This easy Keto naan recipe makes pillowy-soft, fluffy flatbreads that taste just as good as the real thing! They’re perfect for mopping up your favourite Indian curry. Low carb, gluten free and egg free!
I’ve been craving Indian food recently and have been eating plenty of curries. I normally make them with cauliflower rice instead of real rice to keep things low carb. But one thing was missing. NAAN BREAD!
It’s actually really simple to make low carb naan at home that puffs up as beautifully as naan made from wheat.
I decided to use coconut flour as opposed to almond flour because the gently sweet taste lends itself to Indian cuisine. To add elasticity, I used psyllium husk powder and xanthan gum, which hold the naan together beautifully.
This recipe is a bit of a personal breakthrough – it is my first EGG FREE low carb bread.
AND IT’S TOTALLY DELICIOUS!
Traditional naan is baked in a Tandoor oven. In lieu of this, people tend to make it in a skillet.
I think it’s absolutely possible to fry this Keto naan in a pan on the stove – if you have the time to spare. I decided to bake it in the oven, because this way I can make a batch of six in one go and no-one has to wait for dinner.
It’s great sprinkled with nigella and sesame seeds. And before serving, spread it with some melted coconut oil and top with fresh chopped cilantro / coriander or parsley.
Turn this naan into a low carb pitta bread by brushing it with a simple garlic butter (melted butter, 1 chopped garlic clove, salt).
How to make Keto naan – step by step:
1.) Stir together the dry ingredients in a bowl – coconut flour, psyllium husk powder, baking powder, xanthan gum and salt.
TIP: I like to use a hand whisk for this and check that there are no lumps. Coconut flour has a tendency to clump together!
Add the melted coconut oil and the yogurt. You can use either natural full fat or Greek.
2. Now add the hot water and stir. At first it seems like there’s a lot of liquid. But both psyllium and coconut flour are SUUUPER absorbent and a dough will form quickly.
I find it easiest to use a fork for this step. If you continued with the whisk, the dough gets caught in the middle, which is a major mess.
3.) Time to get your hands involved. Form a dough ball and let it rest for a few minutes until the dough is not sticky any more.
4.) Cut the dough into six equal slices and form balls.
5.) Place the balls between 2 sheets of parchment paper and roll out into long flatbreads. Pierce the middles a few times with the fork and sprinkle with nigella seeds and/or sesame seeds.
6.) Place the parchment with your naans onto an upturned baking tray. I find this helps the flatbreads (or cookies – anything flat) brown more evenly.
Bake for about 12-15 minutes and give them a little poke with the fork in case huge air bubbles form.
The baking time will depend on how thinly your naans are rolled out. Just keep an eye on them and remove them from the oven once they’re nicely browned.
7.) Brush with melted coconut oil or butter and top with more chopped coriander or parsley and more salt before serving! A pinch of cumin would also work well.
Love yeast breads? I have tested a version of this naan with yeast instead of baking powder. It produces a slightly more tangy bread. I found it looked identical to the yeast-free bread, but had a little more elasticity.
Here’s how you make Keto naan with yeast:
1.) Stir 2 tsp of dry active yeast and 2 tsp of inulin (or honey/maple syrup) into 1 cup of WARM water. Cover with a cloth and leave to proof in a warm place for around 10 minutes. (This could be on top of a radiator, for example).
2.) Once the yeast is frothing, stir in the coconut flour, psyllium, xanthan gum, salt, melted coconut oil and yoghurt. Make sure that the yoghurt is room temperature – we don’t want to kill off the yeast.
3.) Form a ball, cover again and let the dough rise for 30-60 minutes until it has increased in size considerably.
4. ) Proceed as per recipe below.
Recipe tips and variations
I’m using psyllium husk powder and not psyllium husks in this recipe. The powder is REALLY finely ground. Psyllium husks, on the other hand, look like tiny sticks. It’s easy to mistake them for powder at first glance, so do double-check your pack.
To make the recipe dairy free, use an unflavoured coconut yogurt such as by the Coconut Collaborative.
