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This homemade naan recipe makes soft, chewy flatbread with beautifully blistered spots and a buttery finish. All you need is a hot skillet—no tandoor required.
Naan is a soft, pillowy flatbread traditionally baked in a tandoor, a blazing-hot clay oven that gives it those characteristic bubbles and charred spots. Of course, most of us don’t have a tandoor at home, but I’ve found that a good, hot skillet does a wonderful job. The trick is to keep the dough soft and slightly sticky, then cook it over high heat so it puffs up and develops those beautiful golden, blistered spots.
This homemade naan recipe is one of my favorite breads to make because, aside from the rising time, it’s surprisingly quick and easy. And there’s nothing quite like brushing a warm piece of naan with melted butter and serving it alongside 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 the yeast along, while salt brings out the flavor.
- Instant or rapid-rise yeast: Helps the dough rise and gives the naan its pillowy texture. You can use active dry yeast instead, but allow a little extra time for rising.
- Warm water, plain yogurt, and olive oil: Bring the dough together and help keep the naan soft and tender.
- Anise seeds (optional): Add a subtle licorice note. You can substitute nigella, poppy, or sesame seeds, or leave them out.
- Melted salted butter: Brushed over the naan after cooking for a rich, buttery finish.
- Chopped parsley (optional): Adds color and freshness. Use cilantro if you prefer. For garlic naan, stir minced garlic into the melted butter before brushing it over the cooked bread.
- Jump to the printable recipe for precise measurements
How To Make Naan
Make the dough: Whisk together the dry ingredients in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, combine the yogurt, olive oil, and warm water, then add to the dry ingredients. Stir with a fork until the dough starts to come together, then knead gently with floured hands until you have a soft, slightly sticky ball. There’s no need to knead it until smooth.
Let it rise: Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled bowl and cover. Leave it in a warm spot until it’s about doubled in size. The dough should look noticeably puffier and feel soft and airy.
Divide and shape: Turn the dough onto a well-floured work surface and divide it into six pieces. Dust with flour as needed to keep the dough manageable, then roll each piece into a thin oval. Don’t worry about making them perfectly uniform—a slightly irregular shape is part of naan’s charm.
Cook the naan: Heat a dry cast-iron or heavy nonstick skillet until very hot. Add a piece of dough and watch for large bubbles to form on the surface and golden-brown spots to appear underneath. Flip and cook until the other side is browned and blistered, with a few darker charred spots. Adjust the heat as you go; I usually lower it to medium after the first naan.
Brush and serve: Brush each naan with melted butter as soon as it comes out of the skillet, then keep it tucked in a clean kitchen towel while you cook the rest. Sprinkle with parsley, if using, and serve warm.
storage & Freezing Tips
Naan is best enjoyed fresh from the skillet, but leftovers can be stored in a resealable plastic bag. To reheat, wrap the naan in aluminum foil and warm in a 350°F (175°C) oven until heated through. Naan also freezes well for up to 3 months. Once completely cooled, wrap each piece tightly in plastic wrap and place them together in a freezer bag. To reheat from frozen, wrap the naan in foil and warm in a 350°F (175°C) oven until hot.
Naan Recipe Video Tutorial
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 until the dough begins to come together. Lightly flour your hands and knead gently to form a soft, slightly sticky dough, adding more flour a little at a time if it’s too wet to handle. Stop kneading as soon as the dough comes together.
- Lightly oil a clean bowl or coat it 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 rise in a warm place for 1 to 1½ hours, or until roughly doubled in size.
- Place about ½ cup (65 g) flour in a small bowl. Lightly dust a work surface with some of the flour and turn the dough out onto it. Sprinkle a little flour over the dough and your hands.
- Shape the dough into a long rectangle and cut it into 6 equal portions, dusting with more flour as needed to prevent sticking. Roll each portion in the bowl of flour to coat lightly.
- Warm a large cast iron or heavy nonstick pan over medium-high heat until very hot.
- Using a rolling pin, roll one portion of dough into an oval about ⅛ in (3 mm) thick and 9 x 4 in (23 x 10 cm). Gently toss the dough back and forth between your hands to shake off any excess flour, then carefully lay it in the dry skillet.
- Cook for a few minutes, until air bubbles form across the surface and the bottom is golden brown with blackened spots. Flip and cook 1 to 2 minutes more, until the bottom is lightly browned and blistered in spots.
- Remove the naan from the skillet, brush with melted butter, and place 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.
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.
- To keep the cooked naan warm, place them in a 200°F (96°C) oven.
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.
