Homemade Naan Bread Recipe
Posted Jul 07, 2021, Updated Jul 14, 2021
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This Naan bread is truly the best. It’s soft, buttery and easy to make in a skillet with a handful of simple ingredients. Homemade naan bread is even more delicious than your favorite Indian restaurant.
I have been on a quest to make the perfect homemade naan bread – and I finally mastered it with this recipe!
We make this homemade naan once a week because we love it SO much! It’s soft, buttery and easy to make in a skillet with a handful of simple ingredients.
Plus an added bonus is that you don’t need to turn on the oven to enjoy homemade bread during the warm summer months!
Homemade Naan Bread: Ingredients & Substitutions
Let’s discuss the ingredients in this naan bread recipe, as well as possible substitutions.
- Honey. Granulated sugar can be used in place of honey in a pinch, but honey is best.
- Whole milk. 2% milk works well, but I do not recommend using fat-free or skim milk.
- Full-fat Greek yogurt. The full-fat dairy in this naan recipe gives it a soft texture and rich taste. You can use a 2% or fat-free Greek yogurt, your bread may just not be as pillowy soft.
- Olive oil. Canola or avocado oil can be used in place of olive oil.
- Baking powder. In order to get the perfect amount of bubbles (essential in naan bread), yeast and baking powder are used. It’s an essential ingredient not to be left out.
- All-purpose flour. Bread flour can be used as a substitute for all-purpose flour.
How to Make Naan Bread
This naan bread needs about an hour to rise once, so make sure you plan accordingly. We will walk through how to make naan step-by-step, and don’t forget to watch the video.
Proof yeast & combine wet ingredients
To begin, combine water yeast and honey in the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with the dough hook or in a large mixing bowl. Let sit until foamy.
Once foamy, add milk, yogurt and olive oil to the yeast mixture and stir to combine.
Add dry ingredients
Next, add 2 cups of flour and sea salt to the wet ingredients and stir with the dough hook or by hand until incorporated.
Make sure to start with 2 cups then gradually add the rest of the flour as needed ¼ cup at a time until the dough forms a ball and is only very slightly tacky.
Knead & rise
Once the dough forms a ball, turn it out onto a floured surface and knead until smooth.
Then put the dough in a lightly greased bowl and cover it with a wet towel let rise until doubled. Once doubled, punch down the dough to release gas.
Portion & roll
Divide the dough into 10 equal pieces. Note: If you love making bread and don’t have a food scale I highly recommend purchasing one. I always weigh the dough to ensure that the pieces are uniform. I use this Vitamix food scale, but other food scales ($11) work just as well!
Roll each piece of dough into ¼” thick oval or circle. The shape isn’t super important since the naan is cooked individually.
Cook
Preheat a 10” round skillet over medium heat. I have used both a nonstick skillet and cast iron skillet with great results.
Brush one side of the naan dough circle with melted butter and place it buttered side down on the preheated skillet.
Immediately butter the other side (that is facing up) and lightly sprinkle it with garlic salt. Cook until large bubbles form (about 2-3 minutes)
Once the first side is browned and there are plenty of bubbles, flip the naan and cook it on the second side until browned (about 2 more minutes)
If desired, sprinkle warm naan on one side with fresh cilantro. Remove from heat, let cool slightly and serve warm.
Serve
Serve warm with your favorite Indian dishes. We like to make this naan bread to accompany our favorite mediterranean dishes as well (even though it’s Indian cuisine). I like to dip it in hummus or tzatziki, and serve with falafel.
Store
Store this naan bread in an airtight container at room temperature for 2 days or in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. Reheat for 5-10 seconds in the microwave or in the oven on low heat to restore the fresh-from-the-oven taste.
Freeze
Freeze this naan in an airtight container for up to 2 months. Thaw by warming it in the microwave r on low heat in the oven.
FAQs about Homemade Naan
Greek yogurt is an important ingredient in this naan recipe – I don’t recommend using milk in its place.
My husband literally asked me this question yesterday. Naan has a thicker, fluffier texture because it is made with yogurt. Pita is thinner bread made with less ingredients (flour, water, salt, etc) and no yogurt. Naan is cooked in a skillet while Pita is usually baked at very high temperatures in the oven.
Up to 5 days in the fridge when stored in an airtight container.
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Homemade Naan Bread Recipe
Ingredients
Naan Bread
- ½ cup warm water
- 2 tsp yeast
- 1 TBS honey
- ½ cup whole milk room temperature
- ½ cup full-fat Greek yogurt room temperature
- 2 TBS olive oil canola oil also works
- 1 tsp sea salt
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 2 ½ to 3 cups all-purpose flour
Topping
- ¼ cup salted butter melted (for brushing)
- Garlic salt for sprinkling
- Fresh cilantro chopped (Optional garnish)
Instructions
- In the bowl of a standing mixer, combine water yeast and honey. Let sit until foamy.
