{"id":2075267,"date":"2024-11-11T14:42:15","date_gmt":"2024-11-11T20:42:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tasteofhome.com\/?p=2075267"},"modified":"2025-08-22T11:58:31","modified_gmt":"2025-08-22T16:58:31","slug":"tovala-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tasteofhome.com\/article\/tovala-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Tovala Review: The Meal Delivery Service That Promises One-Minute Prep Time"},"content":{"rendered":"Back in the old days, a quick meal meant hopping in the car and heading to the drive-through. These days, meal kits like Marley Spoon<\/a> have completely changed all that. Not only do home food delivery<\/a> services cut down on weekly shopping trips for busy families and working professionals, but they also aren't as aggressive on your waistline as fast food. Customers can even find meal kits that cater to their specific dietary restrictions, including keto<\/a> and plant-based options<\/a>. The one drawback is that they require at least 30 minutes of time for prep and cooking. Or do they?\r\n\r\nEnter Tovala<\/a>, which ships out meals that are as close to fully prepared as you can get without freezing. The secret is the companion smart oven, which reads each meal and automatically calibrates the oven accordingly. No more pushing buttons or setting timers? Count us in! Of course, our interest was immediately piqued. After trying it out, here's our full Tovala review.\r\n\r\n[SINGLE_AFFILIATE_PRODUCT superlative=\"We Tried It\" product_name=\"Tovala\" short_description=\"This nifty meal service utilizes its own smart toaster oven for perfectly cooked dishes, every time. \" image=\"2065668\" image_credit=\"EMIKO FRANZEN FOR TASTE OF HOME\" pr_name=\"Tovala\" pr_url=\"https:\/\/tovala.pxf.io\/e1nEXX\" pr_display_text=\"Shop on Tovala\" \/]\r\n

Labor Day Sale 2025<\/h2>\r\nIf you've been considering Tovala<\/a>, now is the time to try it. While the\u00a0oven typically costs around $300 for the regular model, you can snag it for free when you sign up for meals and order at least six times over six months.\u00a0Use code\u00a0LABORDAY25<\/strong> at checkout, and simply pay the $9.99 shipping fee. Act fast! This deal is only available through September 1.\r\n

What is Tovala?<\/h2>\r\n\"Tovola\r\n\r\nEstablished in 2015 by David Rabie and Bryan Wilcox, Tovala was born from David's desire to reduce the number of appliances required to make a delicious, healthful meal. Formerly called Maestro, Tovala (headquartered in Chicago) won the Edward L. Kaplan \u201971 New Venture Challenge (NVC)<\/a> in May\u00a02015. Since then, Tovala has built up a customer base comprised mainly of young working parents without the time or energy to spend on meal prep.\r\n\r\nTovala's meal delivery service doesn't send boxes of loose ingredients or detailed recipe cards like Blue Apron or HelloFresh<\/a>. Instead, it focuses on ready-made meals a la Factor 75.<\/a> Unlike your average pre-made meal kit, though, each dish requires just one minute of prep before popping it into Tovala's proprietary smart oven. This gives the meals a home-cooked quality you won't find in other heat-and-eat services.\r\n\r\n[quote-card quote=\"I'm pretty smitten with Tovala. It's not a traditional prepared meal service in that the food needs to be cooked rather than simply reheated upon arrival, but the company masterfully plans each recipe so that only a minute or two of prep is required. This workaround makes it so that the meals you're eating feel so much fresher and even partially homemade.\" name=\"annamarie higley\" title=\"product testing manager\" \/]\r\n\r\nTovala's in-house chefs prepare each dish and program each meal's cooking time and required cooking modes into the smart oven. From there, they ship out the meals fresh to customers. Simply scan the QR code of any Tovala meal using the app and sit back for a low-fuss dinner.\r\n

Our Tovala Review<\/h2>\r\nWhat really sets Tovala apart from other meal delivery services is the companion smart oven<\/a>. There are two versions available, including the basic smart oven and a \"pro\" version with steaming capabilities. The best part about these appliances is that they're fully functional air fryer toaster ovens<\/a>, meaning that you can use them for non-Tovala meals as well.\r\n\r\n[quote-card quote=\"I've found that the trickiest part about using air fryer toaster ovens is figuring out cook times, functions and temperatures. The QR code system that Tovala uses with its meals and smart oven is completely foolproof. I'm so impressed.\" name=\"annamarie higley\" title=\"product testing manager\" \/]\r\n

Menu<\/h3>\r\nThe menu offers a library of around 50 meals per week. Most meals are single serving, though there are a few two-serving meals available each week. When filling your cart, you can filter the meals by various dietary preferences, including low sodium, carb-conscious, calorie-smart, and gluten-friendly. You have a choice of anywhere from 4 to 16 meals per week.\r\n\r\nSome breakfasts are available in addition to traditional entrees. A few meals offer sides like egg rolls and garlic bread for an extra charge. Once you choose all your meals and proceed to the next page, you can add the previously listed add-ons, as well as desserts such as a brownie, cookie or single-serve pineapple upside-down cake and small breakfast items. When choosing meals, pay extra attention to price, as some of the premium meals come with an upcharge.\r\n

