Tempeh vs. Tofu: How And When To Use These Plant-Based Proteins

In the world of plant-based proteins, soy abounds, and that’s a good thing. Soybeans are naturally protein-rich, and you’ll see that clearly when comparing two of their most common end-products: tofu and tempeh. A great plant-based diet incorporates both these proteins for maximum nutritional benefit while using each one differently. Dive into the tempeh vs. tofu distinction below as you prep your next vegan meal.

Tempeh vs. tofu: The main similarities and differences

Both tempeh and tofu come from soy, contain a high amount of protein, and are relatively flavorless before they soak up a marinade. They differ in their processing, overall flavor, texture, cooking approaches, fermentation, nutrition and health benefits, availability, price, flexibility, and variety.

How it’s made

To make tempeh, soybeans are washed and boiled upon harvesting, then soaked overnight. After that, they’re hulled and cooked for roughly an hour, then drained, cooled, and wrapped in banana leaves or plastic bags. A fungus is introduced alongside the soybeans to initiate the fermentation process, which lasts 24 to 48 hours. The cake-like product that results is tempeh.

Whereas tempeh comes from soybeans, tofu comes from soy milk, a tried and true plant-based staple. When coagulated to condense its oils and proteins, soy milk becomes tofu.

Flavor

Tempeh has a bit of flavor before cooking, and depending on who you ask, this flavor is nutty, earthy, mushroomy, or bitter (the latter flavor is easy to get rid of).

Tofu, on the other hand, has no flavor before cooking. It’s about as blank of a slate as it gets.

Texture

Tempeh is a dense, firm, and cake-like plant-based protein. Depending on which kind of tofu you buy, the texture may be velvety, or it may be dense and spongy. When used as a meat substitute, tempeh can resemble bacon, and shredded super-firm tofu can resemble pulled chicken or pork.

Cooking treatments

Soft, firm, or extra-firm tofu should be pressed, though you can skip this step with super-firm tofu. Tempeh should be sliced or cubed and steamed for 10 minutes before cooking, and this steaming also removes any bitterness.

Marination is just the beginning with tempeh and tofu. Serve these plant-based proteins with a sauce (it can be your remaining marinade!), grains, and veggies for a meal that looks as exquisite as it tastes. And with tofu, freezing your plant-based protein in its packaging, then thawing it overnight before marinating, can lead to greater marinade absorption. Freezing and thawing tempeh has no such effect (or any effect on its texture).

Unlike tofu, tempeh is a fermented food. Its fermentation is to credit for many of its nutrients and potential health benefits, as discussed below.

Potential health benefits

As a fermented product, tempeh may support digestion. That said, despite fermented foods’ reputation for supporting digestion, a 2023 study found that cooking tempeh destroys its gut-supporting probiotics. In any case, tofu, a non-fermented food, has no reputation for positively or negatively affecting gut health. Tofu and tempeh alike are packed with protein, though, making them great choices for getting enough of this vital macronutrient.

Nutrient profile and protein content

Tempeh is considerably more protein-dense than tofu, which is certainly no slouch on its own. A three-ounce serving of tempeh contains approximately 18 grams of protein and 160 calories, with no salt (sodium).

Fermentation

By comparison, a three-ounce serving of extra-firm tofu contains about nine grams of protein, 90 calories, and 15 milligrams of salt. A three-ounce serving of super-firm tofu is more protein-dense, with around 14 grams of protein, 130 calories, and 15 milligrams of salt.

Tofu contains less fiber than tempeh, with at most one gram of fiber per three-ounce serving. Tempeh has six to 10 grams of fiber per three-ounce serving, and this fiber largely comes from its fermentation and, for some types of tempeh, added grains.

As micronutrients go, a three-ounce serving of tempeh contains 80 milligrams of calcium and 260 milligrams of potassium, each of which is 6% of the micronutrient’s recommended daily intake. By comparison, a three-ounce serving of extra-firm tofu contains about 10% of the recommended daily intake of calcium and 2% of potassium, though the calcium percentage goes down to 4% for super-firm tofu.

