Homemade Naan
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There’s nothing quite like warm, homemade naan straight from the skillet. Soft, chewy, and blistered in all the right places, it’s the perfect companion to curries, soups, or anything with lots of sauce to soak up.
Naan is a pillowy flatbread traditionally baked in a tandoor, a cylindrical clay or metal oven used in kitchens across the Indian subcontinent, the Middle East, and Central Asia. These ovens get scorching hot and give food that signature smoky flavor. The naan dough is rolled out and slapped onto the tandoor’s inner walls, where it sticks and cooks fast over open flames. Once it’s done, it gets brushed with melted butter. In this homemade naan recipe, I replicate the process using a hot skillet—and the results are just as soft, chewy, and delicious.
Aside from the rising time, this easy naan recipe is quick to make, and it’s far superior to anything you’ll find at the store. Pair it with saucy dishes like chicken curry, butter chicken, or chicken tikka masala.
“My search for the perfect naan bread is over—this recipe is the best!”
What You’ll Need To Make Homemade Naan
- All-purpose flour: The base of the dough. For best results, spoon it into your measuring cup and level it off.
- Sugar and salt: Sugar adds a touch of sweetness and helps activate the yeast, while salt brings out the flavor.
- Instant or rapid-rise yeast: Makes the dough rise quickly and gives naan its fluffy texture. You can use active dry yeast instead—just allow a little extra time for rising.
- Warm water, plain yogurt, and olive oil: These bring the dough together and keep it soft, tender, and easy to work with.
- Anise seeds (optional): Add a subtle licorice note. Or swap in nigella, poppy, or sesame seeds—or skip them entirely.
- Melted salted butter: Brushed on after cooking for that buttery finish everyone loves.
- Chopped parsley (optional): Adds color and freshness. Use cilantro if you prefer, or add minced garlic for a garlic naan variation.
- Jump to the printable recipe for precise measurements
Step-by-Step Instructions
Step 1: Mix the dry ingredients. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, yeast, sugar, anise seeds, and salt.
Step 2: Add the wet ingredients. In a separate bowl, whisk the yogurt, olive oil, and warm water, then pour into the dry ingredients.
Step 3: Stir. Stir with a fork until the dough starts to come together.
Step 4: Knead. Dust your hands with flour and knead into a soft, sticky ball, then cover with plastic wrap.
Step 5: Let it rise. Let the dough rise in a warm spot until it’s about doubled in size, 1 to 1½ hours. (The warmer the spot, the faster it’ll rise.)
Step 6: Prep the dough. Dust a work surface with flour and fill a small bowl with extra flour for dusting. Turn the dough onto the floured surface and sprinkle with more flour.
Step 7: Divide and shape. Shape the dough into a long rectangle and then cut into six equal portions.
Step 8: Heat the skillet and roll out the dough. Heat a cast iron or heavy nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until very hot. While it heats, roll one piece of the dough into an oval about 1/8-inch thick.
Step 9: Cook the naan. Place the dough in the hot skillet and cook until bubbles form and the bottom is browned in spots.
Flip the naan and let it cook a few minutes more, until golden brown with some charred spots.
Step 11: Finish and serve. Brush the cooked naan with melted butter, and repeat with remaining dough balls. Sprinkle with parsley, if using, then serve warm. Store naan in a sealed bag at room temperature for 1 day or freeze for up to 3 months.
Naan Recipe Video Tutorial
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Homemade Naan
Ingredients
- 2 cups all purpose flour spooned into measuring cup and leveled-off, plus more for rolling (see note)
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 1 teaspoon instant dry yeast/rapid-rise yeast (see note)
- 1 teaspoon salt
- Heaping ½ teaspoon anise seeds (optional)
- 3 tablespoons plain yogurt
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- ¾ cup warm water (about 100°F/38°C)
- 2 tablespoons melted salted butter, for brushing on finished naans
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh Italian parsley (optional), for serving
Instructions
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, yeast, salt and anise seeds (if using). Set aside.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together, the yogurt, olive oil, and ¾ cup (180 ml) warm water (about 100°F/38°C). Add the yogurt mixture to the dry ingredients and mix with a fork. When the dough is about to come together, dust your hands with flour and knead gently into a soft, slightly sticky dough (sprinkle more flour, little by little, if the dough is too wet to work with). As soon as it comes together, stop kneading.
