Can Dogs Eat Edamame?

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Now this is one question I rarely ever get asked. I bet that when you ran a quick search yourself to find the answer to this question, you didn’t run across that many resources besides this article, in comparison to what you would usually get with more popular human foods like bananas, apples and watermelon (just to name a few).

So, let’s jump right into it. Can dogs eat edamame? Or is edamame bad for dogs to eat?

Why Is Feeding Dogs Edamame Not So Popular?

That’s because there aren’t that much dog owners out there that think about feeding their dogs edamame, but obviously you are, and this article is here to explain everything you need to know! 🙂

Since edamame isn’t that popular around the world, let’s give a quick introduction about what edamame really is.

Edamame beans are most popularly served in China, Japan, Korea and Hawaii. They’re essentially immature soybeans (green in color) boiled or steamed in their pod and then served for whoever wants to eat.

While certainly more popular among populations of certain parts of the world than others, you’re here reading this article (no matter where you’re from), so let’s get to the answer!

Can Dogs Eat Edamame?

Now, to answer the question of whether or not dogs can safely eat edamame – YES, dogs can eat edamame! Dogs love the feel of crunchy food like edamame, so that’s a positive on the side as well.

Edamame poses no toxicity risk to your dog nor does it have negative health effects on their bodies if they eat some, so the coast is clear.

The Problem With Edamame Being A Not-So-Common Food

In comparison to to other human foods that pop up in people’s minds every now and then when they think about what to feed their dogs, edamame is actually a good choice of food.

However, and given the fact that you’ve probably never ever fed your dog any edamame before (since it isn’t that much of a common human food that people think about giving to their dogs to eat), you have to be careful with how much edamame you feed your dog for the first time.

At first, only feed your dog 1-2 edamame beans and observe if they show any adverse reactions to them.

Anytime you change up your dog’s diet or introduce a new food to their diet that their digestive system isn’t used to dealing with on a frequent basis, there’s always the chance that your dog’s digestive system might not accept that food or that dietary change.

So, you have to go about it gradually at first.

How Much Edamame Can Dogs Eat?

If your dog doesn’t show any adverse reactions to eating 1-2 edamame beans at first, then there’s most probably nothing to worry about, and you can continue to feed them moderate amounts of edamame from time to time (5 edamame beans from time to time).

Remember that there’s no real need for your dog to eat edamame, as dogs don’t really need to eat human foods, the bulk of their diet should come from dog food made for them and them only.

But, if you notice any sort of behavioral change or symptom like diarrhea, excessive gas or vomiting in your dog after you feed them 1-2 edamame beans at first, then it’s probably best that you forget about giving Fido this food ever again.

Your dog getting excessive gas is most likely only to happen if you feed them a large amount of edamame all at once, but behavioral changes or diarrhea/vomiting can very well take place even with very small amounts of edamame being fed to them.

Either way, don’t be too sad, it’s not like your dog really NEEDS to eat edamame in the first place. 🙂

How Can Dogs Eat Edamame?

The Different Forms Of Edamame For Your Dog

Before diving in the details of what forms of edamame your dog can eat, it must first be made clear that the only part of the edamame your dog should be eating is the edamame bean.

Remove any edamame shell and don’t feed that to your dog.

You can choose to feed your dog fresh, raw edamame (eating them raw won’t pose any toxicity danger to your dog, as long as you properly wash it beforehand, so you’ve got nothing to worry about), cooked edamame, baked edamame or frozen edamame.

Out of these options, you’re probably best off feeding your dog cooked edamame only because they won’t really enjoy eating hard beans, which is what edamame is like when it’s in its raw form.

(Note: If your dog can tolerate eating raw edamame beans and actually enjoys it, you’re more than free to feed theme these edamame beans. Just remember to remove the edamame shell first).

If you choose to feed your dog cooked edamame, be careful not to treat it as a dish you’re going to serve to a person.

Edamame For Dogs & Seasonings

People usually like to add salt and seasonings like pepper to the edamame when serving it to others, but this practice is something you should NEVER do if you’re giving edamame for your dog to eat.

Follow the instructions posted on the edamame bag you get from the grocery store/supermarket when you want to boil or steam them to feed your dog (or yourself for that matter).

As we’ve already covered in numerous articles that talk about what foods dogs can and can’t eat on this website, seasonings and salt have very bad effects on your dog’s health.

Mixing Edamame With Dog Food

Besides giving your dog a few cooked edamame beans on their own to eat, you can mash some cooked edamame beans with your dog’s food to give it a better taste (or a new taste).

I’d just make sure that my dog actually likes edamame beans to begin with, because the last thing you want to do is to have to throw all that dog food away after it’s been mashed up with something your dog despises. It’s too late to undo that by then!

Why Is Edamame Good For Dogs?

Even though the health benefits of your dog eating edamame are greatly diminished and can’t be compared to the health benefits that you and I get from eating edamame, as we’re comparing two vastly different digestions mechanisms here, here are some of the following health benefits that edamame could offer your dog.

Edamame is good for dogs because it:

Provides fairly high levels of excellent-quality protein that your dog needs in their diet

Is fairly high in fiber, actually making it one of the highest fibrous human foods you could ever feed your dog as a treat.

Is fairly high in the good kind of fat that you often find in raw nuts like almonds, which is polyunsaturated fats. The bad kind of fat that would be the nemesis of polyunsatured fats is saturated fats, which is found in neglligible amounts in edamame.