This pillowy gluten-free soft naan is the best gf flatbread I’ve ever had. You can use it to scoop other foods, such as sauce or dips, like you would do in an authentic Indian restaurant.
If you have ever eaten naan bread before, you probably remember the pillowy soft texture of this type of Asian flatbread.
Naan bread is a popular oven-baked flatbread that you can find in west, central, and south Asian countries. The shape, thickness, and ingredients used in the recipes may vary from region to region. Ideally, they should be made using stretchy sticky dough, such as wheat dough.
Fortunately, I had recently found some ingredients I can add to my gluten-free flour to make it stretchy and sticky to mimic the wheat dough. These pillowy soft cushions are the best gluten-free flatbreads I’ve ever had. You can use them to scoop other foods, such as sauce or dips, like you would do in an authentic Indian restaurant.
Let’s make gluten-free naan together 🙂
Do you remember a few months ago, I posted my yeast dough scallion pancake recipe on the blog?
Since I had such great success with this stretchy gluten-free dough that uses the magical ingredient, psyllium husk powder, I thought it would also be an easy project to make gluten-free naan. In this naan recipe, I used dairy milk, yogurt (or homemade milk kefir), and yeast as the rising agents.
If you want to make the vegan version, you can simply replace the dairy milk with coconut milk and the dairy yogurt with a non-dairy coconut yogurt. I have made both the dairy and vegan version and the difference in taste is insignificant.
Once the dough is formed, let it rise in a warm area of the kitchen for approximately 5 hours. If you can’t use the dough right away, you can refrigerate it for up to 14 hours and then take it out 1 hour before you are going to make the naan. The lower temperature will slow the process of fermentation. If the dough ferments too long, it will be a little bit bitter and sour.
Although these naans are best when they are freshly made and toasty hot, they can be warmed in a microwave oven for a few seconds to half a minute to regain their pillowy soft texture. During our family Christmas gathering potluck, I brought these gluten-free naan breads along with my homemade roasted pepper lentil hummus. They were a hit. In fact, I came home with an empty tray.
- 1 cup milk or non-dairy milk for vegan option
- ½ cup homemade milk kefir or plain yogurt use non-dairy yogurt for vegan option
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 cups 300 grams all-purpose gluten-free flour (see note)
- ¼ cup cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon psyllium husk powder
- 1-1/2 teaspoon sugar
- 1 teaspoon active dry yeast
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ cup olive oil for brushing
- 1 tablespoon black sesame seeds or cumin seeds for sprinkling
- In a small mixing bowl, mix together all wet ingredients. In a large mixing bowl, whisk the dry ingredients together. Add the wet ingredient mixture into the dry ingredient mixture and use a spatula or clean hand to form the dough. If you are using a different all-purpose gluten-free flour than indicated in the Note, the wetness of your dough might be different. Add 1 tablespoon of extra milk at a time, if necessary, to form a slightly sticky dough but not too wet. Cover the mixing bowl and let the dough rise in a warm place for 5 hours. The dough should smell yeasty at the end of the fermentation.
- Lightly dust a working surface with some gluten-free flour and transfer the yeast dough onto the surface. Roll the dough gently to form a smooth ball and then flatten the ball to form a disc.
- Divide the dough into 8 pieces and roll each piece into a small smooth ball. Use a rolling pin to form each ball into an oval-shaped disc, approximately 1/8 inch thick.
- Lightly brush a thin layer of olive oil on top of the naan and sprinkle with sesame seeds or cumin seeds.
- Stove Top Method: Heat a cast-iron pan over high heat. When the pan is smoky hot, lightly brush some oil and place the flattened naan dough into the pan, one at a time. Cover with lid and reduce the heat to medium. Cook each side for 1-1/2 minutes. Repeat the process until the dough disks are finished.
- Oven Method: Set the oven to broil. Lightly grease a metal baking sheet. Place a few dough disks on the baking sheet and keep them ½ inch apart. Place the baking sheet on the top rack. Bake each side for 1 to 1-1/2 minutes depends on your oven setting. When you see the dough is forming large bubbles, it’s ready to flip to the other side.
- These gluten-free naan breads are best when served hot. They can be kept in a freezer up to a month. Leftovers can be reheated in a microwave oven to regain the soft texture.
For homemade gluten-free all-purpose gluten free flour (yield 40 oz all-purpose gluten-free flour)
8 oz brown rice flour
8 oz millet flour
8 oz sweet rice flour
8 oz white rice flour
3 oz cornstarch
3 oz tapioca starch
2 oz potato starch
Mix all flour well in a container or a gallon zip-lock bag. Store in freezer.