Availability

Extra-firm tofu can be found at any supermarket, whereas tempeh is somewhat harder to find. You’ll find tempeh at specialty supermarkets, while nearly all stores, including online vegan grocers like Purple Carrot, carry tofu.

Soy-free alternatives

If not eating soy is among your dietary restrictions, you can find non-soy tofu at some health food stores and local food co-ops. These tofu alternatives are often made from other beans like fava beans or chickpeas, or sometimes seeds like pumpkin seeds.

Both options contain more protein per three-ounce serving than extra-firm soy tofu, though only fava bean tofu contains more protein per serving than super-firm tofu. Soy-free tempeh exists too, though it’s exceedingly rare and almost exclusively available online.

Extent of processing

Technically, both tempeh and tofu are processed foods, with tofu having a reputation for being more processed than tempeh. However, given each protein’s pre-industrial period of origin — the second century B.C. for tofu, at least the 1700s for tempeh — it’s misleading to classify them under the same umbrella as, say, deli meat. Yes, tempeh and tofu undergo processing, but they nevertheless emerge as healthy, nutritious foods vital to any plant-based diet.

Flexibility and types

There are five types of tofu: silken, soft, firm, extra-firm, and super-firm. In the order listed, these types of tofu become increasingly more dense and less velvety, with silken tofu containing the least protein per serving and super-firm tofu containing the most. Silken and soft tofu work best in desserts and blender applications, whereas firm, extra-firm, and super-firm tofu are main dish superstars.

Most tempeh comprises just fermented soybeans, though a second type of tempeh exists: three-grain tempeh. This type of tempeh contains — you guessed it — three grains (such as brown rice, barley, and millet) alongside fermented soybeans. The grains add more fiber per serving but otherwise don’t affect the flavor, texture, or typical kitchen application.

Here’s a chart summarizing tempeh vs. tofu:

	Tempeh	Tofu
What it’s made from	Fermented soybeans	Coagulated soy milk
Flavor	Nutty, mushroomy, bitter, earthy	Neutral before cooking
Texture	Dense, cake-like	Velvety to dense and spongy
Cooking treatments	Steaming, marination, sauces	Pressing, marination, sauces
Fermented?	Yes	No
Potential gut health benefits	Yes	No
Protein per three-ounce serving	18 grams	9 to 14 grams
Calories per three-ounce serving	160	90 to 130
Sodium per three-ounce serving	None	15 milligrams
Fiber per three-ounce serving	6 to 10 grams	At most 1 gram
Calcium per three-ounce serving	6% of recommended daily intake	6% to 10% of recommended daily intake
Potassium per three-ounce serving	6% of recommended daily intake	2% of recommended daily intake
Easy to find?	Somewhat	Yes
Price	Higher	Lower
Soy-free options?	Yes, very difficult to find	Yes, somewhat hard to find
Extent of processing	Less	More
Number of types	Two	Five

How to cook tempeh

To cook tempeh, slice or cube it, then steam it for 10 minutes. After that, marinate it overnight before cooking, or just cook it right away as part of a stir-fry with a sticky, viscous sauce that clings right to the tempeh.

Choose tempeh for stir-fries that you previously cooked with chicken or beef. It won’t resemble these meats’ texture, but it’ll give you just as much protein and play nicely with all your favorite sauces and marinades. It’s also a reasonable substitute for bacon when marinated in bacon-like flavors and pan-fried in oil.

How to cook tofu

With silken tofu, you’ve got a great base for desserts, not to mention an easy way to make smoothies creamer and higher in protein. Soft tofu works for these purposes too, though if you gently press it for 15 to 30 minutes, you can cook with it in main dishes as you would with firm or extra-firm tofu.

