Edamame with Soy and Sesame Sauce (2024)

This edamame recipe is one of my favorite evening snacks! Not only is it ready in just 5 minutes, it also hits the spot whenever I crave something savory, nutty, and earthy. The slight char on the outside also adds a little smokiness that makes sucking on the pods, even more satisfying.

I’ve been munching on edamame beans since I was a little girl. My mother liked to serve them as a summer snack or as a side to traditional Japanese dishes like miso ramen, nikujaga, yaki udon, and onigiri. As a kid I loved sucking on the salty edamame pods while chewing on the bright green beans inside. Later, when I lived in Tokyo, edamame became a healthy snack I picked up at Seven Eleven on my way home from work, and something that appeared at the table of most izakayas (Japanese pub) I visited.

These days edamame makes an appearance in many different forms and flavors – from a comforting bean soup to a chilled vichyssoise, in a colorful quinoa salad, or blended to make a green hummus, I like to include them in my recipes as much as I can. This edamame with soy and sesame sauce is a late night snack I like to munch on because it’s low in calories, and it’s also an easy way to to boost my protein intake. This edamame recipe is a simple dish that’s seasoned with soy sauce and toasted sesame oil. What you get are lightly charred pods full of umami and nuttiness.

Ingredients
- Variations
Prepping The Edamame
How To Make This Recipe
Expert Tips
Storage
What To Serve With This Dish
Frequently Asked Questions

Ingredients

Edamame: I highly recommend spending a little more money on good frozen edamame. The reason why I say this is that I’ve come across cheaper brands that offer edamame pods that are broken into bits or simply not in good shape or look old. If you live near a Japanese, Korean, or Asian supermarket, or a specialty store, it’s worth a trip just to buy better quality edamame. My favorite brands are Seapoint Farms, Welpac and Nissui.
Soy sauce: You will need Japanese soy sauce for this recipe to get a good balance of salty, umami, and earthy. Brands like Kikkoman and Yamasa are good.
Toasted sesame oil: You can use regular sesame oil but you will get much more flavor by using toasted sesame oil. Toasted sesame oil is more concentrated in flavor and less is needed to season a dish.

Variations

Use premium oyster sauce, such as Lee Kum Kee, instead of soy sauce, for edamame that’s more pungent and salty.
Use chili oil instead of toasted sesame oil to add some heat.
Top this dish with some furikake to add even more depth of flavor.
Make them taste like buffalo wings with my easy edamame with sriracha buffalo sauce recipe.

Prepping The Edamame

Before adding the edamame pods to the skillet you will need to cook them first. My preferred method is to boil them in a pot of salted water for 3 to 5 minutes. Drain and shock them in cold water. Drain again and they are ready to be served, or in this case, thrown into a hot skillet! I have also recently discover another clever trick to quickly prep these green legumes:

Place them in a colander and run hot water over them for about 5 minutes. Drain and serve!

There is also the microwave method, which is to place the edamame pods in a microwave safe bowl with a little water and cover them with a paper towel. But I don’t really like this method because my pods always come out overcooked or deflated. If you would like to give it a shot, start by microwaving them for 1 to 3 minutes and do a taste test. If they need longer, add 1 minute at a time until you are satisfied with the texture.

How To Make This Recipe

Cook the edamame pods using one of the methods listed above.
Place a large skillet over medium high and when the skillet is hot, add the toasted sesame oil.
Swirl the oil the coat the bottom surface of the skillet and add the edamame pods.
Stir fry them for 2 to 3 minutes and add the soy sauce.
Quickly toss the pods to evenly coat them and season with a little salt and pepper.
Turn the heat off, transfer them to a serving bowl and enjoy!

Expert Tips

A medium hot skillet. Make sure that the skillet is hot but not scalding hot before adding the sesame oil and the pods. Toasted sesame oil can go rancid pretty quickly if it’s cooked for too long at a very high temperature, so it’s important to keep the oil from overheating, and the cooking process short. The trick is to flash fry the edamame so they quickly get a slight golden brown char on them, and absorb the intense clean and nutty taste of the oil.

Storage

Cooked edamame should be refrigerated within 2 hours of cooking them. Save them in an airtight storage container and they should keep in the fridge for about 4 days.

Can I refreeze them? No, it is not recommended to refreeze vegetables and beans that have previously been thawed. Not only will the texture and overall quality of the bean degrade, it can also be unsafe.

What To Serve With This Dish

I can eat this dish on its own or as part of a meal. It’s so pleasant to the palate that it’s an easy recipe to pair with other dishes. This dish makes a delicious snack or side to serve at a sushi party. But you can also serve it as part of Japanese home style dinner with Japanese classics such as:

Japanese curry rice
Agedashi tofu
Okonomiyaki
Dashimaki tamago
Omurice

Frequently Asked Questions

Can You Eat Edamame Raw?

No. Edamame beans are poisonous when eaten raw. They can cause nausea, diarrhea, vomiting andcan also lead to long-term damage to organs and tissues if ingested in large amounts. so it’s very important that you cook the beans before eating them.

Are edamame genetically modified?

It depends on the varieties. Some of them can be genetically modified, while others are non-GMO. To avoid GMOs, always look for organic or non-GMO certified edamame products.

My edamame beans came out super crunchy. Why is that?

It could be the actually pods that were packaged or that they needed a little more cooking time. Sometimes the pods harvested might have sat longer than the ideal time, which can result in beans being tougher. But I find that cooking them for a bit longer can help a lot. I recommend adding an extra minute or two in the skillet to soften them.