How much protein in edamame? Grams by serving form

The protein in edamame runs about 18 g per cooked, shelled cup, for roughly 190 calories. Unlike most plant foods, its amino acid profile is complete. Measured in the pod, that same cup gives about half as much — pods aren't edible.

How much protein in edamame, serving by serving

Figures are for frozen edamame, prepared — steamed or boiled. Fresh soybeans land in the same range.

• 1 cup shelled, cooked (155 g) — about 18 g protein, ~190 calories. This is what a recipe means by "a cup of edamame."
• ½ cup shelled, cooked (~78 g) — about 9 g protein, ~95 calories. The serving size printed on many frozen bags.
• 100 g shelled, cooked — about 12 g protein. Use this if you weigh food; a 12 oz (340 g) bag of shelled beans carries roughly 42 g in total.
• 1 cup in the pod — about 8–9 g protein. The shell is most of what's in the cup by weight, and none of it is food.
• 1 oz (28 g) dry-roasted edamame — about 13 g protein, ~130 calories. Roasting drives off water, so the grams concentrate. Brands differ by a gram or two; read the panel.

That puts edamame protein per cup level with cooked lentils, at fewer calories. Roughly 8 g of fiber and 8 g of fat ride along per cup, most of the fat unsaturated.

Pods make the package look better than the plate

In-pod bags and restaurant appetizers are sold by pod weight, and the pod is inedible — you eat the bean and toss the shell. Shelled beans come to roughly half the weight of the pods they arrived in, so a cup of pods yields about a half cup of beans: 8–9 g of protein, not 18.

Labels diverge here: some in-pod brands print the shelled-equivalent serving; others print gross pod weight, and the two can differ by a factor of two. Only roasting changes that, by driving off water.

Edamame protein vs chickpeas, peas, and a whey scoop

Total grams reward whatever you eat most of. Grams per calorie is the more useful test, and it's where edamame separates from the legume shelf.

Food (cooked, 1 cup unless noted)	Protein	Calories	Protein per 100 cal
Edamame, shelled	~18 g	~190	~9.5 g
Lentils	~18 g	~230	~7.8 g
Chickpeas	~14.5 g	~270	~5.4 g
Green peas	~8.5 g	~135	~6.3 g
Whey powder, 1 scoop (~30 g)	~24 g	~120	~20 g

Only the powder wins outright — it's protein with the food removed. Among things you actually chew, close to 10 g per 100 calories is rare: almonds, the default "healthy" snack, run about 6 g per ounce at 165 calories, under 4 g per 100. That gap is why a bowl of edamame holds up as a snack and a handful of nuts doesn't.

A complete protein, which is rare on the plant side

Soybeans supply all nine essential amino acids in amounts that meet adult requirements, and edamame is the soybean picked young. Methionine sits lowest against the reference pattern but stays adequate at normal intakes, and soy scores near the top of the plant range on digestibility-corrected measures.

What matters at the table is lysine, which soy has in quantity and grains don't. Rice, noodles or bread plus edamame closes that gap inside one meal, no deliberate pairing required. Most other plant-side complete protein foods are also soy — tofu, tempeh, soy milk — with quinoa and buckwheat the usual exceptions, worth knowing when you build meals from plant-based protein sources.

Counting it toward the day's total

Two decisions settle the number: shelled or in-pod, cooked or raw weight. Log shelled and cooked — that's what the 18 g figure describes. Working from a pod bag, weigh the empty pods once, subtract, and reuse that ratio.

The other leak is portion drift. Edamame leaves the freezer in handfuls, and three handfuls across an evening is a genuine 25–30 g of protein that usually goes unrecorded. Saving it as a food you log by the cup, instead of re-estimating each time, is what Protein Tracker, a protein tracking app for iPhone, is for: the entry exists once, and a cup is a tap after that.

Set against a target — most training guidance lands between roughly 1.6 and 2.2 g per kg of body weight, covered in how much protein per day — a cup of edamame is a real block of the day, not a garnish.

FAQ

How much protein is in 1 cup of edamame?

About 18 g in a cooked, shelled cup (155 g), with roughly 190 calories and 8 g of fiber alongside it. A cup measured in the pod yields close to half that, because only the beans are food.

Is edamame higher in protein than chickpeas?

Yes, per cup and per calorie. Cooked chickpeas give about 14.5 g per cup at 270 calories; edamame gives about 18 g at 190. Chickpeas win on price and pantry life, not on density.

Does roasted edamame have more protein?

Per ounce, considerably — around 13 g versus about 3.5 g for the same weight of steamed beans, since roasting removes the water. Per calorie the two are nearly identical, so roasted packs aren't denser protein so much as easier to overeat.

How much edamame do I need for 30 g of protein?

Roughly 1⅔ cups shelled and cooked, about 260 g. That's a little over 2 ounces of the dry-roasted kind, or more than 3 cups measured in the pod.

Is edamame as good a protein source as whey?

For completeness, close — soy-family protein is well absorbed and covers all nine essentials. Whey is denser per calorie and carries more leucine, which matters most around training. Across a full day's intake the practical difference is small.