On that note: Always press firm or extra-firm for 30 minutes before cooking with it (you can skip pressing super-firm tofu). Alternatively, freeze your tofu in its packaging, then thaw it overnight in the fridge. Doing so gets the water out as with pressing, and it makes your tofu spongier. Freezing and thawing super-firm tofu in particular yields a somewhat meat-like texture.

Consider marinating your tofu overnight after pressing it, though if you’ll be making your dish’s sauce in the same pan you’re stir-frying tofu with some veggies, forgoing marination is OK. In all its clinging magic, the sauce will have the same flavor-enrichening effect as marination. It’s what the people who say tofu’s flavor happens at the surface, not in marination, mean when they say this.

Relatedly, firm, super-firm, and extra-firm tofu alike are great for stir-fries and main dishes. Choose super-firm tofu if you’re trying to somewhat mimic the texture of meat, and choose firm tofu for tofu scrambles (though extra-firm and super-firm tofu work OK for scrambles too).

How seitan fits into the picture

Tempeh and tofu aren’t the only plant-based proteins worth incorporating into a plant-based diet. There’s also seitan, a meat substitute derived from vital wheat gluten and often lovingly called “wheat meat.” Its texture is known to resemble meat considerably more than with other plant-based proteins, and its protein per serving parallels meat.

Per serving of seitan, you’ll get as much protein as with tempeh: 18 grams. That said, a serving of seitan is one ounce fewer than a serving of tempeh, making seitan the more protein-dense choice. In fact, seitan is more protein-dense than chicken! It lacks tempeh’s fiber, though, and is heavy on the salt, unlike either tempeh or tofu.

Where tempeh and tofu are complete proteins, seitan isn’t. This means you get every essential amino acid — the building blocks of protein that your body can’t make on its own — with tofu and tempeh, whereas seitan is missing the essential amino acid lysine. Seitan also isn’t fermented or associated with gut health benefits, unlike tempeh. And since seitan is gluten-based, it’s off the table if you have celiac disease, a gluten allergy, or gluten intolerance.

As flavor goes, seitan isn’t completely neutral like tofu, but iIt might have a hint of tempeh’s mushroomy flavor or some umami to it. You can find it at health food stores and local co-ops (though supermarket heat-and-eat meat substitutes are typically seitan-based), or you can make it yourself. It’s typically the most expensive of the plant-based proteins.

Curious about seitan? Read our guides to tempeh vs. seitan and how to cook with seitan.

What’s healthier: tempeh or tofu?

Both tempeh and tofu are quite healthy. Tempeh may be better for gut health, but that’s just one part of overall health, which both these plant-based proteins support with their macronutrient and micronutrient profiles.

Environmental impact of tempeh vs. tofu

Processing tempeh has roughly the same environmental impact as processing tofu, and that impact is still nothing compared to that of animal products. And though three-grain tempeh may have a slightly greater environmental impact since making it involves the production of grains, its environmental effects also pale in comparison to animal products.

Is tofu or tempeh better for bodybuilding?

When building muscle, tofu vs. tempeh isn’t an either-or situation. It’s about how to best incorporate both into your diet.

Yes, tempeh is more protein-dense than tofu, but it’s also harder to find and more expensive per ounce. Plus, with tofu, you can still easily reach the amount of protein per day recommended for building muscle: 1.4 to two times grams of protein per kilogram of body weight. A great plant-based bodybuilding diet centers tofu and tempeh alike, with plenty of seitan to boot.

Take the guesswork out of tofu and tempeh with Purple Carrot

Now that you know how to incorporate both tofu and tempeh into your meals, the question is how to get started. Instead of browsing grocery aisles for ingredients and the internet for recipes, get both at once with Purple Carrot. Our tofu and tempeh dishes are the work of deep collaboration between dietitians and chefs, plus they’re easy for beginners to make. Shop Purple Carrot now for $100 off your first month of meal kit deliveries!