See more recipes:
Ways to Use Naan
Naan is delicious alongside curries, but there are plenty of other ways to enjoy it. Serve it with a bowl of mulligatawny soup, use it as a base for individual flatbread pizzas, or fold it around grilled chicken, kabobs, or roasted vegetables for a sandwich or wrap. You can even top warm naan with fried eggs for a quick and satisfying breakfast.
More Homemade Bread Recipes You’ll Love
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Dear Jenn,
Just finished eating dinner with my husband and these naans were our sauce scoopers. Main course was your chicken Marsala recipe, which also fabulous! But back to the naans: They remind me so much of my grandmas stove baked little breads (Turtite in Romanian), although hers were plain (no seeds or parsley in sight). Delicious!
Thank you,
Ana-Maria
Third time using this recipe. Perfect everytime. Thank you!
Made this to eat with homemade butter chicken and it was LOVELY. The texture and taste are so amazing.
This is a delicious recipe with very clear, well laid out instructions. I have used the recipe a few times now and will continue to use it when making naan bread in the future.
It’s not you it’s me! On an earlier review i gave this recipe three stars but thought it must be my problem as so many gave naan a 5 star review. Well i made it again and this time put my cheaters (reading glasses) on. On my first try i dusted each naan in flour just before i put them in the skillet and of coarse got extra burnt flour as a result. This time i used a large non stick pan instead of my somewhat narly cast iron pan followed instructions exactly. The naan were very tasty and far superior to store bought. Next time I will roll them out on a baking cloth instead of granite counter to reduce sticking to counter.
So glad you had better luck this time around — thanks for reporting back! 🙂
Making these for dinner tonight and would like to add rosemary. Do you think I should knead some rosemary into the dough or sprinkle on top after cooking? Thanks so much. Just love your recipes!
You can either add a bit of it into the dough or brush the finished nann with a little melted butter and then sprinkle some rosemary on. Hope you enjoy!
Wonderful recipe! I have made it 6 times in the last 2 weeks. And everyone who has tasted it has asked for the recipe because it’s that good!
My tweaks are that I mix it with a fork and don’t use my hands at all because it is sticky dough. I also start with only 1/2 a cup of water and add more by tablespoons until the dough forms a ball. I substitute fennel seeds or rosemary leaves (our favorite) for the anise – I use a heaping teaspoon. I also add a heaping teaspoon of ground garlic.
After it rises, I scrape it onto my clean counter sprinkled with flour and knead it until it forms a large circle which I cut into 8 equal pieces and form into smaller balls which I roll into very thin circles (using just as much extra flour as needed so it doesn’t stick). Most times I roll the balls twice, letting the dough relax in between forming a very thin circle of dough.
Try to shake off any extra flour before baking in the hot pan. You will find the excess flour just burns In the pan. They cook up beautifully!
I use olive oil to finish them instead of butter because, if you’re lucky, you might have one or two left for the next day and they don’t stick together with olive oil.
Thanks Jen for another GREAT recipe. My family begs me to make these! Super easy to do. Just plan ahead for the rise time.
This recipe was my first time using yeast or making any kind of bread, have made it twice now and it’s AMAZING! Thank you for sharing.
The first time round I added 3 x cloves of crushed garlic to the yoghurt/oil/water mixture for some garlic flavour. Second time round, I added 1 x clove of crushed garlic to the yoghurt/oil/water mixture and then rolled the naan out, added some tasty/cheddar cheese in the middle, pinched the sides together to close it up and then turned it upside down and rolled it out again before cooking, once cooked brushed with garlic butter to make cheesy garlic naan just like our favourite takeaway place! 🙂
Made these with my butter chicken tonight. Did have to add quite a bit of flour to combine completely. After though these were delicious! My family also loved them and I can’t wait to make again
I love this recipe! I make it about once a month along with her Tikka Masala recipe, and my family loves it. It reminds of of fresh, authentic Indian food found in London. The naan bread is probably my favorite part. Fresh and fluffy and great to dip in the sauce. I make 1.5X the recipe for 5 people and have a couple leftover. Also, you have to experiment with the iron skillet temp. Hotter is better than cold though, because a slow cook gets tough. Try a couple small pieces first. They should bubble in a couple minutes if it’s hot enough.
Thanks for the recipe. A couple of tips for first timers like me!
– Make sure the temperature of the skillet is hot or the dough may not bubble. Mine didn’t bubble until I rolled the dough thinner than recommended and then put it on the hot skillet.
– the dough can be quite sticky so I used extra flour when rolling it out to avoid it sticking to the rolling pin which it did a few times = broken dough!
– I found the flavour came from the melted butter and salt after cooking otherwise the naan was quite plain.