Edamame {Easy Healthy Restaurant Style}

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Edamame is a popular appetizer at Sushi restaurant in the west. It features boiled young soybeans in pods, lightly seasoned with a pinch of salt. They have a subtle nutty flavor with a soft, firm bite texture. Truly yummy and healthy.

Young soybean is a traditional home cooking ingredient in China’s Yangtze River Delta area. We call them Mao Dou {毛豆} in Chinese. Literally, Mao Dou translates into “hairy beans”, alluding to the hairy pods.

However, Huai Yang style cooking typically uses shelled Mao Dou and incorporates them into a stir-fry with meat, seafood or vegetable. Check out my Sweet & Sour Yellow Croaker recipe using Mao Dou as a highlight ingredient here.

As a young child, shelling Mao Dou used to one of my chores. My Mom would get the young soybeans pods on the vine from the farmer’s market. I then would help remove the pods from the vine and then shell Mao Dou after school.

Mao Dou is absolutely one of my favorites. To my pleasant surprise, many grocery stores in the States now offer organic frozen young soybeans in pods. With that, you can make restaurant-style edamame in no time.

Ingredients Required:

Frozen or fresh young soybean in pods and a pinch of salt. That’s simple.

How do you make edamame easy healthy restaurant-style?

Prep work

For frozen ones, since they are pre-washed before freezing, you just need a quick wash and rinse. If you are getting the fresh ones on the vine, then you will need some deep washing and cleaning, usually involving a brush.

Boil the edamame

Fill an 8 Qt. stockpot with about 75% of water, turn the heat to medium-high and bring it to a boil. Add the soybeans in pods into boiling water, stir gently, add the lid and wait for it to reach a boil again, about 2-3 minutes.

When it reaches a boil again, turn the heat to low and boil for another two minutes.

Season the edamame

Remove the boiled edamame from the pot using a spider skimmer, drain the water along the way, and then place them in a mixing bowl.

Sprinkle with a pinch of either Himalayan pink salt or sea salt and mix well.

Enjoy a simple, naturally delicious and healthy side dish.

Edamame Frequently asked questions:

Do I have to trim both ends off the pods before cooking?

One of the major reasons for trimming the pods is for the young soybeans to absorb the seasoning in the boiling water better. Since I prefer to sprinkle a pinch of salt after the boiling, it really doesn’t matter.

Trimming the ends off might make the shelling edamame easier. However, after boiling, it is fairly easy to open the pods already. If you have some extra time, you can use a pair of kitchen scissors to trim both ends off before boiling.

In conclusion, it is completely optional to trim the pods before boiling.

Should I boil the edamame in the salted water?

I prefer not. Edamame is naturally delicious. All you need is to sprinkle a pinch of healthy salt such as Himalayan pink salt or sea salt after boiling.