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Naan Recipe – Instant and Delicious Stovetop Naans

By 31 Comments

This naan recipe is so good and can be made quickly for that last minute fresh naan craving!

fresh naans

This naan recipe with self raising flour works so well. These are just as good as naan cooked in a tandoor oven.

My latest naan recipe even earlier than planned!

You weren’t going to get this naan recipe for a few months.  It’s going to feature in my next cookbook ‘The Curry Guy Bible’ which is scheduled to be out in October 2020.

It is my favourite naan recipe because the naans taste just like they do at curry houses and the recipe is also very simple. 

The secret to this naan recipe is using, as they do at Indian restaurants, self raising flour.

With things as they are at the moment, I decided there’s no better time than the present to share this easy naan recipe with you.

Although I normally cook the naans in my tandoor, they are just as good cooked on the stovetop. One thing is certain… this naan recipe is a thousand times better than those packaged naans you get at the supermarket. 

This is a curry house style naan recipe.

At busy Indian restaurants, it’s not always easy to plan how much naan dough you will need for the evening. They could suddenly have several groups walk in and they can’t be left without enough naan dough. There’s a lot of profit in those naans!

The idea behind this naan recipe is to prepare the dough using ‘bakers measures’. If using 250g of flour, you need to use 250ml of liquid. 

I demonstrate this naan recipe at all of my cooking classes and it is always a big hit. For the classes, we make this small version of the recipe like this but I also make a large batch which we cook in the tandoor. 

To make the large batch, I use 1 kilo of flavour and a litre of liquid. Where I use only one egg in this small recipe to serve 4 to 6, for the large batch, I use three. 

Keep the rule of equal amounts of dry and wet ingredients – roughly speaking – and you can scale this recipe up and down easily. 

That dough looks more like a batter than a dough!

That’s right. The dough is very wet, like full fat cream when you first make it. That is how it is stored and restaurants. If you keep it covered in the fridge for one or two days, it comes alive and the flavour gets even better.

This is  a naan recipe, however that you can make on a whim and enjoy fresh naans immediately.

Plan ahead and keep the dough ‘batter’ in the fridge for a day or two or just make up a batch and eat it when you want. 

Both options are fine with this delicious fluffy naan recipe. 

When you want a naan, just take some of the dough and slowly add flour until it is soft and slightly sticky to the touch. It should be soft enough that you can form it into a flat naan without the need to use a rolling pin.

By the way, Once you’ve made this naan recipe, you might want to cook something up to eat with your naans. You’ve got to give my my 7 ingredient lamb curry a try.

Making self raising flour naan recipe

Here are all the ingredient you need.

liquid needed for naan dough

Pour the liquid, onion seeds, salt and sugar in a bowl.

Adding flour to indian flat bread.

Slowly add the flour, stirring as you do.

Recipe Suggestions… Try these naans as a side for one of these popular curry recipes.

Chicken Curry with Coconut Milk
Chicken Tikka Masala
Chicken Madras
Lamb Rogan Josh
Simple Chicken Curry

the naan dough

The dough will be very wet. Too wet to use.

adding more flour to recipe.

Add more flour when ready to cook your naans. I used about 7 handfuls.

Dividing dough into dough balls

Divide the dough and form into balls. The dough should be soft enough to flatten without a rolling pin.

Cooking Indian flatbread

Cook the naan in a very hot pan until bubbles form.

Cooking naans

Turn the pan over if you have a gas burner. Otherwise, just flip the naan.

Toasting flatbread

Toast the top to your preferred doneness.

