This spicy edamame recipe is easy and tastes incredible, thanks to garlic, ginger, and a spicy chili sauce. This is one of my favorite edamame recipes!

You’ll often see steamed edamame with sea salt on restaurant menus, but in this recipe, we kick the flavors up a notch. You are going to love the ridiculously easy ginger, garlic, chili sauce!
Of all the recipes I’ve tried, this is seriously my favorite way to cook edamame. It’s so flavorful!
Key Ingredients
- Edamame: These are young soybeans, which means the beans are soft and easy to eat. In this edamame recipe, we cook the beans inside their shell. You don’t eat the shell. I use my front teeth to scrape the beans out of the pod (they pop out easily). You can use shelled edamame in the recipe. I’ve included tips below the recipe.
- Garlic and ginger: I use a tablespoon each of minced garlic and ginger. If you don’t want to buy fresh ginger, look in the produce section of your grocery store for the tubes of ginger (sometimes you can also find frozen pureed ginger).
- Soy sauce, maple syrup, and toasted sesame oil: I love the simple sauce in this recipe. It’s a little salty from the soy sauce (or use tamari), sweet from maple syrup (or use honey), and toasty from the sesame oil.
- Chili sauce: I love Sambal Oelek. It’s made with crushed raw red chiles, a little vinegar, and salt. It’s sold in most grocery stores. Check the grocery aisle where you’d buy soy sauce, and it should be there. If you can’t find it, Sriracha or Gochujang are good alternatives.
Find the full recipe with measurements below.
How to Make Spicy Edamame
Tip 1: Keep the shells on. You’ll start with fresh or frozen edamame in their shells. Since it’s more available where we live, we use frozen. You’ll steam or boil the edamame until the pods are bright green and heated through. I boil my edamame in the video in the recipe below.
Tip 2: Toss with our chili sauce. To make it, heat minced garlic and ginger in oil for a minute in a skillet on the stove. Now that the garlic and ginger are fragrant and have released their flavors into the oil, you can stir in soy sauce, maple syrup, and chili sauce. Toss the sauce with your cooked edamame pods, and you are ready to dig in.

Serving Suggestions
I love this as a snack or appetizer. It’s excellent served next to other appetizers like egg rolls, spring rolls, and homemade crab Rangoon.
You can make it a complete meal by serving it next to rice, fried rice, homemade sushi, and stir fries like this broccoli chicken stir fry or this veggie stir fry. I also love it with chicken teriyaki!

Garlic Ginger Spicy Edamame
- PREP
- COOK
- TOTAL
This spicy edamame is simple and tastes incredible. Cooking edamame at home is easy and takes minutes. In the recipe, we cook the edamame in their shells. You don’t eat the shells, though. To eat the beans inside, scrap them out of their shell using your front teeth. They pop out easily.
Watch Us Make the Recipe
You Will Need
1 pound fresh or frozen edamame in their pods
1 tablespoon avocado oil or other neutral oil
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
2 tablespoons light soy sauce or tamari
2 to 3 teaspoons pure maple syrup, sugar or honey
1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
½ to 1 tablespoon Sambal Oelek or Sriracha
Directions
- Cook Edamame
1To boil edamame, bring a large pot of water to a boil and add a teaspoon of salt. Add the edamame and return to a boil. Cook until bright green and heated through, 3 to 5 minutes. Drain.
2To microwave edamame, place the edamame in a microwave-safe dish with ¼ cup of water and a pinch of salt. Partially cover the dish with a plate, then microwave on high until bright green and heated through. Depending on your microwave, this can take 1 to 5 minutes.
- Make the Spicy Sauce
1Heat the oil in a medium skillet over medium heat. Add the garlic and ginger. Cook until fragrant, but before they brown, 30 to 60 seconds.
2Remove the skillet from the heat, and then stir in the soy sauce, maple syrup, sesame oil, and chili sauce.
3Taste and adjust with additional maple syrup to balance out the soy sauce or more chili sauce to make it spicier.
4Toss the edamame with the sauce and serve.
Adam and Joanne's Tips
- Sambal Oelek is a chili paste made with crushed raw red chiles, a little vinegar, and salt. It’s sold in most grocery stores, just check the aisle where you’d buy soy sauce.
- Shelled edamame: You can toss cooked shelled edamame beans with the spicy sauce.
- The nutrition facts provided below are estimates.



