This homemade vegan naan is a simple dish and should be served with bread along with hot and spicy subzis. I love it topped with vegan butter and minced garlic for a restaurant-style garlic naan.
I think everyone loves naan. What’s not to like?! Soft, buttery bread. The perfect vehicle to eat Indian dishes with your hands.
Naan is an Indian flat bread made from a dough made with milk. It is usually made with yogurt or milk, as well as butter or ghee. These ingredients are mixed into the dough to make a soft, moist bread.
Luckily, it’s easy to make a great vegan naan at home! Bread is traditionally leavened, but don’t let that scare you! That’s a lot less than your European style sourdough bread.
If anything, it has a sticky and gooey texture, which helps keep the naan super soft when baked!
A good naan tastes great. It is soft and bubbly, with air pockets and smooth spots above and below. Butter is a great rage for spicy Indian dishes, especially when combined with tangy coconut yogurts!
How to make vegan naan:
Naan is a leavened bread, which means that the dough comes from yeast rather than baking soda or flour.
Just like other breads, you first mix together the dry ingredients: all of the flour, a tablespoon of sugar, salt, and yeast. I want to use yeast immediately because you don’t have to dissolve it in water first and wait for the yeast to show up. Instead you can mix it directly into the dry ingredients.
We then add the wet ingredients, using them in flour until soft and sticky, but not soupy!
The wet ingredients are:
- coconut yogurt
- warm water
- melted vegan butter
The yogurt enriches the dough along with the vegan butter, making for a soft naan that isn’t too hard.
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just mixed dough -
dough after kneading
I like to use unsweetened plain coconut yogurt in Naan. This yogurt is usually thicker than other dairy yogurts, and has a nice tanginess that goes well in Indian cuisine. The rich coconut oil also makes the bread more moist!
You can use other types of vegan yogurt, but it can make a wet dough. This is fine, just add more flour until the dough is workable!
To show the dough:
When the dough has been kneaded together and any additions of flour have been made to obtain a workable dough, it rests for 45 minutes to rise. It doesn’t need to fully double in size, but expect it to grow at least 1.5x in size. If it is very cold and rainy in your kitchen it may take a long time to rise.
Options: Instead of using the dough right away, stick it in the fridge after kneading and use it that evening or anytime in the next 2-3 days! This has the advantage of making the dough easier to work with when it comes to shaping.
After the first rise (either at room temperature or in the refrigerator), divide the dough and form balls on a floured counter. Leave to rise for the second 45 minutes while the oven starts to heat up.
This recipe makes 4 very large naan or 6-8 small ones. I like the big ones you get at restaurants that’s why I divide the dough into four parts, but the smaller ones are divided individually. If you are baking the bread on the stovetop I recommend that you divide it into 6 pieces as a large naan probably won’t fit in your skillet!
How to make naan:
Traditional tandoori naan has a teardrop shape. This comes from a cooking method that beats the dough on the side of the tandoor (more on that soon!). To follow this shape I first roll out the dough into a rough oval, then stretch or roll one side of the oval into a triangular “teardrop” shape.
You can also just make it into an oval and cook it that way. 🙂
Before sticking the dough in the oven to bake, brush with a little melted vegan butter and some chopped garlic or nigella seeds if using!
How to cook naan at home:
Traditionally, naan is baked in a tandoor oven. You will sometimes see it called tandoori naan. This is where the name tandoori roti and chicken tandoori come from. These cylindrical ovens open at the top and can heat up to 900 ºF and above!
The naan is baked on the side of a hot oven, where it is kept until cooked. When cooked it loosens from the side of the oven and can be removed. Before serving it is brushed with butter or ghee, and topped with a mixture of cilantro, garlic, and nigella seeds.
We can’t get these same oven conditions at home, but don’t worry, we can make a great naan!
Because naan is not cooked at a high temperature, it takes longer to cook and more moisture escapes from the dough. This means that you need to start with a moister dough than a restaurant with a tandoor might want.
This is why the dough is very sticky to work with, so at the end of the day you can have a nice soft bread!
I like to cook my naan at the highest temperature my oven will go, which is 550 ºF. If your oven only reaches 500 ºF that’s fine too! If you have a pizza stone or a cast iron then put that on. You can cook directly on the stone or on a baking tray placed on top of the stone. This will help transfer more heat to the bottom of the bread to get browning on all sides.
To cook naan on the stove:
Another popular way to prepare vegan naan at home is on the stovetop. You can cook flatbread on a skillet over medium-high heat, cooking it on all sides until they develop brown spots. You don’t add any oil to the pan when baking bread. Make sure to turn your vent fan up and open some windows as baking bread this way will get smoky.
