Tempeh vs. Seitan: When To Use These Plant-Based Proteins

If you want to cut meat from your diet but you’re worried about missing the texture, flavor, and protein content, consider seitan and tempeh. Seitan, pronounced “say-tan” and often called “wheat meat,” is a gluten product, whereas tempeh (pronounced “tem-pay”) is a fermented, soy-based food. Both these plant-based proteins are delicious and nutritious, but the best moments for each one differ. Here’s what to know when comparing tempeh versus seitan.

The biggest differences between seitan and tempeh

Tempeh and seitan differ in origin, nutritional profile, texture, flavor, overall health benefits, and gluten content. You can make only one of them from scratch in your home kitchen, but the other one is a bit easier to find in the grocery store or in Purple Carrot’s online grocery.

Where it comes from

Tempeh is derived from soybeans that are washed and boiled upon harvesting. After soaking overnight, the soybeans are hulled and cooked for about an hour. After draining and cooling, they’re then wrapped in banana leaves or plastic bags to undergo a fungus-based fermentation process for 24 to 48 hours. The cake-like product that emerges is tempeh.

By comparison, seitan is derived from vital wheat gluten. This product, which has applications beyond making seitan, almost entirely comprises the gluten naturally abundant in wheat.

Fermentation

Unlike seitan, tempeh is inherently a fermented product. Tempeh’s fermentation directly informs its flavor and health benefits, which we’ll discuss later in this blog.

Complete protein

Tempeh is a complete protein, meaning it contains all nine of the essential amino acids (the components of protein) that the body needs. Seitan isn’t a complete protein since it lacks the amino acid lysine. It’s easy to get this amino acid from legumes, so seitan being an incomplete protein isn’t a problem.

Nutritional profile

Seitan often comprises 80% protein by calories, averaging 18 grams of protein and 90 calories per two-ounce serving. That’s more protein than chicken! Yes, really. Chicken contains roughly 15 grams of protein per two-ounce serving, not to mention 135 calories.

You need three, not two, ounces of tempeh to get 18 grams of protein, but an ounce is a negligible difference in a standard recipe. Three ounces of tempeh contain 160 calories, so two ounces contain about 107 calories, making tempeh comparable to seitan on calories.

In most cases, tempeh has no sodium content (salt). By comparison, seitan recipes often involve mixing vital wheat gluten with soy sauces and vegetable broth, two ingredients high in salt. Seitan is still a lower-sodium food than most, but if you’re focused on minimizing salt intake, tempeh will suit you better.

Gut health benefits

Only tempeh is associated with bolstering gut health, though one study found that cooking tempeh eliminates its gut-friendly probiotics. Nevertheless, tempeh is a fermented food, and fermented foods are associated with supporting digestion, as is the fiber abundant in tempeh. Seitan has no known negative or positive effects on gut health.

Celiac and gluten-free considerations

Seitan is a gluten product, so it’s fully off-limits if you have celiac disease or a gluten allergy or intolerance. If you eat gluten-free, choose tempeh instead.

Texture

Seitan’s chewy, dense, somewhat spongy texture resembles meat more closely than any other plant-based protein. It’s often the base of the heat-and-eat items, such as plant-based wings, you see in the vegan meat aisle at grocery and health food stores.

Tempeh is dense too, but it’s more firm and cake-like, so it only resembles meat’s texture in select applications. It’s fun to cut into thin strips and cook like bacon, but it’s otherwise best treated as the star of a dish instead of a meat substitute.

Flavor

Seitan doesn’t have much flavor on its own, though you may get a hint of umami or mushroom-like flavor. If you buy traditional seitan, whatever else you serve it with will do the heavy lifting flavor-wise.

Tempeh has some inherent earthy and nutty flavor to it, but you may also sense some bitter undertones. Though this flavor is unpleasant, many easy preparations eliminate it.

Making it yourself

Unless you have access to a high-end food processing and production facility, you won’t be making tempeh yourself. By comparison, the vital wheat gluten available at health food stores is the start of an easy homemade seitan recipe that includes any seasonings you want.

Availability

Tempeh is somewhat easier to find than seitan. If you’re looking for seitan instead, you’ll likely need to visit a health food store or a local food co-op. Or, if you’re looking for meat substitutes that go right into the air fryer or oven, you’ll find seitan-based options in most supermarket plant-based aisles.

Price

In most cases, seitan and tempeh are sold at relatively similar prices. Neither is the cheapest plant-based protein, though — we’ll address that later.

