edamame

American  

[ed-uh-mah-mey] / ˌɛd əˈmɑ meɪ /

plural noun

1. unripe, green soybeans that are steamed or boiled in their pods.

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Usage

What are edamame? Edamame are unripe soybeans. Edamame are soybeans that are picked while green and unripe and then steamed, boiled, or roasted in their pods. Each pod contains one to four beans. Edamame is normally eaten as a side dish or appetizer in Japanese and Asian fusion cuisine. When eaten as a side dish, it’s usually served within the pod with a soy sauce or glaze. Generally you only eat the beans, not the pods. The pods aren’t poisonous, but they are hard to chew and don’t digest well. Shelled edamame can be used in salads, poke bowls, noodle dishes, soups, and other dishes. Edamame is both singular and plural, meaning it can refer to each seed individually, a group of seeds, each pod, or a group of pods. Example: The first time I had edamame, I didn’t know you were supposed to take off the shells before eating them.

Etymology

Origin of edamame

1950-55; < Japanese eda branch, twig + mame beans

Explanation

Edamame are young, green soybeans. In Japanese restaurants, edamame are served steaming hot, sprinkled with salt, still inside their pods. Half the fun of eating edamame is squeezing the tasty little beans out of the pod into your mouth. They can also be incorporated in dishes, taking the place of peas or other beans. In Japan, there's a different name for shelled soybeans: mukimame. Edamame means "stem beans" or "twig beans" in Japanese, for the fact that they were traditionally sold in markets still attached to their stems.

Example Sentences

Soy foods include tofu, soy milk, edamame, tempeh, and miso.

From Science Daily • May 26, 2026

Conagra, which gets about 40% of its sales from the freezer aisle, has identified high-protein frozen foods such as edamame and its Marie Callender’s Chicken Parmigiana Bowl as growth areas.

From Barron's • Feb. 23, 2026

Or, for an Asian-inspired variation, use a mix of carrots, bean sprouts, broccoli, brown rice and edamame, paired with Asian spices and sauces.

From Salon • Jan. 12, 2025

Other dinner ideas for the week include edamame pesto pasta, with a new nut-free pesto recipe, and sheet-pan roast chicken with kale and olives.

From New York Times • May 21, 2023

There is dried edamame in a small dish, and chocolate-covered sunflower seeds in a square bowl.

From "Piecing Me Together" by Renée Watson