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!
Print
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
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!
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 🙂
Looks like such a delicious hearty sandwich!
Thanks! It totally is 🙂
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 🙂
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! 🙂
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!
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! 🙂
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!!
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.
★★★★★