Seitan vs. tempeh comparison chart

	Tempeh	Seitan
Where it comes from	Soybeans	Wheat gluten
Fermented?	Yes	No
Complete protein?	Yes	No
Nutritional profile	High in protein, low in calories, no salt	Higher in protein and salt, lower in calories
Gut health benefits?	Yes	None known
Gluten-free?	Yes	No
Texture	Firm, dense, cake-like	Chewy, meaty
Flavor	Nutty, earthy, slightly bitter	Faintly umami, mushroomy, yeasty
Can you make it yourself?	No	Yes
Where to find it	Health food stores, food co-ops	Health food stores, food co-ops, frozen aisle
Price	Comparable	Comparable

Tempeh and seitan similarities

Although tempeh and seitan differ significantly, their overlaps are notable too. Namely:

• They both freeze well.
• They’re both high in protein.
• They’re both low in carbohydrates, fat, and calories.

It’s less a matter of tempeh versus seitan and more about keeping both on hand for different moments.

Seitan vs. tempeh: Best meal types and how to cook with them

Where seitan is best used in place of meat, tempeh is best for saucy dishes with several other ingredients and main stars.

Cooking with seitan

Seitan is an inherently cooked food, so you can eat it “raw,” but that’s pretty boring, and infusing seitan with flavor is a breeze. Warm it up in a frying pan or air fryer, and coat it in your favorite sauce alongside some green veggies, starchy veggies, or rice (or all three!). Learn how to cook seitan with this Purple Carrot guide.

Alternatively, use seitan right from the fridge in a lunch salad with a tasty dressing. Another option: Slice seitan into thick slabs, warm it up, and pile it high with fillings in a sandwich, burrito, or taco.

Seitan should always be stored in the fridge or freezer. In its original packaging, it lasts for several weeks in the fridge and several months in the freezer, so there’s no rush to use it. If you’ve frozen your seitan, let it thaw overnight in the fridge before using it.

Cooking with tempeh

Like seitan, tempeh can be eaten “raw,” though if you’re sensitive to bitter flavor, you should steam it for 10 minutes to counter this unpleasant taste. After that, you can either marinate it overnight or cook with it right away. Consider pan-frying, baking, or grilling your tempeh to elevate it with unctuous, delectable flavor.

Tempeh pairs with sticky, tangy sauces as delightfully as meat does, so it’s great in a stir-fry or sandwich. Before and after you use it, store it in the fridge or freezer. Unopened from its original packaging, it can easily last two months in the fridge. As with seitan, frozen tempeh should be thawed overnight in the fridge before cooking with it.

What about tofu?

Tofu is often included alongside seitan and tempeh when discussing plant-based proteins, and for good reason. Like tempeh, tofu is soy-based and a complete protein. Like seitan, it’s often prepared with an eye toward mimicking meat and seen as a blank slate flavorwise, though seitan is a superior “mock meat.” Like both tempeh and seitan, it’s packed with protein and low in fat, carbohydrates, and calories.

Texture-wise, tofu is more versatile than seitan or tempeh since tofu is sold at various levels of firmness. It also becomes spongier and more meat-like upon thawing it after freezing it. Like tempeh, it’s not always prudent to make tofu yourself, and it lacks the gut health benefits of tempeh. That said, tofu is considerably easier to find than tempeh and seitan, and it’s less expensive too. It’s also rich in calcium, unlike tempeh and seitan.

6 Purple Carrot recipes featuring seitan

Although pitting tempeh against seitan isn’t the point, there is one use case for which seitan is the clear winner: resembling meat. It may thus be the easier plant-based protein to start with as you phase meat out of your diet. If this is you, then you’ll love the following Purple Carrot recipes.

• BBQ Seitan Bowl: Mouthwatering, tangy-sweet BBQ seitan is served alongside Brussels sprouts and roasted sweet potatoes for healthy comforts.
• Spiced Pepper Seitan: Seitan with a kick contrasts brightly lemony rice and a salty-sweet tomato-caper relish in this delicious entree.
• Mongolian Seitan: Served atop rice and broccoli with chewy onions, this seitan dish is perfect for anyone who loves Korean barbecue beef.
• Seitan Asada Tacos: With smoky, bright, peppery, and fresh notes, these “carne” asada tacos are basically the real deal.
• Maple Seitan Lettuce Cups: If you’re on a low-carb kick, ditch the sandwich bread and enjoy sweet, crispy seitan in lettuce cups with tangy ranch and cucumbers.
• Sticky Apricot Seitan: Quinoa-speckled rice and sauteed green beans and carrots are layered under seitan, which is cooked in apricot preserves for sticky-sweet indulgence.

Make plant-based proteins easy with Purple Carrot

Spotlighting plant-based proteins at every turn, Purple Carrot’s delicious recipes are approachable whether you’re new to cooking or a seasoned expert. Chefs and dietitians work together to pack our meals with flavors and nutrients while keeping everything 100% plant-based. Whether you’re more drawn to seitan or tempeh (or tofu), shop Purple Carrot now for $100 off your first month of meal kit deliveries!