Hi! We're Farrah and Pablo, and we have two things in common: we love good food and we love Chrissy Teigen. So when we saw that Chrissy was teaming up with Blue Apron to feature some of her own recipes, we KNEW we had to try it!
Inspired by her Thai heritage, Chrissy featured six of her very own recipes for a limited run in several Blue Apron boxes throughout June and July.
The first recipe was Chrissy's garlic and soy-glazed shrimp. I (Farrah) made this one because I freakin' LOVE shrimp — or any type of seafood, for that matter.
The recipe said it would take roughly 40-50 minutes to make, but it took me a solid hour. Prep work is NO JOKE.
Cooking was simple, thank god! I typically make my meals on the stovetop anyway, and everything in this recipe was meant to be prepared that way. TBH, even the most beginner cooks could succeed in making this.
I thought the recipe would have been fine without the toasted breadcrumbs. They were just one more step between cooking and getting this food in my belly. HOWEVER, it did add a nice crunch.
VERDICT: This meal was a success! But if you can't handle a ton of spice, DO NOT use a lot of the peppers and red pepper flakes. While it was delicious, I was also SWEATING while I ate. (It was worth it, though!)
Let it be known to the world that I (Pablo) can't cook and don't need the world's judgement for any missteps I may have taken while making these Sesame Chicken Noodles.
I was told this would take 25-35 min to make and to be completely honest, it took me 3 hours (I know). It wasn't Chrissy's fault that it took me half an hour to figure out how to peel garlic. TBH, I almost threw it out, but I'm not trying to mislead the public.
After the prep work was out of the way (thank god), making the rest of the meal wasn't too difficult despite setting my fire alarm off for 5 minutes. That chicken breast tried to get me evicted.
Speaking of the chicken, cooking it was probably the harder part for me. If you're going to try this for yourself, I recommend cutting the chicken up first, despite what the recipe says. Cooking an entire breast just took longer for me and didn't allow all the flavor to penetrate through.
VERDICT: Though this was my least favorite dish, I still thoroughly enjoyed it. The honey and soy sauce really gave this dish a sweet and salty kick and the bok choy had me pretending I was eating something healthy. Because it's carb-tastic and greasy, it feels a bit heavy in the stomach after, but it's nothing my stomach couldn't handle.
It's me, Farrah. I tried Chrissy's Chinese chicken salad recipe, which said it would take between 30 and 40 minutes to prepare...
...but THAT WAS A LIE. A *lot* of prep work was involved, because, duh, it's a salad! I'm just not fast at peelin', and choppin', and mincin'. Maybe one day. Peeling the carrots definitely took the longest.
Both the chicken and dressing could be made on the stovetop, but the wonton noodles had to be crunchified in the oven. Overall, it was pretty simple!
I think I might have burned the crispy wontons — so let's just say they were extra, EXTRA crispy. But not bad! After cooking everything, though, I realized I'd been prepping/cooking for an hour and a half.
VERDICT: Don't get me wrong, the salad was good. Chrissy has yet to fail me. It just wasn't my favorite. I didn't learn my lesson the first time and ended up using ALL of the sambal oelek in the sauce (Chrissy says to use as much as you want depending on how spicy you’d like the dish to be) so my mouth was on FIRE.
Hi, Pablo again. I made these Sweet & Spicy Chicken Lettuce Cups and can I just say I think I'm a professional chef now? I felt reaaaal legit cookin' these bad boys up.
The recipe said it would take 35-45 min, and I only took an hour to make it! That's still over the projected time, but it's a new record for me. It probably helped that I didn't prep the mushrooms, because I can't stand 'em. Don't @ me.
Cooking the ground chicken, veggies, and rice was pretty straight-forward. I'd dare say this is the easiest of the three I cooked, and I love food that moves from the stove to my mouth much quicker.
Unlike Farrah, I used a tiny amount of the sambal oelek. If you're new to this sauce, I recommend you taste it a bit first to see just how much spiciness you can handle. Despite being Mexican, I could never tolerate the entire bottle.
VERDICT: These were super easy to make and really, really flavorful. Unlike the pasta, this felt lighter in the stomach. I wish I had started with this recipe so that I wouldn't be scared away from cooking forever. If you're a beginner like me and want to make something delicious, this is it.
I (Farrah) cooked up my final Chrissy Teigen recipe, which was Chrissy's chipotle-lime chicken fajitas. Having grown up in Texas, I ate a ton of fajitas but never made them myself. Needless to say, I was excited.
Learning from my last experiences, I did two things that made this cooking extravaganza go MUCH faster. 1) I did all the prep work the night before and 2) I marinated the chicken overnight so it was ready to go the next day.
VERDICT: THIS WAS AMAZING. The entire cooking process went smooth and easy. I also learned to go easy on the spice (jalapeños, chile paste) so my mouth wasn't on fire, but even if you love spice it would still taste great! The chicken was SO flavorful and all the toppings were perfect. This was ABSOLUTELY, hands-down my favorite of the three meals I cooked. I can't wait to make it again!
Pablo here. I got to make the final Chrissy recipe, AKA Pork Bánh Mi sandwiches, and, fun fact, this is from Chrissy's upcoming cookbook Cravings: Hunger For More, so I felt like I was in on a secret that no one else knew about.
Given that I usually make sandwiches for myself on a daily basis, I figured this one would be a walk in the park...but nah, it wasn't. Chrissy said it would take about 40-50 minutes, but it took me two hours. Could it be because I don't own a peeler? Or that an oven had to be used? Possibly.
I definitely feel like this recipe requires a beginner like me to tackle on a lot, but it's for the best. For example, learning how to pickle the veggies was interesting, and frankly, easy. I'm pickling everything now.
And though this recipe has a lot of different flavors going on, the one that really tied it together for me was the glaze. It contains chopped shallots, chopped garlic, brown sugar, soy sauce, and lime zest. It was sooo damn good and it wouldn't have been the same without its sticky goodness.
VERDICT: I loved, loved, LOVED this recipe. It takes some effort to make, but the end product is totally worth it. It's easily one of the best homemade sandwiches I've ever made and I can't wait to replicate it in the future.
Overall, we highly enjoyed each of these recipes and felt like we learned new cooking skills. Plus, we each found at least one recipe we would replicate again!
OK, so if you missed out on the limited run of Blue Apron x Chrissy Teigen recipes, FEAR NOT. Chrissy's latest cookbook, Cravings: Hungry for More, comes out September 18th. Not only will it feature her báhn mi sandwiches, but also her banana bread that broke the internet. WE CAN'T WAIT.
