Naan () is a leavened, oven-baked or tawa-fried

flatbread A flatbread is bread made usually with flour; water, milk, yogurt, or other liquid; and salt, and then thoroughly rolled into flattened dough. Many flatbreads are Unleavened bread, unleavened, although some are leavened, such as pita bread. A Se ...

, that can also be baked in a

tandoor A tandoor ( or ) is a large vase-shaped oven, usually made of clay. Since antiquity, tandoors have been used to bake unleavened flatbreads, such as roti (as well as leavened ones, such as naan) and to roast meat. Tandoors are predominantly use ...

. It is characterized by a light and fluffy texture and golden-brown spots from the baking process. Naan is found in the cuisines of

Central Asia Central Asia is a region of Asia consisting of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. The countries as a group are also colloquially referred to as the "-stans" as all have names ending with the Persian language, Pers ...

South Asia South Asia is the southern Subregion#Asia, subregion of Asia that is defined in both geographical and Ethnicity, ethnic-Culture, cultural terms. South Asia, with a population of 2.04 billion, contains a quarter (25%) of the world's populatio ...

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, southeastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of China, east of the Indian subcontinent, and northwest of the Mainland Au ...

, and the

Caribbean The Caribbean ( , ; ; ; ) is a region in the middle of the Americas centered around the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, mostly overlapping with the West Indies. Bordered by North America to the north, Central America ...

. Composed of white or wheat flour and combined with a leavening agent, typically yeast, naan dough develops air pockets that contribute to its fluffy and soft texture. Additional ingredients for crafting naan include warm water, salt,

ghee Ghee is a type of clarified butter, originating from South Asia. It is commonly used for cooking, as a Traditional medicine of India, traditional medicine, and for Hinduism, Hindu religious rituals. Description Ghee is typically prepared by ...

and

yogurt Yogurt (; , from , ; also spelled yoghurt, yogourt or yoghourt) is a food produced by bacterial Fermentation (food), fermentation of milk. Fermentation of sugars in the milk by these bacteria produces lactic acid, which acts on milk protein to ...

, with optional additions like milk, egg, or honey. Baking powder or baking soda can be used instead of yeast to reduce the preparation time for the bread. In the baking process using a tandoor, naan dough is rolled into balls, flattened and pressed against the inner walls, which can reach temperatures up to 480 °C (900 °F). This method allows the bread to be baked within minutes, achieving a spotty browning due to intense heat. Naan can be prepared on a stovetop using a

tava A ''tava(h)'' / ''tawa(h)'' (mainly on the Indian subcontinent), ''saj'' (in Arabic), ''sac'' (in Turkish), and other variations, is a metal cooking utensil. The tawa is round and is usually curved: the concave side is used as a wok or frying ...

. The pan may be flipped upside down over the flame to achieve browning on the bread's surface. Once baked, naan is coated with

or butter and served warm. This soft and pliable bread accompanies meals, replacing utensils for scooping up sauces, stews, and curries, or with dryer dishes like tandoori chicken.

Etymology

The term "naan" comes from

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

''nân'' (), a generic word for any kind of bread. The earliest known English use of the term occurs in an 1803 travelogue written by

William Tooke William Tooke (1744 – 17 November 1820) was a British clergyman and historian of Russia. Life Tooke was the second son of Thomas Tooke (1705–1773) of St. John's, Clerkenwell, by his wife Hannah, only daughter of Thomas Mann of St. James's, ...

. While Tooke and other early sources spelled it "nan", the spelling "naan" has become predominant since the 1970s.

Varieties

Indian subcontinent

Naan spread to the

Indian subcontinent The Indian subcontinent is a physiographic region of Asia below the Himalayas which projects into the Indian Ocean between the Bay of Bengal to the east and the Arabian Sea to the west. It is now divided between Bangladesh, India, and Pakista ...

during the Islamic

Delhi Sultanate The Delhi Sultanate or the Sultanate of Delhi was a Medieval India, late medieval empire primarily based in Delhi that stretched over large parts of the Indian subcontinent for more than three centuries.

period. The earliest mention of naan in the region comes from the memoirs of Indo-Persian Sufi poet

Amir Khusrau Abu'l Hasan Yamīn ud-Dīn Khusrau (1253 – 1325 AD), better known as Amīr Khusrau, sometimes spelled as, Amir Khusrow or Amir Khusro, was an Indo-Persian Sufi singer, musician, poet and scholar, who lived during the period of the Delhi Sult ...

living in

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

during the 1300s AD. Khusrau mentions two kinds of naan eaten by

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

nobles; Naan-e-Tunuk and Naan-e-Tanuri. Naan-e-Tunuk was a light or thin bread, while Naan-e-Tanuri was a heavy bread and was baked in the tandoor. During India’s

Mughal Mughal or Moghul may refer to: Related to the Mughal Empire * Mughal Empire of South Asia between the 16th and 19th centuries * Mughal dynasty * Mughal emperors * Mughal people, a social group of Central and South Asia * Mughal architecture * Mug ...

era in the 1520s, naan was a delicacy that only nobles and royal families enjoyed because of the lengthy process of making leavened bread and because the art of making naan was a revered skill known by few. The

Ain-i-Akbari The ''Ain-i-Akbari'' (), or the "Administration of Akbar", is a 16th-century detailed document regarding the administration of the Mughal Empire under Emperor Akbar, written by his court historian, Abu'l Fazl, in the Persian language. It forms ...

