11 Tempeh Recipes for Delicious Plant-Based Meals

Whether you’re new to cooking with tempeh, you grew up eating it as part of your regular rotation, or you got here because you’ve had one too many pan-fried or baked slabs of the stuff soaked in coconut aminos, you’re going to find something enticing to eat in the recipes below.

For the newbies, tempeh (“tempe” in Indonesian) is a plant-based protein—so high-protein, in fact, it’s comparable to beef—that is loaded with prebiotics and key for many vegan diets. Naturally gluten-free and nut-free, it’s made by combining hulled, cooked, and cooled soybeans with a starter or fungus and letting them come together for one to two days. And come together they do: Literally, the beans bind and, with help from the starter fungus, become one firm, solid cake. Tempeh is also highly digestible compared to other soybean products because the fermentation enables nutrients such as vitamin B12 and calcium to become more soluble.

And how does tempeh taste? On its own, tempeh is earthy and surprisingly nutty, but it’s also quite sponge-like, so it can soak up whatever flavors you want it to.

Ready for our favorite tempeh recipes? We thought you might be.