How many calories are in tempeh?
100 g (3.5 oz) of plain tempeh is about 195 kcal, with roughly 20 g of protein, 11 g of fat and 8 g of carbohydrate. Blocks are usually sold at 200 g, so half a block is a main-meal serving. What pushes that figure higher happens in the pan.
Per portion
| Portion | Calories | Protein | Carbs | Fat |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 100 g (3.5 oz) plain tempeh | ~195 kcal | 20 g | 8 g | 11 g |
| 200 g block, whole | ~390 kcal | 40 g | 16 g | 22 g |
| 85 g (3 oz) slab, steamed or grilled plain | ~165 kcal | 17 g | 7 g | 9 g |
| 100 g pan-fried in 1 tbsp oil | 290–310 kcal | 20 g | 8 g | 22 g |
| 100 g deep-fried, as tempe goreng | 300–350 kcal | 19 g | 10 g | 25 g |
| 100 g shop-bought marinated strips or rashers | 220–270 kcal | 17–19 g | 12–18 g | 11 g |
What changes the number
It is made from the whole bean. Tofu is strained: the soy milk is pressed and the fibrous solids thrown away. Tempeh is whole cooked beans bound into a cake by a mould culture, so the fat, the carbohydrate and the fibre all stay in. That accounts for the 50 kcal and 4 g of protein per 100 g that separate it from firm tofu, and for the fibre tofu lacks.
It drinks oil. Tempeh is dry and open-textured, so it absorbs more cooking fat than a pressed block does. A tablespoon in the pan is about 120 kcal and very little of it stays behind. Fried the traditional way in deep oil, 100 g passes 300 kcal: the oil has added more than the beans brought. Dry-frying or grilling keeps the number flat, at the cost of the crust.
Grain blends and marinades. Tempeh is not always pure soy; barley and rice blends carry less protein and more starch. Marinated strips and “bacon” styles add sugar, oil and salt, and can run a third above plain — only the back of the pack shows it.
Where it fits in a deficit
Tempeh’s advantage is density: 20 g of protein in a 100 g slab that holds its shape, browns like meat and takes a marinade. If a small portion has to feel like a main course, it does that better than most plant proteins, and the chew buys time that appetite signals need.
Per calorie, though, it is level with firm tofu at about 10 g of protein per 100 kcal — half what prawns deliver — because the whole bean brings its fat along with its protein. Tempeh is a per-gram upgrade, not a per-calorie one. When the calorie total is the constraint rather than plate space, adjust the cooking fat rather than the choice between blocks; protein is the part to defend either way.
What fermentation does and does not do
It makes the beans far more digestible, breaks down much of what causes bloating, binds loose soy into a sliceable cake, and gives tempeh its nutty flavour. Those are real.
It does not lower the calories. Fermentation changes the form of the energy, not the amount, and no figure on a tempeh label reflects a discount for it.
Two claims to treat carefully. Tempeh is usually steamed or fried before eating, which kills the culture — it is not a live-probiotic food in the way yoghurt is. And while traditionally made tempeh can pick up B12 from bacteria during production, the amount is unpredictable and mostly absent from commercial blocks: not a source to plan around.
Figures are typical values and vary by variety, size and preparation. General information, not medical advice.