Treat yourself with this Weight Watchers edamame salad!

I was that girl. That girl who would bring “steam-in-bag” frozen edamame to her college classes and happily munch away. I mean, wouldn’t you if the studio next to yours had a convenient little microwave!? I’m not one to miss out on those kinds of opportunities…

Edamame is another one of those foods I didn’t try until I was an adult. In fact, I began eating it to help with some health problems I was facing back in the day. When I was about 17 years old I started losing spots of hair throughout my head – especially around my hairline, that to this day hasn’t fully grown back.

Coincidentally, this was also around the time when I was crazy strict about my diet and eating little to no red meats (if any meat at all)! As a result, I became very anemic and had totally wonky protein levels, not to mention fainting spells every few weeks. Shocker!! 

To avoid taking an iron or omega-3 supplement (I still have meltdowns over swallowing pills) I was set on researching a bunch of high iron foods that would maybe help with my hair loss. Surprise! Edamame was one of the recommended foods that actually sounded good to me (I wasn’t quite on the spinach bandwagon back then, and I’m still not on the salmon one).

Benefits of Edamame & SmartPoints

One cup of edamame has about 3.5 mg of iron, 18.46 g of protein, plus a TON of potassium. Like, more than bananas. I’ve never been more sold on a food in my life (although protein ice creams are a close second!).

From that point on I’ve been buying frozen edamame beans and eating them “straight up.” Six years of plain beans. Don’t get me wrong, they’re fantastic, but I think it’s finally time to shake things up! Cue this refreshing, summery edamame salad that works great as a side or a main dish, depending on your hunger levels 😉

Did I mention it’s only 0 Weight Watcher’s SmartPoints? Many edamame salads out there contain oils or cheeses that really add up, so my goal was to create a dish that was point free without sacrificing flavor. Plus, if you do have the points to spare, this salad serves as a great base to pile some more goodies too! Keep reading for the recipe details regarding this Weight Watchers Edamame Salad, and feel free to tweak as necessary (the beauty of 0 SP foods)! Enjoy <3

Weight Watchers Edamame Salad

Serves: 3 | Time: 25 min | SmartPoints: 0 on Purple and Blue, 6 on Green

Ingredients: 

• 2 cups edamame, shelled
• 1/3 cup lemon juice
• 1 cup corn, canned, frozen, or fresh
• 1 cup cherry tomatoes
• 1/2 cucumber
• fresh basil & parsley, as desired
• 1/4 cup finely chopped red onion
• 1 clove minced garlic (I may have used more… 😉
• sea salt & cracked pepper

Instructions:

1. Steam or microwave frozen edamame & corn (if canned/frozen). Put cooked edamame and corn in a colander and rinse under water to cool down. 
2. Chop up the cucumber, tomatoes & onion. Mince the garlic, basil, & parsley. 
3. Once the edamame and corn are cooled, mix all ingredients into a medium-sized bowl. Add the lemon juice, sea salt, & pepper and stir in with the veggies. 
4. Cover & place in refrigerator to chill (optional) and serve!