Last updated: 7 August 2026
By Stiv · Design, technology and personal finance
August pulls in two directions at once, so this month's Grubby recipes do too. Below you will find five dishes we cooked from the live menu, from a barbecue-weather bun to a 15-minute salad that finally balances the list out. There is also a plain-English note on how the boxes work and what new customers get.
This article contains affiliate or referral links. If you click through and sign up I may earn a commission or referral bonus at no extra cost to you. It does not affect my editorial view. We pay full price for our own weekly box.
Want money off your first Grubby box?
Offers move around, so we keep the current one and the steps to claim it on our referral page.
A quick bit of honesty first. I pay full price for a Grubby box most weeks, so these picks come from a real kitchen rather than a press pack. August also has a split personality. One night the barbecue is out, and the next it is dark by nine and nobody can face chopping. Consequently, this month's list swings from a messy bun to a salad you can build in a quarter of an hour.
Grubby recipes are plant-based by default, so every dish below is vegan. Helpfully, most of them stack up two, three or even four of your five a day without any effort from you. If you want a wider view of the category, our guide to the best vegan meal kits UK compares the main players. This post, by contrast, is purely about the food. Every edition of the series lives on our Grubby recipes index.
Five cards, five dinners, one week of not thinking about tea. Tap a card to jump to the recipe.
Section 01 / On the menu
The best Grubby recipes this month
Five dishes, running from richest to lightest and then back again for the finale. Every one of these Grubby recipes sits on the live menu right now.
Sweet Mustard Pulled “Pork” Buns, Chips & Red Cabbage Slaw
This one earns its 35 minutes. First, you tear meaty mushrooms into ragged shreds. Then they hit a hot pan, crisp at the edges, and soften again once the tamari goes in. Meanwhile, three quarters of an onion melts down slowly in plant butter for a good 15 minutes. That patience is the whole trick. Sweet mustard ketchup then goes over the lot, with quick-pickled jalapeno rounds cutting through it. Better still, the leftover pickling liquid gets stirred into the red cabbage slaw, so nothing is wasted. Chips bake alongside and land at the same moment. Fair warning, though: this is 2 of your 5 a day, not 4. Comfort food does what comfort food does.
for the last barbecue weekend of the summer
35 mins · Serves 2 · Recipe #602 · 2 of your 5 a day
Sticky Korean BBQ Tofu Wings, Chips & Dressed Pak Choi
Tofu wings sound like a stretch. Even so, the trick works. You tear the block into wing-shaped chunks, so every edge stays craggy. Tamari soaks in first, then cornflour goes on for the crust. Next comes a proper shallow fry, which is the step that matters most. Korean BBQ sauce and a splash of water finish it into a sticky glaze. Gochugaru does double duty here, seasoning both the chips and the pak choi dressing. That dressing turns sharp and sweet at once, thanks to vinegar, agave and sesame oil. Honestly, the greens stop the plate feeling heavy. Be warned, though: this pick lands only 1 of your 5 a day. On the plus side, it is the quickest of the rich ones.
for the tofu sceptic who swears they hate tofu
25 mins · Serves 2 · Recipe #569 · 1 of your 5 a day
One-Pot Pesto Butter Beans & Greens with Crusty Ciabatta
Some nights need one pan and no thinking. Accordingly, this takes 15 minutes and dirties almost nothing. Garlic and Tenderstem go in first. Then the butter beans arrive with the liquid straight from the tin, which thickens the broth beautifully. Miso, green pesto and a spoon of plant mayo melt in to make it creamy. Peas follow at the end, along with chopped basil and a squeeze of lemon. Warm ciabatta then does the heavy lifting for dipping. Better still, it stacks up 3 of your 5 a day without trying. In short, this is the one I would cook on a Tuesday in a bad mood.
for the Tuesday when cooking feels like a chore
15 mins · Serves 2 · Recipe #626 · 3 of your 5 a day
Five dinners, one supermarket shop skipped, and only one of them needed a napkin on the lap.
Nutty Edamame, Spelt & Chickpea Salad with Peanut & Lime Dressing
Here is the balance the rest of this list badly needed. Notably, Grubby tags it four ways at once: high protein, high fibre, low saturated fat and ready in 15. It also lands 3 of your 5 a day. Even so, none of that shows up as worthiness on the plate. The dressing carries it: peanut butter, agave, lime juice and tamari, loosened with a splash of water. Meanwhile, chickpeas fry hard for three minutes until they blister. Then cashews, pumpkin seeds, edamame and wholegrain spelt warm through in the same pan. Raw radish and grated carrot go in cold for crunch. Coriander and sesame seeds finish it off. Consequently, it eats like an actual dinner rather than a sad desk lunch. If you want the wider context on building plant-based meals well, the British Dietetic Association's plant-based eating guide is a sensible read.