The xanthan gum is non-negotiable. Coconut flour is naturally gluten free and therefore lacks the elasticity of wheat flour. In the absence of eggs, we need the help of xanthan gum to bind and create an elastic dough.
Serve this Keto naan bread warm – either straight from the oven or toasted. Once it cools, it loses its crispy crust.
Store in an airtight container in the fridge of freeze. You can toast it from frozen.
NOTE: It’s really essential to add a generous pinch of salt and black and white sesame seeds or, even better, nigella seeds to the bread, and baste it with melted butter, olive or coconut oil before eating. Without, the naan does not have much flavour (as it’s mostly coconut flour). It is designed to be eaten WITH a curry, for example this Keto chicken curry!
Here are some other great bread recipes:
Tried this recipe? Give it a star rating below!
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Keto Naan Bread
Light and fluffy Keto naan flatbreads to go with your favourite Indian curry! This low carb coconut flour bread recipe is egg free and gluten free. Ready in only 17 minutes!
Ingredients
Dry Ingredients
- 3/4 cup / 75g coconut flour
- 2 tbsp psyllium husk powder
- 1 tsp xanthan gum
- 1 tsp baking powder
- GENEROUS pinch salt
- 1 tbsp nigella and/or sesame seeds
Wet Ingredients
- 1 cup hot water
- 1/4 cup / 60g full fat natural yoghurt
- 2 tbsp coconut oil / olive oil melted
Topping
- 2 tbsp coconut oil / butter / olive oil melted
- handful chopped parsley or coriander / cilantro
- generous pinch salt
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 180 Celsius / 356 Fahrenheit.
Mix all dry ingredients in another bowl - coconut flour, psyllium husk powder, xanthan gum and salt. Make sure there are no lumps.
Add the wet ingredients - hot water, yoghurt, melted coconut oil or olive oil - and stir together until a dough forms.
Form a dough ball and let it sit for a few minutes until the coconut flour and the psyllium have absorbed all the moisture and the dough is not sticky.
Cut the dough into 6 pieces and roll them out between two sheets of parchment paper into long flatbreads, about 1/2 cm thick. Place on an upturned baking sheet and remove the top parchment. Optional: sprinkle with sesame seeds and/or nigella seeds.
Bake for 12-15 minutes or until browned (baking time will depend on how thick your flatbreads are). If large air bubbles form, pierce with a fork during baking. If necessary, rotate the baking sheet so the flatbreads brown equally and/or turn on the grill/broiler at the end to ensure they crisp and brown on top.
Top with melted butter, olive oil or coconut oil, sprinkle with more salt and chopped parsley or coriander/cilantro leaves before serving.
Recipe Notes
One flatbread weighs around 55 grams.
They are best served warm - either straight from the oven or toasted.
Some psyllium husk powder brands turn purple when baked. I have used the BonPom, Green Origins and the Just Natural Organics brand here in the UK with good results. A US reader has told me that she uses the Healthworks brand in the US and it does not change colour. However, even if the naan changes colour, this does not affect the taste.
NOTE: It's really essential to add a generous pinch of salt and black and white sesame seeds or, even better, nigella seeds to the bread, and baste it with melted butter, olive or coconut oil before eating. Without, the naan does not have much flavour (as it's mostly coconut flour). It is designed to be eaten WITH a curry.
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Heather Jones says
What did I do wrong. Not fluffy at all. Just flat.
Katrin says
hi Heather, if you let me know exactly what you did we can try and work it out together 🙂
Rakhi says
I liked the recipe, thank you. I will try it with half cup coconut flour and half cup almond flour the next time, as I find coconut flour tad bit sweeter than what naan should be, so maybe the almond flour will help reduce the sweetness. Recommendation for yogurt for others who are worried of adding carbs to the recipe – Aussie whole plain Greek yogurt, has the least carbs I have seen in store bought yogurts. It Has about 5 grams of carbs for 3/4 cup, which is pretty good.
Katrin says
Glad you like the recipe and thanks for the tip about the yoghurt!