The store-bought all-purpose gluten-free flour will work for this recipe as well.
You can also find how to make your own gluten-free flour mix from grains from one of my blog post.
I tried making naan over the summer…it was a major fail! I’m hoping to try again soon!!!
Hi there. Can I let the dough sit for more than 5 hrs? I was thinking to do it in the morning before heading to work and then come back in the evening after work and then broil. I hope to hear back soon!
Yes, you can. I hope my reply isn’t too late.
Hi, i’m trying this with a “american test kitchen blend”. How firm should the dough be, i feel mine is wet, even adding close to a 1/2 cup extra flour. Will that throw things off? How much should the dough rise and how quickly? I dont have much luck with yeast. Thanks for your help. I just found your site, hoping to make some yummy naan for my daughter
Hi Caroline, I just looked up the “American Test Kitchen Blend” and in their formula it has much higher percentage of starch or white flour (rice) than the gf flour I used in this recipe. I think the key is using psyllium husk powder as a binding agent in this type of recipe. It helps to keep the air pockets after the dough rises.
Before rise the dough should form a nice smooth ball. After rising, the softness should be similar as raw meat (sorry for the weird description). Fermentation makes the dough softer. You should be able to work with the dough easily. If you’re going to try the same flour again, I suggest to add psyllium husk powder. You can find them on amazon or vitaminshopp.
Just made this tonight. Thank you so much. So new to GF world due to new dx of Celiac. This is so close to regular naan and the whole family actually ate it and liked it. Now will have to try some of your other recipes.
You are very welcome! Our family love these noons so much too.
I’m not sure where I went wrong, but I have delicious little flat breads that aren’t really naan. I’ll definitely be giving it another shot and enjoying these for Iftar anyway!
I’m glad you liked them. I guess regular naan has much more fat in the dough while my recipe using less fat (I think). Again, when the dough is gluten-free, the chewy texture will be different than the wheat version. So that might be the case.
I’ve made this a bunch of times now, tweaking different things each time. I know I finally nailed it when I brought it to the mosque on Friday night–there are a few of us who are gf. I forgot to leave it in an out of the way place and instead it got put out with the rest of the food. Suddenly, people kept asking who brought the delicious homemade naan and the gf women were asking where I had stashed it, because they couldn’t find any. Winner winner Iftar dinner! FWIW, the tweaks that got this response were using a little more yogurt than the recipe calls for, letting it sit out for awhile first so it was warm and reducing the rising time to 4 hours.
That is so awesome! I used my homemade kefir milk and sometimes it’s thinner than store bought yogurt. I’m glad you are able to adjust the amount of yogurt and make it work!
Do you have the recipe that I could have
Thanks for sharing the recipe! Just a question, if I use store-bought gluten free blend which already contains xanthan gum, should I skip the psyllium husk?
No, you really have to use psyllium husk for this recipe. I found using xanthan gum is good for gluten-free cookie and muffin recipes, but for gluten-free dough that requires kneading, psyllium husk is the key ingredient to make it work.
Thanks for the reply! I used the gf mix with xanthan gum in the end because there was nothing else to use, came up a bit gummy but tasted great! This recipe is clearly a winner, can’t wait to try again with the correct mix of ingredients.
I make Naan bread with flour, salt and water,, thats it,,
never seen it with all those other ingredients,,
I guess recipes vary a lot. The gluten-free flour is very different than the wheat flour so we do need to add extra ingredients to help the texture.
Which brand of husk do you use??
I use vitamin shoppe brand. I bought two when it was on sale for a good price. I have friends who use Now brand psyllium husk powder and it also worked very well. Remember, you need the powder form. Happy baking gluten-free!
LOVED this!! Thank you!!!
My dough was extremely wet so I added just a touch more flour, but after the resting/fermentation period, it was fine so I wonder if the extra flour would not have been needed. (i DID warm my milk and dissolve the yeast and sugar in it to activate it this way- old habit that I like to do). Instead of seeds, we brushed it with chopped garlic, oil, and cilantro… But these are minor things- this recipe is so wonderful. Served it with dal and a potato curry.
I’m SO EXCITED to make these again…
Ever since finding this recipe, I couldn’t wait to try it… Some times you can tell by an author’s precision that the recipe is going to be a keeper, and sure enough, it is. I labeled the flour blend “GF naan mix” ? thank you for your beautiful recipe and hard work!