- Lightly oil or spray a clean bowl with nonstick cooking spray (the bowl should be large enough to allow the dough to double in size). Transfer the dough to the prepared bowl and cover with plastic wrap or a damp kitchen towel. Let sit in a warm place for 1 to 1½ hours, or until about doubled in size (hint: the warmer the spot, the faster the dough will rise).
- Fill a small bowl with about ½ cup (65 g) flour. Dust a work surface with some of the flour and dump the dough on top. Sprinkle some of the flour on top of the dough and on your hands. Shape the dough into a long rectangle and cut into 6 equal portions, dusting with more flour as necessary so the dough doesn't stick. Roll each portion of dough in the bowl of flour to keep them from sticking.
- Warm a large cast iron or heavy nonstick pan over medium-high heat until very hot. Using a rolling pin, roll one of the dough balls into an oval shape about ⅛-in (3-mm) thick (it should be about 9 x 4 in/23 x 10 cm). Pick up the dough and flip-flop it back and forth between your hands to release any excess flour; then gently lay the dough in the dry skillet and cook until the top is bursting with air bubbles and the bottom is golden and blackened in spots, a few minutes. Flip the naan and cook about 1 to 2 minutes more until the the bottom is lightly browned and blistered in spots. Remove the naan from the skillet and brush with melted butter. Place the naan in a tea towel-lined dish to keep warm. Repeat with the remaining naans, adjusting the heat lower if necessary as you go (I usually find it necessary to lower the heat to medium after the first naan). Sprinkle with parsley, if using, and serve warm.
- To keep the cooked naan warm, place them in a 200°F (96°C) oven. Store leftovers in a Ziplock bag and reheat in a 350°F (175°C) oven wrapped in foil.
Notes
- I use King Arthur flour, which is higher in protein than some other all-purpose flours. If using a flour with a lower protein content, such as Gold Medal, you will likely need to add a few more tablespoons of flour.
- Active dry yeast may be used instead of instant/rapid-rise yeast, however, the dough will take longer to rise. To give active dry yeast a boost, you can dissolve it in the lukewarm water and let it sit until frothy, about 10 minutes. After that, add it to the flour, sugar, salt, and anise seeds, and proceed with the recipe.
- Freezing Instructions: The naan can be frozen for up to 3 months. Once it’s completely cooled, wrap each piece securely in plastic wrap and put all the rounds in a sealable plastic bag prior to putting in the freezer. To reheat, wrap the naan in aluminum foil and warm in a 350°F (175°C) oven until hot.
Nutrition Information
This website is written and produced for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and the nutritional data on this site has not been evaluated or approved by a nutritionist or the Food and Drug Administration. Nutritional information is offered as a courtesy and should not be construed as a guarantee. The data is calculated through an online nutritional calculator, Edamam.com. Although I do my best to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures should be considered estimates only. Varying factors such as product types or brands purchased, natural fluctuations in fresh produce, and the way ingredients are processed change the effective nutritional information in any given recipe. Furthermore, different online calculators provide different results depending on their own nutrition fact sources and algorithms. To obtain the most accurate nutritional information in a given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe, using your preferred nutrition calculator.
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Loved it! First time making it. I even used whole wheat flower instead and came out great. Thank you for the recipe!
I made it twice , Once with rapid rise yeast and again with active dry yeast. Both turned out well. Yes, the dough was sticky and I had to add more flour. Second time I tried my new cusinart toaster oven instead of cast iron pan and it puffed up in one large bubble and was even more delicious!!. I made two of them little less brown and stored in refrigerator. Toasted in a bread toaster when I used it next time and it was just the same as freshly made ones.
