Edamame Crunch Salad

Why We Love This Recipe

• Easy recipe: Just chop everything up, toast your peanuts, mix up your dressing, and combine.
• Spoon salad: We love salads that we can eat with a spoon, since you can pack much more into every bite. We just think they're a lot easier to eat than traditional salads, and they're usually better for meal prep, too!
• Super colorful: With red, orange, yellow, green, and violet, you're actually tasting the rainbow. Plus, more color = a wider range of nutrients!
• Easily customizable: We put quite a few vegetables and fruits in this salad, so if you're not a fan of one of them, just leave it out, or add something in that you like better! As long as you keep the quantities the same, you can customize however you'd like.
• Meal prep friendly: This is one of those salads that actually tastes better the longer it sits. Make it on Sunday and enjoy for lunch or a side salad all week!

Ingredients and Notes

Here's what you'll need to make this edamame crunch salad:

• Edamame: We used frozen shelled edamame, which is super easy to boil or microwave until ready.
• Cabbage: We used red cabbage and sliced it thinly. You can use other cabbage varieties, but red cabbage has the best crunch by far, and slicing it thinly helps to prevent that crunch from being overwhelming. Another reason we love using red cabbage in this edamame crunch salad? It doesn't get soggy!
• Bell Peppers: Feel free to use orange, yellow, green, or red bell peppers. Red will be very sweet, while green will be the least sweet. We used two colors just for fun, but of course you can use 2 of the same color peppers if that's what you have.
• Carrot: To shred your carrots, you can use a box grater or a food processor. Or even easier, just buy them pre-shredded.
• Cucumber: We used mini cucumbers in this recipe, since I think they have the best flavor and texture. Large cucumbers can be a bit watery.
• Mandarin oranges: Feel free to use segments of whatever type of citrus you prefer, including tangerines, clementines, oranges or grapefruit.
• Miso: We used white miso paste in this recipe. The darker the miso, the more intense the flavor, so try to stick with white/yellow miso.
• Peanuts: We roasted, sugared and salted the peanuts in this salad, but you can also leave them raw or just toast them a bit. If you have time, give our recipe a try - it really adds a lot to this salad!

Step-by-step Instructions

STEP 1: Cook edamame in salted water according to package directions. Drain well and set aside to cool.

STEP 2: To make peanuts, add oil, honey, salt, 1 teaspoon sugar and cayenne to a small pan over medium heat. Stir well, then add in the peanuts. Cook, stirring often, for 5-7 minutes, then remove from heat and transfer to a sheet pan lined with parchment paper to cool. Once cooled, add to a bowl and toss in remaining 1 teaspoon sugar (this keeps them from getting too sticky).

STEP 3: Whisk together dressing ingredients.

STEP 4: Add all salad ingredients except salt to a large bowl, then pour dressing over the top and toss well to coat. Taste and add additional salt if desired, but note that the flavors will intensify as it sits. You can serve right away, or for maximum flavor, refrigerate for 2 hours before serving.

Expert Tips and FAQs

• Let the salad sit: After an hour or two, the vegetables and fruits will soak up the dressing a bit, making the salad even more flavorful.
• If you're short on time, you can just add the peanuts into the salad without cooking them. It will still be great.
• Be sure to chop everything into small slices or pieces. This will help ensure each bite is evenly packed with each ingredient, and will make this salad a true spoon salad that doesn't need a fork.

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