Easy Vegan Grilled Naan

On your summer grill, naan--the beloved, puffy Indian flatbread--takes on even more character and flavor. This grilled vegan naan is an easy recipe to make, and whatever your skill level, I have you covered with options for making it the traditional way with yeast, instantly with baking powder, or with sourdough discard. This is a soy-free, nut-free recipe.

The naan is perhaps the best known among all Indian breads -- and there are many of those -- because of its easy ability to please nearly anyone. Child, adult, picky eater -- no one can really resist this puffy, soft and rather gorgeous, if misshapen, bread that often appears at the restaurant table spilling over the sides of the dish.

In fact, there are few gastronomic experiences that compare with tearing into a fresh-baked naan with your fingers and using the bread to scoop up a spicy curry.

I have already shared with you my recipe for the best naan that you can cook on the stovetop, this easy vegan naan brushed with a delectable garlic butter. We, and so many of you, love it. But of late we've been grilling quite a bit, and I wanted to share my favorite recipe for a vegan grilled naan that's all the rage hereabouts, especially with my son, Jay.

The grill does a great job of adding flavor to the naan, and those grill marks make the bread look even prettier. The high heat of a grill also does a really nice job of emulating the tandoor, the oven that's traditionally used to bake a naan.

This is a relatively simple recipe, and it can be a quick one if you switch up the leavening. I sometimes use my favorite naan recipe and just throw it on the grill. At other times, when rushed or having forgotten to start the dough a few hours ahead, I leaven the dough with just baking soda and vegan yogurt. Or, if I have sourdough discard on hand, I add that in, either to complement the yeast or to replace it.

I will describe for you how to make your naan using all and any of these options. My favorite one is the version with both yeast and some sourdough discard added in, because it makes the softest, fluffiest naans and requires about two-and-a-half hours to proof and prep. But the baking powder version is rather good, especially if you're looking for an instant option. The sourdough-only version tastes amazing but will need to be started the night before. (You can also check out my quicker sourdough roti recipe here).

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Tips for making the best vegan grilled naan

Naans are typically not vegan, and most cooks add either yogurt or milk to the dough. But you don't really need these, especially when you can make the perfect naan without either, or sub with vegan yogurt.
Butter is often brushed on to a naan after it's baked, or grilled in this instance, but olive oil or vegan butter do just as nicely. You can also brush on a mixture of olive oil, garlic and cilantro on your naan breads after they've been grilled.

• Leavening
  • Active dry yeast: To make the dough with yeast, use a packet of active dry yeast (2 ¼ tsp). If you have a sourdough starter, add half a cup of the discard to the dough (you will need to cut down on other liquids). Naan made this way will need a 60-90 minute rise before you can shape and bake it.
  • Sourdough and no added yeast: If you take this route, be prepared for amazing flavor but a longer rise time. Use a cup of sourdough discard (fed no longer than a week before making) and cut down the amount of flour to 3 cups (instead of 3 ½). Add water only as needed, since moisture is already present in the sourdough. Start your naan dough the night before and let it stand in the fridge or a cool spot overnight to proof, then on the counter for another couple of hours to reach room temperature before you attempt to shape the breads.
  • Baking powder and baking soda: Mix a teaspoon of baking powder and half a teaspoon of baking soda to the dough along with half a cup of vegan yogurt (instead of nondairy milk). The acid in the yogurt combined with the baking soda will help the naan puff up. The dough will need to rest for just half an hour before you bake the naan. This version makes great naans, but they won't be as flavorful as the versions with yeast and sourdough.

• Shaping the naan
  • It is really important to let the naan dough rest a bit after the rise and before you shape it. Divide it into 8 or 10 pieces, depending on how big you want your naans to be, shape them into balls, sprinkle on a little flour, cover them and let them stand for 10 minutes.
  • The easiest way, I find, to shape the naan is to roll it out first into an approximately four-inch disc with a rolling pin. After that, I pick it up by the edges and stretch it gently all the way round, letting gravity pull and lengthen the naan. If you don't feel comfortable doing this, just use a rolling pin.
  • You can shape the naan into a teardrop, the way naans are usually shaped at restaurants, or into an oval, but there really don't need to be any rules here. So long as you shape it into something that's flat and fairly, albeit not perfectly, even, you will be eating great-tasting -- and great-looking--naan.
  • The reason you don't want your naan to be perfectly even is because you want it to have those uneven spots where it puffs up and others where it chars.
    

What to serve with naan

• Naan tastes best with spicy Indian curries, like vegan malai kofta, vegan palak paneer, vegan butter chicken and vegan paneer butter masala. You can find a plethora of vegan Indian curries to suit your tastebuds on this blog.

More vegan Indian bread recipes