Tempeh Marinade at Home

When it comes to cooking good, satisfying tempeh, a good marinade is certainly key. After experimenting with making my own marinades and eventually creating my 6 go-to marinade recipes for tempeh, I’ve discovered that making from-scratch marinade is truly particularly unfussy and so good too!

I have six core tempeh marinades that I turn to time and time again. Take a scroll, pick out your favorites and enjoy these standout recipes!

Making Kitchen-made Tempeh Marinade

If you truly want to add pleasing, unique flavor to your tempeh, I highly suggest whipping up your own marinades at home! Here are simply some of the key reasons why you should DIY instead of buying pre-packaged bottles and mixes:

1. Speedy + unfussy. It only takes a few minutes to stir together fresh ingredients for these marinades.
2. Fresh. These marinades are as fresh as it gets! You know it hasn’t been sitting on a shelf for months.
3. Control. When you make your own marinade you can experiment and adjust ingredients to suit your taste.
4. Well-seasoned. It tastes way better and has fresher flavor!
5. Healthier. By making your own recipes, you can avoid highly-processed ingredients and additives found in some store-bought marinades.

Before we get to all of the details of each individual marinade, let’s go over some frequently asked questions:

Why marinate tempeh?

Marinating will infuse tons of flavor into the tempeh and makes such a HUGE difference the way it tastes. On it’s own and uncooked, tempeh has a quite mild taste and is almost flavorless. However, it does a great job soaking up marinades and flavors and if cooked well, tastes STANDOUT!

How long to marinate tempeh?

If you’ve got the time, it’s genuinely go-to to marinate tempeh for a few hours or even overnight. However, I’ve found that even simply 30 minutes of marinating your tempeh will make a big difference and result in a much more well-seasoned dish.

How do I cook marinated tempeh?

You can use these marinades in almost any recipe. But if you’re looking for various different ways to cook your tempeh, take a look at this tempeh guide, which includes instructions for pan-frying, air-frying and baking tempeh.

How to Store From-scratch Tempeh Marinades:

If you want to pre-make these marinades, you can store them in an airtight container in the fridge for at least a week.

These marinades also freeze beautifully! You can even freeze the tempeh marinading in the sauce for up to about 6 months. When you’re ready to use it, simply place it in the fridge to thaw and cook as desired.

How to Marinate Tempeh:

Marinating tempeh is QUITE simple, especially for how welcome it is for adding GREAT flavor to the tempeh recipe. Simply pick your flavor and add all of the ingredients to a plastic bag, stasher bag, or resealable container of choice.

1. Prep your tempeh: Remove from packaging and slice the tempeh as desired. I show you lots of different ways to cut it HERE. I usually go with simple cubes.
2. Make the marinade: I like to whisk together my marinade directly in the dish/bag that I plan to marinate the tempeh in. A plastic bag, silicone bag, or genuinely any kind of shallow resealable container works well. Add all of the ingredients (minus the tempeh) and whisk until fully combined.
3. Add the tempeh: Place the tempeh pieces into the marinade and let marinate for 30 minutes or even overnight. Ideally, this will marinate for a good few hours, but even only 30 minutes makes a big difference.
4. Cook as desired and ENJOY! Read my post HERE detailing all the different ways to cook tempeh.

Use the Marinade as a Tempeh Sauce

Having a good sauce to spoon over the cooked tempeh adds even more flavor-packed flavor! It works especially well when I’m serving tempeh over rice.

Make a sauce: Use the leftover marinade to make a sauce for your tempeh (this works with all of the marinades EXCEPT the peanut marinade). Add it into a saucepan with a cornstarch slurry (a mixture of 2 tablespoons of water + 1/2 tablespoon of cornstarch) and cook over medium heat until thickened (about 3-5 minutes). Deeply good!

Teriyaki Marinade

What you need:

• 1 tablespoon of olive oil
• 1/4 cup of soy sauce
• 2 teaspoons of fresh grated ginger
• 2 cloves of garlic minced
• 3 tablespoons of maple syrup
• 2 tablespoons rice vinegar

Thai Peanut Marinade

What you need:

• ¼ cup of peanut butter
• 1 ½ tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 ½ tablespoons lime juice
• 1 tablespoon of rice wine vinegar
• 2 teaspoons of maple syrup
• 2 cloves of garlic minced
• 2 teaspoons of fresh grated ginger

Cilantro Lime Marinade:

What you need:

• 2 tablespoons of olive oil
• 2 tablespoon lime juice
• 1 ½ tablespoons maple syrup/ honey
• ½ cup cilantro leaves chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic minced
• ¼ teaspoon salt

BBQ Marinade:

What you need:

• 2 tablespoons of olive oil
• 1/4 cup go-to BBQ sauce
• 2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar
• 2 cloves of garlic minced
• ½ teaspoon onion powder
• ½ teaspoon paprika
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• Dash of liquid smoke (optional)

Balsamic Marinade:

What you need:

• 2 tablespoons of olive oil
• 3 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar
• 2 tablespoons of water
• 2 tablespoons of maple syrup
• 2 cloves of garlic minced
• 1/4 teaspoon of salt

Fajita Marinade:

What you need:

• 2 tablespoons of olive oil
• ¼ cup lime juice
• 2 tablespoons of water
• 1 teaspoon of maple syrup
• ¼ teaspoon of salt
• ¼ teaspoon ground cumin
• 2 cloves of garlic minced
• 1 1/2 teaspoons smoked paprika
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• 1–2 tablespoons chili powder
• Optional: dash of liquid smoke