Soft Gluten Free Naan (Indian Flatbread)

Naan is luscious Indian flatbread, similar to a tortilla, but thicker. With one simple alteration, you can roll or pat them out thinner to use as tortillas. The flavor and texture are so good that they should be a sin to eat. By far, this gluten free naan is my most raved about recipe. People liken them to their gluten counterpart. Naan is full of possibilities.

There are two types of naan. One is closer to a bread texture and the other is soft. This is a soft gluten free naan recipe.

The story behind the recipe:

A little over a year ago, I picked up some Indian food for my husband while I was caring for my father. As I took the naan out of the bag I wanted to cry, I wanted some so badly! Putting it mildly, I was jealous. Creating a soft gluten free naan seemed hopeless at the time. After promising everyone that I would experiment with a recipe, I just had to give it a go.

My husband (who eats gluten) loved the first batch I created. Yeah! I can have my own gluten free naan! The only regret was that I only made half of a batch. You can make this in a cast iron skillet, as I did, at first. However, it is absolutely incredible made on a pizza stone as pictured. The temperature traditional naan is cooked is 800°F. Therefore, 500 to 600°F would be best, the highest your oven can be set.

If you are allergic to yeast, see my Gluten-Free Yeast-Free Naan Recipe.

UPDATE – August 22, 2014 – I made this gluten free naan on KSEE Channel 24 NBC Fresno.

Find my latest video below with instructions on how to make this gluten free naan, thinly rolled so you can use them for tortillas.

Update: Look for this recipe and many others in my upcoming cookbook, Carla’s Best Gluten Free Recipes.

Watch the Stovetop Method Video!

Get the Recipe and Watch the Video for the Pizza Stone Method!

Soft Gluten Free Naan – Gluten Free Indian Flatbread

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Total Time: 55 minutes

Yield: Makes 7 individual naan or 2 large

A soft, pliable gluten free naan ready to pair with any buttery or saucy Indian dish or eat plain.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup water, heated to 110°F
1 tablespoon honey
2 teaspoons instant dry yeast
1-1/2 cups white or brown rice flour
1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons potato starch
1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons cornstarch
2 teaspoons guar gum
1-1/2 teaspoons salt
1/4 teaspoon gluten-free baking powder (omit for tortillas)
1/4 teaspoon gluten-free garam masala (optional)
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup neutral-flavored cooking oil
2 large eggs, beaten, at room temperature
Unsalted butter, for buttering naan

Instructions:

To Make in a Skillet:

Combine warm water, honey, and yeast in a medium-sized bowl. Set aside until frothy, about 5 minutes.
In a separate, large bowl, add rice flour, potato starch, cornstarch, guar gum, salt, and baking powder. (Omit baking powder when making thin tortillas.) If using, add garam masala. It provides additional flavor. Whisk thoroughly; set aside.
Add buttermilk, oil, and beaten eggs to yeast mixture; whisk thoroughly.
Add the dry mixture to the wet mixture. Stir using a rubber spatula until it reaches the consistency of soft dough, like creamy mashed potatoes. Allow the batter to rest for 20 minutes.
Preheat a heavy skillet over medium heat, preferably a cast iron pan.
Dust a sheet of parchment paper generously with potato starch. Add up to 1/3 cup of dough, and using starch-dusted hands, pat out to a thin patty, about 6 inches round. Add additional potato starch, as needed.
Invert the patty into the preheated skillet and remove the parchment paper. Fry for 1-1/2 to 2-1/2 minutes on each side and until patches of golden color develop. Repeat the above steps with the remaining dough.
If desired, using a stick of butter, coat each side of the warm naan. It is a good way to remove starch that still shows. Serve immediately. If desired, top with roasted garlic, honey and cinnamon, or cinnamon and sugar.

To Make in the Oven on a Pizza Stone:

Follow the above instructions except preheat your oven with a pizza stone on the center rack to 500°F (450°F if using unbleached** parchment paper) for 20 minutes.
Pat half the dough out into a pear shape (the traditional shape of the dough due to its weight) or any shape you desire, on a large piece of foil or unbleached parchment paper**. Dust foil and dough generously with potato starch as needed to prevent sticking.
Transfer, along with the foil or paper, to the heated stone using a pizza peel (extra-large spatula) or the back of a baking sheet. Bake for 3 minutes. Turn oven to high broil. Broil for 2 minutes. Remove immediately and serve as suggested in the above step number 8. Repeat the above steps with the remaining dough.
If your naan breaks when you fold it, allow the rest to cool off and rewarm in the microwave, which softens them.

Tips

*If you like dryer naan, cut the buttermilk back as much as half.

**Be sure to use unbleached parchment paper that is safe for use up to 450°F.

Garlic Variation: When you add the buttermilk, also add 2-1/2 teaspoons of garlic paste. To make the garlic paste, while mincing the garlic, smear it onto a chopping board, scrap it up, and chop it some more. Do this repeatedly until paste-like.

