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Here’s the best way to eat edamame as an easy snack or side dish! This irresistible edamame recipe is flavored with garlic, sesame oil and salt.

Edamame recipe
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Are you a salty snack person? Meet your perfect healthy salty snack: edamame! Edamame are soy beans you eat right out of the pod, squeezing them into your mouth with a satisfying pop. Alex and I always order them when we get sushi, because eating them is the perfect in-between-bites-of-sushi activity. But protein-packed edamame can be served anytime: it’s great as a snack, appetizer, or easy side dish. This edamame recipe is basic but oh-so-tasty, mixed with garlic and toasted sesame oil and seasoned generously with salt. Here’s how to make it!

Buy edamame in pods for this recipe

Edamame is soy beans that are picked when they’re young and green, versus the mature soy used to make tofu. That means they’re full of plant-based protein, which makes them great for vegetarian and vegan diets! Alex and I eat mostly plant-based, so we love serving edamame because it adds protein that helps to keep us full.

You can buy edamame two ways: frozen shelled and frozen in pods. Edamame in pods are the kind served in Japanese restaurants as a snack or side. Shelled edamame can be used in salads, fried rice, noodle bowls, etc. You can also serve shelled edamame as a side dish: go to Shelled Edamame.

Edamame recipe

How to make this edamame recipe

This edamame recipe is so easy: there are really only two steps! But it’s also a little elevated from the standard edamame. We’ve added garlic and a little toasted sesame oil to bring things up a notch. Here’s what to do:

  • Boil the frozen edamame 4 to 5 minutes. Bring a large saucepan of water to a boil, then add the frozen edamame and boil 4 to 5 minutes.
  • Add garlic, toasted sesame oil, and salt. Drain well, then mix it together with garlic (grate it right into the bowl with a microplane), toasted sesame oil, and a generous seasoning of salt.

Then dig right in, popping open the pods with your teeth! When you serve your finished edamame recipe, don’t forget to serve it with a small bowl for the discarded pods. It’s much easier and cleaner (especially if you’re entertaining).

Edamame in strainer

Toasted sesame oil vs sesame oil

There are two types of sesame oil you can buy at the store, so make sure to get toasted sesame oil for this recipe! Toasted sesame oil has a strong, nutty flavor: it’s intended for flavoring foods. Sesame oil has a neutral flavor and is used for cooking.

A variation: try it spicy!

If you like the heat, make spicy edamame instead! It’s a fun heat-packed variation on this recipe. Just add chili garlic sauce to taste. We liked it with about 1 tablespoon chili garlic sauce, which made for a medium spicy edamame recipe. You could also use other Asian-style hot sauces you have handy, like Sriracha or sambal oolek.

Spicy edamame

Ways to serve edamame

There are so many ways to serve up this edamame recipe. Try it straight as a plant based and gluten free snack, or as a tasty vegetarian side dish. Since it’s packed with plant-based protein, it’s a great option for vegan and plant-based meals. But most of all, it’s just plain delicious! Here are some ways to serve it; it’s great with:

How much protein is in edamame?

Edamame is packed full of plant-based protein. In fact, 1 cup of cooked shelled edamame has almost 18.5 grams of protein! (Source) That’s on the same level as legumes like lentils, which also have 18 grams of protein per 1 cup cooked.

Edamame recipe

More ways to eat edamame

Here are a few more ways outside of this edamame recipe to eat this tasty vegetable:

This edamame recipe is…

Vegetarian, vegan, plant-based, dairy-free, and gluten-free.

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Easy Edamame Recipe

Edamame recipe
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Here’s the best way to eat edamame as an easy snack or side dish! This irresistible edamame recipe is flavored with garlic, sesame oil and salt.

  • Author: Sonja Overhiser
  • Prep Time: 10 minutes
  • Cook Time: 5 minutes
  • Total Time: 15 minutes
  • Yield: 4 1x
  • Category: Side Dish
  • Method: Boiled
  • Cuisine: Japanese
  • Diet: Vegan

Ingredients

Scale
  • 1 pound frozen edamame in pods (in the shell)
  • ½ tablespoon toasted sesame oil*
  • 1 small garlic clove
  • ¾ teaspoon kosher or fine sea salt, plus more for the water
  • Spicy variation: add about 1 tablespoon chili garlic sauce, to taste
  • Optional garnish: Toasted sesame seeds

Instructions

  1. Bring a large saucepan of water to a boil. Add the edamame and 1 teaspoon kosher salt. Boil the edamame until bright green and tender, about 4 to 5 minutes, then drain.
  2. Place the edamame in a bowl. Add the toasted sesame oil and salt, then grate the garlic clove into the bowl (using a microplane). Toss gently until everything is evenly coated, breaking up any clumps of the garlic that stick together. Transfer to a serving bowl and serve warm, with a smaller bowl for the discarded pods.

Notes

*Make sure to look for toasted, not regular sesame oil. It has a much stronger flavor.

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About the authors

Alex & Sonja

Hi! We’re Alex & Sonja Overhiser, authors of the acclaimed cookbooks A Couple Cooks and Pretty Simple Cooking—and a real life couple who cooks together. We founded the A Couple Cooks website in 2010 to share seasonal recipes and the joy of home cooking. Now, we’ve got over 3,000 well-tested recipes, including Mediterranean diet, vegan, vegetarian, pescatarian, smoothies, cocktails, and more!

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