How to Cook Air Fryer Edamame

Air fryer edamame frozen or fresh is a great way to cook soy beans in a pod. Serve as a Japanese side dish with dinner or shelled dried edamame as a protein packed snack.

Air Fryer Frozen Edamame

There are two methods we think are best. When we first discovered that we could make this at home we boiled them as the packages usually recommend. Submerged in water you’re going to lose vitamins and nutritional value cooking any vegetable this way.

We baked them out of the pod which we will share below, but when I do not want to heat up my whole house this is the best way to make air fryer snacks. You can throw these in defrosted or right out of the freezer out of the bag and still hard. Works the same way.

Air Fryer Garlic Edamame

You’re kinda’ steaming them this way, especially if you add them in their frozen state. The ice will melt and the hot circulating air will create steam to get the beans tender inside. That is the only part you will eat but the outside has a lot of flavor with seasoned salts and even spicy if you toss them in some chili paste.

The third way that would work well would be to use your pressure cooker. I’d use the same instructions as our Instant Pot frozen broccoli. One minute after it reaches pressure is all you would need.

Now we bring you to this method. I always like to preheat my machine before adding any food, and spray the basket with olive oil. I rarely skip these steps. The only difference between fresh or frozen is the cook time of course.

Ninja Foodi Edamame

You can find these bagged in the freezer section at almost every grocery store out there. There isn’t one I haven’t seen them in. There are name brands and store brands, I don’t find that there is a difference at all between the two. This is what I use and options to spice them up a bit:

1. Bag of frozen edamame in the pod
2. Olive oil spray
3. Sea salt is best
4. You could add pepper if you liked

Spicy Edamame Recipe

When this is done you will toss together in this sauce. Whisk the following items together until smooth (mostly) and toss with tender pods;

• 3 Tbsp minced garlic
• 1/2 tsp sesame oil
• 1 Tbsp chili paste and mayonnaise
• 2 tsp soy sauce

Taste this after you are done and you can adjust as needed. Make it hotter with more chili obviously or add more air fryer garlic diced up if you like.

How to Cook Edamame

We talk all about Frozen Edamame here and all the ways you can cook it, this is just one choice. Yes you can boil or microwave but the texture is better this way.

You really just throw them in and let them get soft. Normally you shouldn’t overlap pieces and insist on everything being in a single layer but like frozen french fries it is okay in these cases. You just need to toss the contents halfway through so it all cooks evenly.

It doesn’t matter what brand of small kitchen appliance you have. Ninja Foodi works well, so does my AirWave and Cosori. They all work basically the same and the biggest difference is the size and shape of the air fryer basket. That’s really it, okay and maybe the color of the machine on the outside.

Edamame in the Air Fryer

And then you just slide your teeth across the bottom and top so the soy beans pop right out. NO you do not eat the outside pod itself. I mean it’s super stiff and kind of hairy too so you wouldn’t like it, no matter what your tastebuds are.

• Place edamame (best if they are defrosted but can be frozen) in a bowl. If defrosted lay on paper towels first to remove water from outsides.
• Drizzle with sesame oil and sprinkle salt and pepper on top and toss together.
  • could dice up some garlic too and add that
• Set the air fryer to 400 degrees F and pour them in. Air fry for 10 minutes. Toss the edamame halfway through cook time by shaking the basket so they rotate in their position.
• Sprinkle on more seasonings and pop each one out of the shell and enjoy.

Air Fryer Roasted Edamame

If you want to make roasted shelled edamame in the oven we have directions for those too here. Either way these and our air fryer cucumber chips are a healthy snack that’s gluten free and delicious.

Another fun and healthy snack idea is to make chicken fries in air fryer or air fryer jicama fries sometime! Kids love these. Jump to recipe below and give it a whirl!