Quick Cast Iron Naan Bread

Nov 26

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Decided to have a last-minute Indian feast but you want to have fresh, soft and warm homemade naan? No problem! This **Quick Cast Iron Naan Bread** recipe is ready in only an hour and is so easy to make! Impromptu dinners are a go!

Have you ever had fresh homemade naan bread? It truly is one of a kind! Naan is my favourite Indian bread to enjoy, not only at home but it was my favourite bread to indulge in when I went to restaurants back in India. It truly is the royal bread! If you’ve been following the blog for awhile, then you know that lots of my cooking inspiration stems from wanting to recreate restaurant favourites at home! Naan was the first bread I really tried to master when I was on my own in Canada, and after many years I’ve truly perfected it to replicating it as close as possible to tandoor naan!

The perfect naan bread should be soft and chewy. From my experience, in North America many Indian restaurants have missed the mark because the naan is too tough or not chewy at all and just a soft blob. You need that right balance!

Oh no, if the restaurants can’t do it we’re doomed at home you may be thinking. No, you’re not! If you follow this recipe, you’ll really have the perfect naan!

The only issue is that with the Restaurant-Style Tandoori Naan, you have to do some pre-planning for your dinner. You need to give the time for your dough to rise before cooking - a couple of hours to be precise!

If you’re like me you love to live the food life spontaneously. While I have encouraged on my YouTube channel to pre-plan your meals, that’s just not always fun! What if we get home from work at 5 pm and suddenly have the desire to make a good Paneer Tikka Masala or a Chicken Kofta Curry? It’s too late now to make naan unless you wanna eat at 10 pm! Boo! In those circumstances, what I’d do in the past is purchase naan from the grocery store or get it delivered - yes, I would order takeout just for the bread! That’s fine and dandy but the store-bought naans certainly aren’t authentic at all, and in both circumstances they’re expensive - especially the delivery!

Plus, I don’t know about you, but if I’m doing the work of making my own main dish, I feel the meal isn’t as special pairing it with a bread that’s not my own (unless it was leftover from takeout!). I’d love to go all out, and when it’s so easy to do at home and quite frankly tastes so much better and is more pocket-friendly, why wouldn’t you?

My first one-hour dough experiment was with my One-Hour Napoletana Dough! Again, this idea stemmed from deciding last minute I wanted a homemade pizza for dinner. I did this experiment and it worked out perfectly! I figured that if it worked for pizza, why wouldn’t it work for naan!

I also realize that in my traditional naan recipe not everyone has the equipment to make naan at home - specifically, the tawa pan or the baking steel and stones. While I did provide an option for baking in the oven on a tray, in this recipe I’ll show you how to make your naan on a cast iron pan. The colour, texture and taste are out of this world, trust me!

Are you ready to transform your Indian dinner game? Then let’s get to the recipe!

What Makes This Quick Easy naan bread recipe awesome?

There’s no reason why you shouldn’t make this Quick Cast Iron Naan! Embrace the spontaneity of having an epic home-cooked Indian feast, this naan has got you covered!

Minimal ingredients! We only need a handful of ingredients to make this quick naan bread recipe!
Ready in an hour! This Quick Cast Iron Naan only takes an hour to rise and it cooks so quickly!
Perfect every time! This is as close to taste and texture to the authentic naans you get that are cooked in a tandoor oven!
Accessible! You may not have a tawa pan or a baking steel or stone, but using a cast iron pan makes it quick to cook and you get an incredible char that’s loaded with flavour on your bread!
Freezer-friendly! You can prepare your dough balls and freeze for later use. When you have naans on hand, a restaurant-quality meal at home can be prepared at any time!

Tips for the perfect quick naan at home

Make sure to use Quick Rise Yeast and not Instant Yeast, otherwise the dough would not be ready within the hour.
The dough should be soft, not sticky and smooth to touch. Add more flour or liquid as required to achieve this consistency.
Make sure the pan is hot enough before cooking the naans. The magic is in the char.
If you don’t have a cast iron pan or tawa pan, use a non-stick man. Make sure to not heat the pan too hot or you may affect the non-stick coating.
Add your favourite toppings to the face side of the naan by spreading it over the surface of the naan portion while rolling it out.
Make sure to keep the face side on the top when you first add the naan to the pan before flipping to finish the face side.

