Naan – Indian Flatbread
This from-scratch Naan (Indian Flatbread) is great for scooping up sauce and rice and it makes a perfect accompaniment to just about any meal.
There is nothing better than eating a plateful of this butter chicken (or this curry or this curry or this curry, for that matter) with a piece of fluffy, delicious naan by your side.
Naan is a simple Indian flatbread that is perfect for scooping up sauce and rice and it makes a perfect accompaniment to just about any meal, Indian or not.
Plus, we love to use the leftovers to make mini-pizzas. Not exactly staying true to traditional Indian food, but delicious nonetheless.
I have an old recipe for naan, but to be truthful, the recipe I’m posting today (that I’ve made at least six or seven times in the last couple of months) completely blows it out of the water. Tender, light and buttery, this naan is irresistible.
If you are afraid of yeast, please – don’t be! Naan (and other flatbreads) is a great place to start if you are a newbie to working with yeast. Check out this tutorial for some helps, as well as the recipe instructions below that include directions for using either active dry or instant yeast.
Also, you can email me at any time with questions on working with yeast.
My lifelong goal is to make bread/yeast/dough experts out of all of us!
FAQs for Naan Indian Flatbread
Yes!
Yes, I freeze them all the time!
You can turn a cookie sheet upside down in the oven, or cook the naan on in a frying pan on the stove.
Yes, I’ve doubled it with great success!
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Two Years Ago: Perfect Lemon Cake
Three Years Ago: Chocolate Mint Brownies
Naan – Indian Flatbread
Ingredients
- 3-4 cups (426 to 568 g) all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon active dry or instant yeast
- 1 ½ cups milk
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 3-4 tablespoons, melted butter
Instructions
- Pour the milk into a liquid measure and heat in the microwave until warm to the touch (about 110 degrees F on an instant-read thermometer). If using active dry yeast, mix the sugar and yeast into the milk and let it sit for 4-5 minutes until the mixture is foamy and the yeast has activated. Once the yeast/milk mixture is foamy, pour the mixture into a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer and add the salt and 2 1/2 cups of the flour (proceed with the second paragraph of the recipe). If using instant yeast, pour the warm milk into a large bowl or the bowl of an electric stand mixer. Add the sugar, instant yeast, salt and 2 1/2 cups of the flour. Proceed as directed below.
- Mix well to combine. Continue adding flour gradually in small amounts, until a soft dough is formed that cleans the sides of the bowl. Knead the dough by mixer or hand until it is smooth and elastic, about 3-5 minutes in the mixer or 10 minutes by hand.
- Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl and let it rest at room temperature, covered lightly with greased plastic wrap, for about 2 hours.
- After the dough has rested, turn it onto a lightly floured surface (I like to use my roul’pat for this) and divide the dough into 12 equal pieces, rounding each into a ball shape. Cover the pieces with a towel and let them rest for 30 minutes. While the dough rests, preheat your oven to 500 degrees F and place a pizza stone on the bottom rack of the oven. (If you don’t have a pizza stone, try grilling the dough on a lightly oiled outdoor grill or use a hot griddle to bake the naan – you’ll have to experiment with cooking times but I’ve seen either of those methods used with cooking naan also.)
- Once the dough has rested for 30 minutes, one by one, roll each piece into a circle about 6-8 inches wide, depending on how thin or thick you want your naan. Lay the circle of dough on the hot pizza stone and spritz lightly with water. Close the oven and bake the naan for 2-4 minutes, until it is lightly puffed (some pieces will puff more than others) and brown spots begin to appear on the top. Remove the naan from the baking stone and place on a cooling rack. Brush lightly with melted butter. Stack the hot naan on top of each other as it comes out of the oven. Cover with a towel and let the naan cool completely or serve warm.
Notes
Recommended Products
Recipe Source: adapted slightly from Evil Shenanigans
125 Comments on “Naan – Indian Flatbread”
A fantastic accompaniment to your Indian Butter Chicken recipe. So yummy! Cooked on a griddle over Med-high heat and it worked perfectly. Would recommend to a friend.
Have you ever tried replacing half of the flour with whole wheat flour? Just wondering if it would work.
Yes, it works great!
So good! My preschooler helped make this and then devoured two pieces. We rolled this to about 6 inches. We didn’t need to flour our pastry mat at all. We did sprinkle garlic lightly on some pieces.
