Vegan All The Way: Tempeh BBQ Sandwiches

I like tempeh (fermented soybeans) a lot.  Husband Jeff will eat it and says it's ok, but recently he told me definitely prefers something else.  I said we could give it one more try and if he didn't like it after this BBQ tempeh recipe, I would only make it occasionally and offer him a different variation.

Inspiration

Oh My Veggies BBQ tempeh sandwiches
Vegansaurus tempeh steaming instructions

Ingredients

• 1 package tempeh (we use Trader Joe's organic 3-grain)
• your favorite BBQ sauce (We use local favorite, Smoky Jon's)

This is a multi-part recipe that involves planning ahead.  First you need to steam the tempeh.  Then marinate it.  And then finally heat it up in the BBQ sauce.

Our favorite tempeh, Trader Joe's organic 3-grain.

Cut tempeh into pieces and steam or boil for 15-20 minutes. The tempeh seemed to puff up a bit after steaming.  You can do this step ahead of time, I did it over my lunch hour, but you could even do it a day or two ahead.

Tempeh in the steamer, before steaming.

Marinate for a couple hours in your desired sauce.  I used the same BBQ sauce we were going to cover it with later.

Marinated and cooked and sauced tempeh.

Then when we got home, we dumped the container of marinated tempeh and some additional BBQ sauce into a skillet and heated it up over medium heat until it was warm.  I served this on hamburger buns.

Verdict

I liked it a lot and I think I won Husband Jeff back over into liking tempeh. Sonny D loved it and ate several pieces.

The flavor of the BBQ sauce didn't really seem to permeate the tempeh during the marinade step, so next time I would marinate in something more liquidy like a soy sauce and vinegar combo, etc. It might be neat to use some taco seasonings to make strips for fajitas.