Vegan Naan Bread (No Yeast, No Oil)
By Carine Claudepierre
Published on 12/15/2021 - Last updated on 12/06/2023
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This Vegan Naan Bread recipe is made with no yeast, no yogurt, no oil, and only 4 ingredients!
It’s the best quick pan bread recipe to serve as a side dish to Indian curries and soups!
How To Make Vegan Naan Bread With No Yeast
Most vegan naan bread recipes call for yeast.
While yeast is a great ingredient for making fluffy naan bread, there are other options to make this Indian pan bread recipe without yeast or Greek yogurt.
Ingredients
The ingredients you need to make this naan breads are:
- All-purpose Flour – classic wheat flour or white spelt flour works the best in this recipe. The recipe won’t work with almond flour or coconut flour. Learn how to properly measure flour.
- Non-Dairy Yogurt – or non-dairy milk at room temperature combined with non-dairy high-fat milk like canned coconut milk or soy milk.
- Baking Powder – or half the amount of baking soda. This helps raise the naan bread without yeast.
- Salt – optional.
Making The Dough
You don’t need fancy tools to make this vegan naan recipe. If you have a stand mixer, you can use it with the hook attachment.
However, the most simple way to make this naan bread dough is first to combine all the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl.
Then, add the non-dairy yogurt – or a combination of lukewarm milk and vinegar – and combine the dough until it comes together.
Finally, knead the dough on a floured working surface until soft and elastic.
Letting The Dough Rest
It is important to let the dough rest for 30 minutes in a warm place to rise and get the right texture when cooked.
To do so, return the dough ball to the mixing bowl covered with a towel.
Rolling The Dough
Divide the dough into 6 even pieces. Roll each piece into a small ball. One ball makes one naan bread.
First, dust some flour on your work surface, place the dough ball onto the surface, and sprinkle more flour on top.
Then roll into an oval using a rolling pin or simply spread with your hands.
Cooking The Vegan Naan
This vegan naan bread recipe turned out perfectly cooked in a non-stick pan or cast iron pan, without oil! It is very important that you don’t add oil or it will fry the bread.
Warm a non-stick pan over medium-high heat, then cook the naan for 2-3 minutes on one side.
Finally, flip the naan and keep cooking on the other side for 1-2 minutes or until it’s crispy and dark black spots appear on the surface.
Note that if your pan is very hot, your naan will puff, as in the picture below, providing the best bread texture.
I don’t recommend cooking the naans in the oven as it would take longer and not cook the right way.
Serving Suggestion
Cooked naan bread is always better served warm brushed with some garlic butter.
To make a quick and easy vegan garlic butter, melt vegan butter in a small bowl, then combine fresh crushed garlic and salt.
You can also brush coconut oil or olive oil on the bread for a healthier option.
Frequently Asked Questions
Naan bread is made of super-easy ingredients. All are natural real ingredients; therefore, naan bread is not bad for you.
Often what is not healthy is the Indian curry served with the naan.
In fact, Indian curries can contain lots of unhealthy fat, a lot of sugar, and that is why it is better to make your own.
For a healthy side to this naan bread, I recommend trying my Vegan Butter Tofu Curry or my Vegan Chickpea Curry.
This easy naan bread recipe has no yeast flavor, and therefore, you can find this Indian flatbread recipe bland in flavor.
To boost your vegan naan bread flavor, you can add one or 2 of the ingredients below to flavor the dough:
– Garlic – you can add 2 fresh crushed garlic cloves or 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder into the dough. This is the best way to create a tasty vegan garlic naan bread.
– Fenugreek seeds – this is the most flavorsome Indian spice to add to your dough. Add 1 teaspoon of fenugreek seeds or 1/4 teaspoon of fenugreek powder.
– Nutritional yeast – add 1 tablespoon into the dough for a cheesy flavor.
– Vegan cheese – yes, you can use this recipe to make vegan cheese naan. First, roll the dough into a circle, then add grated vegan cheese in the center and gather the sides of the dough to stick them together and encase the cheese. Press to release any air stuck in the dough, then roll gently to flatten.
You can replace the all-purpose flour with white spelt flour or gluten-free all-purpose flour.
However, the recipe wouldn’t work with coconut flour or almond flour.
Yes, you can swap the vegan yogurt for a mix of vegan milk (coconut milk, almond milk, oat milk), with high-fat canned milk (like canned coconut milk).
If you don’t have baking powder or don’t like using it, you can use baking soda instead. Make sure to halve the quantity.
These Vegan Naans can be stored for a few days once they’re cooked.
You can also wrap and chill the dough for a few days before rolling it. If you made too much of it, you can also freeze individual dough balls that you thaw in the fridge overnight before rolling them.
More Vegan Bread Recipes
If you love super easy vegan bread recipes, I have plenty of others to try:
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Vegan Naan Bread Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 ¾ cup All-Purpose Flour - scooped, packed, level up (+ 1/3 cup to adjust stickiness and roll)
- 1 cup Non-dairy Yogurt - like soy yogurt **see note for yogurt-free recipe
- 3 teaspoons Baking Powder
Optional
- ½ teaspoon Sea Salt
Instructions
- Before you start, keep in mind that this is a yeast-free, oil-free naan. It means that the texture won't be as soft and fluffy as the classic recipe. It is a denser and chewier bread but a delicious Vegan Naan option for any curry.
- In a large mixing bowl, stir flour, baking powder, and salt. Make a well in the center of the flour and stir in the non-dairy yogurt.
- Mix with a spatula, then get your hands in the dough to knead for a few seconds until the dough is combined and slightly sticky dough forms. Add 1-4 extra tablespoons of flour if needed until the dough is soft, not sticky, and you can form a ball.
- Return dough ball to the mixing bowl, cover the bowl with a towel and set aside at room temperature for about 15-30 minutes
- Sprinkle the work surface with flour, then place the dough ball on the surface. Sprinkle some more flour on top of the ball, and knead for 30 seconds until smooth.
- Dust the benchtop with more flour, cut the dough ball into 4 pieces. Roll each slice into a ball, then roll them with a rolling pin into a 1/4-inch / 0.6-cm thick round/oval shape.
- Preheat a non-stick saucepan under medium-high heat for 1 minute, don't add oil.
- When hot, add the rolled dough and cook for 3 minutes on one side, then flip and cook for an extra 1-2 minutes on the other side.
- Repeat these steps until all Vegan Naans are cooked.
- Brush each cooked bread with vegan butter or coconut oil.
I’m about to make this recipe for the second time. Thank you! It turned out delicious, light and fluffy. In addition to your recipe, I added onion powder and oregano. Yummy!
We made this tonight! Yummy! I love that there was a note for option without yoghurt. I used lite coconut milk with vinegar. One thing I will do in future is roll the dough much thinner so it bubbles and puffs better in the pan!
I pressed 3 cloves of garlic and kneaded the bits into the dough— delicious! I think next time maybe garlic/potato paste and peas might be yummy too!
This looks delicious and I can’t wait to try it! In the ‘Make the dough’ section above, it mentions adding lukewarm milk/vinegar mixture to the dough. However, I don’t see this in the ingredient listing. Am I missing something?
As you can see in the recipe note, it says that you can either use non-dairy yoghurt or a combination of non-dairy milk and vinegar. Choose the option that works the best for you. Enjoy! Carine