Bharat says
I love that yogurt is used in this. I used curd and the I loved the naans. I had it with a fish curry.I had earlier made a coconut flour flatbreads with all the above ingredients except xantum gum, yogurt. The taste of both was similar but I think I liked yours better but I couldn’t explain why. In what does yogurt help in this recipe?
Also could I get emails whenever you reply on my comment? It would be very useful to get notified.
Katrin says
Hi there, when I researched the recipe I saw that yoghurt is used in many traditional naan bread recipes, that’s why I wanted to keep it in. I have also made really nice low carb bread and cake using yoghurt so I’m a fan of yoghurt in baking anyway. By the sound of it, we are on the same page!
Bharat says
Cool, please make cakes, breads with yogurt 🙂
Susan says
My oven is on the fritz. Would it work to cook them on the stovetop in a dry frying pan?
Katrin says
I think that should work! Make them nice and small so you can lift them easily with a spatula and use oil in the pan so they do not stick. And a low heat as coconut flour burns easily.
Ashlee says
Anything I can use in place of psyllium husk powder? I have all the other ingredients already in hand (minus the seeds but I have other ides for that)
Katrin says
You could try ground flaxseed, but you may need to use a little more because psyllium is incredibly absorbent
Rakhi says
Hello,
Have you tried almond flour instead of coconut?
Katrin says
Hi Rakhi, not yet, but I’d go with double the amount of almond flour and if it’s quite coarse, I’d use even more than that. Almond flour is less absorbent than coconut flour.
Lisa says
After 20 minutes , I up having to crank oven up to 400 and they still didn’t brown. The inside was purple. They were moist and gummy. I rolled them between parchment and they were quite thin. I added garlic powder and used the seeds but they had an unpleasant taste. Very disappointing. I used the yeast method and am wondering if I should have also used baking powder.
Katrin says
Hi Lisa, this recipe seems to divide opinions. First of all, the purple colour stems from the psyllium you used. I have stated in the post the brands I have used (which don’t turn purple). The NOW brand appears to be available pretty much worldwide, so if you’re not in the UK you may want to seek it out. I bake all my breads and cakes at 180 Celsius and they brown fine. Maybe you should turn on the grill / broiler to remove any excess moisture and brown the bread at the end. As for the taste, not everyone likes nigella seeds – even though I do love them. This recipe is a bit of a blank canvas – you add on top what YOU like. I think melted butter, salt, sesame seeds and definitely either parsley of coriander makes a wonderful mix. Just leave out the nigella the next time. I hope this helps 🙂
Anne says
I finally braved this recipe because I’m coming to like coconut and getting braver with the flour. Because I’m not a fan of coconut flour I knew I would need more flavouring so I added garlic powder, small amount of cumin seeds and more black onion seeds (simply because I love them) and used olive oil instead to reduce overall coconut flavour. Although using olive oil did mean I needed more flour lol. I split it into 8 and used a tortilla press to make mini naans. My oven isn’t brill so took bit longer to cook but well worth it, they were amazing. I also made up a garlic butter before I started making them and added fresh coriander to it so it could absorb the flavours.
I froze half and took them out yesterday to roll out for wraps with Moroccan shredded beef. The dough handles amazingly well after freezing and I cooked them in a Schoville never stick pan – I find it’s better to heat the pan on high then turn it down to cook wraps. Even after freezing, defrosting and rolling they puffed up lovely in the pan. They also tasted great and I’ll be using this recipe for wraps from now on.
I’ve noticed comments here stating lack of flavour – if you know you like bold flavours or you prefer your naans flavoured normally then take it into consideration and add those flavours. The recipe itself is genius, the flavours are personal preferences.
Katrin says
Hi Anne, thank you SO MUCH for your detailed description and tips how you tweaked the recipe. I really appreciate it 🙂
Bharat says
Do you think I can use desiccated coconut instead of coconut flour?
Katrin says
Hi Bharat, it’s an interesting idea. I’ve seen a recipe online for rotis with desiccated coconut. Give it a go and see if you need to add more psyllium to help it stick together. It might also be a good idea to blitz the coconut in a food processor first to make it a bit finer.