We had tons of leftover curry so I decided to make this recipe. Unfortunately, I didn’t take into account the two hour rising time, and ended up just letting it rise for one hour, so that we could eat before kids’ bedtime. What came out of the oven wasn’t naan. It was the yummiest, puffiest pitas I’ve ever tasted. They were seriously amazing. So the next time I needed to make pitas, I used this recipe and, once again, let it rise for only an hour. I got amazing puffy pitas, just like the last time. Each one of them had a huge wonderful pocket. I’ll have to actually follow the recipe and make naan one of these days, but until then, I’m loving the pita
Could I cook these on the stove in a cast iron frying pan?
Yes!
I made this the other night and it was amazing! I will def be making it again! It did split my pizza stone in two though. I think it was because I was only cooking one naan at a time. Next time I will remove my top oven rack and cook 3-4 pieces of naan at a time. Great recipe!
To clarify, do you use 1/2 tsp of active dry or instant yeast? I didn’t think they substituted out equally?
I’ve just made this recipe and used 1/2 tsp of active dry, but it didn’t get as foamy as my yeast normally does. I went ahead with the recipe but the dough didn’t rise very much.
I use the same amount of either. It may not get as foamy when being proofed in milk
That usually happens when your yeast isn’t viable anymore. Try it again with fresh yeast. I think you’ll love this recipe. It’s my favorite.
We are dairy free, I could sub plant milk but curious if water would work?
Thanks!
Yes, I think so (the bread will have a different texture and flavor)
Thank you! This was yummy! I felt like an over achiever tonight. My naan was a little on the tough side. Would that be due to over flouring or cooking too long? I cooked them in the oven for 3 minutes on the pizza stone. I also would up the salt for next time (this is more for me to remember!).
It can be due to both – if the dough was soft and pliable and easy to roll out it’s probably due to overcooking a bit.
This was really yummy and fairly easy.
BUT WORD OF CAUTION: I spritzed the water (it was room temperature) as directed and on the fifth naan, my pizza stone cracked and broke in half 🙁
So while I’ll probably make this again, I’ll skip the water spritzing. As well as upping the salt to 1.5-2 tsp.
Delicious naan Mel! No more store bought naan for me.
I love this recipe and make it all the time! But now I need to make a dairy free batch. What would you recommend substituting for the milk and butter?
Maybe try almond milk and coconut oil?
I just made these dairy free with plain almond milk and vegan butter-turned out great!
We have a very large family so I doubled the recipe. I love to let my dough rise overnight when I can, so I made the dough the night before, placed it in a large covered container and let it chill/rise overnight in the fridge. About 3-4 hours beforehand, I took it out to let it come to room temperature, punched it down, divided it up into 24 pieces then proceeded along with the recipe. And even though I have a baking stone I cooked mine on my (outdoor) 36″ griddle because I could fit more on there at a time and get them done in only 2 batches since I had so many to make. These are insanely delicious and the very best Naan recipe I have ever made! Definitely a keeper, thank you!!!
Thank you for your tips on how to adjust for a big family!!
Hi Mel! Have you ever frozen these finished beauties? I’d love to make your Indian Butter Chicken on vacation but I don’t want to wait on the rising and I’m worried about transporting the dough. Thanks Mel!
Yes, I freeze them all the time. Works great!
Soft, fluffy and delicious!
i’ve made this recipe several times, its excellent and my go-to whenever we are having indian food and want an extra side. its great. i often use some whole wheat flour…..still great. this last time, i subbed kefir for the milk, still great! i was excited for another use for kefir.
Oh, that’s great about the kefir!
I have made this recipe a number of times and it has always turned out successful! I love this recipe, its way better then store bought and I love that the dough freezes so well (which I’ve done on several occasions). I prefer cooking on a pizza stone (I usually do 2 at a time and since I serve dinner for 2-4 people regularly its a cinch and takes just a few minutes). I’ve also successfully cooked on a skillet on the stovetop, which was faster but I liked that in the oven I didn’t have to flip them. Thank you so much for this wonderful recipe! If it wasn’t for your great tutorial I might have never tried to make my own naan.
