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Tofu vs. Tempeh
While both are made from soybeans, the process of how they are made is completely different. Tofu is made by curdling fresh, hot soy milk with a coagulant, while tempeh is made through a process of fermenting the soybeans together in an incubator. Basically what you need to know is that tempeh is fermented and uses the whole soybean. It’s less processed than tofu and it contains probiotics from the fermenting process. Popsugar shares a great chart comapring the differences! Sounds pretty great right?
Thai basil
Next important ingredient in this recipe is the Thai basil. If you’re not familiar with Thai basil it’s a type of basil that has a slightly more anise (or licorice) flavour than regular basil. It is my all time favourite herb. You can find this ingredient at most Asian grocery stores, or even at some farmer’s markets where you can find a plant of it to grow in your garden. If you can’t find any Thai basil for this recipe, regular basil will do just fine and also taste great, but if you can find it, I definitely recommend using it! It really is the star ingredient in this dish!Some notes about the sauce
Traditionally this recipe is made with oyster sauce, which well, contains oysters in it. But I’ve found a great vegetarian alternative to traditional oyster sauce that is made with mushrooms instead. It still has that savoury umami flavour and is perfect for vegetarian/vegan diets. If you can’t find vegetarian oyster sauce, (I’ve linked one in the recipe you find on Amazon) you can substitute hoisin sauce in the recipe. Another important ingredient in the sauce I want to talk about is the dark soy sauce. If you’ve never used dark soy sauce in your cooking, you need to get yourself a bottle and start! Dark soy sauce is sweeter and less salty in taste than regular soy sauce, and it also has a deep rich colour. It’s used for many Thai recipes like Vegan Pad See Ew. If you can’t find dark soy sauce, you can just substitute with some more regular soy sauce. Also, make sure to use a gluten-free certified soy sauce if you want to make this recipe gluten-free!
This Thai basil tempeh stir fry is:
- Vegan
- gluten-free (*use gluten-free soy sauce)
- High in protein


Thai basil tempeh stir fry
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Total Time: 25 minutes
- Yield: 3-4 servings
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Cook
- Cuisine: Thai
Description
Bring the flavours of Thailand right into your home kitchen! This Thai basil tempeh is a healthy vegan dish loaded with bold Thai flavour.
Ingredients
- 1 block of tempeh (approx 200g)
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil
- 2 green onions, chopped
- 3 garlic cloves, chopped
- 1/2 cup Thai basil, finely chopped
- crushed cashews to top
- 1 cup of jasmine rice, cooked according to package directions
Sauce
- 2 tbsp vegetarian oyster sauce
- 1 tbsp light soy sauce
- 1 tbsp dark soy sauce
- 1 tbsp maple syrup
- 1 tsp sambal oelek (can sub sriracha)
Instructions
- Place the block of tempeh in a saucepan and cover with water. Bring to a boil, then cover and let simmer for 10 minutes. Remove the tempeh from the pan. (*This step is important to remove any bitter flavour the tempeh might have!)
- Add the tempeh to a food processor and pulse until chopped into small bits.
- Heat the vegetable oil in a non-stick pan on medium-high heat, then add the tempeh and let cook for 2-3 minutes. (Move the tempeh around with a wooden spoon so it doesn’t stick)
- Next, reduce heat to medium and add the green onions, garlic and Thai basil. Stir together.
- Add all the sauce ingredients to the pan and mix together
- Serve on top of Jasmine rice and top with crushed cashews.
Notes
Remember to taste the tempeh after adding the sauce and adjust accordingly! Depending on your tempeh and amount you may need a little more soy sauce, maple syrup, spice…etc.
Sometimes tempeh can have a slightly bitter flavour. Steaming it before cooking helps to get rid of this bitterness. It also softens the tempeh so it can more easily absorb the sauce in this recipe!
If you can’t find vegetarian oyster sauce you can sub hoisin sauce. (or regular oyster sauce if your not vegan/vegetarian)
super easy and super delish!! thank you!
Happy you enjoyed it!
Wow wow WOW! Just WOW! What a DELICIOUS and super simple recipe! Thank you for sharing. I cook w Tempeh a bunch (household of Vegetarians and Vegans) and we LOVE Thai cuisine. This was a bomb recipe! We had it last night with my homemade version of peanut sauce tossed with Thai noodles and garden fresh veggies and everyone really enjoyed it. I was out of dark soy sauce so I made it homemade w coco amino + coconut sugar + water and arrowroot powder and everything came together PERFECTLY!!! This tempeh deliciousness is definitely going on our dinner rotation! Thank you again for sharing. 🙂 Five star recipe hands down! Wuuhuu!
So happy to hear you enjoyed the recipe!
I so love Thai dishes! I’m so glad I found this site. I’ll absolutely try this someday. Thanks a lot for posting!
Hi Rai, thank you, enjoy!
This looks delicious and healthy!
Thanks Kimberly! Hope you enjoy it!
This looks and sounds good, I have to try it! Thanks for the recipe 🙂
Hi Evi, thank you so much! I hope you like the recipe:)