Ingredients for Quick Cast Iron Naan Bread

Let’s review what we’ll need to make this Quick Cast Iron Naan Bread! The ingredient list is quite short, and you probably already have everything on hand! Remember, all ingredients and their quantities are listed in the FULL PRINTABLE RECIPE CARD at the bottom of this post! You can easily scale all of the ingredients depending on how many naan breads you’re planning on making!

Flour: I’m using all purpose flour here, as this is how naan is traditionally made. You can try using another flour if you like, but I can’t guarantee the results will be the same.
Quick rise yeast: This is how it gets ready in an hour! Quick rise yeast is your key here, and you’ll want about 8 grams of it. If you don’t have instant yeast but you have dry active yeast, then you can follow my Restaurant-Style Tandoori Naan recipe, but it will take about three to four hours for your naan to rise.
Salt: Just a pinch to add flavour to our dough.
Sugar: This adds a bit of sweetness to our bread. I’m using regular table sugar. You could also substitute with equal parts honey if you’d like.
Milk or yogurt: You can use yogurt or milk or a combination of the two in your naan bread. If using milk, I recommend 2% or full fat milk. You can even use buttermilk, it goes great with naans. If you’re using yogurt, I recommend full fat (6%) or 3% plain yogurt. I wouldn’t recommend Greek yogurt as this will affect the texture and taste of your naan bread. Use as much as required to make a soft and smooth dough.

How to Make Quick Naan Bread at Home

Mix all of the dry ingredients together and add buttermilk/milk/yogurt to knead to a smooth, soft and tacky dough.
Lightly grease a large bowl add dough, cover with plastic wrap and let it rest for 1 hour
Divide dough into 8-10 equal portions, form the portions into boules by cupping your hands and rolling against the countertop.
Heat a cast iron pan or tawa pan on medium heat. In the meanwhile, roll out or stretch the dough into an oblong shape, you shouldn't need to use any flour to roll it out since it shouldn't be sticky.
Carefully spread the dough over the pan and cook until you see bubbles forming on the surface. Flip the naan and cook the top side until brown spots appear. Take naans out right away and spread butter, cilantro and nigella seeds if using.
Alternatively, while rolling out the down, you can add cilantro and nigella seeds to the face side of the naan and cook as directed above. Brush melted butter and serve right away.

Storing naan bread

You can freeze your naan dough for about three months. To freeze your naan dough, have your dough balls on a baking tray and cover with plastic wrap, and place in the freezer for about three to four hours. Once you’re sure that the dough is frozen, then you can place your dough balls into a plastic bag.

To defrost your naan, I recommend you defrost your naan the night before. Place your dough ball(s) on a baking tray and cover with plastic wrap in the refrigerator the night before. If you’ve forgotten to do this, leave the baking tray at room temperature. It will take about 3 to 4 hours to defrost.

Easy homemade Naan bread topping Ideas

You can do a lot with naan bread! Of course you can enjoy it plain or with just butter, but here are some other ways to switch up your naan depending on your mood!

Garlic butter: I love to save garlic butter naan for special occasions! My favourite version of naan is simply buttered naan, but garlic butter naan sure does have a special place in my heart! To make your garlic butter, simply melt some butter in a bowl or ramekin and then add minced garlic, and mix well! Then, brush the garlic butter over your cooked naan when they’re piping hot!
Nigella seeds: Another way I like to spruce up my naans is to top with some nigella seeds or kalonji after cooking my naan! They add a really nice oniony flavour to your naans, and it’s a truly unique flavour made to be enjoyed with naans.
Fresh herbs: I love to garnish with some freshly chopped cilantro! You could also use freshly chopped parsley as an herb if you want an Italian flair to your naan bread.
Cheese naan: When you flip your naan for the first time, sprinkle cheese over the top. The heat will make the cheese nice and molten. You could use mozzarella, provolone, cheddar, or a combination of them!