To serve with naan:
As the hot naan comes out of the oven brush with plenty of butter, then garnish with chopped cilantro.
Serve it immediately, or wrap it in a loose towel to wait until the rest is cooked. Blowing with a hot towel traps the steam, and the steam works to soften the naan!
To store and reheat leftover vegan naan:
For long-term storage, wrap the naan in a piece of tea towel and place in a large ziplock bag or reusable silicon bag. You can leave them sealed on the counter at room temperature for up to two days. For longer storage, refrigerate or freeze.
To reheat leftover naan, heat a large pot over high heat and place the naan on the skillet. Cover with a lid to let the moisture in, and when the naan is a bit dry, wet your hand and sprinkle some water with your fingers. The steam will moisten the naan so that it is just cooked to perfection!
If you make these homemade vegan naan, leave a comment below and rate the recipe on the recipe card. And please share your photos with me on Instagram, tag @thecuriouschickpea and #thecuriouschickpea. I want to see your relaxation!
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Ingredients
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3 cups (420g) all purpose flour, adding more if needed
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1 teaspoon (16g) sugar
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1 1/2 tsp (3g) instant yeast*
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1 1/2 tsp (6g) salt
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1 cup (225g) plain unsweetened coconut yogurt (or other vegan yogurt)
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1/2 cup (120g) 110 ºF warm water
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3 tablespoons (42g) melted vegan butter or coconut oil*, added for baking and serving
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minced garlic, optional
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dried cilantro, optional
Instructions
- In a large mixer mix together the flour, sugar, salt, and yeast. In a second small mixing bowl mix the yogurt, melted vegan butter (or coconut oil), and warm water until smooth. Add the wet to the dry and mix with a wooden spoon to make a wet dough.
- Knead with your hands for about 1-2 minutes. The dough will be very sticky, if you feel soupy, add a little more flour until it is sticky but not runny. Otherwise, you can wet your hands to prevent the dough from sticking too much.
- Form the kneaded dough into a ball and turn seam-side down. Cover the bowl and put it in a warm place. Let the dough rise for 45 minutes or until it has risen 1 1/2 – 2x in size. Alternatively, refrigerate the dough after kneading in a covered mixing bowl and continue 8-48 hours later.
- Dust a clean counter with flour and remove the dough from the outside. Divide the dough into 4 to 8 equal portions and form into balls, dusting with flour as needed to prevent sticking. Place the dough balls in a floured bowl, and sprinkle more flour on top. Cover with a loose towel and let it rise while the oven starts to heat up.
- Preheat the oven to 550 ºF, or preheat your oven with a rack placed 1/3 of the way down from the top of the oven. If you have one, place a cast iron or baking stone on the rack to start heating. Let the oven preheat for about 45 minutes to fill the sides and cook the metal or stone (if using) with heat.
- After the second rise, shape the dough with a rolling pin into an oval shape. To make a teardrop shape take one side of the oval and stretch it into a triangular shape.
- Brush the top of the bread with melted butter (or coconut oil) and sprinkle over the chopped garlic when making garlic naan.
- Bake naan 2-3 at a time, either on a parchment lined baking tray or directly on a baking stone or iron. Or cooking on a stone or metal transfer using a pizza peel.
- Bake for 3-5 minutes until there are some golden spots on the crust. If desired, open the broiler for 1-2 minutes after 3-4 minutes of baking. Large naan takes longer to cook, smaller ones cook faster, check on the first batch and adjust cooking times accordingly.
- Repeat with remaining flour. For a restaurant style presentation, brush the hot dough with some vegan butter, butter that melts to the touch. Garnish with cilantro to serve.
Notes
*You can substitute active yeast for instant yeast. To do so mix the yeast and the wet ingredients in a separate bowl and let it sit and dissolve for 10 minutes before adding to the dry mixture.
* If using coconut oil, add 1/4 tsp salt to the dough.
Recipe adapted from Vah Reh Vah.
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Nutrition Information:
Yield: 6
Serving Size: 1
Fees per Service:
Calories: 326Total Fat: 7gSaturated Fat: 4gTrans Fat: 0 gUnsaturated Fat: 2gCholesterol: 0 mgSodium: 652 mgCarbohydrates: 57gFiber: 2gSugar: 9 gProteins: 9 g
Nutritional values are calculated automatically and should only be used as an estimate.
This recipe was originally published on August 30, 2018 and was updated in January 2022 with new photos and a video.
