If you're looking for an exciting way to cook tempeh and make it taste good, you've come to the right place. We have a brand-new recipe we're sure you'll love: oven-baked buffalo tempeh. It's as delicious as it sounds, and it's ready in less than 30 minutes — let's do it!
This recipe has three main ingredients: "meaty" tempeh wedges, a light and gluten-free coating made with starch, and buffalo sauce. All you have to do is roll the wedges in the coating and dip them in the sauce; then bake them and finish them off with more hot sauce. Spicy, glossy, and sticky, these vegan buffalo "wings" are a real delight.
In the steps below, we'll also show you how to make buffalo sauce from scratch. The classic buffalo glaze used for chicken wings consists of hot sauce mixed with sugar, vinegar, and melted butter. Many recipes use "Frank's Red Hot" as the base sauce, but any vinegary hot sauce will do.
In this recipe, we made the buffalo sauce without butter and only a few simple ingredients. It's vegan, gluten-free, sugar-free. We used cayenne peppers, smoked paprika, and garlic powder for spiciness, vinegar and maple syrup for a sweet and sour finish, and a little starch for thickness. Just heat the ingredients in a pot until the sauce is glossy and dense.
Tempeh is made with fermented soybeans; it's rich in probiotics and plant-based proteins. We love tempeh in our crispy vegan nuggets and sushi rolls, but glazing it with buffalo sauce is an all-new level of deliciousness!
You can serve these oven-baked tempeh "wings" as a party appetiser along with vegan tartar sauce for dipping and veggie crudités for munching. But you can also add them to stir-fries instead of tofu, use them as toppings for a healthy lunch salad, and even stuff them in vegan wraps for a high-protein meal.
Ingredients
| "Wings" | |
| Tempeh | 200 g |
| Starch (potato, corn, or arrowroot) | 3 tbsp |
| Chilli Powder | 1/2 tsp |
| Buffalo Sauce | |
| Cayenne Pepper | 1 tbsp |
| Smoked Paprika | 11/2 tsp |
| Garlic Powder | 1 tsp |
| Apple Cider Vinegar | 60 mL |
| Vegetable Oil | 15 mL |
| Maple Syrup | 1/2 tsp |
| Starch (potato, corn, or arrowroot) | 1 tsp |
| Water | 45 mL |
Step 1
If your tempeh is canned in water, make sure to rinse it and drain it. Then, pat it dry to remove excess water.
Next, slice the tempeh into wedges or sticks.
Step 2
You can make the buffalo sauce from scratch, following our instructions below. Alternatively, you can buy it ready-made and use 100ml (3.5 fl oz) to glaze 12 wings.
Add cayenne pepper, paprika, garlic powder, and a pinch of salt to a pot. Stir well and tip in the vinegar, oil, and maple syrup; dissolve the starch in the given water and add the slurry to the mix.
Heat the mixture while stirring, and as soon as you see tiny bubbles, remove the pot from the hob. Keep mixing for half a minute until the sauce has thickened.
If you have any troubles, check out our full vegan buffalo sauce recipe with step-by-step pictures and extra tips.
Step 3
Next, prepare two bowls: in one, mix the starch with a pinch of salt and chilli powder; in the other, pour in two-thirds of the prepared buffalo sauce.
To coat the "wings", roll each tempeh piece in the starch and then dip it in the sauce until it's completely covered.
Step 4
Shake off any excess sauce and place the coated wedges onto a baking tray lined with parchment paper.
Bake the buffalo tempeh for 15-20 minutes at 200°C (400°F)
Step 5
Finally, pour the remaining buffalo sauce over the baked tempeh pieces and toss them until they're nicely coated.
Serve them warm with celery and carrots sticks, plus vegan mayo or tartar sauce for dipping.
Tips
For more vegan options, you can swap tempeh with diced tofu, jackfruit chunks, or seitan pieces.