Maple Lemon Tempeh Cubes

Published Feb 19, 2014, Updated Jun 17, 2024

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These maple lemon tempeh cubes are flavorful and make such a great plant-based protein option for salads. Each serving packs 21 grams of protein.

When I started cooking with tempeh, I had the hardest time getting it to taste good — it always had this funky, bitter aftertaste. I tried everything – the pre-boiling method, marinating for hours, etc. I almost gave up on cooking it at home. Then I realized that there are different varieties and some have a milder taste than others.

So far I’ve found that LightLife’s Three Grain is the mildest and tastes the best to me. And, I’ve grown to really like it! So much so, I can now eat it plain on a salad or a hummus collard wrap or straight from the package (although that’s not my top choice).

A bed of salad greens with red onion slices and maple lemon tempeh cubes on a dinner plate.

Tempeh is a great plant-based protein. It contains cooked soybeans (think edamame) that have been fermented, which binds the soybeans into a cake/patty. It’s similar to tofu, however there are some differences – tempeh is less processed, has a stronger flavor and has a bit more texture.

I decided to come up with a quick and easy tempeh recipe with lemon and maple syrup to use for topping salads.

I’ve never been a huge fan of croutons. Well, that’s not completely true. Those dark toasty ones on the Ruby Tuesday’s salad bar are good.

Didn’t mean to get off on a tangent, but the point is that sometimes I do crave a little crunch factor on my salads that nuts, carrots and the brunt edges of roasted veggies just can’t provide, so I thought I’d experiment with making a crispy tempeh crouton of sorts.

It worked! These little cubes have a lovely lemon maple flavor and the crisp texture I was going for.

An overhead photo of a bed of salad greens with red onion slices and maple lemon tempeh cubes on a dinner plate. There is a silver fork laying next to the plate.

I could eat this tempeh plain with a side of veggies or as a snack — I almost ate half the batch for a snack, straight from the fridge one afternoon. That said, I think it’s amazing as a topping for salads.

For my salad I used fresh chopped romaine, red onion slices, grape tomatoes, baked sweet potato chunks and my garlic tahini dressing. I love this dressing and use it for my garlicky kale salad too.

More Tempeh Recipes to Try

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5 from 2 votes