Sweet and Spicy Tempeh
A bowl of sweet and spicy tempeh that will get you excited about tempeh. Pan fried tempeh simmered in a sweet adobo soy sauce. An easy vegan weeknight dinner.
Making Something Nutritious Equally Delicious
One of the biggest things you hear about tempeh is not it’s nutrition, but more so it’s strong bitter flavor. While I have grown to love tempeh, I totally understand how some people might be put off from the texture and flavor of it. I’ll definitely be showing you how to enjoy this sweet and spicy tempeh, but I wanted to spend a little time talking about it’s benefits.
Tempeh is a fermented soy product. The fermentation process helps promote better digestion and support better gut health especially since it provides a great amount of prebiotics that are abundant from its fiber. [1] Outside of the fermentation process, one of it’s other unique qualities is that tempeh is comprised of whole soy beans. Because of the inclusion of the whole soy bean, it is a high fiber and high protein plant based food.
Why You’ll Love This Tempeh
- This is a really easy one pan tempeh recipe. You simmer your tempeh in the same pan that you will saute your tempeh in. Less pans, less clean up, which is a major win.
- We counter the bitterness by following two bitterness removing techniques. We simmer the tempeh in some salted water and cover the tempeh in a delicious sweet and spicy sauce.
- Tempeh is a highly nutritious protein option and a great way to vary up your plant based proteins.
Key Ingredients
- Tempeh: Our high protein component of our plant based meal.
- Soy Sauce: Use gluten free options of soy sauce if needed. This includes gluten-free soy sauce, gluten-free tamari, or coconut aminos.
- Adobo Sauce: This is the sauce that you find in a can of chipotle peppers in adobo sauce. You do not need the peppers themselves, but you can use them in this Chipotle Lime Chickpea recipe.
- Maple Syrup: Helps to sweeten our sauce and keep it smooth.
- Garlic: Always just makes everything taste better in my opinion.
- Herbs: Thyme and garlic powder to coat our tempeh.
- Cornstarch: To help brown our tempeh.
- Vegetables: Peppers and onions that pair really well with our tempeh. Cabbage is also a really great option as well.
How to Make Sweet and Spicy Tempeh
Prepare your sauce by combining the ingredients in a bowl and whisking it together with a fork.
Slice your tempeh as desired (I prefer a thin slice as it coats better with the sauce. Add tempeh to a large skillet with enough water to cover your tempeh, salt it, and then bring to a simmer for 8 minutes. Drain the water and then place tempeh into a bowl with cornstarch, garlic powder and thyme and toss to coat.
To the same pan, sauté your onions and peppers until softened. Push your peppers and onions to the side, add a little more oil to the pan and add your tempeh and allow to cook on both sides until golden, about 2-3 minutes per side.
Once the tempeh is golden on both sides, pour in your sauce and mix everything back together and allow the sauce to simmer and thicken for about 2-3 minutes, making sure the sauce coats the tempeh.
Tips for Making this Tasty Tempeh Recipe
- Boil/Steam your tempeh in some salted water. Steaming your tempeh helps to cut back on some of the bitter notes. Salt enhances flavor by suppressing bitter notes. [2]
- Use a flavorful sauce that has umami flavor. This sauce we are using has umami flavor coming from both the soy sauce and adobo sauce. Because they are also saltier ingredients this will also help mute the bitterness of the tempeh as well.
- Don’t skip pan frying the tempeh. Browning the tempeh on both sides also helps to seal in some additional flavor and improve the texture of the final product.
Frequently Asked Questions
You can substitute the tempeh for your favorite plant based protein. Just note, that you will need to alter the sauté time for this protein depending on which one you use. You will also be able to skip the simmering step in the beginning used to cut the bitterness of the tempeh.
The adobo sauce in this recipe provides a nice kick of spice in this recipe. You can obtain adobo sauce from a can of chipotle peppers canned in adobo sauce. Normally, you can find these cans in the international section of your local grocery store with some other Latin ingredients.
