This post may contain affiliate links. See my disclosure policy.
Soft, fluffy and delicious homemade naan bread made with just TWO ingredients! This 2 ingredient dough naan bread is healthier than traditional naan and takes less than 10 minutes to make- no yeast!
Naan Bread without yeast
After stocking up on a bunch of pantry friendly ingredients, I found myself to have a plethora of self-rising flour.
Now, don’t get me wrong. I didn’t go out and buy this particular type of flour as if you look through my recipes, it’s not a flour I regularly use.
I often stick to grain-free and low carb flours, like coconut flour and almond flour.
However, as a means to make use of my pantry staple ingredients, I’ve been digging through it over the past week!
The famous 2 ingredient weight watchers dough has been used to make these 2 ingredient bagels, 2 ingredient pizza crusts and 2 ingredient soft pretzels.
After a curry craving last night, 2 ingredient dough naan bread had to be next!
What is naan bread?
Traditional naan bread is a staple bread in many East Asian countries, like India and Sri Lanka. It’s leavened and most often baked in the oven.
It’s generally made with flour, yeast, salt, and water.
Enjoyed with curries, stews and on their own, they make a fantastic side dish or a substitute for a pizza base!
In this recipe, we don’t bake the naan bread but instead, dry fry it (pan fry it without oil). This makes is SO much quicker.
Taste-wise, naan bread is mild and doughy, and with a slightly more salty flavor than standard bread.
Texture-wise, it is doughy, fluffy and slightly tender on the outside- you MUST enjoy it warm!
Is naan bread healthy?
Depending on where in the world you are and how you make your naan bread, it can be healthy. More often than not, it is what you eat WITH the naan bread that can tip it in the direction of unhealthy.
While traditional naan bread tends to be coated in oil or butter, my version is healthier than the original and virtually fat-free!
How to make naan bread from scratch
Making naan bread from scratch is SO simple. As it contains no yeast, it literally takes less than 10 minutes to make a batch!
The Ingredients
- Self-rising flour– Either gluten-free self-rising flour or standard self-raising (self-raising) flour must be used. You can make your own self-rising flour following the recipe here.
- Greek Yogurt– Either non-fat or standard Greek yogurt works. I used coconut Greek yogurt, to keep it vegan friendly, and also dairy-free.
- Salt– Optional, but reduces the yogurt flavor in the dough.
- Butter or oil, to brush– To give the naan bread a gorgeous shine. This is not necessary at all.
The Instructions
No crazy mixing bowls or kitchen gadgets needed at all!
In a large mixing bowl, you’ll want to combine your flour, salt (if using it) and Greek yogurt and mix until combined. If you like, use your hands to mix in the dough until fully incorporated. Form a big ball of dough.
Then, you’ll lightly flour a wooden or kitchen surface. Sprinkle a little extra flour on the ball of dough, and transfer onto the floured surface. Press the ball of dough into a circular shape and cut into 8 even pieces. Flatten each piece of dough, and form a rough, oblong shape.
Finally, you will heat a large non-stick pan on medium heat. When hot, place one piece of naan dough onto the pan and cook for 2-3 minutes, before flipping and cooking for another 2 minutes. Repeat until all the dough has been used up and 8 naan bread remains!
If desired, brush the tops of the naan bread with melted butter or oil.
What can I use instead of yogurt in naan bread?
While Greek yogurt is the only kind of yogurt that works well (including vegan Greek yogurt) there IS another alternative for Greek yogurt that can be used.
Sour cream works in the same way Greek yogurt does, as it is thick and holds together. You can substitute the Greek yogurt with sour cream.
I haven’t tried vegan sour cream, but lactose-free sour cream does work.
Is naan bread vegan and gluten-free?
YES!
My version IS vegan (dairy-free Greek yogurt) and gluten-free (gluten-free self-rising flour).
If you don’t follow any of those diets, stick to Greek yogurt and standard gluten-free self-rising flour.
Can you refrigerate and freeze naan bread?
If you plan to enjoy the naan bread within 3 days, there is no need to refrigerate it.
To refrigerate: You should avoid refrigerating the uncooked dough, as it will become stickier the longer it sits. You will need to add extra flour to make it durable to form into naan bread.
If you have leftover naan that you don’t want to enjoy immediately, you can refrigerate it to enjoy later.
Place leftover naan bread in a ziplock bag and be sure to enjoy them within 7 days.
To freeze: Cooked naan bread is freezer friendly. Place the naan bread in a ziplock bag. They will keep fresh frozen for up to 6 months.
To reheat: Allow frozen naan to thaw to room temperature. Either reheat in the microwave or crisp up in the pan.
What to eat or serve with naan bread
Traditional ways to enjoy Naan bread is to enjoy it as a side, but here are some other suggestions-
- Side dish– Enjoy naan bread with homemade curry, with a veggie burger or your favorite protein.
- Pizza- Substitute your traditional pizza crust with naan bread- Top it as you would with any pizza and bake until the toppings are cooked and cheese is melted.
- Toast substitute- Replace your toast with it, and spread some almond butter or homemade Nutella on top!
Naan bread variations and flavors
- Garlic naan- Add 1/2 teaspoon of garlic powder into the dough. Brush the tops with melted butter and crushed garlic.
