A tempeh crisp is savoury, nutty and firm, with a faint earthiness from the fermentation. That's a different starting point from a potato crisp, which is essentially salt and fat on a neutral base.
It means some dips work better than you'd expect and a couple work worse. Here's what we've landed on.
The reliable ones
Hummus. Obvious, and it works. The chickpea and the fermented bean are in a similar register, and hummus is thick enough that a firm crisp can carry a proper load without snapping.
Whipped feta. Feta, yoghurt, olive oil, lemon, blitzed. Salt and acid against savoury and earthy. Probably the best of the non-Indonesian options.
Baba ganoush. Smoke plus sesame, which sits comfortably next to a baked tempeh crisp.
Tzatziki. Cool and sharp. Best if there's chilli anywhere else on the table.
Guacamole. Fat and acid, and the crisp is sturdy enough to handle a chunky one — a great deal of guacamole is lost to broken tortilla chips.
Worth trying if you're being ambitious
Whipped cod's roe (taramasalata, the good sort). Salt and fish against nutty and fermented. Better than it sounds.
Chilli crisp oil, straight from the jar. Not a dip so much as a topping. Spoon it over a plate of crisps with something creamy underneath.
Miso and butter, warmed. Two fermented things and a fat. Almost too much, in a good way.
Ajvar. Roasted red pepper and aubergine. Sweet and smoky, and the texture is right.
The acquired tastes
Anything sweet. Chocolate, caramel, sweet chilli that's mostly sugar. A tempeh crisp is assertively savoury and fermented, and sugar sits on top of that rather than alongside it. Sweet chilli in particular is a common hit-or-miss.
Worth knowing that a lot of savoury snacks carry more sugar than a tempeh crisp does, which is partly a question of how they're made.
Very thin dressings. The crisp is firm and fairly smooth, so it doesn't hold a thin sauce the way a ridged crisp does. Thick is better.
How to build a plate
Three dips is plenty. Pick one hot, one creamy, one sharp — chilli, whipped feta, something with lemon in it — and don't put out more than people can taste.
If it's part of a spread rather than the whole thing, tempeh crisps sit comfortably on a cheese board for the same reason: they're firm enough to load and savoury enough to stand next to a strong cheese.
One practical note
Serve them dry and let people load them. A tempeh crisp is firmer than a tortilla chip and won't collapse under a thick dip, but nothing survives being dressed in advance and left for twenty minutes.
Keep reading
-
What Is Tempeh? A Simple Guide to Our Hero Ingredient
- Why We Make Snacks From Tempeh
- What to Put on a Cheese Board (That Isn't Crackers)
- What Food to Take on A Hike: A Practical Packing Guide
- Tempeh Crisps vs Lentil Chips, Veg Crisps and the Rest
Curious what we’re doing with tempeh? Meet TEMPTÉ →
Sources
Most of this is preference — nobody can cite a paper proving these dips belong with a tempeh crisp.
If you have coeliac disease, check the label on any sauce rather than relying on a general rule.