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Tempeh and Kale Soba Noodle Bowl with Lemon Tahini Sauce

Emerald green kale, a swirl of delicate earthy soba noodles, and golden sautéed cubes of tempeh, all drizzled with a simple creamy sauce, this soba noodle and kale bowl with crispy tempeh and lemon tahini sauce makes a nourishing meal you can serve cold or at room temperature.

Soba Noodles, Kale, Tempeh and quinoa in a wooden bowl with Tahini Sauce on the side

Click here to PIN Tempeh and Kale Soba Noodle Bowl with Lemon Tahini Sauce!

Ingredients like noodles and/or grains, vitamin-rich veggies, some kind of protein, and a flavorful sauce, all served in a large bowl, well, they’ve become known as “bowls”, sometimes called Buddha bowls or power bowls.

Soba Noodles Kale and Tempeh with Tahini Sauce on the side

Mix and match:

  • Change up this tempeh and kale soba noodle bowl following your inclinations, even the lemon tahini sauce can be switched out for another sauce.
  • Needless to say, bowls are a good way to use up what’s on hand. If you have leftover rice, make that your base. Add beans; say chickpeas, pintos or lentils. Or browned roasted chunks of sweet potato. Steamed or sautéed kale is yummy, but you could substitute chard or spinach.
  • I’m kinda partial to the combo going on here. I mean, kale, tempeh, and soba noodles are 3 of may favorite foods. A sprinkle of toasted sunflower seed salt, and the 5-minute lemon tahini sauce tie everything together.
  • Tahini sauces are so easy, and they’re changeable to your whim as well. Love this curry tahini sauce on carrots!

Other add-ins:

  • You might want to add thin slices of cabbage or another raw veggie. Really, the sky’s the limit, though I try to limit myself to 5 main ingredients.
  • Leftover red quinoa made its way into this recipe just because it was in the fridge!
  • A creamy avocado sauce is another idea. Oh the possibilities…

Gluten free? Beware, most soba noodle brands contain wheat as well as buckwheat. Eden Foods sells 100% buckwheat soba noodles. (Affiliate link.) (Buckwheat is a seed and therefore gluten free.)

Soba Noodle and Kale Bowl with Tahini Sauce drizzled on top

You’ve probably seen bowl options on restaurant menus for quite some time, particulary in casual eateries focusing on vegetarian and plant-based food.

In many places you can order your own custom bowl from the menu, choosing from a list of prepped ingredients. Inspiration for this particular combo comes from a healthy bowl I enjoyed at one of the open-to-the-corridor dining choices in the food court at LAX airport.

I hope you’re inspired to riff off this bowl of soba noodles, kale and crispy tempeh! After you sample this recipe, go forth and build your own unique healthy meal in a bowl!

Bloggers are full of bowls–check out these other recipes:

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Nutrition information is meant to be an estimate only. The numbers will vary based on the brands you use and substitutions you made, and how much you actually eat. Numbers do not include the optional quinoa.

This is an update of the soba noodle bowl recipe I published back in April 2015! Yay!

4 comments

  • Alix Railton

    Yumm!!!! Reply · 11 April, 2015

  • Now that I have the recipe I just had that gorgeous bowl to serve it in. GREG Reply · 11 April, 2015

  • This sounds like a total winner! (And thanks for the mention.) Reply · 11 April, 2015

  • Kwiyoung

    Love the colorful ingredients used in this recipe but it was bland to me. I added julienned carrots, green onions, and seasoned the tempeh with smoked paprika and garlic salt. The dressing needed a little sweetness to offset the bitter tahini so I added some honey. It was better but didn’t take it up to 5 star. Reply · 3 March, 2021

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