Made these a few nights ago…they turned out ok. First off, I’m pretty sure I slightly over floured the dough. It was still very soft, but not at all sticky. Then I only let the dough rest for about an hour and a half the first rest. (Didn’t have enough time for the full rest) I cooked them on my pizza stone at 500 degrees. It took me an hour to cook them all and opening and closing my ice a million times was a pain and made my house so hot! After all of that they puffed nicely, but turned out too chewy and quite dry. Disappointing. However, I may be willing to try the recipe again, but cook them on my griddle instead.
Finally planned ahead enough for this recipe, and though it created some fighting over servings at our 9 person dinner table, it was WORTH IT!!–so delicious!!–also, since our pizza stone is about 3 years misplaced, I tried our cast iron skillet in the 500 degree oven, and it worked like a charm!!–I put a Tb of veg. oil in right before, and it lasted through the whole batch beautifully!
I’ve made this several times over the past few months, and it turns out great. Thanks for the recipe! Like someone already mentioned, I “bake” these on the stovetop, in a nonstick frying pan (or, skillet, if you prefer) at medium-high heat. I also use high-gluten flour when I have it, and find this produces better results. The dough is easier to stretch/shape.
I’ve made this a couple times when we have mulligatawny for dinner. It is so delicious! Mine doesn’t get brown spots like yours pictured, but it still tastes so good. Very simple recipe- definitely a keeper! Thank you!
Mmmmmmmm!!! I made this naan tonight and served it with a chicken curry recipe that my family has been loving on for years. I was so excited at how well it was turning out as I was making it! I was nervous about opening and closing that hot of an oven so much with my 2-year-old running around (and hubby not home from work yet), so I made it on my electric griddle, as you had suggested as an option. My griddle is a larger size and goes to 400 degrees, and that worked perfectly. I could cook 3 at a time, and each batch took about 3 minutes total (I flipped once). They puffed up beautifully. I LOVE Indian food and am just sad that it took me so long to finally give this a try. And I am totally going to make little pizzas with the leftovers. Thanks Mel!
Thank you for your “Tutorial on Yeast”.
I have spent much time, trying to Proof or Foam my yeast. Testing and re-testing.
Yes, I found it is Instant Yeast. ONLY your comments showed my the difference.
Thank you.
My family snarfed these down as fast as pulled them off of the pizza stone. We ate them with Indian Butter Chicken, such a yummy change from typical winter dinner food.
Awesome! I had to cut the first rest down by an hour and I put butter on them after they came off the pan. Best thing I’ve made yet! Went awesome with our chicken curry.
These were fabulous!!! I made these with a spicy Curried Quinoa. I should have left them in an extra min, but even taking them out a min early they were delicious and easy to make. Thanks for sharing.
This is a great recipe! I let the yeast (activated dry) and sugar activate in the milk for a long time -about half an hour- as my yeast was a bit old. I grilled the naan outside, and I learned that I needed to absolutely flatten the dough before grilling, or it would rise a bit too much and end up a bit doughy. I put two crushed cloves of fresh garlic in the melted butter before brushing it over the naan, and it was fantastic! Thanks for sharing the recipe.
Any luck using whole wheat flour for half or part, Mel? Thanks!!
Ella – I’ve used half whole wheat flour with great results!
Just found your website……made your unbelievable choc cake and naan….all winners. You have been bookmarked. Thank you for your recipes.
Can you freeze the dough? At what stage would you freeze the dough and how (plastic wrap then ziplock bag it?). Thanks : )
Kim – I haven’t tried freezing this dough but I’m guessing you probably could since most yeast doughs freeze pretty well. I’d probably freeze after the first rise. Punch it down and place the dough in a lightly greased freezer ziploc bag.
I love this bread! I just made it for dinner tonight and tried one – it was delicious! I baked it on a cast iron skillet and it turned out just fine. I’ll be eating it with Carne Guisada tonight, and I can’t wait!
This sounds excellent. If I don’t have a pizza stone, can I use another kind of bakeware like a cookie sheet? If not, I might have to just invest in a pizza stone..
Ana – I’ve only ever used a pizza stone but I’ve heard that you can turn a baking sheet upside down and preheat that the same way and use it. Good luck if you try it!