Yield: 6

Naan Recipe - Instant and Delicious Stovetop Naans

fresh naans
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Total Time 30 minutes

Ingredients

  • 250g (2 cups) self-raising (self-rising) flour, sifted plus extra as needed
  • 125ml (1/2 cup) warm full-fat (whole) milk
  • 110ml approx. (scant 1/2 cup) water
  • 1 1/2 tbsp caster (superfine) sugar
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 egg, lightly beaten
  • 1 1/2 tsp nigella seeds (black onion seeds)
  • 35ml (1/8 cup) rapeseed (canola) oil
  • Ghee or butter, for brushing

Instructions

  1. Pour the milk and water into a large mixing bowl. Add the eggs, salt, sugar and nigella seeds and whisk well.
  2. Now start pouring in the flour, whisking as you do. Once you’ve added all the flour, it will still look very soupy and far too wet to work into dough balls.
  3. I recommend covering the dough at this time with a wet cloth and letting it sit for at least 3 hours or overnight for best results. That said, you could just jump right into finishing the recipe at this stage.
  4. When ready to cook your naans, slowly start adding more self-rising flour. The idea here is to add just enough flour so that the dough is workable. For reference, I ended up adding about 7 handfuls of flour.
  5. It should be very soft and slightly sticky but not so sticky that it sticks to your hands. If it does, dust with a little bit more flour until you can easily divide and form the dough into six spongy dough balls.
  6. Once your dough balls are formed, you could let them sit, covered for about 30 minutes but again, you could push forward and make your naans immediately.
  7. As the dough is so soft, you shouldn’t need a rolling pin. Dip you fingers in the oil and this start patting the first dough ball to flatten it. Continue slapping it until it is thin and flat. Repeat with the remaining dough balls.
  8. Dust off any excess flour and then lightly brush the tops of the naans with oil.
  9. Heat a dry frying pan over a medium–high heat and slap the first naan into it, oil side up. As it cooks, bubbles will form on the top and it will begin to look like a
    real naan!
  10. If you have a blow torch, use it to brown and blacken the bubbles. If you are cooking on gas, and have a cast irong pan, you could also do as I did in the picture above and turn the naan toward the flame. Another option would be to just flip it over. This will pop a lot of the bubbles but the naan will still be delicious. Brush with a little melted ghee to serve.
  11. Keep warm and repeat with the remaining naans.

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© Dan Toombs
I hope you enjoy this easy naan recipe. If you do give it a try, please don’t be a stranger. Let me know in the comments. I’d love to hear from you. 

homemade naans

You can make homemade naans like these in minutes.

 

Comments

  1. David says

    So easy to make and so delicious, I couldn’t get Nigella seeds so used 1:1 dried oregano. So much nicer than supermarket naan.

    Reply

  4. steph l says

    Well I made them in readiness for tea, then had to make a second batch because I turned my back and they ate them all !!

    Reply

  5. Missy Dee says

    Wow thank you for this recipe. Been looking for a restaurant style one. If I want to make this into a ‘garlic naan’ what do you recommend? Add fresh garlic in it or on it? And coriander in or on?

    Reply

    • Dan Toombs says

      Hi
      Yes, you could certainly add garlic and/or coriander to make the recipe your own.
      Thanks for your feedback.
      Dan

      Reply

  6. Gill says

    Hi Dan

    Can you freeze these as slightly 2 many for 2 people, was going to half the mixture but not sure how to half an egg so thinking maybe freezing is better, thanks

    Reply

  7. Neil Stoker says

    Fab recipe, easy and quick. Had a take away curry with friends last night and I made these up and they were very well received. Going to try converting into Peshawari next time.
    Thanks so much … Love the recipes
    Neil

    Reply

  8. Nigel Caddick says

    Hi Dan,
    Does it have to be Canola, Rapeseed oil? We have several bottles of various oils in the cupboard you see, or is the oil purely for your fingers so that the dough doesn’t stick? Cheers

    Reply

  9. Kes Devine says

    Hi, Great Naans just cooked and demolished! Did i miss read something as i couldn’t see where to use the Rapeseed oil?
    Many Thanks
    Kes

    Reply

    • Dan Toombs says

      Hi
      The oil is just to dip your hands in before rolling it out so the dough doesn’t stick to your hands.
      Thanks
      Dan

      Reply

  10. Rob Ironmonger says

    Hi Dan, Does the mixture require kneading or do you just mix it in the bowl before forming in to individual balls?

