This easy keto naan bread recipe makes pillowy-soft, fluffy flatbreads that taste just as good as the real thing! My coconut flour naan is perfect for mopping up your favorite Indian curry. The recipe is gluten-free and egg-free.
I've been craving Indian food recently and have been eating plenty of curries. 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.
This naan bread recipe is a bit of a personal breakthrough - it is my first EGG FREE low carb bread. Plus, it contains an extra portion of fiber!
It is a great alternative to the almond flour mozzarella dough that so many keto recipes are made with.
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Ingredients
Here are the ingredients you'll need:
- Coconut flour - the gently sweet taste lends itself to Indian cuisine
- Psyllium husk powder - adds elasticity and a fluffy texture
- Xanthan gum - for a stronger structure
- Baking powder
- Salt
- Hot water
- Full fat yogurt - or Greek yogurt
- Coconut oil - or olive oil
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.
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.
Instructions
This section contains step-by-step instructions and photos that show how to make this recipe. See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities
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 balloon 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.
STEP 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 very absorbent and a dough will form quickly.
I find it easiest to use a fork for this step. If you continue with the whisk, the dough gets caught in the middle, which is a major mess.
STEP 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.
STEP 4
Cut the dough into six equal slices and form balls.
STEP 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.
STEP 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.
STEP 7
Brush with melted coconut oil or butter or olive oil and top with more chopped coriander or parsley and more salt before serving! A pinch of cumin would also work well.
Recipe FAQs
Traditional naan bread has around 40 grams of carbs. Yikes! In contrast, one keto naan comes in at only 3.6g net carbs. That's all the great naan taste without the blood sugar spike!
Yes. You can fry the coconut naan bread in a skillet over low heat for 2-3 minutes on both sides. This way, you will get the same characteristic brown marks as on traditional naan made in a Tandoor oven.
I have not tried it yet, but it should work. I would use 2 ¼ cups or 225 grams of super-fine almond flour.
Use the recipe for my keto garlic bread. You only need to change one ingredient: swap out the cream cheese for yoghurt. And instead of brushing the bread with garlic butter, brush it with coconut or olive oil after baking. Then, sprinkle over sea salt, black or white sesame seeds, nigella seeds or chopped cilantro. And voila, you have a keto naan with fathead dough.
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.
How To Make Naan With YeastÂ
Step 1.) Stir 2 teaspoon of dry active yeast and 2 teaspoon 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).
Step 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.
Step 3.) Form a ball, cover again and let the dough rise for 30-60 minutes until it has increased in size considerably.
Step 4. ) Proceed as per recipe below.
Variations
Dairy-free naan: To make the naan bread recipe dairy free, use an unflavoured coconut yogurt such as by the Coconut Collaborative.
Pitta bread: Turn this naan into a pitta bread by brushing it with a simple garlic butter (melted butter, 1 chopped garlic clove, salt).
Change the size: Just like with regular naan, it's easy to change up the size! Make 3 large naans (increase the baking time by 3 minutes) or 12 small dippers (oven time reduces by 2 minutes).
Toppings
Without the toppings, the naan is fairly neutral in flavor. After all, it is mostly coconut flour. Therefore, I recommend brushing over coconut or olive oil and adding one or more toppings:
- Sea salt
- Black or white sesame seeds
- Nigella seeds
- chopped cilantro or parsley
- garlic powder
- onion powder
Serving Suggestion
First of all, serve keto naan bread warm - either straight from the oven or toasted. Once it cools, it loses its crispy crust.
It is designed to be eaten WITH a curry, for example, this Keto chicken curry or my Keto Chicken Tikka Masala! Don't forget to serve your curries with cauliflower rice to keep them keto-friendly!
Storage
Refrigerator: Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days.
Freezer: Keto recipes with coconut flour generally freeze well. Freeze for up to 3 months.
Reheating: Defrost overnight. Pop in the toaster to reheat. You can toast it from frozen.
More Keto Bread Recipes
Tried this recipe? Give it a star rating below!
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Recipe
Keto Naan Bread
from Sugar Free LondonerNote: The servings slider only changes the first amount in each line and not any subsequent amounts. Please make your own calculations where necessary.
Ingredients
Dry Ingredients
- â…” cup coconut flour 75g
- 2 tablespoon psyllium husk powder
- 1 teaspoon xanthan gum
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- GENEROUS pinch salt
- 1 tablespoon nigella and/or sesame seeds
Wet Ingredients
- 1 cup / 240ml hot water
- ¼ cup / 60g full fat natural yoghurt
- 2 tablespoon coconut oil / olive oil melted
Topping
- 2 tablespoon 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 ½ 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.
Lisa
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
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
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
Hi Anne, thank you SO MUCH for your detailed description and tips how you tweaked the recipe. I really appreciate it 🙂
Bharat
Do you think I can use desiccated coconut instead of coconut flour?
Katrin
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
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
Great news! I think the thinner the better, actually 🙂
Cindra
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
What a great idea to turn it into a pizza crust! Glad you like the recipe, and thank you for sharing your tweaks
Sue
Hi Katrin, would it be possible to freeze the dough before cooking so that I can have a fresh naan every morning? Thx
Katrin
I have never tried this, so it would be an experiment. But it could work!
Bharat
@Sue did you try freezing?
Angelina
I need suggestions to keep the dough from cracking when I roll them out. What do I need to add or subtract?
Katrin
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
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
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!
Jo Ellen Washburn
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
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
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
I froze my batch and have been toasting one at a time, which works fine. 🙂
Ruth Heller
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
Hi Ruth, I"m glad you all liked it!
Jemma
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
That's great! Enjoy the curry 🙂