Easy Edamame Salad

Name: Easy Edamame Salad
Prep time: 10 min
Total time: 40 min
Ingredients: 1 16 ounce bag frozen edamame (defrosted); 1 1/2 cup feta cheese (about 8 ounces, cubed ); 1 9.5 ounce jar whole kalamata olives (drained); 2-3 tablespoons shallot or red onion (chopped and diced); 1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes in oil (julienned, then sliced); 1 teaspoon dried oregano; 1/2 teaspoon pepper; 1 cup any oil and vinegar based salad dressing or vinaigrette (Use your favorite brand )

Jump to Recipe Print Recipe

A balance of Mediterranean flavors comes together in this Easy Edamame Salad recipe. No need to travel to the Mediterranean to enjoy a healthy, super simple salad that starts with frozen, shelled edamame, a jar of whole Kalamata olives, feta cheese and your favorite salad dressing. Much like Blue Cheese Vinaigrette dressing, this edamame salad is simply tangy and delicious.

Edamame salad on a plate with a large spoon scooping out a portion of salad.

Jump to:

Why You'll Love This Recipe
Ingredients to Have on Hand
How to Make This Salad
Great for a Party or Potluck
Single Serving Salad
Salad Dressing Options
Add Dried Oregano
Veggie and Other Options
Use a Block of Feta Cheese
Shelled Edamame
Storage
Top Tips and FAQ
Other Salads to Enjoy
More Meatless Eating
Recipe
Reviews

Why You'll Love This Recipe

It's so easy to make edamame salad, it's quite literally tossed together in less than 10 minutes.

Added bonus, edamame has plenty of health benefits. The flavor combination might remind you of classic Greek salad, with plenty of feta cheese and Kalamata olives.

Ingredients to Have on Hand

Nearly all of these ingredients can be stored in the pantry until you are ready to prepare your salad. Keep a bag of frozen edamame in the freezer and you'll be ready to prepare this recipe in minutes, any time.

Bottles of sun dried tomatoes, olives, salad dressing and a shallot on a wooden plank.

1, 16-ounce bag of frozen edamame, defrosted
1, 8-ounce block of feta cheese
Sun-dried tomatoes, in oil, julienne cut
6.5-ounce jar pitted, whole Kalamata olives
1 shallot
1 bottle, oil and vinegar salad dressing or vinaigrette of your choice
dried oregano

Scroll down for all the details on quantities for each ingredient.

A mound of edamame on a cutting board. — Use shelled edamame to make this salad. One 16 ounce bag from the frozen-foods section in the grocery store is the perfect amount.

How to Make This Salad

If you are looking for a versatile, epic salad to serve with your next pot roast, pork loin, cheeseburger pie, or even a holiday meal - this is it!

Toss the ingredients in a large bowl with feta cheese, a diced shallot, dried oregano and sun-dried tomatoes and you've got the makings of a Mediterranean-inspired side dish that everyone is sure to love.

Edamame salad ingredients placed together in a bowl. — Toss all the ingredients together in a large bowl. So simple!

Great for a Party or Potluck

One of the best things about this edamame salad is how portable it is! Simply pour the ingredients into a large bowl with a lid and you can bring this salad anywhere - to a potluck, tailgate or BBQ with ease.

Serve it alongside Sweet Corn Pasta Salad for a great variety of tangy salads!

Single Serving Salad

Speaking of taking this salad along to a gathering, a great way to serve it is to bring a stack of small disposable drinking cups as serving bowls.

A single serving of edamame salad in a clear cup. — Folks love to enjoy single servings. Bring a tray of your salad in small cups with a spoon in each one.

They stack easily and make it super easy to enjoy this salad on the go, or while socializing at an event or tailgate.

Small cups of salad with a spoon in each one, displayed in a serving dish with one small cup off to the side.

Scoop a serving of the edamame salad into each cup, top with a few crumbles of feta and arrange on a large serving tray.

Salad Dressing Options

One of the things that I love most about this recipe - aside from how easy it is to prepare - is how versatile this edamame salad is. Use whichever type of oil and vinegar Italian salad dressing or vinaigrette that you prefer, toss with the ingredients and you're done.