Recipes to Pair Homemade Quick Naan Bread With

Naan is the royal Indian bread, so you’ll want to slather up your luxurious curries with this bread! I plow through my naan breads when I’m indulging in an extravagant feast! Here are my favourite dishes to enjoy with naan bread!

Among many more!

Other Ideas for Naan Bread!

Naan doesn’t only have to be limited to scooping up gravy! I’ve enjoyed naan many ways! Here’s what else you can do with your naan bread if you have leftovers or just want to get creative in the kitchen!

Tandoori Chicken Tikka Wraps: These wraps are so satisfying! Oven-Broiled Chicken Tikkas paired with a Cilantro-Mint Chutney, cucumber, tomatoes, onions, and lettuce. You’ll see in the video recipe recipe I recommend Rumali Roti, but in the pictures I’m actually using naan bread! Both bread options are excellent for these wraps, and they’ll definitely make for a special lunch!
Naanzas: A naan flatbread! Naanza recipes are coming soon, so be sure to subscribe to my newsletter so you’re notified when they’ll be ready to go!
Stuffed naan: I’ve tried chicken tikka naans from restaurants and have been blown away! Why have I never made them myself? I don’t know, it’s been on the to-do list for so long! But I definitely want to try making paneer tikka and chicken tikka naans. Of course I would definitely share the recipes when I’ve nailed them! Again, be on the lookout for these, but if you’ve never tried you definitely must!

Watch How to Make Quick Cast Iron Naan Bread here:

Let me know which variation you tried! Oven-Broiled, Baking Sheet or Pan-Seared? If you’ve tried this recipe, be sure to post it on social media and tag it with #cookingwithanadi and mention me @cookingwithanadi. Thank you!

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Indian, breads

Indian

Yield: 8-10

Author: Anadi

Cast Iron Naan Recipe | Quick One-Hour Naan Bread Recipe! | Easy No-Oven Indian Flatbreadhttps://youtu.be/m7EwH6RnRwAThis cast iron naan bread recipe is a quick one-hour Indian flatbread recipe that’s easy to make. This Indian naan bread recipe without an oven is made over the stove on a cast iron skillet. This recipe will show how to make naan at home by showing the recipe for the dough and how to cook the naan on the cast iron skillet.2021-11-26

Quick Cast Iron Naan Bread

( 0 reviews )

Decided to have a last-minute Indian feast but you want to have fresh, soft and warm homemade naan? No problem! This Quick Cast Iron Naan Bread recipe is ready in only an hour and is so easy to make! Impromptu dinners are a go!

Prep time: 10 MinCook time: 10 MinInactive time: 1 HourTotal time: 1 H & 20 M

Ingredients

4 Cups all-purpose flour
8 grams quick rise yeast
2 1/2 tsp salt
2 Tbsp sugar
1 1/2 to 1 3/4 Cups buttermilk/milk/plain yogurt
butter, as desired

Instructions

Mix all of the dry ingredients together and add buttermilk/milk/yogurt to knead to a smooth, soft and tacky dough.
Lightly grease a large bowl add dough, cover with plastic wrap and let it rest for 1 hour
Divide dough into 8-10 equal portions, form the portions into boules by cupping your hands and rolling against the countertop.
Heat a cast iron pan or tawa pan on medium heat. In the meanwhile, roll out or stretch the dough into an oblong shape, you shouldn't need to use any flour to roll it out since it shouldn't be sticky.
Carefully spread the dough over the pan and cook until you see bubbles forming on the surface. Flip the naan and cook the top side until brown spots appear. Take naans out right away and spread butter, cilantro and nigella seeds if using.
Alternatively, while rolling out the down, you can add cilantro and nigella seeds to the face side of the naan and cook as directed above. Brush melted butter and serve right away.