It’s been almost fifteen years since I first made this homemade naan recipe and it still blows my mind every time! This homemade naan is oh so soft and pillowy, full of lovely bubbles, and just so extremely versatile. Use it for mini pizzas, wrap sandwiches, dipping in stews and sauces, and more! Plus, this naan bread is very freezer-friendly, so it’s well worth the effort to whip up a batch. I promise, you won’t be sorry!
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What is Naan?
Naan is a traditional flatbread made in South and Central Asian countries. It’s has a unique dough made with yogurt, which gives the dough a slightly tangy flavor, and egg, which keeps the dough extra soft and pillowy. Naan is traditionally cooked on the hot clay walls of a tandoor oven, which helps create the deliciously bubbly texture. It’s often used to soak up stews and sauces, but also works great as a base for wrap sandwiches and pizzas.
Ingredients for Naan
This homemade naan recipe is incredibly simple and delicious. Here’s what you’ll need to make it:
- Yeast: You’ll need active dry or instant yeast for this recipe.
- Sugar: A small amount of sugar helps activate and supercharge the yeast, making the bread extra fluffy.
- Flour: I used regular all-purpose flour for this naan recipe, which makes it extra easy. I don’t suggest whole wheat flour for this recipe as it will be too heavy and dense. If needed, you can substitute up to 50% of the AP flour.
- Salt: A little bit of salt is essential to help the natural flavors of the naan pop.
- Olive Oil: Olive oil helps keep the naan dough tender and gives a deliciously subtle flavor.
- Yogurt: Plain yogurt adds a slightly tangy flavor to the dough and help keep the naan bread tender. You can use Greek yogurt, but you may need slightly less flour as there is a lot less moisture in Greek style yogurt. Do not use sweetened or flavored yogurt for this recipe.
- Egg: Egg also helps keep the dough tender and it helps make it just a little more fluffy. If in a pinch, you can skip the egg, but you may need to add less flour as eggs contain a decent amount of moisture.
Naan vs. Pita Bread?
While both types of bread are in the “flatbread” family, they hail from different regions of the world, their dough is comprised of different ingredients, and they are cooked using different methods.
Naan is a traditional flatbread made in South and Central Asian countries and is made with yogurt and egg which make it a little more tender and fluffy. It is traditionally cooked in a clay tandoor oven, which helps produce the bubbled texture.
Pita is found in the Mediterranean Middle East and is made with a very simple dough using just flour, salt, yeast, and olive oil. It has a dryer texture than naan and usually has one large characteristic pocket rather than several smaller bubbles like naan.
What to Serve with Naan
Naan goes great with pretty much anything. You can eat naan alongside a meal to sop up gravies or dip it into sauces, use it to make flatbread “wrap” sandwiches, top it with tomato sauce and cheese for a quick naan pizza, or use it in place of tortillas for quesadillas. Here are some of my favorite ways to eat naan:
- Dip it in homemade hummus
- Use it to soak up curries, like this Creamy Coconut Curried Lentils
- Use it as a base for mini pizzas
- Serve as a side with Curried Ground Beef with Peas and Potatoes
- Or wrap it around meat and vegetables for a wrap sandwich, like these Homemade Chicken Shawarma Wraps
How to Store Leftovers
After cooking this naan recipe, make sure to let it cool completely to prevent condensation. Once cooled, keep your naan in a gallon-sized zip-top bag. The naan will last 1-2 days at room temperature, or about 4-5 days in the refrigerator. You can also freeze naan for longer storage.
To freeze your naan, first let it cool completely at room temperature, then transfer it to a zip-top freezer bag, label and date it, then toss it in the freezer. Try to use up your frozen naan within a few months. Frozen naan bread thaws quickly at room temperature.
How to Make Garlic Naan
It’s really easy to transform the classic naan recipe below into garlic-flavored naan. Simply add about ½ tsp of garlic powder in with the flour and salt, and then after cooking the naan, you’ll want to brush it with some fresh garlic butter. To make the garlic butter, mince a couple of cloves of garlic and then stir them into a few tablespoons of melted butter.
Homemade Naan Recipe
Servings 8Ingredients
Instructions
- In a small bowl, combine the yeast, sugar and warm water. Stir to dissolve then let sit for a few minutes or until it is frothy on top. Once frothy, whisk in the oil, yogurt, and egg until evenly combined.