Thank you so much for the feedback, Lena! Sharing a good recipe that my readers love and find useful in their life is my goal. I’m so glad this recipe worked so well. XoXo
Joyce can I use chickpea flour to make these?
I would say no because chickpea flour is not sticky enough to roll the dough. It will falling apart and very hard to handle. I hope this helps.
I tried this for the first time today. It came out very dense and hard. I did use the psyllium husk powder. Not sure what else I could be doing wrong. Maybe I should have warmed the milk and yogurt?
I used my homemade kefir milk so it has far more probiotic bacteria than store bought yogurt. The fermentation may take place faster. Also, what kind of gluten-free flour mix are you using? Different mix may need different amount of wet ingredients (such as milk or yogurt) to adjust to the right consistency. The dough should be slightly wet but manageable to roll. I hope these tips help.
I was so excited to find this site, Happy to make my own flours, I want to try this recipe, Hoping it will turn out great. Its great to see that you are a chemist so we know that that great mind will continue to experiment to get the best combinations of flours to create this bread. Thanks for sharing your talents.
Jeannie
You are so welcome, Jeannie! I’m so glad that I can share my knowledge and experience here. I hope you can find more recipes here that you’ll enjoy.
Help I’m trying to make this for dinner tonight!!!
I wanted to know if we can replace the corn starch ? I think I’ll make the homemade gf flour mix with corn starch but I didn’t want to add more. So the 1/4 cup of extra corn starch, can we replace it with tapioca starch or potato starch?
Sorry, I just saw your message. If you don’t have corn starch, replace with either tapioca or potato starch will work.
Hi there,
What would you recommend I replace the potato starch with? I know it’s commonly added to help with the softness but I can’t tolerate nightshades so have to avoid it. I’d love to try these the next time I make Dahl or something!
Thanks in advance
I’m so sorry to hear that you can’t tolerate potato starch. But no worries! You can replace potato starch with either tapioca starch or corn starch. I have heard you can also use arrowroot starch but I haven’t tried it yet. Let me know if this helps. 🙂 I hope you enjoy your homemade gluten-free version of naan bread with your Dahl.
I finally made the naan!! I used my own flour blend (sorghum, buckwheat, glutinous rice, brown rice, tapioca starch and cornflour). They were absolutely delicious, next time I’m making garlic naan! Thank you so much for the recipe ?
Thank you for this recipe! Am excited to try it! My question is regarding the yogurt. My family is casein-free so I will be using Dairy-Free yogurt. The DF yogurt I have available is very thick. Would you be so kind as to let me know what type of thickness of the yogurt is needed for the Naan? Thick Greek style or regular pudding type consistency or is it more of a runny consistency?
Hi Renee, I’m so happy you’re going to try this recipe. I’m not quite sure about what kind of gluten-free flour mix you are using, each brand varies. My suggestion is using the DF yogurt you have and if the dough is too dry, you can add a bit water. You definitely don’t want the dough too soft or like pancake batter, it should be easily manageable by hand. Let me know if you have any questions and I’d be happy to know how your dairy-free version turns out. 🙂
Phenomenal recipe – thank you for sharing! I used whole milk and whole milk yogurt. For flour, King Arthur Measure for Measure works beautifully!
Thanks Nancy! I’m so glad the recipe worked so well for you. I never used any store-bought gluten-free flour mix. It’s good to know. 🙂
Great recipe Joyce! Thanks for sharing ? I made it whitout psyllium husk powder and turn out super. After 1 day in fridge dough was still ok.
Hi thanks for this. Do you have a replacement for the psyllium? I am so sensitive to it.
Sorry I don’t. If you can have egg white, it may help. My husband is very sensitive to psyllium too.
Can I skip corn starch ? I can’t eat it due to allergies . If not skip what can I replace it with ?
You can use potato starch or tapioca starch to replace corn starch.
Hi Joyce – Just wanted to say thankyou as I made this yesterday with a general gf flour mix I use, soy yoghurt and almond milk and it worked brilliantly. Easy to make and my guests couldn’t tell the difference! Awesome recipe.
I’m so glad your guests and you all enjoyed the recipe. 🙂
Hey Joyce,
For the flour is it 2 cups AND 300 grams? Or just one of them?
Just on of them. My homemade gluten-free flour is about 150grams per cup.
