein and meal replacement shakes, greens powder, ready-to-drink bottles, and what this review is actually about, pre-measured instant meal cups and protein bars. Since I enjoy the instant meals I measure myself I was curious to see why Huel added three new flavors of essentially those products exclusively in single-use, pre-measured presentations.
The Cups
Instant Meal Cups come in three flavors unique to this product: Spicy Gochujang Noodles, Chik’n Alfredo, and Korean BBQ Noodles. Each is sold in a box of 8 coming in at $39.60 per flavor. For this review, I purchased the variety box which came with 3 BBQ and alfredo cups and 2 gochujang.
What you’ve probably picked up immediately is that these items cost significantly more than the Hot and Savory bags. Sure, you’re getting one more “guaranteed” serving per box but the overall per-meal cost is just under $5 compared to the bags at $3.76. In practice, I often get 8-9 servings out of one bag of meals with a generous 2 scoops per meal. The bags are measured by weight and I’m not going to weigh each scoop to maximize the portioning but I think I managed to get approximately the stated nutrition per serving each time.
A close-up of the spicy gochujang noods before cooking.
All three meals look something like the photo above though the alfredo has wavy, wider noodles than the Korean-inspired flavors. What is the same is the chik’n chunks and seasoning powders. A bulk of Huel’s protein comes from the sauces which utilize their base nutritional components flavored differently. In these formulations, which nutritionally clock in with similar macros to the bagged options, some of the mix is replaced by the larger chunks of chewy protein. The sauces in all three cups were less thick than the previous savory meals and the Korean noodles have a glassier, shiny look.
The bagged meals also add additional protein chunks to some of the pasta recipes, most notably the chik’n and mushrooms, bolognese, and cajun pasta. The chunks in the cups are definitely bigger, similar to higher-end ramen cups with little bits of fish cake or meat.
I’d had a few bites of this before I remembered I should probably photograph my last precious cup but you can see the protein chunks mixed through.
Flavor-wise, these noodle cups are quite similar to Huel’s other savory options. Across the board, I inevitably added a bit of garlic salt to make the flavors pop but I feel I would not be dissatisfied eating them as they are if adding seasoning wasn’t an option. Even the bagged meals often need a little extra boost in flavor like salt or hot sauce.
The texture of the larger protein chunks was a little more dubious, however. Each cup claims to be ready in 5 minutes (if using the hot water pour-over method) and I found I was often letting them sit for 6-7 minutes for the chunks to fully rehydrate. There are few unpleasant textures quite like squeaky half-hydrated veggie protein, and my first attempt making the BBQ noodles had me adding extra water as the noodles were stuck together and the proteins still begging for moisture.
This brings me to the biggest inconvenience of Huel’s cup designs across the board: fill lines. While less of a bother in the reusable cups for the bagged meals where there is an approximate fill line on the inside, the instant meal cups have a line on the outside. Universally these exterior fill lines always feel more like suggestions and after my first attempt preparing one, I reverted to my overall Huel “cooking” method: Boiling a big kettle and gradually adding more water over time as the initial pour doesn’t quite hydrate the mix.
Microwaving may be the way to go but I committed to preparing each of these cups the way I do my typical lunches so I only used a kettle. I wanted to clarify just in case you only microwave them and never have these issues!
What perplexes me about the instant meal cups is that they may have some utility for people on the go, but that’s also the appeal of the reusable cup for the bagged options. You can put dry mix in the cup, screw the lid on, and take it with you just like you would these disposable cups. All these provide is more waste and I suppose are convenient if you can’t wash your cup out immediately after eating but I’ve rarely been in a situation where I could add hot water or microwave a meal and not also have access to a sink or napkins.
I also struggle to see how these flavors could not be bagged meal options on their own. Where is the added cost if the nutrition is largely the same and the pasta very similar to the varieties they already sell? I would happily buy the gochujang or alfredo cups in a bag form should that ever become an option. The BBQ was not bad at all but entirely too sweet for me to consider eating on the regular. This is a similar issue I had with the Sweet & Sour bagged meal so they can’t all be winners. But I would have vastly preferred only getting 2 cups of BBQ in my box and 3 of the gochujang.
So to answer the question posed in the title of this review, are Huel’s instant meal cups worth the price? For me, no. I am glad I took the chance to try them and think if your budget can support adding these to your subscription, definitely give them a go. The alfredo and gochujang are genuinely delicious and I’m adding them to the list of fantastic Huel flavors I just won’t have in my life often alongside the carbonara bagged meal Huel only sells in the UK. If you could do me a solid and give me bagged versions, or even just the carbonara, I’d be eternally grateful.
Despite my gripes about the chunkier protein, when they’re fully hydrated they’re a great textural component to meals that can sometimes feel a bit goopy. That’s the issue with all dried/instant meals so nothing unique to Huel’s formulations and I applaud them for thinking of ways to enhance texture. Maybe future offerings in this range can incorporate some of the freeze-dried veggies found in the bagged meals like the corn in the cajun pasta.
So overall, I likely won’t be ordering these again as the cost difference between the bags and cups is too great to make them a sustainable option for me. I do think someone out there will benefit from keeping these cups on hand and they’re clearly more designed for sporadic consumption than my dedicated 5 meals a week I’ve replaced with Huel meals already.
But these aren’t the only products I tried so let’s round out this review on a positive note!
Complete Nutrition Bars
Since I usually spend around $78-80 a month on my Huel subscription, I decided to add a variety box of the complete nutrition bars to round out my order with the cups. Clocking in at 12g of protein per bar, there are definitely higher protein options on the market but even Huel isn’t billing these bars for that purpose.
These bad boys are straight-up candy bars. Vegan-friendly bars with thick chocolate shells, caramel, and a protein-rich chewy center. I have zero notes on these. Every flavor I tried was delicious, with my favorites being the two new flavors the Chocolate Raspberry and Chocolate Fudge Brownie. Maybe the peanut flavor was more akin to that “acceptable” protein bar funk you find with other companies’ bars but it’s still great. I’m just persnickety about peanut flavoring due to the state of flavor options vegans often get in their supplemental products.
Each box is $32.50 for 12, which is comparable to a lot of other vegan bars on the scene. What this comes down to is if you value higher protein or a satisfying snack that fits into your daily totals. For me, I have been dying for a candy bar since opting for a vegan diet and the dark chocolate raspberry bars exceeded my expectations. So much, in fact, that I may be scaling my bags of meals down to 2 and adding a box of the bars to my monthly orders. There are days I don’t really eat lunch either because of how my medication hits my stomach or how busy I am so having these on hand will definitely help me stop hoarding bags of mac and cheese in favor of a snack I’ll definitely eat.
DO try these nutrition bars if you get the chance. Huel cares about making products that actually taste good and really excels with these.