- In a separate medium bowl, combine 1 cup of the flour with the salt. Next, pour the bowl of wet ingredients to the flour/salt mixture and stir until well combined. Continue adding flour, a half cup at a time, until you can no longer stir it with a spoon (about 1 to 1.5 cups later).
- At that point, turn the ball of dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead the ball of dough for about 3 minutes, adding small amounts of flour as necessary to keep the dough from sticking. You'll end up using between 2.5 to 3 cups flour total. The dough should be smooth and very soft but not sticky. Avoid adding excessive amounts of flour as you knead, as this can make the dough too dry and stiff.
- Loosely cover the dough and let it rise until double in size (about 1 hour). After it rises, gently flatten the dough into a disc and cut it into 8 equal pieces. Shape each piece into a small ball.
- Heat a large, heavy bottomed skillet over medium heat. Working with one ball at a time, roll it out until it is about 1/4 inch thick or approximately 6 inches in diameter. Place the rolled out dough onto the hot skillet and cook until the bottom is golden brown and large bubbles have formed on the surface (see photos below). Flip the dough and cook the other side until golden brown as well. Stack the cooked flat bread on a plate and cover with a towel to keep warm as you cook the remaining pieces. Serve plain or brushed with melted butter and sprinkled with herbs!
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Notes
Nutrition
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There is seriously nothing like a warm piece of naan with melted butter on top… 🤤
How to Make Homemade Naan – Step by Step Photos
Start by dissolving 2 tsp yeast and 1 tsp sugar into 1/2 cup warm water. Let the mixture sit a few minutes, or until it becomes frothy. Meanwhile, measure out 1/3 cup plain yogurt (regular or Greek style), 1/4 cup olive oil, and 1 large egg.
Once the yeast mixture is frothy, whisk the yogurt, oil, and egg into the yeast water until smooth.
In a separate bowl, mix only 1 cup of the flour with 1/2 tsp salt until they’re evenly mixed.
Pour the bowl of wet ingredients to the bowl of dry ingredients and stir well.
Continue adding flour, a half cup at a time, until it forms a cohesive ball of dough that you can no longer stir with a spoon.
Turn the ball of dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 3 minutes. Add small amounts of flour as needed (to keep the dough from sticking) until you have a smooth, very soft ball of dough. I used about 2.75 cups of flour total for the dough. Avoid adding too much flour as you knead because this can make the dough stiff and dry, and prevent the classic bubbles.
Shape the dough into a ball, loosely cover, and let rise until it is double in size (the photo is BEFORE it has risen).
After it has risen, flatten it out slightly and cut it into 8 equal-sized pieces.
Shape each piece into a small, smooth ball.
Heat a skillet over medium flame. While waiting for the skillet to get hot, roll out a ball of dough until it is 1/4 inch thick or about 6 inches in diameter.
Place the rolled-out dough in the hot skillet and cook on one side until large bubbles form and the side touching the skillet is golden brown. The bubbles will start small, like in the photo above, but eventually grow and merge together to form larger bubbles.
Flip the dough over and cook on the second side until golden brown as well. Naan is kind of like pancakes in that the first side is smooth and has relatively even brown marks, while the second side (where the bubbles were), has a different texture or pattern in the browned surface.
Here’s that second side flipped back up so you can see the characteristic browned bubbles.
As the naan come out of the skillet, stack them on a plate and cover them with a clean towel to keep them warm.
Brush the homemade naan with melted butter, garlic butter, or traditional ghee!
i just made these for the second time, with a couple of changes. first time i used bread flour, because that’s what i had. the dough was very springy, and the breads shrunk between rolling and baking, so they were sort of thick rounds. this time i used 1 cup whole wheat flour and 2 cups all purpose flour. the rise wasn’t as dramatic in the bowl, but the breads puffed and bubbled beautifully on the griddle. they are much thinner, more toothsome, and flavorful. i highly recommend this combo of flours.
also, the first time i tried to make rounds– so pretty! this time, i rolled them quite thin, not attempting a special shape. almost all came out sort of longish ovals, which fit really well diagonally on my two-burner iron griddle. the longish shape is great for tearing in two, or folding over.
i cut the ball of dough into 16 pieces, rolled them out thin, and have a whole lot of lovely naan.
thanks again for this recipe, beth.
Just made these to go with the moroccan lentil an veggie stew. Both turned out very very yummy, thank you so much for these great recipes.
