As you all know, there is a huge variety of Indian bread, from the famous naan bread (leavened) to roti or chapati (unleaved bread), poori, and more. Some are fried, while other flatbreads are cooked on a cast iron skillet, tawa (griddle), or tandoori oven. Indian bread is so versatile that it can be served for any meal. Here is a complete list of the authentic and the best Indian bread and flatbreads (North Indian and South Indian). You can easily make it at home for breakfast, lunch, dinner, lunchbox, potluck, picnics, or even as an afterschool snack. Do try these delicious recipes.
Naan
Naan is the most famous of all Indian bread recipes. This leavened bread is soft and fluffy and traditionally is made in a cylindrical clay oven called tandoor, but you can easily make this at home on the stovetop in a skillet or tawa or oven. Naan bread tastes the best when served hot to scoop up spicy gravy and curries like paneer masala, restaurant-style mushroom masala, tandoori chicken masala, easy traditional chicken curry, and more. It goes well with grilled chicken and some more popular Indian dishes. Also, note that naan and pita bread may look similar, but the ingredients and the method used to make both doughs differ. Check out our best and simple homemade naan bread, popular crowd-favorite cheese and garlic naan, and restaurant-style garlic butter naan recipe, and healthy wheat naan or atta naan.
Roti and Chapati
Roti or Chapati (pulka) is unleavened flatbread. If you are impatient like me and looking for an instant or quick bread recipe, you should try this roti or chapati recipe. No yeast is used to make this Indian flatbread. You need water, salt, and flour traditionally to make chapati. Kneading the dough is key here for your flatbreads to be softer. You can even use this as a pizza crust or to make quesadillas, chicken wraps, paneer rolls, and more. Check out healthy weight-loss oats chapati, chapati, or roti made using mixed leftover flours, multigrain roti, vegan whole wheat avocado chapati, rumali roti (manda).
Paratha
Parathas are pan-fried Indian flatbread made using whole wheat flour (atta) and/or all-purpose flour(maida). Parathas can be plain or stuffed. Plain parathas, also called Malabar parotta, are thicker than chapatis or rotis as they are layered with desi ghee or oil and folded multiple times, just like you make pastry sheet or laminated croissant dough, making the end bread flakier. Stuffed parathas are made using the basic chapati dough, which is stuffed with ingredients of your choice, like aloo (potato), paneer, cheese, onion, minced meat, and more. Try out our classic Punjabi aloo paratha and paneer paratha with fresh herbs like pudina (mint), grilled, and stuffed paratha with cheese.
Kulcha
Kulcha is very similar to naan bread, with slight differences in dough ingredients. Also, it is a little thicker and softer than naan bread. Check out our Amritsari street-style kulcha stuffed with onions and potatoes.
Poori and Bhatura
Poori and Bhatura are popular fried bread, one from the North and the other from the South. Puri is unleavened fried dough, and bhature is leavened. Both taste best when served hot and puffed right out of the pan with curries like potato bhaji, aloo masala, and chole, or chana masala.
Banana Buns
Banana buns, also popularly known as Mangalore buns, is a sweet deep-fried recipe prepared using overripe bananas. These are traditionally served with South Indian sambar and coconut chutney. Banan buns are also one of the excellent recipes for your potluck, picnic, beach days, or travel, just like thepla.
Rotti
If North India is famous for roti, South India is popular for rotti. These South Indian rotis or flatbreads are prepared using ragi (finger millet), akki (rice), jola (jowar), known as ragi rotti, akki rotti and jolada rotti. If you are gluten-free, I highly recommend adding these South Indian rotis to your daily meal plan. I love ragi rotti for its taste and health benefits.
Gluten-free Roti
For a gluten-free diet, check out healthy Indian makki ki roti, also known as corn flour bread or maize bread, and easy soy bread using soybean flour.
Sweet Flatbreads
In India, during festivals like Ganesh Chaturthi, Diwali, Holi, and Navratri, sweetbreads are made using lentils (dal) or coconut, along with jaggery as a filling.We have puran poli (grandmother’s ubbati or obbattu) and kayi holige (coconut-stuffed sweet flatbread). South Indian Dosa, appam, uttapam does not fall under the bread category. They are made with fermented batter, similar to Western crepes and pancakes.
Accompaniments for Indian bread & flatbreads
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