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Easy Tempeh Rice Bowls

…with a sweet brown sauce!

There are a few decisions I have to consider every day:

  1. What am I going to blog about?
  2. What are Mazen + my activities for the day?
  3. What workout should I do?
  4. What’s for dinner?

Back in the early days of KERF, my content wrote itself. I never thought about what to blog about because breakfast, lunch, and dinner just kept coming. I did tie me to a computer three times a day, but the posts themselves were so easy to write.

Recently, I was pondering what to blog about and what to make for dinner during the same hour. I realized: “I need to be killing two tasks with one stone more often!” I think as blogs became more topic focused, the pressure to make a beautiful, step-by-step, styled recipe increased, so I felt that my “here’s what I ate for dinner” posts were not up to snuff. I reminded myself of two things: 1) I need to keep it vulnerable and 2) I need to keep things REAL. So with that said, here’s a real easy dinner I threw together!

Brown rice went into the rice cooker.

A red pepper and greens from my inlaws’ garden were chopped in 2 minutes.

A block of tempeh that I’d in my fridge FOR-ev-er was sliced and put into a simple marinade that would turn into a sauce.

The marinade sauce is a mix of broth, soy sauce, brown sugar, rice wine vinegar, sesame oil, garlic, ginger, and cornstarch. AKA all those good, strong Asian flavors! The tempeh sat for about an hour to absorb as much flavor as possible.

When it was cooking time, I poured the tempeh and marinade into my wok along with the peppers and let everything soften and cook through, about 8-10 minutes on medium. The sauce bubbled up and thickened from the cornstarch. I then added the greens to wilt on top.

To serve, I portioned rice in each bowl and divided the rest equally, covering everything with yummy sauce.

Here’s the quick + simple recipe.

Print Pin
5 from 3 votes

Easy Tempeh Rice Bowls

Course Dinner
Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 10 minutes
Total Time 15 minutes
Servings 2 servings

Ingredients

  • 1 cup broth of your choice
  • 1/4 cup soy sauce
  • 2 tbsp brown sugar
  • 1 tbsp cornstarch
  • 1 tbsp rice wine vinegar
  • 1/2 tbsp sesame oil
  • 1 clove garlic pressed
  • 1 tsp minced ginger
  • 2 servings brown rice cooked
  • 1 pack tempeh cut into cubes
  • 1 red bell pepper chopped into bite-size pieces
  • 2 cups greens sliced if leaves are large (I used chard)

Instructions

  • Add ingredients through tempeh to a bowl and mix well.
  • Add tempeh cubes and marinate for at least 15 minutes, up to a few hours.
  • In a wok or pan over medium heat, cook tempeh, peppers, and marinade for about 8-10 minutes, until everything is cooked and sauce begins to thicken. Adjust heat to low if sauce bubbles too much.
  • Add greens and stir in to wilt.
  • Divide between two bowls and serve over brown rice.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  2. I am so glad you posted this. It made me look up tempeh vs tofu and tempeh is healthier for you. I will have to try some!

    Reply

  6. I always love when you include your thought processes from time to time – just feels kind of like behind the scenes. 🙂

    What a DELISH sounding recipe! I haven’t had tempeh in a while, so I definitely need to get some and whip up this dinner.

    Reply

  7. I love tempeh but had a hard time getting it to soak up all the flavors of the marinades I used. That’s when a friend told me if you dice and steam the tempeh for just ten minutes and then put it in your marinade it really absorbs flavors SO much better. It totally works and doesn’t add too much time to already simple meals! This looks really good and I can’t wait to try it 🙂

    Reply

  8. Don’t feel pressured to create “blog worthy meals” I have been coming to your blog for YEARS for the simple recipes and everyday life stuff. Keep it simple and real!

    Reply

  9. Great-looking recipe- will def. try it out as I , too, have had tempeh just sitting in my fridge- thank goodness for its great shelf life:-) Thanks a bunch!!

    Reply

  10. That sounds wicked good. I’ve been a little bit afraid to try tempeh, something about the texture makes me hesitant, but this recipe looks great. What would you liken the flavor of tempeh to?

    Reply

  12. Another day-in-the-life fan here. I’ve never eaten tempeh…..but now I’m going to try it! Thanks

    Reply

  14. I LOVE tempeh! And it’s such a a nutrient dense high protein cheap main course!
    My favorite easy prep is to just pan fry with a little oil and soy sauce and then do a quick peanut sauce from peanut butter, lime juice, a splash of hot water and soy sauce all whisked together. With some veggies that makes a killer lettuce wrap filling.
    I also grate tempeh on a box grater and use it in recipes that call for ground meat like tacos or stuffed peppers

    Reply

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