, a record of the third Mughal emperor’s reign, refers to naan being eaten with

kebab Kebab ( , ), kebap, kabob (alternative North American spelling), kebob, or kabab (Kashmiri spelling) is a variety of roasted meat dishes that originated in the Middle East. Kebabs consist of cut up ground meat, sometimes with vegetables an ...

s or

kheema Ground meat, called mince or minced meat outside North America, is meat finely chopped by a meat grinder or a chopping knife. A common type of ground meat is ground beef, but many other types of meats are prepared in a similar fashion, includi ...

in it. By the 1700s, naan had reached the masses in Mughal cultural centers in South Asia.

Indonesia

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

, naan is a popular alternative to

rice Rice is a cereal grain and in its Domestication, domesticated form is the staple food of over half of the world's population, particularly in Asia and Africa. Rice is the seed of the grass species ''Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice)—or, much l ...

among the

Indians Indian or Indians may refer to: Associated with India * of or related to India ** Indian people ** Indian diaspora ** Languages of India ** Indian English, a dialect of the English language ** Indian cuisine Associated with indigenous peoples o ...

Arabs Arabs (, , ; , , ) are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in West Asia and North Africa. A significant Arab diaspora is present in various parts of the world. Arabs have been in the Fertile Crescent for thousands of yea ...

, Malays, Acehnese and the Minangkabaus, similar though not the same as

roti Roti is a round flatbread originating from the Indian subcontinent. It is commonly consumed in many South Asian, Southeast Asian, Caribbean, East African, and Southeast African countries. It is made from stoneground whole-wheat flour, kno ...

roti canai Roti canai, or roti prata (in Singapore), also known as roti chanai and roti cane, is a flatbread dish of Indian origin found in several countries in Southeast Asia, especially Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand. It is usu ...

which was introduced from

Tamils The Tamils ( ), also known by their endonym Tamilar, are a Dravidian peoples, Dravidian ethnic group who natively speak the Tamil language and trace their ancestry mainly to the southern part of the Indian subcontinent. The Tamil language is o ...

. This dish is known as roti naan or roti nan, and is cooked using Indonesian spices such as garlic.

Myanmar

''Naan bya'' () in

Myanmar Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; and also referred to as Burma (the official English name until 1989), is a country in northwest Southeast Asia. It is the largest country by area in Mainland Southeast Asia and has ...

is traditionally served at teahouses with tea or coffee as a breakfast item. It is round, soft, and blistered, often buttered, or with creamy (boiled

chickpea The chickpea or chick pea (''Cicer arietinum'') is an annual plant, annual legume of the family (biology), family Fabaceae, subfamily Faboideae, cultivated for its edible seeds. Its different types are variously known as gram," Bengal gram, ga ...

s) cooked with onions spread on top, or dipped with

Burmese curry Burmese curry refers to a diverse array of dishes in Burmese cuisine that consist of meat or vegetables simmered or stewed in an aromatic curry base. Burmese curries generally differ from other Southeast Asian curries (e.g., Thai curry) in that ...

China

The

Jingzhou Jingzhou ( zh, s=, c=荆州, t=, p=Jīngzhōu) is a prefecture-level city in southern Hubei province, China, located on the banks of the Yangtze River. Its total residential population was 5,231,180 based on the Seventh National Population Censu ...

style of

guokui ''Guokui'' (), literally "pot helmet", is a kind of ''Bing (bread), bing'' (flatbread) made from flour originating from Shaanxi cuisine. Variations The dish is said to have been invented during the Tang dynasty by a laborer who cooked flatbread ...

, a flatbread prepared inside a cylindrical charcoal oven much like a tandoor, has been described as "Chinese naan". It is also an integral part of

Uyghur cuisine Uyghur cuisine (, ; zh, s=維吾爾菜, p=wéiwú'ěr cài) is the cuisine of the Uyghur people, which are mainly situated in the autonomous region of Xinjiang. The cuisine is characterized by ingredients like roasted mutton and beef, as we ...

and is known in Chinese as 饢 (''náng'').

