Learn how to Make Natto at home three ways with this easy step-by-step recipe!
Ways to Enjoy Natto (COMING SOON!)
- How to Eat Natto
- Natto Monjayaki
- Natto Kimchi Don
- Natto Bibimbap
- Natto Mochi
- Natto Jiru
If you recreate this Natto recipe let me know how you liked it by leaving a comment and rating below or by tagging me on Instagram @Okonomikitchen, I love seeing all of your tasty recreations!
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How to Make Natto
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Total Time: 45 minutes
- Yield: 2 cups 1x
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Learn how to Make Natto at home three ways with this easy step-by-step recipe!
Ingredients
Natto from scratch (bacteria starter)
- 0.1g Natto Bacillus bacteria starter
- 380g dry soy beans
Natto from frozen pack
- 1 pack of frozen natto (or 60g from previous natto)
- ~380g dry soy beans
- 1 tbsp filtered water
Natto from previous batch
- ~400g cooked soy beans
- 60g natto from previous batch
Instructions
- Soak the soy beans overnight– it should expand and look plump.
- Discard the water and then cook the soy beans in an instant pot, pressure cooker or over the stove until tender.
- Lay cling wrap on a tray or shallow tupperware (this step is not essential but helps immensely with the clean up process). Sterilize any utensils and bowl with hot water to remove any bacteria. Drain the soybeans well and then add the soy beans to the tupperware.
- Add 1 tbsp of filtered water into the pack of natto and mix to loosen. Then spread the natto over the soy beans and mix well. If using the starter, sprinkle the starter over and mix. If using previous batch, add the natto and mix well. Cover with paper towel, cling wrap and then elastic bands to secure.
- Place in a yogurt maker, fermentation box or a warm area at 40 C for 24 hours. The next day, place into the fridge and continue to ferment for another 24 hours.
- The natto is complete! Store in the fridge for up to 2 days or transfer to portioned size freezer safe reusable bags or tupperware. When ready to eat, thaw in the fridge and enjoy!
- You can repeat this process maximum 3 times with previous natto. Then you must use the frozen store bought natto (because the bacteria is stronger).
Notes
- Helpful Equipment: instant pot, pressure cooker, shallow tupperwares, fermentation incubator, cooling box
- Nutritional Information Disclaimer: Nutrition information is a rough estimate calculated on an online tool (Cronometer).
- *time does not include fermentation time
- Category: basics
- Method: fermenting
- Cuisine: japanese
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 serving (60g)
- Calories: 120
Keywords: natto, fermented soy beans, how to make natto, homemade natto
SAVE IT FOR LATER! ↓
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Hi Lisa,
Thanks for your recipe. I would like to clarify if we should be using one of these sets of recipes i.e. natto from scratch, natto from frozen pack or natto from previous pack, OR do we use all of them in your recipe?
Thank you!
Hi Crystal,
Yes, just one of the options! 🙂 I hope that clarifies!
I made this using a frozen pack and it turned out soooo good! I already liked the store bought natto but the homemade version is so much creamier and flavorful 🙂 Also a big plus for me: I have a big batch of natto without all that packaging! 😀
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So good and so easy!! Best recipe on the net! I have tried several different Recipes for Natto. Lisa’s is the easiest and best tasting one. The natto has a light nutty flavor and not overly pungent like others.
I love this blog as well as her IG platform! Thank you again! Aloha, Glenn
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How long to cook soybeans using instant pot and how much water to use? Thank you!
Please follow the instructions for cooked beans for the instant pot in the manual! 🙂 There should be a ‘beans’ setting.
Could I use the yogurt setting on the instant pot to keep it warm for 24hrs or is that too high of a heat?
I’ve heard that yogurt settings do work! just be sure it is between 38-40 C.
Hi Lisa, I love your recipe and wanna try out as soon as posible!!
But where I live is very hard to find those ingredients. It’s possible to make a batch from natto that is bought in the store? Like those that are industrialized?
Thank you so much for sharing this recipe!!
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if its store bought it should be fine! 🙂
worked great, used a powdered natto starter and a yoghurt maker and turned out really slimy and yummy just how I wanted 🙂
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So good!! I used the frozen pack and I love that the beans are so plump. The beans imported or from the store can be a bit tiny and dried by the time it flies in from Japan and hits my grocery store 😭 thank you so much for sharing this recipe!!
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I am super excited to try this, question is it says wrap paper towel over it. Isn’t natto sticky, so won’t paper towels stick to it?
Thank you for sharing!!!
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Hi Lisa! Is there a non plastic/cling wrap alternative to cover the beans with during the fermentation process?
No for natto I highly recommend cling wrap. You can opt to use compostic cling wrap!
Hi, I got a packet of natto starter from amazon, and it is 0.1 oz. I just noticed that your recipe calls for 0.1 g. I had used the whole packet. Did I use way too much of the starter?? I used the whole packet. 🙁
It may be too much but it could still turn out. let me know how it went@
Thank you for the recipe . Can I get the same result using cheap peas instead soya beans. ?
Regards
Sergio vinhal
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Would the fluid off the top of store-bought Greek Yogurt work as a starter for natto??
No, unfortunately not 🙁
“You can repeat this process maximum 3 times with previous natto”
In most fermented products, we always can use the previous one as yeast. Why 3 times?
Is it okay if we keep the previous one in the deepfreeze and use it as starter?
When making this recipe double, do you have to double the starter? In wine I just use yeast of 1 packet and it will grow as needed
Hi! I made a batch and used more than 0.1 g of natto starter be it’s just hard to measure😅 when the natto came out of the second fermentation period in the fridge, it was very nice & sticky but not yet as flavorful as store-bought natto. Then I ate it the next day after putting it in the fridge again and all the stickiness was gone! The flavor was great but I really miss the stickiness. Did I use too much of the powder? Or did I do sth else wrong? Like maybe my yoghurtmaker does not work well? Another batch I made right after also came out not sticky. Thank you for your wonderful recipes Lisa!
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