Homemade Roasted Garlic Naan Bread

An easy, high altitude tested recipe for homemade naan, flavored with roasted garlic, cooked in a cast iron skillet and brushed with butter. This garlic naan bread is so soft, light and fluffy, perfect for soaking up all the delicious sauce from your favorite curry or vindaloo dishes. And as a bonus, the leftover naan also works great as a base for mini pizzas!

You might also love these homemade soft flour tortillas, homemade crispy pan pizza, and homemade bagels.

What is Naan?

Naan is a type of leavened flatbread, popular in Central and South Asian countries, in particular India and Iran. Traditionally, naan is baked in a very hot clay tandoor oven, but we can achieve similar results to tandoori style naan by cooking it on a hot, dry cast iron skillet. The bread is soft, stretchy, light, fluffy, and just wonderful brushed with butter. It’s the perfect side dish to soak up spicy sauces and broths.

I first tried naan when I was living in China in my early 20s, and one of my students and I would often have lunch together at an Indian restaurant not far from the school. I ordered a bowl of chicken curry with potatoes, rice and naan, and instantly fell in love with the flavors and textures.

Indian food is still one of my favorite things, and almost always what I’ll choose on nights that I don’t want to cook and would rather get takeout. I adapted the Foodess Naan Recipe with my own addition of roasted garlic for today’s recipe.

Why You’ll Love This Recipe

Quick and Easy. This homemade naan is a yeasted bread recipe, but it only requires one brief rising time, so it doesn’t take long to make from start to finish. The dough is so easy to work with, and uses simple pantry ingredients.

Soft For Days. You can enjoy naan for days after cooking it, and it will still be so soft and fluffy. Or just freeze leftover naan for the next time you make or order Indian food.

High Altitude Tested. I develop all the recipes on my site for Denver’s altitude of 5,280 feet. If you’re at a lower or higher elevation, please see my FAQs for guidance on adjusting recipes for your altitude. Today’s recipe will work at any altitude, though, with no need for adjustments.

See the recipe card at the end of the post for the full ingredients list and instructions.

Ingredients

• Garlic + Olive Oil. You don’t have to add garlic to your naan, but this is how I chose to flavor mine. First I roasted whole heads of garlic cloves in olive oil until the garlic was soft, sweet, mellow and caramelized, then added it to the bread dough. You could also just add a bit of garlic powder to your dough, or sprinkle it right on top after brushing the cooked naan with butter.
• Flour. You’ll need plain all purpose flour, not bread flour, for structure and strength.
• Salt. Flavor.
• Yeast + Baking Powder + Baking Soda. These are the leavening agents, which gives naan its pillowy rise, flavor and color as it cooks.
• Water. Adds moisture to the dough.
• Buttermilk. The tang of buttermilk adds more flavor, similar to sourdough bread. Be sure to use low fat buttermilk or dairy, since you don’t want the dough to be too rich, which could change its texture. Instead of buttermilk, you can also use kefir, plain yogurt, or even a combination of milk and sour cream.
• Butter. You’ll be cooking your naan in a dry skillet, but brushing it with butter afterwards. This will give it more flavor, but also helps to seal in the flat bread’s moisture to keep it soft. If you want to sprinkle the naan with chopped cilantro or herbs, garlic powder or flaky salt, do this after brushing the naan with butter.

Instructions

Make the Roasted Garlic

• Preheat the oven to 400 F, and position a rack in the center of the oven.
• Peel the excess paper off the head of garlic, but leave it intact at the base. Use a sharp knife to slice about 1/2 inch off the top of the head of garlic, to expose the cloves.
• Place the head/s of garlic in a baking pan (or just in a piece of aluminum foil) and drizzle with the olive oil, about a tablespoon of oil per head of garlic.
• Tightly cover the pan with foil and roast the garlic for about 60-90 minutes, until very soft and caramelized. You should be able to easily pierce the garlic cloves with a knife.
• Let cool until cool enough to handle, then scoop out the roasted garlic. Smash with a fork to make a paste.

Make the Naan Dough

• In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the dough hook, whisk together the flour, yeast, salt, baking powder and baking soda.
• Add the roasted garlic and the warm water/buttermilk mixture, then stir into a shaggy dough. Knead on medium low speed for 5 minutes until smooth, soft and sticky.

Shape Dough into Balls

• Scrape the dough out onto a well floured surface. Sprinkle the dough with a little more flour, and cut the dough into 8 equal portions. Roll each portion of dough into a smooth ball.
• Cover the dough balls with a clean kitchen towel, and let rest and puff up for 45 minutes.

Roll Out Dough and Cook the Naan

• Preheat a cast iron skillet over medium heat for 5 minutes.
• Roll out a ball of dough to about 7-8 inches in diameter. Place the dough into the hot, dry skillet. Cook for about 30-60 seconds, until the naan starts to bubble and puff up, then flip it over, and cook for another 30-60 seconds. If the naan burns before it puffs up, your pan is too hot, and needs to be turned down a bit. Also, as excess flour accumulates in the pan, just brush it aside with a pastry brush.
• Transfer the cooked naan to a plate, and brush with butter.
• Continue to roll out and cook the naan, brushing each with butter as you add it to the stack of cooked naan. You might also want to sprinkle the naan with a little chopped fresh cilantro.
• Serve warm, with your favorite Indian dish.

Recipe Variations and Serving Suggestions

• Besides the roasted garlic, you can add cumin, coriander, caraway, or cheese to the dough, or just keep it plain.
• Serve on the side of your favorite Indian dishes to soak up the sauce.
• Eat like a taco filled with meat, veggies, rice and sauce, or even with chicken or tuna salad.
• Make mini pizzas.
• Make an open faced breakfast sandwich. Top with crispy hash browns, cooked sausage or crumbled bacon, eggs and cheese, and broil until hot and the cheese is melted. Finish with your favorite hot sauce – I love green Cholula!
• Tear into pieces and dip in hummus or bean dip.

Making Homemade Pizzas with Naan

My little boys walked into the kitchen as I was finishing cooking the naan, and asked, “is that for mini pizzas?” Why not, I thought? So while my husband and I ate naan with takeout from our favorite Indian restaurant that night, our boys assembled their own mini pizzas with pepperoni and black olives. The naan worked out beautifully for pizza, with the bottom and edges getting crisp in the oven, and the center staying soft and fluffy.

• Preheat the oven to 450 F.
• Add your favorite sauce, cheese and pizza toppings to the baked naan.
• Place the pizzas directly on the oven rack, and bake for about 8-10 minutes, or until the toppings are cooked and the cheese is melted.

Be sure to read all of my BAKING FAQs where I discuss ingredients, substitutions and common baking questions, so that you can be successful in your own baking!

Frequently Asked Questions

How should I store leftover naan?

Store leftover naan in an airtight container or freezer bag at room temperature for up to 3 days, or in the freezer for up to 3-6 months.

Can I knead the dough by hand if I don’t have a stand mixer?

The dough is quite soft and sticky, which can make it hard to knead by hand without adding too much flour. If you don’t have a mixer, you can simply stir the dough in a bowl using a Danish dough whisk for 5 minutes to activate the gluten.

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