Naan Pizza Week: Start With Great Homemade Naan

Recipe by: Janette Zepeda, The Kitchn

Good naan should be soft and pillowy inside, with those browned, blistered spots around the edges that make it impossible not to tear off a piece while it’s still warm.

This version uses a cast-iron skillet instead of a tandoor and makes eight individual naan—enough to eat a few immediately and save the rest for the pizzas coming later this week.

1/2 cup warm whole milk
1/4 cup warm water
2 1/2 tsp active dry yeast
1 tsp brown sugar
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
1 tbsp canola oil or melted ghee, plus more for the skillet
1 tsp kosher salt
Cooking spray
Fresh cilantro, optional

For the optional garlic butter
3 tbsp unsalted butter
2 tbsp chopped fresh cilantro
3 garlic cloves, minced

1️⃣ Wake Up The Yeast
Combine the warm milk, water, yeast, and brown sugar. Give it 10 to 15 minutes, until the mixture looks active and bubbly.

2️⃣ Make The Dough
Mix in the flour, oil or ghee, and salt until a shaggy dough forms. Turn it onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth, about 3 minutes.

3️⃣ Let It Rise
Transfer the dough to a lightly greased bowl, cover, and let it rise somewhere warm until roughly doubled, about 1 hour.

4️⃣ Divide + Rest
Divide the dough into eight pieces and shape each into a ball. Cover and rest for about 5 minutes while a cast-iron skillet or griddle heats over medium-low.

5️⃣ Roll It Out
Roll each ball into roughly a 7-inch round, about 1/4-inch thick.

6️⃣ Hit The Skillet
Lightly oil the hot skillet and cook the naan until puffed and browned in spots, roughly 30 to 35 seconds per side.

7️⃣ Finish
While It’s WarmBrush with a little oil, ghee, or garlic butter. Add cilantro if that’s your move.

The week-ahead move: Refrigerate the extras in an airtight container. You’ve just made the base for the rest of Naan Pizza Week.

No complicated dough stretching. No pizza stone negotiations. Pick a naan and start topping.

This is where we’d start if someone needed convincing that naan pizza is a legitimate dinner strategy.

Keep the toppings simple: mozzarella, tomato, basil, and prosciutto. The naan gets crisp underneath while staying chewy through the center, which is exactly what you want under all that cheese.

The move: Add the prosciutto after baking so it stays silky rather than crisping into oblivion.

Swap tomato sauce for pesto and the whole equation changes.

Layer the naan with pesto, mozzarella, and Mediterranean-style vegetables for something brighter and more herbaceous. This is also the one we’d reach for when the refrigerator has a handful of vegetables that need somewhere to go.

The move: Keep the toppings restrained. Naan is sturdy, but a mountain of vegetables will steam instead of crisp.

And here’s where we stop pretending pizza requires tomato sauce at all.

Use hummus as the base, then add peppery arugula, sweet dates, and a little balsamic. Creamy, sweet, sharp, fresh—it’s the pizza equivalent of cleaning out the pantry and somehow looking very intentional.

The move: Add the arugula after the naan comes out of the oven.

Squash. Pears. Brie. Fig jam.

Tuesday is when Naan Pizza Week officially starts dressing for the season.