I love this recipe! I needed the oven for the Cajun Curry Chicken I was serving this with, plus I didn’t want to heat up my whole house in the middle of summer, so I made mine on an electric griddle. They cooked up perfectly. I couldn’t believe how chewy they were! We ate the leftovers as personal mini pizzas (using your recipe for pizza sauce). Oh my. They were crazy good! I am going to bake up a whole batch right now, simply to throw in my freezer for instant pizzas whenever I want them.
Mel Mel Mel, oh how I love this bread. I made it a few years ago, but only once. Tonight I made your coconut curry shrimp and this bread…oh my! It was a really yummy dinner other than the fact that I paid a dollar per ounce of shrimp…YIKES (I will do chicken next time unless it is for a special occasion). This naan is just so chewy, soft, and yummy! Tomorrow I’m trying your coconut rice with the grilled coconut chicken you recently posted! It’s been a while since I’ve posted! Love your site!
My husband made this and it’s a hit! He likes to put honey on his naan and I ate a couple with strawberry jam. We are going to make the rest into personal pizzas!
Mel – love your blog! I think my preschooler would love to make his own pizza using this flat bread. When you make pizzas with it what is your cooking temp/time? Thanks!
Hi Sarah – I just heat my broiler to 475 (if your broiler is just lo or high, preheat to high) and cook until the cheese is hot and melted. It’s pretty easy! Keep an eye on it, though, since food can burn easily under the broiler.
Jeana – sure, I think you could use a normal baking sheet (just turn it upside down and use the flat bottom side). I think a few commenters said they even cooked the naan on a griddle or in a skillet on the stove. Over medium heat (on a really hot skillet or griddle) and 3 minutes per side would probably do the trick.
Hello! I don’t have a pizza stone or a griddle or anything like that. Would it be possible to use a regular baking sheet in the oven? Or perhaps do the naan in a skillet on the range? I have never made bread of any kind before, so I’m completely clueless. 🙂
Linnea – I don’t have a bread machine so I’m not really familiar with how much dough can fit in one and all the settings so I can’t tell you for sure but if you are nervous about doing it by hand then by all means try it. Good luck!
I am like my Mom, I kill yeast. With that in mind, is it possible to use my bread machines dough setting to get the dough for this? I am willing to do it by hand but living in such humidity makes yeast tricky, or so it seems. Thanks
We just made your old recipe for “naan” bread. I did not have time to let it raise. I put everything into my bread machine and set it on dough and let it do it thing. I finished the rest of our dinner—sad faces—no curry tonight, but I wanted a bread and so tried this. I pulled it out after 30 minutes; divided the dough; let it rest for 10 minutes; and then shaped it for cooking. I did have my stone preheating so I let the shaped naan raise about 10 more minutes while we set the table and put things out. Just before sitting down I put the first three into bake. It was wonderful. I didn’t even have to ask if the family liked it. We had honey and butter which we put into the pockets—yummy. Thanks for sharing. The crumb was chewy, while the crust was tender.
I kind of had to smash them down to get them to deflate. I would bet I added too much flour, they’re kind of soft on the inside, but not chewy throughout. Thanks for the recipe though!!
So I made this tonight, and it’s very delicious – however I noticed that it was less chewy and it puffed up a TON once in the oven. I’m pretty familiar with my oven, and I wasn’t expecting it to be so huge. Any thoughts?
Bethany – did it deflate like normal after it came out of the oven (even after over-puffing)? I’m not sure what would have caused it, to be honest. If it wasn’t very chewy, my guess is the dough might have been overfloured – was the dough pretty stiff or still on the soft, slightly sticky side of things?
Thank you for the advice! I will try that next time.
Jenn – when I’ve used my griddle to bake this and other flatbreads, I don’t use oil at all since my griddle has a nonstick surface. Eliminating the oil or cooking spray would probably help with the smoke issue.
Over all very taste! We will make this again. But I have a few questions about preparing this on the stove top. I first tried to heat a fry pan with cooking spray and cook them on that, then when that didn’t work I tried using oil only to have that burn them and smoke out the kitchen. Thankfully my husband came home and was able to use the grill outside while I finished the rest of dinner inside. We lost a few during the process but the ones cooked on the grill were great. Any recommendations for using a griddle or fry pan?
I love to cut them horizontally and put butter and shredded farmers cheese!! It is so so good!!! Even better with sheep milk cheese, now that is really irresistible!
Dena – baking at 450 will be fine. Just watch the baking time – you may not need to add any additional time.