    Reply

  11. Thuy Hoang says

    Hi Dan,

    I love your posts! I noticed you have three fab naan recipes and was just wondering which one is your favourite. I am making a Parsi curry, Salli Boti this weekend and would like to make naans to accompany lamb curry. I have the ingredients you listed for all three recipes but sadly do not own a tandor. I was thinking of making plain and garlic naans and would be very grateful for your advice regarding which recipe to try first. I would like the naans to be as close to the ones serves at the restaurants as possible. Do you by any chance have a recipe for onion bhajis that you could share please?
    Many thanks,

    Thuy

    Reply

  12. Jenny Wood says

    I tried these last night and must have done something wrong. The taste was good, but no bubbles when I cooked them and they were certainly not light and fluffy. I made the batter and left it for at least 3 hours, the only thing I can think is that I didn’t use enough flour at ‘phase 2’ because the first ones were a bit sticky, but i added more flour for the last few

    I am interested in how you flame the top side once it bubbles, my naans had no cohesion with the pan and would slip out

    I have done loads of your recipes and they have always been successful until this …

    Reply

    • Dan Toombs says

      Hi Jenny
      I am not really sure what you did wrong, the recipe seems to work for most people. Maybe the pan wasn’t hot enough?
      The only way to brown the top is to turn it over which will flatten some of the bubbles or use a blow torch if you have one. You could also put it under the grill for a couple of minutes.
      Thanks
      Dan

      Reply

  13. Alex says

    Hello, I seem to be having issues with this recipe and just non-yeast recipes. I tried yours and also latif inspired on YouTube, both turned out similar. Not so soft but more flat bread texture, the bubbles are extremely small everywhere. I tried much hotter than usual and I know tandoor ovens are extremely hot but this just seems to burn the bottom if I go too hot and still give the same result of small bubbles and not so soft. I am using a tawa pan which works fine for my yeast recipes where it makes bigger bubbles and the naan is nice and soft, wet one side then turn it over on the gas to cook the other side.
    Just really wanting a recipe that I can do quickly without waiting but any self raising non-yeast recipe seems to really struggle!

    Reply

    • Dan Toombs says

      Thanks for getting in touch. The no yeast method is perfect for thin naans with small bubbles. If you want larger bubbles, you should use my yeast method. That said, you should get better results if you want larger bubbles but rolling the naans thicker. You shouldn’t cook on as high a flame when doing this as it needs to cook through without burning the bottom. Once the bubbles have formed to your liking, check the bottom. If it is not burning, turn up the heat to high and the bubbles will increase in size even more. Watch it though. You need to do this in a pan that is not non stick. Flip the pan over to darken the top over the gas or use a blow torch. Hope this helps.

      Reply

  14. Mike says

    Hi Dan,

    Someone else asked about making these into garlic and coriander naans – but when/where would you add the garlic? Would you add finely chopped or minced (?) garlic Into the mix when making the dough or sprinkle it on while cooking the pan or would you just make a garlic butter and spread it on while cooking in the pan or even afterwards? I’m assuming the coriander would go on at the last minute as with other recipes but just not sure about how to make them nice and garlicky like the restaurant ones.

    Maybe you could update the recipe to instruct people on that option? I think most of us curry lovers prefer the garlic ones!

    Reply

    • Dan Toombs says

      Thanks for your message. I heat up ghee and add a few teaspoons of minced garlic and pour it over the naans once they are cooked, that works really well. You could sprinkle some coriander on top at this stage too.
      Dan

      Reply

  15. Matt says

    Hi Dan

    Little confused by some differences in this vs the recipe in the bible.

    Both say they serve 6 (make 6 naans) but this website recipe has half the ingredients as the book version. Does that mean the book makes 12 or this makes 3?

    Also, do these stick to the pan without using water on the bottom? Whenever I’ve cooked pan naans previously, recipes have said to stick them with water. Would these still stick so I can turn the pan over?

    Thanks

    Reply

    • Dan Toombs says

      Hi Matt
      The naans in the Bible are a big bigger so you can make 6 from my web site recipe but make them smaller.
      As long as you follow my recipe and get the pan hot enough they should not stick to the pan.
      Thanks
      Dan

      Reply

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