Tempeh Taco Meat

Tempeh is one of those ingredients that I had a strong aversion to at first; it’s oddly colored, unusually dense, and sometimes looks like a beige cobblestone brick from a New England curbside. But upon exploring the ingredient more, I learned that tempeh can be truly delicious, if you know what to do with it. In this tempeh taco meat recipe, I’m going to show you an iteration of tempeh that’ll quell any trepidation that you may have about this protein-packed vegan staple – and it can be done in less than 30 minutes!

Let’s get started.

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Preparing the Tempeh Taco Meat

Step 1: Crumble the tempeh into small bits

Tempeh can have a strange texture, so one of the ways that you can tame this is by pan frying it until it takes on a beautiful semi-charred crunch.

The best way to yield the most crunch is to crumble the tempeh first. This also helps to create that savory taco meat feel – so it’s a win/win.

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Step 2: Marinate the tempeh crumbles

The next phase of this tempeh taco meat recipe is to marinate the crumbles in a savory, spice-filled concoction.

While I tried to pinpoint the marinade as close as possible to what I thought would work best, the balancing of the marinade sometimes require you to taste and to adjust the recipe as you go, especially if you want to align the flavors with your own personal palate.

Frequent tasting and adjusting is a good cooking practice in general, so don’t be afraid to flex your culinary muscles and add more or less of something if it suites you.

Note about the marinading process: be sure to marinate the tempeh for about 10 minutes. More if you’d like, but do it for at least 10 minutes minimum.

Tempeh’s pretty dense, and so not a super absorbent flavor sponge like tofu, so don’t stress about imparting giga amounts of flavor – you just need a good baseline marinade that imparts flavor to the surface of the tempeh.

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Step 3: Fry up the tempeh taco meat

In a skillet over medium heat with a little olive oil, fry up the tempeh in a couple of batches. Achieving a crispy char should take anywhere from 4 to 7 minutes, depending on the heat of the pan, sizes of the batches, and the frequency with which you stir the tempeh.

In this case, more is less.

It’s important not to overload the pan with all the tempeh taco meat at once, or it won’t crisp quite as well.

Also, don’t agitate it too much, or you’ll disrupt the char and break the tempeh up into powdery bits that’ll burn.

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Step 4: Make the taco

This part is really up to you.

Heat a tortilla in the skillet or microwave or whatever, and load it up with really anything you want, including the tempeh meat, of course.

To me, a simple taco has the following qualities: some kind of paste like hummus or beans; some kind of fresh veggies, like tomatoes or sprouts; and some kind of meaty goodness, like tempeh!

But you do what you think is best. Honestly, this taco meat works well with a myriad different combinations of potential taco ingredients.

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A Recipe For Tempeh Novices

This tempeh taco meat recipe is truly so easy, so simple and quick, and also a stupendous introduction to tempeh if you’ve never used it before.

This can be stored in the fridge for about a week and reheated in the microwave, too.

So give this recipe a try! It’s well worth it.

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If you enjoyed this recipe, leave me a comment and recipe rating down below – I always appreciate to hear from people.

Also, check out these amazing tempeh recipes here – on my page, Everything Tempeh!

May you have good food in good company,

That Vegan Nephew