Edamame Salad with Broccoli, Feta & Asparagus

Edamame Salad is a really easy salad to make as all the vegetables can be cooked together in a few minutes. It's great for entertaining as you can make it in advance and serve at room temperature.

It's delicious on its own, with your favourite dressing or as an accompaniment to meat dishes. And, if you can't get an ingredient, it's so easy to switch vegetables depending on what you have to hand.

With only 144 calories for a generous portion, this salad will be your new favourite too!

Bon appétit!   

I love a green salad, but the thought of eating lettuce from spring to autumn is hardly exciting by the time you get to September! It's always good to have some other ideas, using seasonal vegetables, that you can liven things up a bit.

If you normally eat your broccoli, beans and asparagus hot you might not know that these vegetables are delicious cold or just warm too. In fact, on France, it's quite normal to eat lightly cooked vegetables in a salad, with just a vinaigrette for flavouring.

Jump to:

• 🥘 Ingredients
• 🔪 Instructions
• ⏲️ Cooking time
• SUBSTITUTIONS
• 📖 VARIATIONS
• 🍽 EQUIPMENT
• STORAGE
• 🥗 Serve
• FAQ
• More salads
• 📋 Recipe
• FOOD SAFETY
• ⭐ Reviews
• 💬 Comments

🥘 Ingredients

• Edamame beans - depending o where you live you may be able to buy these fresh. They are immature soy beans which resemble a smaller broad bean, but are much sweeter and very tender. Typically they are roasted or steamed in their pods and just served with salt. However, fresh beans do not keep well and I have only bought them as frozen beans in the UK. They just need to be cooked in boiling water like frozen peas.
• Tender stem broccoli or broccolini are widely available in supermarkets.
• Fresh asparagus spears
• Feta cheese - is a brined curd cheese which is also known as salad cheese. This creamy, salty cheese crumbles beautifully over the salad.

🔪 Instructions

Begin by preparing the vegetables.

💭 Top tip

• Rather than just cutting the ends off the asparagus, try bending the spear at the base cut end and it will naturally snap where the woody stem ends.

Slice the asparagus on the diagonal into pieces about 1 inch long.

Trim the broccoli and slice each stem into 2 pieces.

Separate the asparagus tips from the rest of the asparagus. They cook quicker than the rest of the asparagus spear and you still want the vegetable to have a good crunch.

⏲️ Cooking time

Bring a large pan of water to the boil and add the asparagus spears to the pan for 2 minutes.

Add the edamame beans, asparagus tips and broccoli for a further 2 minutes or until the vegetables are just tender.

As soon as the vegetables are cooked drain and place in a large bowl of cold water with 5 or 6 ice cubes. This will stop the cooking process so that the vegetables keep their vibrant colour and don't become soft.

When the ice has melted drain the vegetables well and arrange on a serving dish. Crumble the feta on top.

Mix some natural yogurt with chopped mint for an easy dressing,

SUBSTITUTIONS

• edamame - if you can't get hold of these then use broad beans but slip off the outer pale green skin and use the bright green kernels.
• tender stem broccoli - use purple sprouting broccoli or a normal head of broccoli. Chop large florets into quarters.
• asparagus - it's only a short fresh season in the UK so use frozen asparagus instead. Canned or jarred asparagus will also work. No need to cook, just drain the liquid.
• feta cheese - something similar would be white Stilton or a blue cheese that crumbles well, such as Roquefort.

📖 VARIATIONS

To vary the edamame salad throughout the year try:

• Fresh or frozen French beans, green beans or runner beans
• Shredded kale or young spinach leaves - no need to cook
• Fine slices of raw courgette or cucumber, cut lengthways with a vegetable peeler
• Peas, tinned chickpeas, butter beans etc

🍽 EQUIPMENT

• large saucepan
• vegetable knife
• chopping board

STORAGE

The edamame salad will keep covered in the refrigerator for 3 days.

It is not suitable for freezing.

🥗 Serve

This salad is delicious with roast meats and barbecues served alongside new potatoes. It's great to make in advance if you are entertaining too. Just crumble the cheese over at the last minute.

• Lamb with Pomegranate Molasses
• Picanha Beef
• Slow Roast Belly Pork
• Chicken with Tarragon and Lemon

FAQ

More salads

• Pomegranate Pistachio Cous Cous Salad
• Carrot and Celeriac Remoulade
• Tomato Feta and Oregano Salad
• Tarragon Potato Salad

📋 Recipe

FOOD SAFETY

• Do not use the same utensils on cooked food, that previously touched raw meat.
• Wash hands after touching raw meat.
• Don't leave food sitting out at room temperature for extended periods.
• Never leave cooking food unattended'
• Use oils with high smoking point to avoid harmful compounds.
• Always have good ventilation when using gas.

⭐ Reviews