Butter Naan Recipe | Soft & Fluffy Naan Without Tandoor
Butter Naan Recipe at home
Butter Naan is one of the most loved Indian breads – soft, fluffy, and brushed with butter, it pairs beautifully with curries, kebabs, and gravies. The best part? You don’t need a tandoor to make restaurant-style butter naan at home. With this step-by-step guide, I’ll show you how to make naan on tawa, in the oven, and with variations like garlic naan, wheat naan, and cheese naan.
Butter Naan is soft, yummy and extremely easy to make. And the best part is you even don't need a tandoor to cook it. If you have been looking for such butter naan recipe without tandoor, you have come to the right place. Here you can read the step by step guide to make butter naan in stove top using a tawa ( griddle).
Before we jumped into the recipe let's know some facts about the Naan. Many believe Naan like kababs that came from Persia, was developed by Persian and the Mughals, However the first recorded history of Naan found in the notes of the Indo-Persian poet Amir khusrau, dates this unleavened bread to 1300 AD. The word Naan comes from the Persian word, non, for bread. Generally Naan dough is leavened using Yeast or baking powder and baking soda.
What is Butter Naan?
Naan is a leavened flatbread believed to have Persian origins and introduced to India during the Mughal era. The word “naan” comes from the Persian word “non”, meaning bread.
Traditionally cooked in a clay tandoor, naan can also be made on a stovetop tawa or in a home oven. Butter naan is simply naan brushed with butter – giving it a rich, melt-in-mouth flavor.
Variations
Some popular variations of Naan are
- Plain Naan
- Gilafi naan
- Butter Naan
- Garlic Naan
- Cheese Naan
Ingredients
This Butter Naan Recipe uses ingredients such as
- All purpose flour (maida), traditionally all purpose flour is used to make butter naan. As a healthy alternative you may add some whole wheat flour but the texture be a bit different
- Baking powder and baking soda, these helps in leavening the dough.
- Yoghurt and milk, the dough for butter naan is kneaded with milk and curd which makes it soft
- Nigella seeds (kalonji) and cilantro leaves optional ingredient but can add some flavour.
- Other ingredients are salt, sugar, vegetable oil and butter.
Optional for variations:
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1 tbsp Nigella seeds (kalonji)
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2 tbsp Chopped garlic
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2 tbsp Chopped coriander leaves
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Grated cheese (for cheese naan)
Time taken
Total time taken to make this butter naan recipe using tawa takes about just under 40 minutes. This includes twenty-five minutes of preparation time and ten minutes of cooking time. Talking of optional thing, this butter naan does not add any eggs, so it is entirely vegetarian.
Serving suggestions
Butter Naan is such a popular bread that it can pair with anything quite easily. Almost all indian curries and gravies are excellent with butter Naan.
Butter chicken, paneer butter masala, chicken tikka masala and chicken lababdar are few that are excellent to serve with this.
Some kababs like chicken tikka, chicken malai kabab, chicken reshmi kabab and chicken hariyali kabab are also good to have with a butter naan.
Step-by-Step Butter Naan Recipe
1. Prepare the Dough
In a mixing bowl add all purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar and salt. Mix them nicely. Then add yoghurt and milk. Pour water slowly and start to knead everything. Make a soft palpable dough.
Now grease some oil and knead further to make it a non sticky. Cover and keep aside for ten minutes to set.
2. Shape the Naan
After that divide the dough into small equal parts and roll them between the palm of hands to make round shape balls. Keep the balls aside for five minutes to set.
Take a dough ball and dust with some flour. Press the ball slightly with finger tips and start to roll with a roller pin. First roll it in a small circular shape then roll in length wise around 5 to 6 inch long and 3 to 4 inch wide.
While rolling the naan dough ball, you can top it with some Nigella seeds and chopped coriander leaves.
Or sprinkle some chopped garlic to make garlic naan.
You can even give this butter naan a lachha-Style Naan, pleats the dough, roll like a Swiss roll, and flatten.
3. Cooking Methods
Tawa Method (No Tandoor)
A heavy cast iron tawa is the best option to use. A non stick pan wouldn't give you the same texture as of restaurant. Heat a tawa over medium high heat flame. When it become hot, grease one side of the rolled naan dough with some water and place that side on the tawa. If possible apply some force while placing it on the tawa. It help to appear bubbles quickly.
Otherwise press the edges lightly. Cook the naan for one minute or till small bubbles start to appear. Then flip the tawa and place over the gas flame. Cook over the gas flame directly till small brown spot appears over the naan.
After that flip the tawa back on the gas stove and cook for another one minute.
The back of the butter will become crisp golden like restaurant style.
Remove and serve hot by brushing some butter. You can also use a tong to roast the naan over the gas flame. When small bubbles appears on the naan, remove it from the tawa with a tong and cook over the gas flame.
Oven Method (Restaurant-Style)
Preheat oven to 250°C (480°F). Place a baking tray inside to heat. Place rolled naan on the hot tray and bake for 4–5 minutes until puffed and golden. Brush with butter and serve hot. If you love this Naan Recipe then j am sure you would love more such bread recipes like
Popular Variations
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Garlic Butter Naan – sprinkle chopped garlic + coriander before rolling.
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Whole Wheat Naan – replace half the flour with wheat flour.
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Cheese Naan – stuff with grated cheese before rolling.
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Butter Naan Without Yeast – use only baking soda + baking powder for leavening.
Serving Suggestions
Butter Naan pairs beautifully with Indian curries & kebabs. Try serving it with:
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Paneer Butter Masala
FAQs
Can I make butter naan without yeast?
Yes, this recipe uses baking powder & soda instead of yeast.
Q. Why does my naan turn hard?
Overcooking or not resting the dough properly makes it hard. Cook quickly on high heat for softness.
Q. Can I make butter naan without tandoor?
Yes! The tawa method works perfectly, and an oven gives restaurant-style results.
Q. Can I make vegan butter naan?
Yes, use warm water instead of milk, plant-based yogurt, and vegan butter.
Gilafi Naan
You can make a gilafi naan using the above naan dough. Before we proceed to make the gilafi naan recipe, let's first figure out what is gilafi in gilafi naan? The term gilaf means cover. And gilafi means covering. We need to cover anything to make gilaf or gilafi. Like we coverIng a pillow or covering a sword. Similarly we need to cover the naan also. This is a Mughlai cuisines recipe like gilafi seekh kabab. So to cover or gilaf the naan, nuts like pistachio or almond are used in gilafi naan recipe. So gilafi naan can define as a triangular shape naan cover or gilaf with chopped pistachios or almonds.
To make this naan first make some small round shape dough balls with the above naan dough. Then grease some oil or ghee over them and press gently and fold to make triangle shape dough.
Dust with flour and roll into a flat triangular shape naan like tawa paratha. Top this triangular naan with chopped pistachios and cover fully.
Now cook them like we cook our regular naan in a tandoor or tawa as shown above. Apply butter or ghee and serve gilafi naan.