I changes two things: I added diced chicken to the stew and substituted the greek yogurt in the naan with quark (I’m from Germany and although we have greek yogurt here, I don’t usually have it in the fridge). Quark worked fine, too.
I’ll definitely try more of your recipes :)
I can’t wait to make them today. Can you please just explain at what point can I freeze them? Before or after cooking?
Thank you so much!
Hi jelena, they freeze great after cooking. Just make sure to let them cool completely. :)
Thanks! Dough is rising right now, regards from the other side of the planet. I looove your blog, by the way ;)
Made these three days ago, but only cooked half of them, the remaining balls went into the freezer. This morning I took them out and let them thaw in the fridge during the day.
I must say that they actually came out much better when I cooked them this evening!
It may have to do with the buns being cooler and less elastic from the fridge, making it possible to roll them out a bit thinner than when the dough was freshly made.
As someone who makes Naan and Roti regularly (I’m from India) I can say with confidence that dough that has been left overnight in the fridge will make better Rotis and Naans. The lack of elasticity DEFINITELY aids in it, but my dough usually ends up thicker after a night in the fridge. Which then makes fluffier Rotis and Naans.
Just made these earlier this afternoom and they were great! I subbed heavy cream for the yogurt and they tasted fine but I will definitely make it again with the proper ingredients to get more flavor.
I don’t know if anyone else had this issue but you may want to open a window while making these since my kitchen got a bit smokey!
yowza!!
i’d started some curried lentils in the slow cooker ( had enough heavy, rich food for a while… plus there’s a heavy, poor person in my mirror ). thought i’d make some white rice to go with, but somehow i’ve run out. then i remember this naan recipe, and decided to give it a try. excellent decision!
i had only regular, full fat, plain yogurt so used that, and diminished the water to a scant half cup. stayed with your olive oil, though pricier– so flavorful and aromatic. the dough stirred up quickly, rose to double as promised, and was easy to handle.
feeling proud and frisky, i thought i’d cheat by using the tortilla press instead of rolling out the little rounds. bad choice. they squished out to the right shape, then immediately sprung back into a little thick round. amazing to watch them shrink between the counter and the stove :)
but no prob– rolling with a pin was simple and not at all sticky. and they kept their shape all the way (3 feet) to the stove.
i used my double burner lodge pancake griddle, and set it up over medium heat, but things were cooking too fast, so i ended up with it more medium-low. nice bubbling and wonderful flavor.
anyone thinking of trying this but saying, nah, this cannot actually be easy– go ahead and do it. so glad i did!
Really excellent recipe! Tastes like the naan in a restaurant. Everyone was impressed by this bread! I can’t believe how easy this was to make!
This recipe is pretty simple to follow and looked delicious so I tried it and it came out great. One thing I did though, I didn’t have yogurt available so I used whole milk instead. Still amazing…will definitely try this with yogurt but surely, this recipe will be on my dinner table everytime I have a curry dish…thanks a bunch, Beth.
Looks amazing! How long does the dough stay fresh? Can you make these a day ahead of time or should they be eaten ASAP?
I think they keep very well. Let them cool completely, then seal in a ziploc bag and keep in the fridge. :)
I love this recipe! I’ve made it three times now, and each time is better than the last. I’ll make a batch on Saturday and have one piece a day (with one extra for any roommates that might be lingering). Its great with currys, but Ive also used it as sandwich bread or eaten it with jam in the mornings.
Have you ever used egg whites with recipe? I just made a soup that took all my egg yokes and I’m left with 6 egg whites… What do you think?
They’re great for macarons! Or you can make an all egg white omelette or frittata. Just fill it up with some fatty things (cheese) to make up for the lack of yolk. ;) (that was kind of a joke… kind of.)
do you think this bread would freeze well?
Yes, definitely. :)
What would you recommend as a substitute for the yogurt? I do not like yogurt and don’t want to buy any just to try the recipe as I would not use up the rest!
Sour cream might work, but really the yogurt is a key ingredient here and makes the flavor and texture of the bread unique.
So easy and amazing! My boys had some for breakfast with butter and jam!
This was so delicious and simple! It was the perfect addition to a low fat chicken tikka masala dish I made last night. Thank you for your great recipes!
just made this tonight… deeelish! So glad I found your site. Thank you so much for sharing all these wonderful recipes!