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View Comments

Shirley says:

April 19, 2023 at 12:42 pm

Thank you for this recipe and all the other ones. Where can I buy your cookbook. You are a.life saver to me. I have had allergies to corn and wheat since 1970. For years the only bread I ate was rice cakes. The only gluten free flour I could get as the years passed was rice flour from the local Korean shop. My mother made me a one layer rice cake from her recipes for layer cake. I was so happy I cried. I am soon thankful that I can purchase bread from Canyon Bake House in CO. But your recipes are great.
- Carla says:
  
  April 21, 2023 at 8:14 pm
  
  Shirley,
  
  I have yet to publish my cookbook. I suppose I'm too much of a Type A personality to be happy with it. I'm afraid of publishing it with errors. Someday!
  
  Carla
Amy Stover says:

August 21, 2021 at 5:57 am

Can you please tell me how much sodium is in each of your tortilla recipes per tortilla?? I have a severe sodium sensitivity, and it is harder to find low sodium breads tortillas wraps etc than gluten free. thank you!!!!
- Carla says:
  
  August 21, 2021 at 7:26 am
  
  Amy,
  
  I usually do not supply nutritionalh information because the software that comes with my website is not accurate. If you Google “nutritional calculator” I’m sure you’ll find something that you can use for free. I have 1900 recipes and it would take me probably a year to do this for every recipe. Plus, I retired August 2020. I’m just keeping the website up to benefit everyone. However, I do add a new recipe about once a month.
  
  Carla
Karin Carney says:

May 1, 2019 at 4:09 pm

Hi,
I just made the naan bread and am so pleased with the results! I've been on a quest to make some delicious, gluten-free naan for months and now I have finally found a recipe that works! I may try the method that Michelle suggested and scoop it directly into the cast iron pan next time and perhaps substitute the buttermilk for yogurt. Thank you so much!
Rachel says:

January 2, 2019 at 8:30 pm

Love all the comments. It looks like this is a great recipe. I was just wondering if buttermilk is really important in this recipe or if I can just substitute that out for almond milk (or normal milk, although I try to stay away from dairy). Thank you!
- Carla says:
  
  January 2, 2019 at 8:38 pm
  
  Hi Rachel,
  
  As you may already be aware, you can make homemade buttermilk by adding 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar to a cup of cows or dairy-free milk. If you wish to omit the vinegar, I suggest allowing the dough to rise a little prior cooking.
  
  Enjoy,
  Carla
Jessica Bundy says:

January 3, 2017 at 3:30 pm

waaay too much oil! It's all I can taste, and they are so greasy! What am I doing wrong?
- Gluten Free Recipes says:
  
  January 3, 2017 at 3:34 pm
  
  Hi Jessica,
  
  They should not be greasy as you can see in the video and photo. They will, however, be greasy, if you buttered them. Perhaps omit that step, as it is optional. In addition, you could also have made an error in measuring or are more sensitive to oil than others???
  
  Carla
fatma says:

July 5, 2015 at 4:18 am

hi, thanks a lot I have just found out that I have food tolerance to eggs. Is it ok not to use eggs or is there a replacement? Many thanks for your recipes
Simmy says:

June 9, 2015 at 3:18 am

I only have potato flour, Doves gluten free self raising flour and Doves gluten free plain white flour available to me.

Can I substitute the following 3 flours mixes in the recipe with what I have some how?

- 3/4 cup white and/or brown rice flour
- 1/4 cup + 2 Tablespoons potato starch (or try tapioca starch*) + more for dusting
- 1/4 cup + 2 Tablespoons cornstarch (or potato starch*, if using tapioca starch above)

Thanks in advance for any help/tips :-)
- Gluten Free Recipes says:
  
  June 9, 2015 at 9:02 am
  
  Hi Simmy,
  
  Because I have not tried this recipe with those flours, I have no idea if it will work. I do not recommend using potato flour at all, though. Try your plain flour. If it contains xanthan or guar gum already, omit it in this recipe. Use your flour mix to replace the rice flour, cornstarch and potato starch.
  
  Please let me know how it works out for you.
  
  Carla
Michelle says:

June 4, 2015 at 5:34 pm

WOW! These were delicious. I just scooped the batter into my cast iron pan then spread it out with a spoon. Worked great.
Thank you so much.
Gluten Free Recipes says:

April 8, 2015 at 7:52 pm

Facebook Comment - April 8, 2015,

"I have made it and was pleased. I kept the extra in a zip bag in the fridge, reheating a piece in the toaster or later as it was a little older I heated between 2 paper plates and it was soft and pliable to eat with some yellow lentil curry. I know they say some gluten free bread does not store well but I did not find that to happen with this bread."

~C.C.
Shari Reinders says:

February 19, 2015 at 11:35 am

I followed the written recipe, but found the dough to be too wet. I then watched the video, and discovered the liquids were twice as much as the video. Which one is correct? I used the batter, the taste was good, but I had to put the batter on the griddle and spread it with my fingers. Thanks for any advice. I made your soft wraps, and loved them!
- Gluten Free Recipes says:
  
  June 7, 2015 at 12:13 pm
  
  Shari, I only made half the recipe in the video.