These Tempeh & Chickpea Sloppy Joes are a delicious quick and easy vegan dinner!
I just dropped my mom off at the airport and I’m so sad! She was here visiting for a week and it was so nice. She got to spend some good quality time with Eli, she was so helpful around the house and did I mention that she is a massage therapist?! Let’s just say I got a little spoiled having her around 🙂
I felt like the least I could do was cook us a nice meal, so I decided to make these 30 Minute Tempeh and Chickpea Sloppy Joes. I’m happy to report that she loved them!
I have to admit that this was my first time ever cooking with tempeh. I feel weird saying that since I cook so many vegetarian meals, but for some reason I’ve never used tempeh before. In case anyone else out there is like me, I should warn you that sometimes tempeh is moldy and that is OK.
My mom assured me that it was perfectly normal because tempeh is a fermented food, but I did check google just to be absolutely sure 🙂
These vegetarian sloppy joes are so easy to make and they even have a delicious homemade BBQ sauce with them! They only take about 30 minutes so they’re great for an easy weeknight meal or a weekend BBQ. They’re also packed with tons of protein from the tempeh and chickpeas, which I think is so important for a vegetarian main meal. I hope you enjoy these as much as my mom and I did!
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30 Minute Tempeh & Chickpea Sloppy Joes
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 6 1x
Description
A quick, easy and delicious vegetarian dinner that is packed with protein!
Ingredients
- 1 teaspoon olive oil
- 1/4 cup diced onion
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1 (8 oz) package tempeh, crumbled
- 1 (15 oz) can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
- 1 cup marinara sauce
- 1 tablespoon maple syrup
- 1 tablespoon ketchup
- 2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
- 1 teaspoons tamari
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- 3/4 teaspoons smoked paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon mustard powder
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/8 teaspoon black pepper
- 6 hamburger buns
- Coleslaw for topping, optional
Instructions
- Heat a large pan over medium heat and add olive oil and onion. Cook onion for 2 minutes and then add garlic and cook for 30 seconds.
- Add in crumbled tempeh and cook until browned, 3-4 minutes.
- Next add in all the remaining ingredients, including the chickpeas, stir until combined and cook until everything is heated through, about 10 minutes.
- Scoop sloppy Joe mixture onto buns and top with coleslaw, if desired.
Notes
Nutritional information is for sloppy Joe filling only, it does not include buns or coleslaw.
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Cook Time: 20 mins
- Category: Dinner, Vegan, Vegetarian, Dairy Free, Refined Sugar Free
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1/6 of sloppy Joe mixture
- Calories: 115
- Sugar: 3 g
- Sodium: 137 mg
- Fat: 6 g
- Saturated Fat: 1 g
- Carbohydrates: 9 g
- Fiber: 1 g
- Protein: 8 g
- Cholesterol: 0
This was fantastic! We have two plant based diets and two of us that aren’t on any diet. We all loved this. I used what I had so I had to make a few alterations-soy sauce instead of tamari, brown sugar instead of maple syrup, and we didn’t have vinegar. I added a green pepper because we had it and I wanted to use it. 1/4 of a cup. I think it needs the vinegar but it was also fine without. Will definitely make this again! Thank you for sharing the recipe.
Made this today! Totally easy and was a great kid-approved meal (12 mo old ). The whole family liked it, so this will be added to my recipe rotation! Thanks for sharing, love the complete and heavy protein aspect!
I’m so glad to hear everyone enjoyed it!!
I just made these today, delicious! I’m not a vegetarian but I do try to cut way back on the meat I eat and am always looking for a good vegetarian or vegan recipe. This one is a keeper! My husband who is a big meat and potatoes guy loved these! Fortunately he does really like veggies and beans of any kind. I have turned my sister onto your recipes and have already sent her this one which I know she will love.
That’s so great to hear! I’m glad you both enjoyed this recipe! 🙂
I can’t wait to try these- but I had a quick question. Do you mean marinara sauce as in spaghetti sauce, or just a plain can of tomato sauce? Thanks!
Marinara as in spaghetti sauce 🙂 I hope you enjoy them!
Hello! I’m a new reader here, so this is my first look at your recipes. I bought tofu and liked it but I haven’t tried tempeh before. Your Tempeh & Chickpea Sloppy Joes recipe sounds delicious. I can’t wait to try it! Your photos are really nice and the video was great. Thanks so much. Look forward to seeing the rest of your recipes.
Hi Debra! So glad you found my site and thank you for the kind words! Tempeh is fun to use because it has a different texture than tofu, but can be used in place of tofu in most recipes! I hope you enjoy them! 🙂
This looks so delicious! I love using tempeh to replicate the sloppy / messy pulled pork or sloppy joe types of sandwiches. Thanks so much for sharing your recipe! Can’t wait to try this at home!
Thanks so much, Billy! I hope you enjoy them 🙂
Looks like such a delicious hearty sandwich!
Thanks! It totally is 🙂
I really enjoy tempeh but have only started cooking with it myself over the last few months. And am always looking for new ideas – these sloppy joes sound awesomeeee! And I’m so glad you had a great time with your mom! Now I wish my mom was a massage therapist! 🙂 lol
I cooked with it again today and am so surprised I’ve never used it before haha! I’m not gonna lie, having a massage therapist mother is pretty amazing 🙂
Izzy, I love tempeh and ironically have also worked on a sloppy joe recipe with tempeh (non-published). So it was nice to see how you made yours, which is in fact similar. And how nice to have a mom who’s a massage therapist!!! (Pretty picture of your yard, by the way).
Hi Katie! I’ve just started to love it! I can’t wait to see your recipe! It’s pretty amazing haha!