Thai Quinoa Edamame Salad

This Instant Pot Thai Edamame Salad is full of nutty quinoa, cucumbers, carrots, red cabbage, and a savory soy sauce-based dressing. It’s a perfect chilled salad for the summer. 

Why You’ll Love This Recipe: This vegetarian salad is satisfying and family-friendly, thanks to Instant Pot quinoa and a rich dressing made with sesame oil, soy sauce, and ginger.

We’ve been making this hearty, savory chilled salad for years now, and we know it will be as big a hit with your family as it is with ours! It’s delicious served alongside Instant Pot Make-Ahead BBQ Chicken Legs, No-Grill Instant Pot Hamburgers, and Instant Pot Peanut-Lime Chicken Thighs.

This is one of our go-to Instant Pot side dish recipes for the summer. We use our foolproof method for cooking perfect quinoa in the Instant Pot, plus tons of colorful veggies. What’s not to love?

Update: We first adapted this recipe from a Foodie Crush dish years ago, and now we’ve updated the post with new tips and photos to help you make this salad all summer.

INGREDIENTS YOU NEED

Here’s what you need for the fresh Thai Edamame Salad:

• Quinoa. We use white quinoa, but any color will work. 
• Vegetables. This salad gets its bright color from a mix of carrots, cucumbers, edamame, green onions, and red cabbage. 
• Soy sauce. You can use low-sodium to control the seasoning better. 
• Lime. We recommend freshly squeezed lime juice for the best flavor. 
• Sugar. Just a touch sweetens up and balances out the dressing. 
• Ginger. Freshly grated ginger will give you a delicious pop of spice that’s not too hot. 
• Sesame oil. This adds a round, nutty flavor to your dressing. 
• Red pepper flakes. You can leave these out if you don’t like spice. 
• Peanuts. These add crunch and saltiness to the top of your salad.
• Herbs. We love adding fresh cilantro and basil to brighten up the top of the dish. 

How to Make Thai Edamame Salad in an Instant Pot

✅ This easy recipe will work in any brand of electric pressure cooker, including the Instant Pot, Ninja Foodi, or Power Pressure Cooker XL.

This recipe starts with cooking quinoa in the Instant Pot. Use our simple pot-in-pot method to cook the grains in a 7-inch round pan for four minutes at high pressure. When it’s done, fluff the quinoa with a fork, and remove it from the pot to let it cool a bit for the salad. 

When you’re ready to assemble the salad, combine the cooled quinoa with all of the veggies in a serving bowl. In a separate dish, make the dressing by whisking together the oy sauce, lime juice, sugar, vegetable oil, sesame oil, and red pepper flakes until the sugar is fully dissolved and the dressing is uniform. 

You can add more of any of the ingredients if you’d like to amp up one flavor or another, such as more sesame oil for nuttiness and richness, more lime for acidity, or more soy sauce for saltiness. 

Pour the dressing over the quinoa and edamame salad, give it a toss, and garnish the bowl with peanuts, cilantro, and basil. Enjoy!

Important Tips for Making Thai Edamame Salad

• Make sure to rinse your quinoa well before cooking. Otherwise, it can taste very bitter. Though you can buy prewashed quinoa, we recommend rinsing that too just in case. No one wants a bitter-tasting salad!
• If you don’t like sesame oil or can’t eat it, you can use a neutral oil like avocado or vegetable instead. 
• Feel free to leave out the peanuts or replace them with salted cashews for a peanut-free option. 
• We recommend shredding or very finely slicing the vegetables so everything mixes together nicely and is easy to serve and eat with a fork. 

Frequently Asked Questions about Quinoa and Edamame Salad

MORE Instant Pot Salad Recipes

You might be surprised by how many chilled and light salads you can make using your pressure cooker, including:

• Quick Instant Pot Potato Salad is a summer BBQ classic made with tender steamed potatoes, eggs, and mayo. 
• Instant Pot Cilantro Lime Chicken Taco Salad is a Tex-Mex-inspired dish topped with cheese, sour cream, and diced fresh veggies. 
• Instant Pot Egg Salad uses an egg loaf to cook all the eggs at one time so they’re easy to chop into bite-sized pieces for this chilled picnic-ready dish. 

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Thai Quinoa Salad

Servings: 8 servings

Prep Time: 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 1 minute minute

Additional Time: 20 minutes minutes

Total Time: 31 minutes minutes

Course: Side Dish

Cuisine: Asian

This Instant Pot Thai Edamame Salad is made with hearty quinoa, fresh veggies like cucumbers, carrots, and cabbage, plus a savory soy-based dressing.

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Equipment

• Bob’s Red Mill Organic Tri-Color Quinoa Grain, 13 Oz
• Kuhn Rikon Silicone Rainbow Whisk, 8-Inch

Ingredients

• 1 cup quinoa well rinsed and drained
• 1 1/2 cups water
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 carrot peeled and shredded
• 1 cucumber chopped
• 1 cup frozen edamame thawed
• 6 green onions chopped
• 2 cups shredded red cabbage
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1/4 cup lime juice
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger
• 1 tablespoon sesame oil
• pinch of red pepper flakes
• 1/2 cup peanuts chopped
• 1/4 cup freshly chopped cilantro
• 2 tablespoons chopped basil

Instructions

• Add quinoa, water, and salt to the pressure cooking pot. Select high pressure and 1 minute cook time. When the cook time ends, allow the pressure to release naturally for 10 minutes, then use a Quick Pressure Release. Remove the quinoa from the pot and let cool.
• Add the cooled quinoa and vegetables to a large bowl.
• In a small bowl, whisk together the soy sauce, lime juice, sugar, vegetable oil, sesame oil and red pepper flakes until the sugar has dissolved. Taste for sweetness and for heat and add more sugar or red pepper flakes to taste.
• Pour the dressing over the quinoa and vegetables and stir to combine. Sprinkle the cilantro, basil and peanuts over the salad and stir lightly. Serve or refrigerate for up to a day.

Notes

*Chill time not accounted for in the total time.

Nutrition

Serving: 1g | Calories: 169kcal | Carbohydrates: 17g | Protein: 7g | Fat: 10g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 7g | Sodium: 300mg | Fiber: 4g | Sugar: 6g

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