- Add milk, yogurt and olive oil to the yeast mixture and stir to combine.
- Add 2 cups flour, baking powder and sea salt and stir until incorporated.
- Add additional flour ¼ to ½ cup at a time until the dough forms a ball and is only very slightly tacky.
- Turn onto a floured surface and knead until smooth.
- Lightly grease a large bowl, add dough and cover with a wet towel let rise until doubled.
- Once doubled, punch down the dough to release gas.
- Divide the dough into 10 equal pieces (I recommend weighing the dough to ensure they are all the same size).
- Roll each piece of dough into ¼” thick oval or circle.
- Preheat a 10” round skillet over medium heat.
- Brush one side of the naan dough circle with melted butter and place it buttered side down on the preheated skillet.
- Immediately butter the other side (that is facing up) and lightly sprinkle it with garlic salt.
- Cook until large bubbles form (about 2-3 minutes)
- Flip and cook on the second side until browned (about 2 more minutes)
- If desired, sprinkle warm naan on one side with fresh cilantro.
- Remove from heat, let cool slightly and serve warm.
Video
Notes
Store
Store this naan bread in an airtight container at room temperature for 2 days or in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. Reheat for 5-10 seconds in the microwave or in the oven on low heat to restore the fresh-from-the-oven taste.
Freeze
Freeze this naan in an airtight container for up to 2 months. Thaw by warming it in the microwave r on low heat in the oven.
Ingredient Substitutions
- Honey. Granulated sugar can be used in place of honey in a pinch, but honey is best.
- Whole milk. 2% milk works well, but I do not recommend using fat-free or skim milk.
- Full-fat Greek yogurt. The full-fat dairy in this naan recipe gives it a soft texture and rich taste. You can use a 2% or fat-free Greek yogurt, your bread may just not be as pillowy soft.
- Olive oil. Canola or avocado oil can be used in place of olive oil.
- Baking powder. In order to get the perfect amount of bubbles (essential in naan bread), yeast and baking powder are used. It’s an essential ingredient not to be left out.
- All-purpose flour. Bread flour can be used as a substitute for all-purpose flour.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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Made your naan recipe tonight, it turned out to perfection. Soft, chewy on inside, slight crisp on outside. Thank you for a great recipe!
Thank you Julia!!
First time making naan. It turned out just right! My husband did the dough & rolled the naan because he is the precise one. I buttered and flipped, but mostly squealed at the bubbles as they formed. We will definitely make again. Soft pillowy and delicious!
I’m so glad you both enjoyed it Heather! This is one of our favorite recipes too! 🙂
Í tried the recipe this evening and it was delicious 👏🏻 Thank your
Looking forward to trying more of your recipes
Kind regards
Hjördis
Thank you so much! I’m so glad you love this recipe as much as we do!
What can be substituted for the yogurt love the recipe
Are you trying to make it dairy free? What kind of substitute are you looking for?
We’ve loved this recipe and have made it several times! Wondering if you can you make any part of this ahead of time? Thanks!!!
Soft and yummy. Pleased with the recipe. Thank you!
Thank you, Dana!
Hey there! I’ve actually never made a comment before (just recently found your site, and love learning about your homeschool family) … I’m a 20 year old in college who feels deeply called to shine a light by being a mother of (Lord-willing) a large family and home schooling my kids (despite what my education and the academia world wants to push on me as being “more important”), plus I love making healthy homemade food. 🙂 Basically, was deeply encouraged to see someone prioritizing family, but also finding time to invest in something like this site on the side.
Anyway, as for this recipe, I did notice a slight discrepancy. I’m right in the middle of making it and was about to add the flour + salt, but noticed the directions don’t actually mention when the baking powder goes in. I assume as the same time as the flour? No big deal, but thought I’d throw that out there. I’m a really good copy-editor so I notice small, unimportant details like that haha.
Thanks for all you do, and for encouraging me in what feels like less and less common calling among women!
Thank you Nicole! I need a really good copy editor (clearly). The baking powder goes in with the flour and salt I’ll fix that now! I actually have a double batch rising for guests right now too!
Haha wonderful! I’m just rolling mine out myself, I went ahead and it worked wonderfully! So excited, I’m making a double batch for some company we’ll be hosting in a week, and they’re big bread people, haha.
And hey, if you ever need someone to just take a quick glance at anything before posting, seriously, feel free to reach out! I do that for a lot of people. 🙂 Enjoy your time with guests.