Make your tempeh at home: a safe, easy, cheap & tasty method

Posted by

Başak

August 10, 2025

On August 10, 2025

Preparation: 10 mins

Soaking: min. 8 h

Cooking: 40 mins

Cooling.: 30 mins

Inoculation: 24-36 h

Difficulty: easy

Yields: 12 portions

Costo: basso

If you want to go straight to the recipe click here

Introduction to Making Tempeh at home

Making your own tempeh at home is a great way to reduce or eliminate your meat consumption without sacrificing taste or protein intake (Discover all the properties and benefits of tempeh here). Despite its many benefits, this fermented soy-based food is still difficult to find in supermarkets, even in large cities. When it is available, it often comes with a high price tag, making it unaffordable for many.

That’s why learning to make tempeh at home is revolutionary, sustainable, and very inclusive. Not only does it save money, but it also guarantees a tastier, more customizable product. However, don’t be fooled by its apparent simplicity. Tempeh fermentation involves several delicate steps, and neglecting them can compromise the entire process.

After many experiments (and a few failures), I perfected a foolproof method for making tempeh at home and created this guide to help you avoid common mistakes and prevent wasting precious ingredients or time.

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Ingredients for a perfect homemade Tempeh

850 grams of hulled soybeans (use 900 grams if you have to de-hull them by hand)
Five tablespoons of vinegar (white, wine, or apple cider)
The correct amount of starter, as indicated on the package. I use one heaping teaspoon (about 4-5 grams)
You will also need water for soaking and cooking; a large pot; a colander or strainer; clean dish towels or paper towels; bags or silicone molds and a needle for making holes or ricotta containers; a kitchen thermometer; a scale; and an incubator or stable heat source (e.g., an off-but-lit oven in winter or a fan in summer)

Directions for making a safe tempeh at home

Step 1. Soaking. Soak the hulled soybeans in plenty of water for at least eight hours. Rinse them well before cooking.

To reduce cooking time, I strongly recommend using hulled soybeans. If you can’t find them, you can still do this by hand: rub the soaked whole beans (in this case soak for at least 12 hours) to remove the skins.

Step 2. Cooking: Cook the soybeans for about 40 minutes, skimming off any foam that rises to the surface. Keep in mind that the soybeans should be tender but not mushy.

Step 3. Drying: Drain the cooked soybeans thoroughly, then cook them again in the pot for about two minutes, stirring with a ladle to evaporate as much water as possible.

Moisture is the number one enemy of your homemade tempeh’s safety.

Step 4. Acidification: Use vinegar to lower the pH and block the growth of harmful bacteria. You can add vinegar at any stage of the process after soaking. Personally, I prefer adding it during cooking to achieve a milder taste, though adding it at the end of drying is also common.

Step 5. Cooling: Bring the soybeans to a temperature of about 30 C degrees. If you are in a hurry, try using a hair dryer on the cool setting.
In the meantime, start piercing the reusable bags or containers you have chosen for fermentation. Equip yourself with a very thick, sterilized needle—I heat mine on the stove until it becomes red-hot—and a lot of patience. The holes should be about 1.5 cm apart from each other.

For reusable bags, you don’t need to do this every time; just keep them in the freezer. I also find that ricotta containers work well.

Step 6. Inoculation: When the soybeans are lukewarm (around 30°C), add the starter and mix well. I usually add half of it first and mix for about one minute. Then, I pour in the rest and mix everything together for another minute.

Step 7. Incubation: Distribute the mixture into perforated containers without exceeding three centimeters in thickness (for ricotta containers fill them half). Leave it to ferment at 28-31°C for 30-48 hours. For this phase, I use my oven but you can use a yogurt maker in low heat setting, a heat mat or pad or a professional or DIY tempeh incubator.

Step 8. Temperature Control: Depending on the season, you may need to maintain a constant temperature during this time. Fermentation involves two stages. In the first stage, you need to provide a warm environment to help the mycelium grow. After it has formed, as evidenced by a white coating and increased temperature, you need to limit the heat under 32 C degrees.

During the winter months, I keep the oven lamp on for the first 20 hours or so and add a jar of hot water on very cold days. Once I see that the mycelium is generating heat, I turn off the lamp, leave the oven door slightly open by inserting a wooden spoon between the door and the oven body, and stop adding hot water.
In the summer, however, I do not turn on the lamp or add hot water during the first phase because the natural ambient temperature is sufficient. I only intervene after the mycelium has formed and the heat generated exceeds the ambient temperature. I move the now-compact tempeh containers to a cool, ventilated place and, if necessary, use a fan to reduce the temperature.

Your homemade tempeh will be ready and safe to eat when the block is compact and completely covered with a white film. It should not be moist or give off any unpleasant odors.

Why do I recommend making a large quantity of tempeh?

As we just saw, making tempeh at home is easy, but it requires organization and time. Therefore, even if you don’t have a large family, I recommend making a large quantity so that you can consume it over one or more months. With the right precautions, it can be safely stored for a long time.
If you prefer, you can halve the quantities of all the ingredients and still get excellent tempeh to enjoy all at once.

How should homemade tempeh be stored?

Even at low refrigerator temperatures, the mycelium continues to proliferate and produce unwanted metabolites, such as ammonia. To prevent this, pasteurize the tempeh by briefly steaming the blocks. Then, they can be stored in the refrigerator without risk.
If you cannot consume the tempeh within a week, consider freezing it to extend its shelf life by up to three months.

How can you tell if tempeh has gone bad?

People often ask me questions like, “What are the black spots on my tempeh?” Or, “There are some grayish areas. Should I throw it away?” The answer is that you should always trust your nose. If the tempeh does not have an unpleasant ammonia smell, then the black or gray spots are nothing to worry about and only indicate a little excessive spore growth.
The answer is to always trust your nose. If the tempeh does not have an unpleasant ammonia smell, then the black or gray spots are nothing to worry about. They only indicate a little excessive spore growth.

How to cook homemade tempeh?

Tempeh is a versatile food that, when prepared properly, can be incredibly delicious.
One classic method is to cut the tempeh into strips or triangles, marinate it for a few hours with herbs and/or spices such as garlic, ginger, and soy sauce, and then sauté or fry it in a pan with vegetables.
Another option is to crumble the tempeh by hand to create a coarse mince or use a food processor for a finer mince. Then, cook it as you would do for meat and use it in your favorite recipes. You can even use tempeh as a substitute for red meat. For example, you can use it to make Turkish meatballs, doner kebabs, kokorec, or this tasty autumn mix.

Enjoy your tempeh and happy revolution to all!