After working in restaurants for well over a decade, I know how popular BBQ chicken salads are. It seems like there’s a different rendition of one at every restaurant I go to or work at! Here’s my vegan take on this popular salad, It’s packed with all the veggies and a ton of plant protein thanks to the tempeh and the lentils!
This is another weekly rotation salad in our household. It is just so tasty! The sweetness of the BBQ sauce with the heat of the hot sauce/salsa in the ranch dressing and coolness of the cucumbers and greens is such a great combo!
That’s enough chit chat! Let’s get to cooking!
Our first step is actually completely optional. Let me explain: Once you chop up your tempeh into either long strips or bite sized pieces, you can boil them in water for about 2 minutes before adding them to a pan with all of your seasonings. When you boil tempeh, that harsh bitter taste completely goes away. So if you’re like me and have always been wary of tempeh because of that bitter taste, this completely takes it away. But! Completely optional! You can totally skip this step and just throw it in a pan to pan fry.
Speaking of, our next step is to pan fry the tempeh. Even if you boiled it first, the amount of time it will be on the pan will still be the same. We want it to get nice and crispy! Personally, I like to take the time to cook the tempeh on all four sides to ensure MAXIMUM CRISP! Once it’s reached your desired level of crisp, add a bit more oil if you need or even a tiny splash of water and add your seasonings. (This just ensures that your seasonings don’t burn in the pan and stink up your kitchen!)
Once everything is nice and coated, toss your tempeh to the side to cool while you assemble your salad.
Tempeh Salad Assembly
I like to use romaine, spinach and mixed greens, cooked lentils, fire roasted corn, avocado or guacamole and cucumbers in my salad but here are some optional add-ins that make this salad come to life even more:
Cilantro
Chopped cooked or raw bell pepper
Raw white or green onion
Black beans
Cherry tomatoes
Vegan cheddar cheese shreds
Tortilla chips
Dressing for the Tempeh Salad
The dressing is super easy! Truthfully, there are two ways to go about the dressing. My way (the cheating, easy way) just calls for two ingredients! Just store bought vegan ranch and a few dashes of my favorite hot sauce! That’s it! But! If you want to make this salad to be truly “homemade” here is my favorite super easy homemade vegan ranch recipe from This Savory Vegan: https://www.thissavoryvegan.com/creamy-vegan-ranch/
I personally don’t like my salads “super dressed” so I do just a little drizzle of the spicy ranch, and some BBQ sauce over the tempeh bits and a squeeze of lime and we’re ready to dig in!!
Blackened Tempeh BBQ Salad
Ingredients
- Mixed greens / Romaine
- Spinach chopped
- Lentils cooked
- Fire roasted corn
- Avocado or Guacamole
Blackened Tempeh
- 1 Package Tempeh cut, bite sized pieces
- 1 Tbsp Avocado Oil
- Cumin
- Chili Powder
- Smoked Paprika
- Garlic Powder
- Salt Pepper to taste
Dressing
- Vegan ranch
- Mild/ Medium or Hot sauce of choice
- BBQ sauce
- Squeeze of lime
Optional Add-Ins
- Cilantro
- Bell pepper chopped
- Tortilla chips
- Black beans
- Tomatoes chopped
- Vegan cheddar cheese shreds
Instructions
Blackened Tempeh
- Optional: Boil cut tempeh in water for 2 minutes to reduce bitterness.
- Heat 1 tbsp of avocado oil in a pan over medium heat and add tempeh. Cook on all four sides until golden brown.
- Lower heat and add all seasonings and mix well so that the tempeh is coated. Cook with seasonings for 2 minutes, set aside.
Vegan Spicy Ranch
- Mix vegan ranch with desired amount of hot sauce.
- Optional: add fresh lime juice to spicy ranch OR add later on mixed greens.
- Assemble salad with mixed greens, spinach, cooked lentils, corn, avocado or guacamole and any other add-ins.
- Drizzle BBQ over blackened tempeh. Add desired amount of spicy ranch and toss with optional lime juice.
