Bread for every curry · No tandoor

Naan Recipe (Tandoor Style Naan on a Tawa)

Soft yoghurt dough. Very hot tawa. Flip over the flame.

Farwa ZeeshanRecipe by Farwa ZeeshanTested in the NineFoods home kitchen

Naan is the soft, chewy tandoor bread served with every Pakistani karahi and kebab. Home naan often turns out flat and hard. The fix is a soft, sticky yoghurt dough left to rise, rolling it thick, and cooking it on a very hot tawa with water on one side so it sticks, then turning it over the open flame to blister.

Prep1h 30m
Cook15m
Servings8
kcal / serving250
LevelMedium
Jump to the method

The 3 laws of naan

Why this recipe works

Soft, sticky dough

Stiff dough

Fluffy, chewy naan.

Very hot tawa

Medium tawa

Bubbles and blisters.

Flame finish

Tawa only

Tandoor char.

Shopping and prep list

Ingredients

Servings
Tap items as you gather them · 0 of 0 ready

Naan

The NineFoods naan gauge

Ready to flip over the flame?

Look at the top surface.

Tap a stage to see what to do.

Method · 3 stages

Step by step

1

Dough

No heat · 90 min
  1. Mix a soft, sticky dough; knead and rise 1.5 hours.
Look for: doubled dough.
15:00
2

Shape

No heat · 10 min
  1. Divide into 8, roll thick teardrops, sprinkle seeds.
Look for: shaped naan.
10:00
3

Cook

High · 2 min each
  1. Wet the underside and stick on a very hot iron tawa.
  2. When bubbly, flip the tawa over the flame to char. Use the gauge above.
  3. Brush with butter.
Look for: soft naan.
16:00

Chef's troubleshooter

What went wrong? Pick the symptom

Why

Dough not risen.

Fix next time

Let it double.

Why

Stiff dough or slow cooking.

Fix next time

Soft dough, very hot tawa.

Why

Underside not wet.

Fix next time

Brush water on before sticking.

Why

No flame finish.

Fix next time

Turn over the flame.

Swap smart

Ingredient roles and substitutes

IngredientJob in the dishSwap with
Plain flourBaseHalf atta
YoghurtSoftnessMilk
Iron tawaCookingOven grill on a pizza stone
ButterFinishGarlic butter

After the meal

Serve, store, reheat

Serve with

Karahi, kebabs and nihari.

Store

Freeze cooked 1 month.

Reheat

Sprinkle water and warm on a tawa.

How we tested this recipe

Tested in a home kitchen, not a studio

Farwa Zeeshan

Recipe developed and tested by Farwa Zeeshan, who cooks and tests every NineFoods recipe on a regular home stove.

  • Cooked from start to finish with the exact quantities above for 8 servings, using both the metric and US cup measures.
  • Every one of the 3 stages was timed at the stove; heat levels and the 'look for' cues are what we saw in the pan.
  • The doneness check (ready to flip over the flame) and the troubleshooter come from batches that went wrong, and how we fixed them.
  • Reheating and storage advice was checked on leftovers, not guessed.

Read our full testing process

Keep cooking

Related recipes and guides

All breads and nashtaAtta and Roti GuideWeekly Meal Prep for Pakistani Cooking10 Essential Pakistani Spices and How to Use Them

Quick answers

Naan FAQ

Can I make naan without a tandoor?

Yes, on a very hot iron tawa finished over the flame.

Why is my naan hard?

The dough was stiff or the heat too low.

Do I need yeast?

Yeast gives the best texture; baking powder alone is quicker but denser.

Can I make garlic naan?

Brush with garlic butter and coriander.