- Butter naan- Brush the tops of the naan with melted butter and let sit, before re-brushing again.
- Cheese naan- Divide naan dough into two, and top shredded cheese on one half of it. Top with remaining half and pan fry as normal, until cheese has melted in between.
- Paneer naan- Crumble fresh paneer into the naan dough, along with 1/4 teaspoon of garlic powder and onion powder.
- Chilli cheese naan– Fold through red pepper flakes (to taste) into the dough, along with shredded cheese (1/4 cup). Cook as you would, and enjoy.
More delicious 2 ingredient dough recipes
2 Ingredient Dough Naan Bread- No Yeast!
Ingredients
- 1 3/4 cups self-rising flour use gluten-free, if needed
- 1 cup Greek Yogurt vegan Greek yogurt, non-fat, full-fat or reduced fat
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon butter of choice Optional, to brush naan breads
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl, combine your flour, salt (if using it) and Greek yogurt. Mix well, until combined. Then, use your hands to form a large ball of dough.
- Lightly flour a wooden or kitchen surface. Sprinkle a little extra flour on top of the ball of dough, before transferring it to the floured surface. Flatten into a circular shape and divide into 8 even portions. Flatten each portion into a rectangular shape (like a classic Naan bread).
- Heat a non-stick saucepan on medium heat. When hot, place flattened dough and cook for 3 minutes, before flipping and cooking a further 2 minutes. Repeat until all the naan bread is cooked.
- Once cooked, if desired, lightly brush the tops of each naan bread with melted butter.
Brill’ – easy peasy – garlic butter to finish – feel like a chef ;-)))
Easy recipe! I just used homemade soy yogurt. Worked like a charm. Made a ton for the freezer! Thank you for sharing!
The best tasting gluten free vegan naam bread I’ve ever tasted. Took minutes to make the dough, and 4 minutes to fry. Tasted better than any other naam bread I’ve ever eaten. Thank you so much for sharing. I made with coconut yoghurt and fried in the pan (as i have no non-stick) with goats butter… mmm.
Tell the U.K. people to just use a cup, it’s a 2-1 ratio that works fine. So if you want 2 cups flour (SF) and 1 cup yoghurt (Greek)….. just get a cup from your cupboard. And if you make to much choose a smaller cup next time, too little choose a bigger cup! 😝
I cut the recipe in half to try it. Besides I just had a half cup of Greek nonfat yogurt left!! I don’t have any nonstick pans, so I used olive oil spray on a cast iron skillet. It came out really good It reminds me of fried bread dough. On Sundays we would use some dough left over from making bread and fry it. Sometimes sprinkle powdered sugar or granulated on it. Maybe cinnamon sugar. Options are endless Thanks for the recipe🙂
Can I make the dough the night before or will it not come out the same
I haven’t tried!
This was so good! I’ve made it twice in four days. I used full fat Greek yogurt. And used the pastry brush to put the tiny bit of butter on it when they were done. It’s hard not to eat one as soon as they are ready. And it’s definitely a recipe you can add to with different herbs Etc
This was a fool proof, delicious, easy recipe. I will never buy pre packaged again. I did use low fat Greek yogurt and normal Self raising flour and came out perfect.
Quick, foolproof and delicious! First time making naan and these were almost devoured before I had a chance to serve the tikka masala they were accompanying. Will definitely never buy pre-made again.
Can you make this keto and sub for almond flour?
I haven’t tried! You can make my keto naan instead.
I’m looking forward to making this tonight with my slow cooker Healthy B
utter Chicken. I love that it’s easy and low calorie!! Thanks SO much!
You are so welcome!
Greetings,
thank you for providing this recipe. Have you tried making this naan with Indian style yoghurt like the brand Gopi? it is thicker than plain yoghurt.
Thanks
Haven’t tried!
Hi Do you have any vegan Greek yogurts to recommend for this recipe? I have found normal vegan yogurt but not vegan Greek yogurt. Does it have to be Greek yogurt? Thanks. 😊
I’ve used nakula coconut yogurt and it worked great!
This recipe is so simple and amazing, I’m really blown away by it. I’ve tried a couple of variants that I’ll share below:
Stainless steel pan instead of non-stick – I used a little olive oil and while result tasted good, I don’t recommend it. Once the oil burned off it was smoke alarm time. I also spent a half hour cleaning the burns from my pan. Nonstick pan is recommended for a reason but I don’t use them so I tried this.
Air fryer – Basted with a little olive oil and the end result was somewhere between pizza crust and naan. Unless you don’t have access to a broiler or non-stick pan, I wouldn’t try this option. It’s more work and took longer than the broiler option below with about the same result.
Broiler – My current go to option. I put some flour on the bottom, then the dough and with a light olive oil baste and then flipped it once it started to brown and basted again. Perfect result but didn’t have the slightly burnt bubbles like traditional Naan. A real key here is to not fill the whole pan with the dough so you can get under it with a spatula to flip it. Otherwise, you end up tearing part of the bottom when you try to get under it.
Using coconut flour with the broiler option above – 100% coconut flour doesn’t work well, but I used 50% and 50% gluten free and it came out great.
I was dubious but this naan bread was amazing! It wasn’t as light and fluffy as the real thing but had a lovely taste and was so quick to whip up! Definitely recommend.
So glad to hear that 🙂