This was delicious ! Restaurant style. I added just a tad of salt. Will definitely make over and over.
We are so happy you trued it, Kristin!
Absolutely delicious. The flavor is outstanding and I want to drink the sauce! Haha
We completely agree with you on the sauce! We are so happy you enjoyed the recipe 🙂
This was amazing! Thanks so much for sharing!
Excellent. Flavors melded together and
OMG 😱 ABSOLUTE BEST RECIPE!!!! Used Gochujang as the chili sauce. THANK YOU for sharing.
Can I make this with shelled edamame?
Yes.
This was slammin y’all. I happen to have all the ingredients and was over the moon happy with the taste and kick. I followed the same recipe to make spicy green beans, and I’m looking forward to making it with broccoli, cauliflower, carrots and many other veggies wow soo happy and soo good. Make it make it!! 10 out of 10
this is delicious, and for those concerned about eating the shells or not, i reheated some the next day and probably over cooked it however i cut the peas into pieces and ate with some of the sauce on plain white rice – yum. this recipe has spice and heat and sweet so if you like that, you can’t go wrong here.
So funny story about this recipe. I’ve been making this recipe for years. Like once a month whenever I want a snack. Its delicious. I made it today, just like I have many times before. When I went to put my soy sauce back in the fridge I saw another bottle of soy sauce. I’m like.. weird, I didn’t think I had two bottles. I looked at what I was holding, what I had just put into my edemame sauce, and it was ponzu sauce. The top looks the same since its also made by kikkoman. So I went and tasted it. It’s actually really good! I threw in a splash of soy sauce just because, but I actually think I’ll be adding ponzu sauce from now on!
This recipe looks amazing! Could it be maid with shelled edamame as a side dish? Thanks!
Hi Stephanie, You can absolutely use shelled edamame in this recipe!
Our family loved these and my daughter stated that they are amazing! The flavor is spot-on and the spiness right.
This is amazing. I wonder if you could use ground ginger instead of fresh?! are you not supposed to eat the shell? I’m so confused by the comments
This is amazing. I wonder if you could use ground ginger instead of fresh?!
Fantastic! Thanks for this perfectly easy and low calorie snack that is BURSTING with taste!! LOVING it!
This is an awesome recipe – sooo yummy! Even my husband liked it. I had a leftover portobello which I stuffed with shelled edamame, poured over some of this sauce and topped it with cheese for my husband.This certainly will go down in my kitchen history! Thanks! Greetings from Germany!
Well, as always, this did not disappoint. I ate a pound of edamame with this sauce. Now making more of the same sauce to marinate the chicken breasts and sprinkle over broccoli. SO addictive.
Abs perfect ..so flavourful !! Love the sauce
Great recipe
I will be making this edamame recipe
Wonderful!
Some recipes say to not eat the shell. Can we eat the shell with this recipe?
Hi Lucy, While I don’t think there is anything wrong with the shell, they are quite tough/stringy. I don’t think I would eat them, personally.
Hello! This recipe is great. I had some Kadoya Hot Sesame Oil on hand that I used to cover 2 ingredients. Turned out delicious. Thanks for sharing.
Glad you could figure out a shortcut!
Thank you for this recipe! It turned out awesome and exactly what I was looking for. Will make again and again!
Exactly what we love to hear! Thanks for coming back and sharing, Mariann.
Exactly like the recipe I enjoyed in Vegas. I am addicted and adding this recipe to my recipe lineup. Thank you
Yay! We first had a spicy edamame dish in a restaurant, too. We loved it so much that we had to recreate it at home. So happy you enjoy it, Brooke!
These are the best! My wife (who is the edamame lover) thinks they are the best she has ever had.
Oh wow, such a wonderful thing to read!
My vegan daughter and non vegan husband loved this recipe. Thank you
Wonderful! So happy they enjoy it.
Can’t stop snacking! This recipe is so yummy!
Haha, yes! They are hard to turn down.