Here are the salad dressings I like to use for this recipe:

Ken's Steakhouse Simply Vinaigrette, Greek

Brianne's Homestyle French Vinaigrette Dressing

Ken's Steakhouse Balsamic Vinaigrette

Greek vinaigrette salad dressing bottle. — This is my personal favorite salad dressing for this recipe, but any oil and vinegar dressing works great.

I've made this many times with a balsamic vinaigrette, with a French vinaigrette dressing and with and Italian oil and vinegar dressing. All were outstanding.

If you use a balsamic dressing, the feta cheese does take on a darker color from the balsamic vinegar in the dressing. But that balsamic flavor blends beautifully with the edamame and Kalamata olives.

Edamame Mediterranean Salad made with balsamic salad dressing. — I made this version using balsamic vinaigrette salad dressing, which slightly darkens the color of the feta cheese.

I do recommend avoiding a salad dressing that contains cheese in it, the additional cheese in the dressing blended with the feta cheese in the salad creates a sort of gummy texture that wasn't ideal.

Add Dried Oregano

No matter how much herby flavor comes with the salad dressing that you choose to add for this recipe, I've found this edamame salad really comes to life with an added teaspoon of dried oregano and half a teaspoon of pepper. It's just a little addition that helps spark great flavor in every bite.

A large plate with mediterranean edamame salad spread out on it, with a spoon scooping up one serving.

Veggie and Other Options

Feel free to mix and match some of your favorite veggies or other Mediterranean-inspired ingredients with this recipe.

Try adding chickpeas, diced cucumbers, smoky roasted red peppers or even a spicy, peppery arugula as a leafy green.

Use a Block of Feta Cheese

Be sure to use a block of feta cheese for this recipe, not crumbled feta. Use a sharp knife to cut the feta into bite-sized chunks.

One packaged, block of feta cheese on a cutting board.

Pro Tip: I've tried using crumbled feta cheese in this salad but found that it breaks apart too easily when the salad is tossed together. Cubed feta from a block is more sturdy and breaks apart into larger chunks of feta.

Shelled Edamame

Look for shelled edamame in the frozen food section of the grocery store.

Storage

Easy Mediterranean Edamame Salad holds up well in the refrigerator. Simply keep it covered in a storage bowl and it will stay fresh for 3 - 4 days.

A small bowl full of edamame salad with a spoon serving up on small portion.

Top Tips and FAQ

Is frozen edamame already cooked?

Frozen edamame is like most frozen vegetables we buy in the frozen-food section of the grocery store, like peas or carrots for instance - already blanched or flash-cooked when you buy it frozen, so for many recipes, all you need to do is warm it up or reheat it.

For this recipe, you can simply defrost the edamame.

Can I swap out the feta for another type of cheese?

Yes, if you don't love feta try using crumbled goat cheese, gorgonzola, blue cheese or even parmesan or mozzarella. Or, make this a vegan salad and don't add any cheese or substitute a favorite variety of vegan cheese.

Do the sun-dried tomatoes need to be packaged in oil?

You can use store-bought, sun-dried tomatoes that come in a plastic package with no oil, The flavor is about the same, but the tomatoes are much drier that way and are extra chewy in this salad. My family prefers the tenderness of sun-dried tomatoes that are packaged in oil.

What exactly is edamame?

It's a green soybean and it's often sold in the pod. You may have enjoyed them as an appetizer at your favorite sushi restaurant! But the pods aren't really edible, which is why I recommend buying the bag of the frozen, shelled edamame.

Edamame is an excellent source of plant-based protein, calcium and iron. It also offers quite a few promising health benefits.

Other Salads to Enjoy

Love edamame but also looking for more salad options? Here are a few more tasty salads.

Four P Salad is a vibrant salad bursting with flavors from fresh basil and parmesan cheese. It's easy to make too!

And if you are a fan of fresh, crunchy green salad I think you'll love Lucky Black Eyed Pea Salad. It combines the flavor of what's known as "Cowboy Caviar" and blends it with fresh, leafy lettuce greens.

More Meatless Eating

Who needs meat when there are so many ways to enjoy salads and main dishes that are plant-based? Here are more recipes I think you'll enjoy.

See more Vegetarian Dishes →

If you tried this Easy Edamame Salad or any other recipe on my website, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how it goes in the 📝 comments below.

Recipe