Website and App<\/h3>\r\nBoth the website and app are easy to use and bright and clean-looking without an overwhelming amount of text, tabs or buttons. The app lets subscribers quickly manage upcoming menu selections and deliveries. Users can also access support and cooking instructions for the Tovala oven, including basic instructions for recipes like air-fried chicken or more detailed recipes like pear walnut crisp.\r\n\r\nThere's a list of brands with items that cook well in the smart oven, as well as cooking instructions for those specific items. You can also connect the smart oven to WiFi and pair it with the app. Just like other family meal delivery services<\/a>, it's easy to skip a week or cancel at any time.\r\n

Delivery<\/h3>\r\n\"Tovola\r\n\r\nDeliveries are flexible, with a choice of either the beginning or end of each week. The meals arrive in a mid-size, branded Tovala cardboard box. The whole interior is lined with fluffy insulation, and the contents are fresh. Each meal's ingredients come packaged together in dedicated cardboard boxes, along with their ingredient list and any directions. Beneath those ingredient boxes is the meat. Tester Annamarie Higley<\/a> received sausages, a chicken breast and a turkey patty, which arrived layered between the ingredient boxes and two large frozen gel packs. Note: All the food needs to be refrigerated open receipt.\r\n

Recipes<\/h3>\r\nAnnamarie chose a menu consisting of the following meals during her week of testing: Cheddar Cheese Turkey Burger, Pulled Pork Carnitas Bowl, Roasted Mushroom Gnocchi Alfredo, Crispy Chicken Potstickers and Sweet Soy Noodles, Italian Sausage in Marinara and a Pesto Chicken Melt.\r\n

Roasted Mushroom Gnocchi Alfredo<\/h4>\r\nEach recipe's instructions are divided into three sections: prep, scan and enjoy. The prep section includes any pre-work. For this recipe, Annamarie had to wash, slice and season the provided mushrooms. She also needed to add cream and water to the gnocchi tray. Then, she scanned the QR code on the recipe card with the app and pressed \"start\" on the oven\u2014that's it! After cooking, she followed the \"enjoy\" instructions, which entailed stirring in the parmesan, letting the food rest, plating it and pouring over the basil vinaigrette.\r\n\r\n\"The gnocchi themselves were cooked to perfection,\" notes Annamarie. \"They were pillowy and tender. The alfredo was ingenious\u2014I mean, cream, water and grated Parm mixed together to create this thick, luscious sauce? Amazing. The mushrooms, which initially looked like too much, cooked down a ton, so the ratio was just right. I loved the texture they added to the dish. Lastly, I was dubious of the basil vinaigrette. This seemed overboard to me initially, but I really did enjoy the bright, herbaceous complement to this super indulgent, dairy-laden meal. I used about half the pouch.\"\r\n

Crispy Chicken Potstickers and Sweet Soy Noodles<\/h4>\r\nFor this recipe, Annamarie had to line (and spray!) the sheet pan with foil and oil, transfer the potstickers to the pan and then place the noodles, cabbage, sweet soy broth base and water in a disposable tray. She put the tray in the oven, scanned the QR code and let it cook. Afterward, it was the standard process of letting everything sit for two minutes, then transferring it to a serving bowl and dressing it with sauce.\r\n
\"These were so, so good,\" she says of the Asian-inspired potstickers. \"The convection oven puffed them up a bit and gave them such a light crisp exterior. The spices on the chicken provided a nice pop of flavor, and the chicken mixture itself was tender and juicy. Once I stirred the finished bowl of noodles all together, it honestly looked like takeout (in a good way).\"<\/div>\r\n

Pesto Chicken Melt<\/h4>\r\n\"Pesto\r\n\r\nThe prep for this recipe took just under three minutes, and the oven automatically set itself to 20 minutes. When all was said and done, it took just under 25 minutes of cooking to enjoy this meal. This meal uses the same \"dump-and-go\" method as the others. First, Annamarie put the broccoli in a foil tray, then put the chicken in the other foil tray and topped it with pesto and mozzarella. Afterward, she let the food rest, then tossed the broccoli with the vinaigrette.\r\n\r\n\"The pesto was super delicious and actually fresh-tasting! I was expecting this to taste like yucky shelf-stable pesto from the supermarket, which I loathe, but this tasted much brighter and more homemade,\" says Annamarie. \"This entree reminded me of a meal my mom used to make growing up. She'd serve pesto- and mozzarella-topped chicken over marinara-coated spaghetti, so it was kind of nostalgic.\"\r\n\r\nAfter testing it for a week, Annamarie is totally taken with Tovala's premise and meal quality.\r\n
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Pros:<\/h3>\r\n