Easily add protein to any vegetarian or vegan meal by sprinkling these tempeh tofu crumbles. Eat by themselves or put them in breakfast burritos, enchiladas and salads. Can be made ahead and frozen.
I am always struggling to include protein in my diet. How about you?
So, I am starting to keep these crumbles on hand at all times to sprinkle on food.
Now, I have no excuse to not eat enough protein.
Ingredients
Here is a quick look at the ingredients. It is to understand why these specific ingredients were chosen. To get the full recipe, go to the bottom of this post.
Tofu and tempeh – For vegans and vegetarians, this is one of the best sources of protein. Eat one block of tofu and you get about 36g of protein and one block of tempeh has . Depending on your body, most of that protein can be converted to body tissue.
Ginger powder – When eating protein rich foods, ginger powder helps in the digestion and nutrient extraction from the food. Ginger powder also helps fight inflammation. Source: UCLAHealth.org.
Adobo All Purpose Seasoning – I used the (Affiliate Link) adobo without pepper because I like to add my own pepper flavoring like tajin and chili powder. This seasoning is also great for settling the stomach and aid in digestion.
Tajin seaoning – Yet another anti-inflammatory seasoning to add to this recipe. The capsaicin in the peppers has been proven to improve vascular health. Source: WellandGood.com
👩🍳 Substitution tip: Use adobo seasoning without pepper. This way, you can have varying levels of spice in the crumbles.
How to make tofu crumbles
- Preheat oven to 400°F (204°C) If you are using tofu that comes with a liquid, make sure you remove all the liquid before crumbling it into tiny pieces.
- Chop the tempeh in small pieces. The size of my crumbles was about the size of a cooked chickpea.
- Transfer the tofu and tempeh crumbles to a bowl. Add the tajin, adobo seasoning, chili powder, salt and ginger powder. Mix well and set it aside for 5 minutes
- Heat a strong bottom pan for 30 seconds and then add the oil, tomato paste. Heat for 1 minute on low, mixing the oil and paste.
- Add the seasoned tomato crumbles to the pan and mix well.
- Transfer to a baking dish and place in the oven and cook for 25 minutes, stirring once. I know it’s an extra step by including both stove top and oven cooking, but, it’s worth it.
Remove from the oven and let it cool before using or storing.
🍅 Cooking Tip: I know it seems like taking that extra step to cook the crumbles stove top seems unnecessary, but, it’s really important. The heat helps coat the crumbles equally with the tomato paste.
Answering Common Questions
It helps give a different texture to the crumble. It always helps to have different types of proteins with each meal. This helps the body absorb the protein more efficiently.
No, this crumble can be deceptive because of the color and seasonings. This crumble has more of a tangy flavor. The spices used in this recipe are on the mild side.
Traditional tofu crumbles always have soy sauce, but, I am making a Mexican version of these crumbles. Also, soy sauce is not keto friendly. You can use coconut aminos, if you want.
The tempeh and tofu together make this a very unique textured crumble. It’s crispy and a little crunchy in texture, making them perfect ingredients for salads and tacos.
Yes, you can use seasonings like Greek seasoning, za’atar spice, creole seasoning or an adventurous choice like pumpkin spice.
👩🍳 Substitution tip: Don’t like Mexican flavors? No problem! Tofu and tempeh are bland ingredients, making them perfect to be flavored with any seasonings. Try Greek, Indian, Italian and even Japanese seasoning.
Make ahead and storage
I know you have been asking fore more meal prep types of recipes, so here is one you can bookmark. It’s a great recipe to make over the weekend and use it in your weekday meal prep recipes.
To refrigerate, store in glass containers like these (Affiliate Links) AILTEC storage containers and use within 7 days. To reheat, just throw it in a stove pan and cook for 5 minutes, stirring often. Or, you can reheat in a mini oven for 5 minutes at 250°F (121°C).
To freeze, use these (Affiliate Link) reusable freezer friendly bags. Save them in single serve sizes, so you don’t have to thaw the whole batch. To thaw, remove from the freezer and place them directly on a preheated oven or a hot pan without thawing.
This will make sure that you don’t loose too much of the texture. Thawing the crumbles gives the ice crystals turn into water and make them mushy.
🍅 Handy Tip: Try freezing these crumbles in single portion sizes. This way, you don’t have to thaw the whole batch, only to re-freeze the remaining.
How to use these crumbles
These crumbles are great way to start the day. Eat them plain or as a side to breakfast potatoes or sweet potato hash.
I have put these crumbles in my cauliflower rice because it immediately added the protein content of the meal. If you have a hard time eating arugula salad, this crumbles will minimize the tart flavors.
Air fryer vegetables taste great but have very little protein. That’s why I love adding these tempeh crumbles to give it more nutrition.
Try these tempeh and tofu recipes
- My favorite way to use tempeh is by making these marinated tempeh in the air fryer. They taste so good and made with easy ingredients.
- Make tofu in the air fryer using just 2 ingredients. This is a quick method for when you are running short on time.
- Tofu scramble is an incredibly popular brunch recipe, especially for Sunday morning.
- Tofu skewers are a fun grilled tofu recipe made with tandoori sauce flavors.
Sharing is caring
Don’t be shy, chime in below in the comments. Let me hear your opinion on this tempeh and tofu crumbles recipe. If you enjoyed this, please give it 5 stars and share it on Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, and Instagram.
Tempeh Tofu Crumbles
Equipment
- 1 Wok or a sautee pan
- 1 13X9 Baking tray
Ingredients
- 1 block tofu pressed and drained
- 1 block tempeh
- 1 Tbsp Tajin
- 1 tsp Adobo All Purpose Seasoning Use one without pepper
- 2 tsp chili powder adjust to taste
- 1 tsp ginger powder
- 3 tsp pink salt adjust to taste
- 2 Tbsp avocado oil or extra virgin olive oil
- ¼ cup tomato paste
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400°F (204°C)
- Roughly crumble the tofu into tiny pieces.
- Chop the tempeh in small pieces (about the size a cooked chickpea).
- Transfer the tofu and tempeh crumbles to a bowl.
- Add the tajin, adobo seasoning, chili powder, salt and ginger powder.
- Mix well and set it aside for 5 minutes.
- Heat a strong bottom pan for 30 seconds.
- Add the oil and tomato paste. Heat for 1 minute on low, mixing the oil and paste.
- Add the seasoned tomato crumbles to the pan and mix well.
- Transfer to a baking dish and place in the oven and cook for 25 minutes, stirring once.
- Remove from the oven and let it cool before transferring to storage containers.
Tempeh is one of my favorite proteins, and I loved the bursts of smokiness it added to this dish! It was filling and made for a great, easy breakfast.
Thank you, Ksenia
These tofu crumbles were delightful. I had them as a side with my eggs and sauteed mushrooms.
Thank you, Rachna. 🙂
These crumbles are just the extra boost I was looking for! They’re so good and I love them mixed into scrambled eggs. Yummy!
Thank you, Jenn.
I love that you seasoned without soy sauce. I’ll use this recipe on repeat!
Thank you, Sue
This was delicious! The spicy flavor was perfect in my scrambled eggs.
Thank you, Anne.
I used these in a breakfast scramble and it was just packed with flavor! I’ll be making these crumbles all the time – thank you!
Thank you, Gen.
We loved these tofu crumbles. The Mexican style flavoring was perfect for our breakfast tacos!
Thank you, Tammy.
This is such a great recipe! We loved the flavors. We added it to eggs this weekend for breakfast and it was enjoyed by all. Thanks!
Thank you, Sharon.