Vegan Naan Recipe
Learn how to make amazing vegan naan, a dairy-free version of the popular flatbread eaten in India and other parts of Asia, and top it with a scrumptious vegan garlic herb butter. With this super simple recipe that needs just five ingredients you will be flipping puffy, soft, restaurant-quality naan in no time at all!
Servings: 8 naan breads
Calories: 295kcal
Equipment
- Cast iron griddle or skillet (or any flat, wide pan that can sustain high heat.)
Ingredients
- 2¼ teaspoon active dry yeast (1 packed. Instant yeast is a perfectly fine substitute)
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1 to 1½ cups water (lukewarm)
- ½ cup vegan yogurt (preferably at room temperature)
- 1 tablespoon avocado oil or any neutral oil
- 3.5 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
For the garlic butter topping:
- 4 tablespoon vegan butter (olive oil works too)
- 6 cloves garlic (crushed or put through a garlic press)
- 2 tablespoon cilantro (finely chopped. You can sub with another herb like mint)
Instructions
- Place yeast in a large bowl with 1 cup water and sugar. Let stand five minutes until the yeast dissolves and bubbles.
- Add the yogurt and oil to the bowl followed by the flour and salt. Mix with a wooden spoon or your hand until a rough dough comes together. You may need to drizzle between ¼ to ½ cup more water. Use warm water. The dough should be a bit wet and should stick slightly to your hands.
- Turn out the dough on a lightly floured surface and knead just slightly until it's fairly smooth but still tacky. Coat the bowl with oil and place the ball of dough in it, covering the top with a bit of oil as well. Cover tightly and set aside to rise, about an hour.
- After an hour the dough should have doubled. Remove it to an unfloured surface and cut into eight pieces, like you would a pizza.
- Form each piece into a ball by tucking the sides under and then rolling the dough between your palms. Cover the balls of dough with a kitchen towel and let them stand 20 minutes.
- While the dough is resting, make the vegan garlic herb butter by placing all ingredients in a small skillet. Turn heat to low. Once the butter has melted, let it continue to cook for 15 more minutes so the raw garlic smell dissipates. Stir occasionally. You can add some salt to the butter, if you wish.
- To form the naan, take one ball of dough. Shape it with a rolling pin into a rough teardrop shape. You can skip the rolling pin and shape the naan simply by pressing it into a four- or five-inch disc first with your fingers, then lifting it by the edges and letting the weight of the dough and gravity pull it down. Move your fingers along the edges until the naan is roughly six inches by eight inches. It is okay if it has some thick spots and some thin.
- Heat a cast-iron griddle over high heat. Place the naan on the hot griddle. It should begin to puff up and form large bubbles immediately.
- Flip the naan just once. Let it cook for another 45 seconds to a minute or until char spots appear on the bottom. Brush some of the garlic herb butter on the naan and remove to a plate lined with a kitchen towel. Wrap the naan until ready to serve.
Notes
Pro tips for shaping naan
The first lesson here is, there's no wrong way to shape a naan. The typical restaurant naan is a rough teardrop shape and you can shape it that way, or you can go free-form. A naan can have some thick spots and some thin, which only adds more dimension to its chewy, flaky texture. Once your naan is baked up, and covered with the herby butter garlic mixture it will look beautiful and incredibly appetizing, no matter how you shaped it.
- With a rolling pin: Use a rolling pin to shape the naan into an oval. Then pull one end slightly to form a teardrop shape.
- With your fingers: This is similar to the technique you'd use with a pizza dough. Pat the dough into a four-inch disc with your fingers, then lift it by the edges and let the weight of the dough and gravity elongate the dough. Move your fingers around the edges, which will shape the naan as you go. If there is a tear, patch it up by pressing the dough together. Stop once the naan is approximately five inches wide and seven inches long. This is my favorite way to form a naan because it creates the most fun shapes!
- With water. One more way to shape naan is to place the dough on a flat surface and push into it with finger tips that have been dipped in a glass of water. Apply pressure with the wet fingertips to shape the dough, moving your fingers outward quickly until you get the shape you desire.
- Use fresh yeast. A naan, unlike most Indian flatbreads, is a leavened bread, with added yeast giving it that puffy, glorious texture. Let the dry yeast "bloom" for five minutes warm water with some sugar added to wake up the yeast and feed them. If your yeast doesn't become frothy after five or 10 minutes, the yeast is likely dead. (Pro tip: store yeast in an airtight container in the freezer for maximum shelf life.)
- Use warm water to knead the dough. This helps the yeast stay awake and active.
- Don't over-knead the naan dough. That's right. A naan dough requires a minimal amount of kneading. Once the dough comes together just turn it out on a floured surface and quickly knead it for a minute or two until it comes together in a smooth ball. That's it. The naan dough should be slightly tacky, leaving light traces of dough on your fingers.
- Let the dough rest before shaping. Once the dough has risen and has been shaped into individual balls, let them stand for 20 minutes at least so they have a chance to rest and relax. This will make it much, much easier to shape them.
- Don't sweat the shape. A naan is a rustic bread. A roti has to be perfectly round and even, and a paratha needs a special shaping technique. But a naan is a bread anyone can form, even a kid. See more on this in the section on "shaping the naan" below.
- Use a cast iron griddle. Because we cook the naan on the stovetop and not a tandoor oven, where temperatures can go upwards of 800 degrees Fahrenheit, we need something that will get screaming hot and give us a nice char. A cast iron griddle or skillet is perfect for the job. You can also use a cast iron grill pan. If you have neither use a non-stick skillet.
- Control the temperature. If you find that the naans are browning too fast, sprinkle a bit of water on the skillet to bring down the temperature.
- Wrap naans in kitchen towel to keep them soft and fresh. And serve the naan as soon as possible after making for the best flavor and texture.
- Room temperature: Store the vegan naan at room temperature in cool or temperate climates, for up to a day. Keep the naan loosely wrapped in a kitchen towel.
- Refrigerate: Store the vegan naan in an airtight container in the fridge for up to four days.
- Freeze: Place the naan in freezer-safe bags and freeze for up to four months.
- Reheat: Thaw, if frozen, then place on a hot griddle and warm through on either side, about a minute per side.
Nutrition
Serving: 1naan (with garlic herb topping) | Calories: 295kcal | Carbohydrates: 45g | Protein: 7g | Fat: 10g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 3g | Monounsaturated Fat: 5g | Trans Fat: 1g | Sodium: 245mg | Potassium: 104mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 8IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 16mg | Iron: 3mg