I am new to gluten free baking and was really nervous about making these, but they turned out great! I used Bob’s red mill 1:1 gluten free flour. The dough seemed very soft when rolling it out, but the finished bread had a nice chewy texture perfect for scooping up channa dal. I made mine in a cast iron skillet and sprinkled them with charnushka seeds from penzeys spices. Thanks for the great recipe!
I really cannot believe how great these are. Now that I have celliac disease, I thought I would never be able to have naan again. I tried a couple of other recipes which came out ok for an Asian crepe, however they weren’t naan. These are puffy and truly have the perfect naan texture. Thank you so much for this recipe. I really appreciate it !
I decided to give this recipe a try! I used 5% Greek yogurt and whole milk since it’s what I had on hand. I did warm the milk slightly, and then mixed it with cold yogurt. The fermentation time is extremely long. I can taste that sour taste when yeast sits too long. I only let the dough rest for about 3 hours – at room temperature at first and then in a cold oven. It might be because I warmed the milk? I’m going to cook them off anyway because it’s edible. It doesn’t have the bubbles of naan, so it’s basically flatbread. Might try it again with a much shorter fermentation in a cooler place.
Sometimes store-bought yogurt won’t ferment the dough as well as homemade. Because store-bought yogurt has longer shelf life due to the additives to slow down the fermentation. You may want to try different brand of yogurt or use yogurt only without mixing with any milk. The higher concentration of the yogurt means more probiotics, the faster and better fermentation.
This bread looks delicious so it indeed must be! Not to mention healthy being a plus. Will definitely try this recipe of yours and looks like my children might love this paired with their favorite viand.
Just made this and it was totally dope! Dough was a bit soft and sticky to work with so was concerned. Cooked them in a cast iron the range and wow! They were awesome. Thanks!
That’s awesome! I’m so glad you loved it.
I have acacia fiber that I was using for another recipe in the same fashion you are using psyllium husks. If it turns out alright I will let you know, so it can be noted as an alternative for those that are sensitive to psyllium husks.
That would be great! I’d love to know if the alternative works. Thank you!
This is probably a dumb question but how much should the dough rise?
About less than double.
Thank you so much for this recipe!! Its the best gluten free naan recipe which you can find on Internet! My family (3kids and a husband and me:) we are crazy for it! It is so soft, just perfect!
Best greetings from Italy!
These turned out amazing!! Amazing!! I had an Indian-themed dinner party last night, and one of my guests has a gluten intolerance. He was amazed by how close these were to the real thing. I ended up using Red Mill 1 for 1 GF baking flour. And I did make a special effort to go to Vitamin Shoppe and get psyllium fiber. My dough was pretty sticky when I mixed everything together, but I decided to just let it sit like that to rise. I left it all day while I was at work. When I came back, it was less sticky – it needed one to two turns of kneading, and then each disk needed a little dusting to roll out. I used a spatula to transfer the flattened naans into the pan – I’m adding this to my “favorites” recipe book as we speak!
That’s great! I’m sure you guests appreciated so much of your effort.
I need to substitute the sugar. Will honey be ok? How much?
2 teaspoons of honey will work.
I made this today. When I mixed the dough up, it did feel too wet, but going off an earlier comment that mentioned this I chose not to add flour and left it to rise. After five hours and a few hours in the fridge, it had magically turned into the perfect dough consistency! I cooked them up in the oven with cumin, sesame, garlic powder, and olive oil. While the final result doesn’t taste quite the same as naan, they are an incredible flatbread. I would never have guessed these were GF if I hadn’t made them, they taste incredible!
Did you recently change the recipe? I’ve made this several times, but don’t recall adding milk. I thought we warmed water to activate the yeast…
No, I didn’t change the recipe.
Thank you for this recipe! I only had a couple of hours to ferment the dough, and I ended up.kneading in some baking powder to give them a little bit of extra lift as I wasn’t happy with the rise. The. dough was so lovely and soft to work with and they were soooooo good. We will make these again and again!
Can you make this without the yeast? Thanks
No, the fermentation helps the texture of the naan.
Hi! I don’t have brown rice flour to make the gluten free flour mix. What do you suggest?
Thanks!
Use millet flour or oat flour to replace brown rice flour.
Hi Joyce,
I was curious if I could use Bob’s Red Mill All-Purpose Baking Flour made with gluten free grains and bean flours? And if yes, should I use xantham gum or psyllium husk?
Thank you and can’t wait to make this recipe!
Cheers,
Kayla