This recipe takes pre-shelled edamame and lightly dresses them in a sweet Thai chili style dressing.
Air-fried edamame is the ultimate answer to healthy snacking and superb appetizers. Surprisingly, these healthy legumes are irresistible to everyone, including your favorite children. Most people are intrigued by their shape and color, and don’t make lima bean comparisons at all. This recipe takes pre-shelled edamame and lightly dresses them in a sweet Thai chili style dressing. In less than fifteen minutes, the air fryer produces a snack that will keep you coming back without any added chemicals or fat.
Add Healthy Legumes Into Your Diet
Legumes are comprised of beans, chickpeas, lentils, and peanuts. They are low in cholesterol and high in protein. Also, legumes are an excellent addition to your grocery list if you’re cutting meat from your diet. A lot of vegans and vegetarians rely on legumes because, like meat, they actually provide a complete protein source. Not to mention the iron in air-fried edamame is a boon for people who suffer from vegetarian related anemia.
An article in Medical News Today pointed out that one cup of hulled soybeans provides the average adult with:
- almost 10% of daily calcium
- more than 10% of daily vitamin C
- around 20% of their iron
- at least 34% of daily vitamin K
- at least 120% of daily folate
- at least 33% of daily protein
How To Prepare Edamame
We love to make our healthy legumes in the air-fryer for a couple reasons. First, the air-fryer cooks food fast. Secondly, the air-fryer is the most perfect appliance to have on your kitchen counter during heat waves and holidays. When it’s too hot outside to grill and you don’t want to heat up your kitchen, use the air fryer. When you need to make a side dish and there’s already turkey, sweet potatoes and pies warming in your double ovens, use the air-fryer.
But getting back to edamame—you can buy it in the shells or already shelled from the freezer section of larger grocery stores. Due to the fact they are imported from Japan, finding them fresh is near impossible. If you do chance upon local soybeans that are fresh, you might want to check if they are genetically modified, since that’s the case with most soybeans produced here in the U.S.
Edamame in pods require a quick boil and can be somewhat painstaking. However, the less processed and touched by others your food is, the better off you are. It’s your choice, really, if you prefer to suffer your time or your health. Honestly, I choose both kinds, but I do a happy dance when I don’t have to shell them.
How To Eat Edamame
Why, by the handful, of course! Edamame makes for a great pre-gaming app or a lunch-time side. Snack on these at any time to stave off potato chip cravings. One caveat though. If you really need to crisp these guys up, you might want to cook them at a lower temperature for longer. Maybe 300 degrees for 25-30 minutes. These air-fried edamame won’t turn out like the bagged bean snacks health food stores are starting to churn out. I suspect the main reason for that is the bigger companies that make these snacks actually give the legumes a quick flash fry prior to baking them off. Now you can do that too, and I’m not one to stop you. In fact, I’ll one day give it a shot myself. Until then, I’ll stay content with the healthier version provided here.
Air-Fried Edamame with Sweet Thai Chili Dressing
Ingredients
- 2 cups edamame shelled
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil
- 1 Mandarin orange juiced
- 1 tablespoon tamari
- 1 teaspoon ginger grated
- 1/4 teaspoon chili powder
- 1 teaspoon monkfruit sweetener or sweetener of choice
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Rinse edamame and dry very well with clean tea towel or paper towels. Put the edamame in a bowl.
- Combine sesame oil, mandarin juice, tamari, ginger and chili powder in a cup and mix. Pour over edamame and shake until coated well. Scoop out edamame with a slotted spoon or put in a sieve over the trash to get rid of extra liquid before adding to air fryer.
- On “Air Fry” setting at 400 degrees cook for five minutes and then shake the edamame around. Add another 5-8 minutes, depending on how brown you want them. Watch very closely at ten minute mark to prevent burning.
- Remove from air-fryer and sprinkle salt and sugar on top. This step is optional.
Nutrition Information
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Want more legumes to munch on? Try Honey Roasted Chickpeas or Roasted Chickpeas.
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