While I highly recommend the adobo sauce in this recipe, if you are one that does not like spice, you can replace the adobo sauce with 1 tablespoon of ketchup mixed with 1 teaspoon smoked paprika.
All you need to do is replace the soy sauce with gluten-free soy sauce or use coconut aminos. Tempeh itself is naturally gluten-free as well as most cans of chipotle peppers in adobo sauce.
More High Protein Recipes to Try
Sweet and Spicy Tempeh
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 3 servings 1x
- Category: Main Dish
- Method: Stove Top
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Vegan
Description
A bowl of sweet and spicy tempeh that will get you excited about tempeh. Pan fried tempeh simmered in a sweet adobo soy sauce. An easy vegan weeknight dinner.
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup soy sauce or coconut aminos for gluten-free
- 3 tbsp maple syrup
- 1 tbsp rice vinegar
- 1 tbsp adobo sauce from a can of chipotle peppers in adobo sauce
- 3 cloves garlic, finely minced
- 1 block of tempeh
- 1 tsp cornstarch
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1/4 tsp dry thyme
- 1–2 tbsp avocado oil for cooking
- 1/2 medium red onion, sliced thin
- 1 green or red bell pepper, sliced thin
- Salt as needed
Instructions
- Prepare your sauce by adding soy sauce, maple syrup, rice vinegar, adobo sauce and garlic in a bowl and whisking it together with a fork until well combined.
- Slice your tempeh into desired pieces. I recommend making your slices thin by cutting your tempeh down the middle. Then cut each rectangle in half lengthwise and then cut into even inch squares.
- Add tempeh to a large skillet with enough water to cover your tempeh, salt it (about 1/4 teaspoon salt to the water), and then bring to a simmer for 8 minutes. Drain the water and then place tempeh into a bowl with cornstarch, garlic powder and thyme and toss to coat.
- Dry your pan, then return to a medium heat with a little oil and sauté your onions and peppers with a pinch of salt until softened.
- Push your peppers and onions to the side of the pan, add a little more oil to the empty side and add your tempeh and cook on both sides until golden, about 2-3 minutes per side.
- Once the tempeh is golden on both sides, pour in your sauce and mix everything back together and allow the sauce to simmer and thicken around the tempeh for about 2-3 minutes, making sure the sauce coats the tempeh well.
Notes
Boil/Steam your tempeh in some salted water. Steaming your tempeh helps to cut back on some of the bitter notes. Salt enhances flavor by suppressing bitter notes.
Use a flavorful sauce that has umami flavor. This sauce we are using has umami coming from both the soy sauce and adobo sauce. Because they are also saltier ingredients this will also help mute the bitterness of the tempeh as well.
Don’t skip pan frying the tempeh. Browning the tempeh on both sides also helps to seal in some additional flavor and improve the texture of the final product.
While I recommend the adobo sauce for this recipe, if you don’t like spicy food, you can replace it with 1 tablespoon of ketchup and 1 tsp smoked paprika if needed.
If you tried this recipe or any other recipe on the blog, then let me know what you thought in the comments below! And if you loved it, don’t forget to rate it too. Feel free to follow on Instagram, Pinterest, and TikTok for the latest nutrition tips and recipe videos.
★ Catherine
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References
- Buckle, K. (1985), Phytic acid changes in soybeans fermented by traditional inoculum and six strains of Rhizopus oligosporus. Journal of Applied Bacteriology, 58: 539-543. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2672.1985.tb01709.x
- Breslin, P., Beauchamp, G. Salt enhances flavour by suppressing bitterness. Nature 387, 563 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1038/42388
This is one of the best easy to make tempeh recipes ever! Our whole family loved it and I’ll be doubling the recipe for leftover going forward.
This is so good! Perfect balance of sweet and spicy. My only change is personal preference — use low sodium soy sauce (not used to that salty punch of regular, which is all I had on hand) next time. Definitely a quick recipe for the weeknight meal rotation.