Thank you Jen for this web site!. Your browned butter bourbon pecan pie and creamy mashed potato are a keeper!. Done it for two thanksgivings now!
I’ve made this recipe twice now. The first time, I followed it exactly as written, and ended up with an extremely wet, sticky dough. I had to add so much extra flour, that by the time I reached the proper consistency, I was afraid I had over-kneaded it and just tossed it.
After reading some of the reviews with the same issue, I tried again, everything as written except I cut the water to 1/2 c, as some suggested. This time it was perfect! I didn’t have anise seeds on hand, so I added cumin seeds instead and it was really delicious. My husband thought it was better than some Indian restaurants we’ve been to! Overall, another great recipe.
I’m one of those who ended up with a soup instead of a dough! lol
I think the reason why this happens is because of the way the two methods using the fresh yeast versus the dry active yeast are explained. If you follow the directions as written using the dry active yeast, you will end up with twice the amount of water. It’s when we read “Whisk together the yogurt, olive oil, and warm water”, it’s not clear that you are talking about the same water with the dry activated yeast. Since I was working on 3 other things at the same time (your Chicken Tikka Masala, Cucumber Mint Salad and Basmati Rice – which all came out great!), I did not have much time to think and notice that the total amount of water called (2 times 3/4 cups warm water) for 2 cups of flour just didn’t make sense. To correct, I added flour and kneaded, added flour and kneaded … a few times, until the consistency looked okay but my dough ended up being too much kneaded maybe? so finally my naan bread wasn’t that fluffy. Still tasted very good so giving 5 stars. Will do better next time! 🙂
Hi Nathalie, Sorry to hear you had a problem with this. I’m going to review the recipe to see if I can find a way to make the instructions more clear! 🙂
Yes! I’ve begun craving this to eat with hummus! I had to make it with whole wheat flour tonight bc there’s no white flour available at my store and it was almost better…chewy, nutty, delicious!
Love this recipe! I used plain Greek yogurt for mine and added a little garlic. These are great for making pizza with fresh tomatoes, mozzarella and basil.
Do you have a recipe for flavored Naan? My favorite indian restaurant is in Milan, Italy (a little strange I know) but they have a cheese naan that is out of this world. Strangely enough, I think they may use fontina or mozzarella – it’s certainly not Paneer since I’ve tried it here and it’s nothing like my favorite gooey cheese naan from Italy. I think I’d like to try it but I don’t know how to do it. Any tips?
Hi, I don’t have any recipes for flavored naan, but you could add some minced garlic or garlic powder and some hard cheese, like Parmesan, to some melted butter and brush it on after cooking the naan. Hope that helps!
Has anyone tried grilling these and if so, can you provide the steps?
Thank you in advance!
Monica
I grill my bread on our BBQ, medium high lightly brushed with olive oil, turns out fabulous!
So delicious. I love it when my first attempt proves to be the keeper recipe. This is it! Just the flavor and texture I hoped for. I rolled the first one too thick, learned the technique and the rest were just right. I added chopped garlic cloves to two and those were good too. Wonderful with butter chicken. It will be fun to experiment with flavors and accompaniments to this quick and yummy recipe. Thank you.
FANtastic! The only problem is my husband feels it is dangerous that we can make this at home now 🙂 Thanks for a superb recipe – we’ll never buy store-bought naan again.
Thank you for this recipe! I have made it four times, twice with instant yeast and twice with regular yeast. I didn’t notice much of a difference in taste or texture. I found the dough too sticky to knead so on my fourth batch, I ended up reducing the amount of yogurt by one tablespoon and the amount of oil by on tablespoon. I don’t know if this has to do with my location or type of flour, as only a handful of people reported an overly sticky dough. I was very happy with the reduced amount of liquid. It was still a sticky dough, but more workable. I made this with the chicken tikka masala recipe, and it has been a real crowd pleaser!
WAY to wet !! If I try again Ill use 1/2 cup water