Jessica says
These turned out great. Quick & easy to make. I rolled some thinner just to test & those worked too. I’ll definitely be making these again.
Katrin says
Great news! I think the thinner the better, actually 🙂
Cindra says
Thanks so much for the recipe! I’ve been on the Keto diet for 8 months now. I made 4 naan breads and a pizza crust just to see if it would work. I sprinkled all of it with Everything Bagel Seasoning from Trader Joe’s. Because I was making pizza too, I added the yeast as well as baking powder so it would have that nice yeasty taste. Had to bake at 400 Fahrenheit though. I assume that since I live in Colorado, where we are at pretty high altitude, that I’d have to “tweak” the recipe some. The only tweak was baking at a higher temp. The pizza was fantastic!!
Katrin says
What a great idea to turn it into a pizza crust! Glad you like the recipe, and thank you for sharing your tweaks
Sue says
Hi Katrin, would it be possible to freeze the dough before cooking so that I can have a fresh naan every morning? Thx
Katrin says
I have never tried this, so it would be an experiment. But it could work!
Bharat says
@Sue did you try freezing?
Angelina says
I need suggestions to keep the dough from cracking when I roll them out. What do I need to add or subtract?
Katrin says
Sounds like you need a bit more moisture. You could try adding an extra tbsp of coconut oil or butter or even a beaten egg.
vicki says
I have cooked with the Now brand and it turns purple. currently im using “healthworks” brand and no purple. its also organic, Amazon product.
Katrin says
Hi Vicki, thank you for the comment. I wanted to recommend something for my US readers and the NOW brand was what kept coming up in US blogs. I will change it in the post!
Oksana says
Mine looked nothing like yours 🙁 Good flavor though. How did you make it “bubbly/airy” without eggs?
Katrin says
Hi Oksana, I guess it’s the baking powder that makes them rise. Try making them thinner next time – check the photos in the step by step description – that way they will be fluffy.
Jo Ellen Washburn says
This turned out terribly. My ingredients are new, so it wasn’t that. They didn’t brown despite cooking them 20 minutes and turning up the heat. They are flavorless. They are basically a coconut flour mush. It is very disappointing because the ingredients are so expensive – especially in Korea, where I live.
Katrin says
Hi Jo Ellen, I’m so sorry you thought the recipe was a fail. It’s quite essential to add salt, the seeds (nigella seeds have a lovely and quite intense taste) and also brush the bread with oil or butter before serving. I sprinkled mine with coriander/cilantro as well. You are right, as the main ingredients are coconut flour – which is pretty bland on its own – and a bit or psyllium (again, not much individual taste), the bread really needs these additions to shine. However, I’m wondering why your breads did not brown. I bake all my nut flour recipes at 180 Celsius and for me, this is the best temperature to make sure the insides are done without the tops burning. Maybe you need to set your oven temperature a bit higher – oven age, high altitude can have an impact here – or bake on a higher shelf where temperature is slightly higher. I hope this helps and you will give the recipe another go 🙂
Kruthika says
Hi Katrin,
Your recipe totally inspired me to make some for myself. Is it possible to make a batch and store these or would they not taste the same if we store them?
Katrin says
I froze my batch and have been toasting one at a time, which works fine. 🙂
Ruth Heller says
Hi Katrin,
This is really a great recipe. Will definitely make this Keto naan flatbread more often. My whole family has got a craving for it.
I topped it up with sprinkles of chives, looked great and added a special tangy savor. Will experience with other herbs and seeds.
Good idea to save them in the freezer. But as from my first batch there was nothing left, I couldn’t try it out yet.
Katrin says
Hi Ruth, I”m glad you all liked it!
Jemma says
Great recipe! I’ve just taken them out of the oven and they look just like in the picture. We will have them with our curry tonight.
Katrin says
That’s great! Enjoy the curry 🙂
Ayla says
I made these last night, followed the recipe and backed them, but they didn’t really fluff up, and they came out sort of grey-ish (almost purple?) and took a very long time before starting to show some colour, and middle stayed wet for a long time. Did I do anything wrong? Yours look really nice and fluffy and ours weren’t at all!
