Sticky, Spicy Tempeh

By Ali Slagle

Published September 26, 2024

  • Armando Rafael for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews.
Media 1 of 1
Total Time
20 minutes
Prep Time
5 minutes
Cook Time
15 minutes
Rating
5(1,575)
Comments
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Crispy tempeh glazed in a spicy-and-sweet soy sauce can anchor many a dinner, whether served over rice and vegetables, rice noodles, lettuce wraps or soup. Tempeh is a fermented vegan protein with a nutty flavor and firm texture that can stand up to assertive seasonings. That could be the fresh sambal in tempe penyet, a famous street food in Indonesia, where tempeh was first made — or this easily memorizable ratio of two parts soy sauce to one part each rice vinegar, brown sugar and chile sauce. Crumbling the tempeh into small, irregular pieces so that it resembles ground meat creates a variety of textures in each bite. To make it a complete meal, stir in spinach, peas or another quick-cooking vegetable with the sauce — or accompany with crispy raw vegetables like thinly sliced cucumbers or radishes on top of rice.

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Ingredients

Yield:4 servings

  • ¼ cup soy sauce

  • 2 tablespoons rice vinegar

  • 2 tablespoons dark brown sugar

  • 1 to 2 tablespoons chile sauce, such as sambal oelek or Sriracha 

  • 3 tablespoons neutral oil (such as grapeseed or sunflower), plus more as needed

  • 2 (8-ounce) packages tempeh, crumbled into pieces no larger than ½ inch

  • Salt

Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (4 servings)

14 grams carbs; 338 calories; 10 grams monosaturated fat; 8 grams polyunsaturated fat; 4 grams saturated fat; 23 grams fat; 1029 milligrams sodium; 24 grams protein; 5 grams sugar

Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

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Preparation

  1. Step 1

    In a liquid measuring cup or small bowl, stir together the soy sauce, vinegar, sugar and chile sauce until the sugar dissolves.

  2. Step 2

    In a large skillet, heat the oil over medium-high. Add the tempeh, season lightly with salt, and cook, stirring occasionally, until mostly golden, 7 to 9 minutes. Add more oil as needed if the pan looks dry or the tempeh is burning.

  3. Step 3

    Reduce the heat to low, give the sauce another stir, add the sauce to the skillet and cook, stirring constantly, until the sauce is thickened and glossing the tempeh, about 1 minute.

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Ratings

5 out of 5
1,575 user ratings
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Comments

JenC

@elephantina no offense, but there are like a bazillion tofu recipes on here and like 3 tempeh. Thank goodness FINALLY a tempeh recipe. Bring us more please NYT!!!!

Fay Wouk

Instead of using brown sugar and regular soy sauce, you should really use kecap manis (Indonesian sweetened soy sauce). Tempeh is Indonesian (actually specifically Javanese) in origin, and that is what would be used in Indonesia to cook this dish. It’s not as salty as regular soy sauce, and is thicker as well as sweeter. This is very good with either roasted peanuts or very small dried anchovies thrown in with the tempeh. Also, the tempeh is not normally crumbled. It’s sliced matchstick size.

Kim

My dog was sleeping in front of the pantry and I would never ask him to get up, so instead of brown sugar I used molasses and a little of my own honey. I always double the sauce. We put this in rice bowls regularly. Delicious.

Annie

This was such an easy weeknight dinner. I swapped brown sugar for Japanese BBQ sauce, and added spinach to the tempeh right before adding the sauce. We had in lettuce wrap form topped with basil, scallions, cucumber and avocado. SO good and so easy!

J. Marie

Very easy. I did steam tempeh for 12 min. Served with rice, mango, cu umber, mint, scallion and peanut salad from David Tanis. Perfect combo.

Cosmo

First time making tempeh and it was a success!! I paired it with the gochujang roasted cabbage (also a NYT all timer) and brown rice!! I only wish I had been a little more patient and let my tempeh brown a bit more- but that was on me! Delish!

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