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.
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.
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.)
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:
- Broccoli Barley Bowl from Naturally Ella
- Spaghetti Squash Taco Bowl from Kalyn’s Kitchen
- Black Bean Burrito Bowls from Cookie and Kate
- Garlic Mushroom Salad with Arugula and Wild Rice from Mountain Mama Cooks
- Roasted Root Vegetable Buddha Bowls with Maple Cinnamon Tahini Dressing from The Roasted Root
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Tempeh and Kale Soba Noodle Bowl with Lemon Tahini Sauce
Ingredients
Lemon Tahini Sauce:
- ½ cup sesame tahini
- ⅓ cup hot water
- 3 tablespoons fresh squeezed lemon juice
- ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- Pinch cayenne pepper
Remaining Ingredients:
- 8 ounces tempeh , frozen or refrigerated (see note)
- 1 bunch kale can be any varietal, lacinato or curly
- 4 ounces soba noodles up to 6 ounces
- 1 cup cooked red or tricolor quinoa , optional
Instructions
Make the Lemon Tahini Sauce:
- Whisk tahini with the hot water until smooth. Whisk in lemon juice, garlic, salt and cayenne. Taste, and add more seasoning if needed. Set aside. (See notes.)
Prepare the tempeh:
- First steam the tempeh: Insert a steamer basket into a saucepan with just enough water to cover the legs of the steamer basket. Bring to a simmer and cook until the tempeh has plumped, about 5 minutes. Transfer to a cutting board, keeping the steamer basket and water to steam the kale. (see note re: using frozen tempeh.)
- Cut the tempeh into 3/4-inch cubes. In a non-stick skillet, on medium high flame, heat the oil. Add the tempeh and sauté 5 to 10 minutes, until the tempeh is golden brown on most sides. Set aside.
Prepare the kale:
- Remove and discard the kale stems. Cut in 2-inch pieces.
- Add the kale to the steamer basket, poking it down. Cover the pot and steam until wilted and tender, about 5 minutes. Set aside.
Prepare the soba noodles:
- Bring a second saucepan of water to a boil and cook the soba noodles following the package instructions. Drain and rinse under running water so the noodles don’t all stick together. If you wish to serve the noodles warm, run hot water over them just before adding to the bowls.
To assemble the bowls:
- Divide the noodles, tempeh, and kale among 4 bowls. If using quinoa, add that too.
- Drizzle lemon tahini sauce over it all!
Notes
- Find original soy tempeh or five-grain tempeh at natural food grocery stores.
- I keep my tempeh in the freezer. I thaw and plump frozen tempeh in 10 minutes: Remove the packaging and put in a saucepan with enough water to barely cover the tempeh. Add a tablespoon of tamari soy sauce if you wish and simmer until the tempeh has thawed and obviously plumped.
- Choose any kale varietal—I used curly green because it was on sale!
- Tahini sauce thickens as it stands. Whisk in more water until it’s as thin or thick as you like. I like my tahini sauce fairly thin and easy to pour, so I add more water–equal to the amount of tahini. You may have tahini left over for another use.
- Serve your bowls warm, at room temperature, or cold.
- A fairly experienced cook will be able to juggle the tempeh, kale, and noodles between 2 saucepans and a skillet, and have all the ingrediends ready at close to the same time.
Nutrition
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!
Yumm!!!! · 11 April, 2015
Now that I have the recipe I just had that gorgeous bowl to serve it in. GREG · 11 April, 2015
This sounds like a total winner! (And thanks for the mention.) · 11 April, 2015
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. · 3 March, 2021