Katrin says
Some psyllium husk powder brands turn purple when baked. I have used the bonpom, green origins and the Just Natural Organics brand here in the UK with good results. I have heard that the Now brand in the US also does not change colour. However, even if they change colour, this does not affect the taste.
As for the air bubbles, I think you may not have rolled them out thin enough. Try to roll them about 1/2 cm thick in the middle. This should do the trick.
Michelle says
Made these last night to accompany a rich Indian curry that really needs something to sop up the gravy. It’s the first recipe with coconut flour I’ve seen that isn’t egg-laden. I rolled them out to about 10cm x 5 cm – they looked like yours in the pic, but after 30 minutes in the oven and flipping them once, they were still wet in the middle. Not sure if my oven was playing up? I only made 3 of the 6 and kept the rest of the dough in the fridge – will try again later in the week. I have a repertoire of about 8 fabulous low-carb Indian meals so these will be a much needed accompaniment if I can nail the cooking time. Thanks.
Katrin says
Hi Michelle, the size sounds about the same as mine. If your dough was easy to roll out and looked like in my images, it could have been either that yours were a whole lot thicker (=would need more time to bake through) or that you baked it at a lower temperature than mine. So, you could either try to bake them on a higher shelf or turn up the temperature slightly or bake them for longer – maybe add another 5 minutes. Were yours browned? If the top gets too brown, just lay an aluminium foil on top to keep it from burning. I hope this helps!
I think that different brands of psyllium husk, for example, can also have an impact – how finely they’re ground, for example.
Michelle says
Thanks for response. I cooked the remaining 3 last night with the same result. Yes, perhaps the ingredients are slightly different. Mine didn’t roll as cleanly as yours – the “coastline” was split and irregular, I think I may need to decrease the wet ingredients a little. 😀
Jen says
How thin did you roll them? I was hoping for some air bubbles, but I didn’t get any. I think it might have been too thick.
Katrin says
Try to roll them about 1/2 cm thick in the middle. This should do the trick.
Anjigirl says
Has anyone tried making a Kachipurri(sp?) with this recipe? From the looks of the fluffiness it looks like it might suffice!
Mary says
Have you tried it with just coconut milk with a dash of vinegar or do you think the yogurt is the way to go? This looks love, I can’t wait to try it!
Katrin says
Hi Mary, it would be worth a try! If you used a dash of apple cider vinegar you’d definitely get that tangy taste, and also a bit more of a rise!
Esther says
Hey, any idea if they freeze well? Can’t wait to try these. Thanks!
Katrin says
Yes, I have frozen them and then toasted straight from the freezer.
Ghazala says
Is there a substitute for the xanthan gum please?
Katrin says
I have not tried the recipe with anything else. I have heard that people use guar gum instead of xanthan, but I have not used that myself.
Laura says
Is there a non-dairy substitute for the yogurt that would work here?
Katrin says
I’d recommend a coconut yoghurt, so you get the tangy/fresh taste. You can get them in health food shops. (I don’t mean a dairy yoghurt with coconut taste, but yogurt made from actual coconut).
Janet Huyton says
Wow these look great I am going to try them as soon as I have a bit of time, I usually have some full fat crème fraiche in the fridge do you think this could replace the yoghurt please? Thanks – Janet – an avid reader!
Katrin says
Hi Janet, yes, I think sour cream would be fine. Let me know how you get on with them! 🙂
Teresa says
Hi! I just made it…. and loved it! I try to stay away from almond flour as much as I can. Not because I don’t love almond, but because we tend to end up eating too many nuts. For sweet things, it’s normally hard to avoid them, then I try to use coconut flour for salty ones. I will have to adjust the salt and also the baking time, but definitely will be making them many times again! Thanks for the recipe! Liebe Grüße aus Deutschland!
Katrin says
Yay! So glad they hit the spot. You’re right – it’s easy to over-eat on nuts. Und viele Grüße zurück!!