Edamame Salad with Tahini Ginger Dressing
on Jul 14, 2024
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Tossed in tahini ginger dressing, this easy edamame salad has a beautiful mix of ingredients including cucumbers, red cabbage, carrots and red peppers. Each forkful is bold with flavor and lots of fantastic texture. This is one of those handy salads that works as a side dish and also can be filling enough to be an entree salad, especially if you add the protein of your choice.
![Edamame salad in a large bowl.](https://www.lastingredient.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/edamame-salad-recipe1.jpg)
Table of Contents
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
This salad is crisp and fresh with a mix of textures and flavors. You have edamame, cabbage, red peppers and cucumbers in each bite. This salad is colorful with so much variety that it will have you coming back for more.
You will love the tahini ginger dressing. Made with soy sauce, fresh ginger and creamy tahini, it’s nutty and tasty and works well with ingredients like edamame, bell peppers and cabbage.
Because this salad doesn’t have leafy greens, it can be served as a side dish. Also, it won’t wilt, so it is a good choice for potlucks, picnics and cookouts where food tends to sit out longer.
You can turn this recipe into a noodle salad or grain salad. All you have to do is stir in soba noodles, quinoa or brown rice.
The Ingredients
This is what you need:
- Edamame: This recipe calls for frozen shelled edamame. There are multiple ways to cook it, and they will be listed on the package. I simmer them in salted boiling water, which only takes a few minutes, so the prep time is minimal.
- Cucumbers: For salads, I prefer English or Persian cucumbers, also called mini cucumbers. Their skins are more delicate, and they have far less seeds than regular cucumbers.
- Red peppers, orange or yellow bell peppers are my go-tos for the salad. Avoid green peppers because they are more bitter and won’t have the same sweetness.
- Cabbage: To make it easy, I buy a bag of shredded cabbage. Even though I don’t use it all for this recipe, I find myself tossing the extras in other salads including a classic house salad, which is very different than this one. You can’t beat that crunch.
- Carrots: Just like the cabbage, I buy shredded carrots at the grocery. It is up to you if you would rather take whole carrots and cut them with a box grater or the shredding disk on your food processor.
- Scallions give the salad mild green onion flavor. You can substitute with finely chopped red onions.
- Cilantro: With the veggies in this salad, chopped cilantro makes sense for fresh herbs. If you aren’t a cilantro fan, you can add more sliced scallions.
- Sesame seeds are a nutty finishing touch to go with the tahini dressing.
- Tahini ginger dressing: It has tahini, minced garlic, fresh ginger, salt, pepper, lime juice, soy sauce and vegetable oil. Since soy sauce contains wheat, the dressing is not gluten free unless you substitute with tamari. Always read the label make sure that brand of tamari does not have wheat.
Optional Additions
You can make one or more of the following additions to the salad:
- Cooked grains or noodles: Try quinoa, brown rice or soba noodles.
- Nuts: Chopped almonds and peanuts are both great options.
- Avocado, diced, gives the salad even more texture with something creamy.
- Protein: Roasted or grilled chicken, shrimp or salmon are good in the salad. To keep it plant-based, go with tofu.
How To Make This Edamame Salad Recipe
1. Cook the edamame. Follow the instructions and recommended cook time on the package. I generally find that it simmers in just 2-3 minutes. Be careful because you don’t want it to turn out soft. It should still have some bite. Rinse the cooked edamame with cold water in a colander to stop it from continuing to cook.
2. Combine the salad ingredients in a large bowl. That includes the edamame, cucumbers, red bell peppers, cabbage, carrots, scallions, cilantro and sesame seeds
3. Make the dressing. In a small bowl, whisk the tahini, garlic, ginger, salt, pepper, lime juice, soy sauce and oil
4. Drizzle the dressing into the salad and toss to combine. You can start out with part of the dressing and add more as needed.
Serving
This edamame salad is great with dishes with Asian flavors such as this tofu vegetable stir-fry, soba noodles with mushrooms and bok choy, sheet pan teriyaki tofu and broccolini, kung pao tofu, cashew veggie stir-fry or honey garlic tofu.
Leftovers & Storage
You can store the salad in an airtight container in the refrigerator up to 3 days. The cucumbers, carrots, cabbage and peppers will lose a little of their crispness. Keep leftover dressing into a separate container. This will help it maintain more of its crunch.
Allow leftover salad dressing to sit at room temperature for at least 15 minutes before you serve it. Then the oil has a chance to turn to liquid again. The chill of the fridge usually hardens it.
Recipe Tips
Do not overcook the edamame. You should think of it like al dente pasta, so the edamame should not be mushy.
Use fresh lime juice for the dressing. Bottled citrus juice is full of extra ingredients to extend its shelf-life, and it doesn’t taste as good. You can use rice vinegar instead of lime juice.
You can use olive oil in the dressing. As written, the recipe calls for vegetable oil, which is more neutral in flavor, but it is your choice
More Salad Recipes
Cucumber Chickpea Salad
Asian Cucumber Salad
Napa Cabbage Salad
Soba Noodle Salad
Mandarin Orange Salad
Asian Cabbage Salad
Edamame Salad with Tahini Ginger Dressing
Ingredients
For salad
- 12 ounce bag frozen shelled edamame
- 1 cup diced cucumbers
- 1 red pepper, diced
- 1 cup shredded red cabbage
- 1 cup shredded carrots
- 2 scallions, thinly sliced
- 1/4 cup chopped cilantro
- 1 tablespoon sesame seeds
For dressing
- 1 tablespoon tahini
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- 1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
- Pinch of kosher salt
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- Juice of 1 lime
- 2 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Carefully add the edamame. Simmer for 2-3 minutes until it it just tender in the middle. Be careful not to overcook it. Pour the edamame in to a colander and rinse with cold water.
- Combine the edamame, cucumbers, bell peppers, cabbage, carrots, scallions, cilantro and sesame seeds in a large bowl
- For the dressing, whisk the tahini, garlic, ginger, salt, pepper, lime juice, soy sauce and oil in a small bowl.
- Drizzle the dressing into the salad, tossing to combine.
Notes
- Cooked grains or noodles: Quinoa, brown rice or soba noodles.
- Nuts: Chopped almonds or peanuts
- Avocado: diced
- Protein: Roasted or grilled chicken, shrimp, salmon or tofu.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Hello Paige, I was wondering if you can use fresh edamame for this recipe? My grocery store has them in a bag in the refridgerated section. Thank you!
Yes, you can use fresh edamame for the salad. Just follow the recommended cook time on the package.
This was delicious! I love the flavor and color combination.