Japan

After being promoted by Kandagawa Sekizai Shoukou in 1968, which is now the sole domestic manufacturer of tandoors, naan is now widely available in Indian-style curry restaurants in Japan, where naan is typically free-flow. Some restaurants bake ingredients such as cheese, garlic, onions, and potatoes into the naan, or cover it with toppings like a pizza.

Georgia

Shotis puri Shotis puri or simply shoti ( ka, შოთის პური) is a type of traditional Georgian bread, made of white flour and shaped like a canoe. Shoti is baked in a specific bakery called ''tone'' or ''torne/turne'' (old Georgian). The word ...

is a popular flat bread eaten in

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

and cooked by sticking dough to the sides of a tandoor-like clay oven called a ''tone''.

Elsewhere

In 1799, the word naan was introduced into the English language by historian and clergyman William Tooke. Today, naan can be found worldwide in restaurants serving South Asian and Middle Eastern cuisine, and it is available in many supermarkets. Fusion cuisine has introduced new dishes that incorporate naan, including naan pizza and naan tacos and even huevos rancheros (an egg dish) served over naan. Naan pizza is a type of

pizza Pizza is an Italian cuisine, Italian, specifically Neapolitan cuisine, Neapolitan, dish typically consisting of a flat base of Leavening agent, leavened wheat-based dough topped with tomato, cheese, and other ingredients, baked at a high t ...

where naan is used as the crust instead of the traditional pizza dough. Chefs such as

Nigella Lawson Nigella Lucy Lawson (born 6 January 1960) is an English food writer and television cook. After graduating from Oxford, Lawson worked as a book reviewer and restaurant critic, later becoming the deputy literary editor of ''The Sunday Times'' in ...

, and supermarkets such as

Wegmans Wegmans Food Markets, Inc. is a privately held American supermarket chain. It is now headquartered in Gates, New York, but was founded on January 30, 1916, in Rochester, New York. As of late 2024, Wegmans had 111 stores in eight states (New Yo ...

offer recipes for people to make their own naan pizza at home, though it is certainly not traditional.

Gallery

File:Bread of Afghanistan in 2010.jpg, Nan in

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

File:Naan in Afghanistan.jpg, Nan in

Kabul Kabul is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. Located in the eastern half of the country, it is also a municipality, forming part of the Kabul Province. The city is divided for administration into #Districts, 22 municipal districts. A ...

, Afghanistan File:نان مزاری.jpg, Nan in

Mazar-e Sharif Mazar-i-Sharīf ( ; Dari and ), also known as Mazar-e Sharīf or simply Mazar, is the List of cities in Afghanistan, fifth-largest city in Afghanistan by population, with the estimates varying from 500,000-680,000. It is the capital of Balkh prov ...

, Afghanistan File:Indian naan bread.jpg,

n naan baked in the

File:Peshawari Roti, Pakistan.jpg,

Tandoor A tandoor ( or ) is a large vase-shaped oven, usually made of clay. Since antiquity, tandoors have been used to bake unleavened flatbreads, such as roti (as well as leavened ones, such as naan) and to roast meat. Tandoors are predominantly use ...

-baked naan in

Karachi Karachi is the capital city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Sindh, Pakistan. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, largest city in Pakistan and 12th List of largest cities, largest in the world, with a popul ...

File:二道桥馕店2.jpg, A Uyghur naan store in

Ürümqi Ürümqi, , is the capital of the Xinjiang, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in Northwestern China. With a census population of 4 million in 2020, Ürümqi is the second-largest city in China's northwestern interior after Xi'an, also the ...

, China File:Baking bread by nomad women in Lar National Park.jpg, Nan in

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

File:Iranian Bread 1.JPG, Nân-e barbari in Iran File:Naan Sangak.jpg, Nân-e sangak in Iran File:Taftan nan 01.jpg,

Nân-e tâftun Taftan or taftoon () is a leavened flour bread from Iran, introduced to Kuwaiti and South Asian cuisines. It is made with refined flour, milk, yoghurt, and eggs and baked in a clay oven. It is sometimes flavoured with saffron and a small amount ...

in Iran File:Butter Garlic Naan.jpg, Butter garlic naan File:Cheese Naan.jpg,

Paneer Paneer (), is a fresh acid-set cheese, common in cuisine of South Asia, made from cow milk or buffalo milk. It is a non-aged, non-melting soft cheese made by curdling milk with a fruit- or vegetable-derived acid, such as lemon juice. Pa ...

(cheese) naan File:Nanbya.jpg, Burmese nan bya

References

{{Subject bar, auto=1, cookbook=Naan, Afghanistan, Iran, India, Pakistan, Middle East, Food Afghan cuisine South Asian breads Yeast breads Flatbreads Persian words and phrases Bangladeshi cuisine Bengali cuisine Pakistani breads Indian cuisine Indian breads Indonesian breads Iranian cuisine Iranian breads Kurdish cuisine Burmese cuisine Uyghur cuisine Caribbean cuisine