Following a weekend gym visit, I love coming home to a toasted bagel with flavoursome tempeh slices (a great protein hit), tomato ketchup and a bit of greenery thrown in for good measure. All washed down with an excellent cup of coffee, obviously! But tempeh needs a bit of help first to get that smoky depth of flavour, otherwise – for me at least – it just doesn’t work.
Consequently, I make a fresh marinade every week and soak my shop-bought tempeh in it for anything from 2 hours to 4 days (but please keep it in the fridge) before frying it. And having experimented with lots of different flavour combinations over the years, this really is my favourite tempeh bacon recipe.
Does tempeh bacon taste like ‘real’ bacon?
Hmmm, I don’t really want to compare my recipe to the processed flesh of a dead animal. Instead, I would say that these marinated slices have a very satisfying, smoky, savoury flavour that is slightly salty, with a chewy texture and appetising crust if you cook it right. I hope that answers the question!
I use Better Nature or Tofoo tempeh products for this recipe although I appreciate there may be commercially-prepared tempeh bacon products out there that taste more like the ‘real thing’. However, that’s not really a flavour I want to be reminded of.
So, you may well ask why I call it ‘bacon’ at all and that’s a very good question. I think that although veganism has been around for a long time, vegan vocabulary is still developing and because people like to have some context around what they’re eating, we tend to reach for easily recognisable descriptors. Bacon, unfortunately, is one of them. I hope we see this change but for now, it will have to do.
Is this recipe easy?
In a word, yes, this tempeh bacon recipe is very easy! It does contain quite a few ingredients though, so when I run out of something, I will substitute with a product that has a similar taste profile. For example, if I don’t have liquid smoke, I use smoked tempeh instead. What I’m trying to say is not to get too hung up on rigidly following this tempeh bacon recipe and despair if you don’t have the exact ingredients and quantities – experiment! Use it as a guide and I bet it will still taste good…
When it comes to cooking it, I always shallow fry mine. Unlike tofu which I think cooks really well in an air fryer, I find that tempeh tends to go very dry and unpalatable. Maybe I’m doing something wrong so if anyone cooks great tempeh in their air fryer, please use the comments to tell me how you do it!
What can I use tempeh bacon in?
It can be used in so many dishes, not only in my favourite toasted bagel (although I really do recommend it)! If I’ve marinated it in slices, I tend to use it in sandwiches, on top of pizzas, or as part of a bigger breakfast with mushrooms, and scrambled tofu.
If I cut it into small cubes instead, I add it to any recipe where lardons might be used including pasta bakes and sauces, paellas, pie fillings and – my other particular favourite – dishes containing white beans. You could also crumble up cooked cubes as a topping for your favourite soup to give it a bit of a protein boost, or crumble them into homemade burgers like my black bean burgers (pictured). Delicious.
You could also add some cooked cubes into my vegan paella recipe, and I think they would also go well in this mushroom and lentil pie.
Anyway, I hope you like this tempeh bacon recipe whichever way you decide to use it.
Tempeh bacon recipe
Equipment
- 1 sharp knife
- 1 lunch box or similar with lid
- fork
- measuring spoons
- frying pan
Ingredients
- 200 g block of tempeh smoked or unsmoked
- 1 tbsp oil for frying e.g. sunflower, rapeseed, sesame
For the marinade
- 1 tsp onion granules
- 1 tsp garlic granules smoked is my preference
- 1 tsp smoked paprika I use sweet but you can use hot if you prefer
- 1½ tsp apple cider vinegar
- 1½ tsp liquid smoke optional – use smoked tempeh instead
- 1 tbsp toasted sesame oil use a neutral flavoured oil if preferred
- 2 tbsp nutritional yeast (nooch)
- 2 tbsp maple syrup or other syrup at your peril!
- 3 tbsp tamari or soy sauce
Instructions
- Put all the ingredients except the tempeh into your lunch box or chosen storage container to make the marinade and mix with a fork until combined – it doesn't need to be smooth
- Cut your tempeh into thin slices – mine are normally about ½cm. Thicker slices will be more chewy, thinner should become more crispy
- Add the tempeh slices to the marinade, making sure they all get coated
- Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours and up to 4 days – I tip mine upside down occasionally to coat the top slices again but make sure your container has a tight-fitting lid if you do this!
- When you're ready to cook them, heat 1 tbsp oil in a frying pan on a medium high heat (you can use sesame, sunflower or rapeseed oil)
- Once the oil is hot enough, take the tempeh slices out of the marinade and let the excess drips run off for a few seconds before adding the slices to the hot oil
- Fry for 2-4 minutes each side, turning once or twice until they become a rich brown colour. Turn the heat down if necessary to avoid burning the marinade coating (although you want a nice crust)
- Remove them from the heat and eat!
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