Grilled Naan Pizza

Jacob and I share a strong love for pizza. I think we could eat it every day if it were calorically (or socially for that matter) acceptable. Not only is restaurant pizza pretty unhealthy, it’s can also be expensive. We often make pizza at home and have experimented with several different kinds of crust. Up until last night our favorite had been a whole grain pre-baked crust that we get at our natural foods store, but I think naan is now the delicious frontrunner. Not only did it taste amazing, it was under $4 for two and only took about 15 minutes from prep to table.

Naan is an is a leavened, indian flatbread that is baked in a Tandoor or earthern oven.

Mmmmmm. Oh man, I love me some bread.

Luckily for those of us who don’t have a Tandoor oven of their very own, it’s becoming widely available in grocery stores. We got ours at a local chain grocery, but I’ve even seen it at Walmart in their bakery section.

How to make Grilled Naan Pizza

First, preheat your grill to low or medium (low for us, as our grill tends to cook really hot). Gather all of your ingredients ahead of time. Chop, slice, or wash anything that needs it. I put everything on one platter and set it next to the grill.

Fresh basil and mozzarella, diced jalepenos, turkey pepperoni, and shredded mozzarella/provolone mix

Let’s take a moment to discuss how wonderful fresh mozzarella is
(and how overexposed all of these pictures are)

Sigh. Back to the pizza. Also have handy your naan and a little olive oil.

And the usual cast of characters you use to season a pizza.

Brush both sides of the naan with olive oil and put on the grill 3 or 4 minutes

Flip the naan and quickly top the grilled sides with sauce, seasonings, and whatever pizza toppings strike your fancy. Pepperoni and jalepenos for the husband, basil and fresh mozzarella for yours truly.

Close the lid of the grill and let the other side of the naan brown. It took us a few minutes to get the toppings on, so we only let it cook with the lid closed for 2 or 3 minutes longer. Once the cheese is melted and the bottom of the bread nice and brown, remove from the grill and eat delicately inhale immediately.This was seriously some of the best homemade pizza I’ve ever had. It reminded me of these fried dough pizzas my mom would make when I was little. The best part is, it’s healthy! An entire Naan only has 10 grams of fat, and 330 calories. Depending on your toppings, you can easily have a whole one for less than 500 calories (which is like, one slice of restaurant pizza). Because they have 8 grams of fiber and are whole-grain, they’re also really filling. I could barely eat all of mine and I was starving beforehand.

We’re already talking about the toppings we’re going to do for our next batch. I’m thinking sauteed apples with cinnamon and Jacob wants buffalo chicken.

Go forth and eat healthy delicious pizza!