Tempeh and vegetable skewers

It’s BBQ season – or at least, it will be when it stops raining and the sun reemerges! If you enjoy cooking outside but also follow a whole-food plant-based diet, finding good recipes to pop on the grill can be challenging.

Veggie burgers are great, but generally need a hot plate rather than grill to prevent them collapsing into the flames below. A grill mat can help with that as well as a good veggie burger recipe. You can find info about both on this post with my recipe for sweet potato and black bean burgers. These falafel burgers are also good cooked outside.

If you fancy something different to burgers or want something easy to make and pop on the BBQ then these tempeh and vegetable skewers might just be the thing for you. Tempeh has a very firm texture as it’s made from the whole soya bean. This means it’s easy to slide onto a skewer and won’t fall apart once cooked.

If you’ve not come across tempeh before, or not cooked with it, then have a look at this post. Tempeh absorbs flavours really well, so a quick marinade in a smoky or spicy sauce before cooking means you get a super tasty vegan kebab to enjoy.

If cooked for too long, tempeh can become a bit dry. But to make sure the veggies are cooked, it needs a while over the heat – unless you enjoy raw onions of course. One way to avoid this is to part cook the veg before hand in the oven. However, this takes planning and time and, to be honest, is a bit of a faff. An alternative is to put the veg on the skewer without the tempeh and BBQ until it starts to soften, then add the tempeh squares onto the end. This comes with it’s own dangers though unless you have asbestos fingers and don’t mind getting singed fingertips!

My solution? Use the remaining marinade to form a thick sauce to pour over the skewer once it’s cooked. Thick and gloopy, it covers any dryness quite wonderfully.

If you cook with meat, the marinade usually has to be thrown away as it contains raw meat juices that may contain nasty bacteria that make you sick. This is not an issue when you cook with plant-based ingredients which is good news on two fronts – nothing gets thrown away and you don’t throw up 😉

Ideally, the tempeh and veg should bathe in the marinade for 1-2 hours before cooking. But if you forget, even 10 minutes will make a difference. You can always baste the skewers with the marinade whilst they’re cooking (and before you reduce it to a sauce if that’s what you choose to do).

Feel free to use whatever veg you like on these skewers – I like the combo of onion, pepper and courgette, partly because they tend to stay intact and not fall off into the flames below. And if the weather lets you down then they can be cooked under the grill inside just as well as the BBQ outside.

As well as being fully vegan, these tempeh and vegetable skewers are also gluten free, so perfect for catering for guests with ‘free from’ needs. They also taste delicious so everyone should enjoy them 🙂

I hope you enjoy these tasty tempeh and vegetable skewers. Do let me know if you make them.

Tempeh and vegetables skewers

Super tasty vegan and gluten free option for the BBQ or cooked under the grill.

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Prep Time 10 minutes mins

Cook Time 15 minutes mins

Marinading time 1 hour hr

Total Time 1 hour hr 25 minutes mins

Servings: 3 skewers

Calories:

Ingredients Method

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x?

For the marinade

• 2 tbsp tamari or soya sauce if not gluten free
• 2 tbsp maple syrup
• 2 tbsp white wine or apple cider vinegar or malt vinegar
• 1 tsp smoked paprika
• ½ tsp garlic powder
• ½ tsp dried thyme
• black pepper

For the skewers

• 150 grams tempeh
• ½ medium red bell pepper
• ½ medium courgette
• ¼ medium red onion

Method

 

1. Cut the tempeh into 3cm squares. Cut the pepper and red onion into thin wedges and cut the courgette into thickish slices.
2. Mix the marinade ingredients together in a bowl with an air-tight lid.
3. Place the tempeh and veggies into the bowl, pop on the lid and gentle shake to make sure everything is covered.
4. Leave to marinade for 1-2 hours if possible, turning the bowl from time to time to distribute the marinade.
5. If you are using wooden skewers, leave them to soak in water for an hour or so to prevent them burner on the BBQ.
6. When you are ready to cook, slide a slice of the onion, courgette, pepper and a cube of tempeh onto the skewer and repeat until the ingredients are equally divided and arranged onto the 3 skewers.
7. Cook on a preheated BBQ for minutes, turning regularly. Baste with leftover marinade once or twice if anything starts to burn.
8. Pour the leftover marinade into a small non-stick pan. Bring to the boil then simmer for minutes until reduce and thick.
9. Once the skewers are cooked, transfer to a place and drizzle the reduced marinade over the top. Serve with salad, wholemeal pitta or wraps.

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