The Best Vegan Naan Bread | Vegan Garlic Naan

OK this vegan naan bread is seriously good. It’s super soft and chewy with a delicious garlic and coriander topping, it’s the perfect accompanyment to your curry! Shop-bought naan breads just don’t cut it in my opinion and the vegan selection can often be lacking. I’ve written very detailed instructions in the post to help you nail this recipe, you’ll never want to eat shop-bought naan again!

For the naan bread you’ll need just water, yeast, sugar, salt, olive oil, baking powder and bread flour. For the garlic and coriander topping you’ll need olive oil, minced garlic and fresh coriander.

Bread flour is used for it’s high gluten content, which is what helps to make this naan bread so soft and chewy!

I don’t recommend using whole wheat flour for this recipe as the result won’t be as soft and chewy. There are specific recipes for wholewheat naan breads, like this one! Check it out.

You can swap the bread flour for plain flour if needed, but the bread flour has more gluten so makes a chewier dough. Plain flour will still work though.

You can substitute the olive oil for melted vegan butter if you prefer for an extra decadent taste!

To start, add the warm water to a large mixing bowl with the sugar and fast action instant dried yeast. Let it sit for 15 mintues to let it foam up. This step just ensures that the yeast you’re using is alive and well.

While the yeast is brewing, you can prepare the coriander and garlic oil. To a small bowl add the olive oil or melted vegan butter and add the finely minced garlic. Finely chop the coriander or for a more rustic look, chop roughly. Set aside for later.

To the large mixing bowl of yeast, water and sugar, sieve in the flour, salt and baking powder, then add the olive oil. Mix with a fork – it should form a very sticky dough. You can use a bit extra olive oil on your hands to help mix the dough a bit more by hand.

Cover the dough with a damp tea-towel and leave to rise for 1-2 hours until it’s doubled in size.

This recipe makes either 4 large or 8 small vegan naan bread. I made 4.

Heat a large non-stick frying pan until very hot. Meanwhile, divide your dough evenly into quarters. Onto a well-oiled work surface, roll the dough out as thin as you can, ideally just a few mm thin.

Onto one side of the rolled out dough, brush the garlic oil and sprinkle on the chopped coriander.

Lay the newly formed naan-bread into the hot pan with the garlic and coriander side facing up. Cook on this side for 30-60 seconds until the dough has started to bubble up and you can see the underside has started to char (have a little peek using a pair of tongues or a fork)

Flip the bread over and cook on the garlic and coriander side for another 30 seconds.

Remove from the pan and keep it warm by wrapping it up in a clean tea towel while you make the rest!

I like to roll out the next naan bread while the one before it is cooking but you can just make them one at a time if you find that easier. They will keep warm in the tea towel for a while so no need to rush.

To serve, sprinkle with some flaky sea salt!

If you want to make these in advance, you can make the raw dough and instead of letting it rise out on a worktop, just cover with plastic wrap and put in the fridge. It will keep like this for up to 2 days, just take it out when ready to use!

Any left over cooked naan breads can be frozen and reheated when needed. Freeze in an air-tight container for up to 1 month. Simply re-heat in the oven by sprinkling on some water and cooking for 5 minutes in a hot oven (at 200 degrees C or 390 F)

For more bread recipes, click here!