This is the best garlic naan bread recipe! Easy, soft, puffy garlic naan bread with beautiful golden brown blisters, drenched in garlic butter. Just like Indian restaurants except better because it's fresh at home. Wonderfully addicting and "dayum" good!

Why You Will Love Making Garlic Naan
Get ready to be addicted. Hands down, nothing is better than fresh garlic naan bread that is soft and pull-apart chewy, and it's good with everything! Store bought naan simply doesn't honor this versatile, beautiful bread.

Ingredients for Naan Bread
- Instant Yeast - if your yeast does not foam when placed in warm water, it is old and dead. Make sure you have fresh yeast. Yeast should be stored in the refrigerator.
- Warm Water - water that is too hot will kill the yeast. It should be warm to the touch but not hot, about 110°F/37°C
- Unbleached Flour - approximately 11% protein. Don't worry too much about which flour, this recipe is forgiving and will succeed with any standard household flour.
- Caster Sugar - caster sugar is finer and will dissolve easier.
- Baking Powder - baking powder also need to be fresh to be successful.
- Salt - my #1 salt of choice is Redmond Real Salt
- Natural Yogurt - unsweetened Greek or Bulgarian both work.
- Butter - salted or unsalted both work. I prefer Meadowgold or Dairygold butters.
How To Make Garlic Naan Bread
- Place the yeast in a bowl and add the warm tap water, about 110°F. Stir together and leave for 5 minutes, until foam appears on top of the water. If foam doesn't appear, stop here, your yeast is old. If foamy, proceed.
- Add the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, yogurt, melted butter, and yeast/water mixture to the bowl of a stand mixer.
- Mix the dough together using the dough hook until combined on low and slow. Continue to knead the dough with the dough hook for 10 minutes. By this point the dough will have pulled together and be sticky.
- Place the dough in an oiled bowl, cover with a tea towel and allow to proof for 60-90 minutes, until doubled in size. You can mist the tea towel with a water bottle or cover with a plate to retain moisture. I do both.
- Dust the work surface with a sprinkling of flour. Divide the dough into 6 balls, dust each one with a small bit flour (not too much to avoid excess flour from burning on your hot plate when cooking). Roll each one out into a 6"-7" circle or teardrop.
- Preheat the oven to its lowest setting (100-175°F) to keep the naan breads warm while you finish grilling them on a medium hot griddle or cast iron skillet.
- Using a griddle e.g. a seasoned cast iron or non-stick pan over a medium heat. When hot, place a naan bread in the pan and fry for approx. 2-3 minutes each side. When the first side puffs up, it is ready to flip. cook for another 3 minutes until golden patches appear on the bread.
- Meanwhile make the garlic butter by heating the butter, salt, and minced garlic in a small sauce pot. Once melted and blooming with the beautiful smell of garlic, add freshly minced parsley.
- Brush the freshly cooked the naan bread generously with the garlic butter.
- Place in the oven until ready to serve. Stores well in an airtight container overnight.
- Serve with your favorite curry, hummus, soup, bean dip. So good you can eat it with anything, including naan burgers.

What To Serve with Naan Flatbread
Everything! I had to say that because this recipe is so delicious. Serve with:
- Indian Butter Chicken or a favorite curry
- Soup
- For naan burgers instead of buns
- A favorite hummus
- Lentil and rice dishes
- Savory yogurt dips
Pretty much no one will be mad at you for serving this. Sometimes I think I like naan better than pita flatbread. Shhhh! I grew up eating pita and love it.
Equipment
- Stand Mixer
- Metal Bowl
- Fabric or Plastic or Beeswax Bowls Cover
- Small Wood Rolling Pin - I like a smaller wood rolling pin for smaller bread projects
- Plastic Dough Scraper
Historical Fun Facts about Naan
Pronounced: nahn or nän - the etymology originates from Hindi & Urdu & Persian
Naan is a leavened flatbread native to India. It resembles pita bread but unlike pita, it has yogurt (sometimes milk, eggs or butter) which makes it softer than the pita bread. It is shaped it into a ball and traditionally slapped onto the walls of a tandoor clay oven. The yogurt also gives the naan its characteristic texture and flavor.
The Panaji Naan Company explains it this way:
Early recorded history of naan first appeared in the notes of Indo-Persian poet Amir Kushrau in 1300 AD. Originally, naan was developed after the arrival of yeast in India from Egypt. During India’s Mughal era in the 1520s, Naan was a delicacy that only nobles and royal families enjoyed because the art of making Naan was a revered skill, known by few.
In 1799, an English historian and clergyman, William Tooke, introduced Naan to the Western world. Today, you can find Naan in almost every corner of the world, and it’s delicious!

Garlic Naan Bread
Ingredients
For The Dough
- 2 teaspoon instant yeast (7g)
- ½ c warm water (120 ml)
- 2 ½ c strong white bread flour (300g)
- 1 teaspoon caster sugar (5g)
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt (5g)
- ½ c natural yogurt + 2 tbs, (150g)
- 2 tbs unsalted butter melted, (30g)
For Rolling/Shaping
- 3-4 tbs all purpose flour
Garlic Butter
- 5 tbs unsalted butter melted, (75g)
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 4 teaspoon fresh parsley finely chopped, or 2 teaspoon dried parsley
Instructions
- Place the 2 teaspoon of yeast in a bowl and add the ½ cup of warm tap water, about 110°F. Stir together and leave for 5 minutes, until foam appears on top of the water. If foam doesn't appear, stop here, your yeast is old. If foamy, proceed.
- Add the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, yogurt, melted butter, and yeast/water mixture to the bowl of a stand mixer.
- Mix the dough together using the dough hook until combined on low and slow. Continue to knead the dough with the dough hook for 10 minutes. By this point the dough will have pulled together and be sticky.
- Place the dough in an oiled bowl, cover with a tea towel and allow to proof for 60-90 minutes, until doubled in size. You can mist the tea towel with a water bottle or cover with a plate to retain moisture. I do both.
- Dust the work surface with a sprinkling of flour. Divide the dough into 6 balls, dust each one with a small bit flour (not too much to avoid excess flour from burning on your hot plate when cooking). Roll each one out into a 6"-7" circle or teardrop.
- Preheat the oven to its lowest setting (100-175°F) to keep the naan breads warm while you finish grilling them on a medium hot griddle or cast iron skillet.
- Using a griddle e.g. a seasoned cast iron or non-stick pan over a medium heat. When hot, place a naan bread in the pan and fry for approx. 2-3 minutes each side. When the first side puffs up, it is ready to flip. cook for another 3 minutes until golden patches appear on the bread.
- Meanwhile make the garlic butter by heating the butter, salt, and minced garlic in a small sauce pot. Once melted and blooming with the beautiful smell of garlic, add freshly minced parsley.
- Brush the freshly cooked the naan bread generously with the garlic butter.
- Place in the oven until ready to serve. Stores well in an airtight container overnight.
- Serve with your favorite curry, hummus, soup, bean dip. So good you can eat it with anything, including naan burgers.
Notes

Nutrition

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