for when the last three dinners were all beige
15 mins · Serves 2 · Recipe #594 · 3 of your 5 a day · High protein, high fibre, low sat fat
Cheesy Black Bean Enchiladas With Chilli Guac Topping
This is the one I kept coming back to. Grubby marks it a Fan Favourite, and the numbers explain why. At 4 of your 5 a day, it beats everything else on this list outright. First, black beans simmer with smoked paprika, cumin, tomato paste and stock until the sauce thickens. Then you roll that filling into flatbreads and nestle them into a dish. Grated plant-based cheese goes over the top before 10 to 12 minutes in the oven, which crisps the edges properly. Meanwhile, a raw salsa of red onion, cherry tomato, green chilli and lime gets folded through smashed avocado. That becomes the chilli guac. Half goes over the bake, and half stays in a bowl for dipping. Frankly, the second bowl is the entire point.
for the night you want a bake and a dip in the same dinner
30 mins · Serves 2 · Recipe #211 · 4 of your 5 a day
Section 02 / The practical bit
How Grubby works, and this month's offer
New to the boxes? Here is the short version, plus what new customers get right now.
Grubby is a plant-based recipe box, so you pick your meals and they turn up fresh at your door. Meal kits take 15 to 30 minutes from chopping board to plate. There are also heat-and-eat ready meals that go from freezer to fork in about 8 minutes. Currently the menu runs to more than 150 meals a month across both formats. As a bonus, the company is B Corp certified, and every box sold donates a meal to a child in need.
On price, meal kits start from around £4 a serving and ready meals from £4.84, according to Grubby's own figures. Naturally, bigger boxes bring the cost per plate down further. New customers also get free delivery on their first box. Do note, though, that standard delivery is charged on every box after that, so the first box is not a guide to your ongoing bill. Grubby applies an intro discount across your first few boxes too, with the exact terms shown at checkout. There is no lock-in either, so you can skip or cancel whenever you like. For the full sums, including the leftovers trick, see our guide on how much Grubby costs.
Grabbing the current Grubby offer
Because the headline figure changes, we keep the live code and terms on one page rather than burying them here.
Get money off your first Grubby box
Grubby recipes FAQs
Are Grubby recipes actually filling?
Yes, and that surprised me at first. Portions run generously, so we often split a two-person meal kit across two dinners with a bit of rice or bread alongside. Protein does most of the work here. The pulled “pork” buns and the edamame salad above both carry Grubby's high-protein tag. Admittedly, the lighter salads feel smaller on the plate. Even so, the fibre keeps you going.
How long do Grubby recipes take to cook?
Meal kits land between 15 and 35 minutes in practice. This month's fastest picks, the butter beans and the edamame salad, both come in at 15 minutes flat. By contrast, the pulled “pork” buns need 35 because the onions caramelise slowly. Ready meals skip all of that and heat in roughly 8 minutes. In short, filter by prep time if your evenings are tight.
Can you get Grubby recipes without a subscription?
Not really, no. Grubby runs on a rolling subscription rather than one-off orders. However, there is no minimum term and no lock-in, so you can skip weeks freely or cancel after your first box. Plenty of people order for a month, pause over a holiday, then come back. Just watch the cut-off, which falls three days before your delivery day.
Is Grubby good for beginner cooks?
It suits beginners well. Ingredients arrive pre-portioned, so there is no weighing and very little waste. The steps are short and the cards assume nothing. Techniques do get slightly more involved on dishes like the tofu wings, which need a shallow fry. Still, nothing here demands proper knife skills. For a fuller verdict, read our Grubby review.
How does Grubby compare with Mindful Chef?
They aim at different people. Grubby is entirely plant-based, whereas Mindful Chef spans meat, fish and veg. On cost, Grubby generally sits at the friendlier end for vegan boxes. Recipe style differs too, since Grubby leans bold and comforting rather than clean and minimal. We put the two side by side in our Grubby vs Mindful Chef comparison.
More from CoolCuration
- Best garden gadgets UK: kit that earns its keep for the last few weeks of outdoor eating.
- Vegan meal kits vs supermarket costs: the honest sums on whether a box really saves you money.
- Robert Welch Signature cook's knife: one good knife makes every recipe box faster.
- Gifts that go green: presents for the person already composting and cycling everywhere.
- Franco Manca app promo code: for the nights when nobody is cooking anything at all.
What's trending
Recent posts
- Best Grubby Recipes This Month: Our August 2026 Picks
Five Grubby recipes we actually re-ordered this August, from sweet mustard pulled pork buns and sticky Korean BBQ tofu wings to a 15-minute edamame salad and a cheesy black bean enchilada bake. - Best Garden Gadgets UK 2026: 12 Picks Worth Buying NowTwelve garden gadgets tested against real independent reviews, with confirmed UK prices, one honest downside each, and a plain answer on what to buy now versus wait for Black Friday.
- New on Mobbin August 2026: Brick, Magnific, Railway and MoreEverything new on Mobbin this August: Brick makes focus physical, Magnific arrives as the Freepik rebrand, and Railway turns infrastructure into a map.
No Comments.