North Indian · Side dish
Tandoori Roti
Tandoori roti is a thick wholemeal flatbread cooked at very high heat until it chars in patches, traditionally against the wall of a tandoor. At home it is made on an inverted cast iron tawa, and the dough is deliberately firmer than chapati dough so that it takes the heat without drying through.
- Prep
- 20 min
- Cook
- 15 min
- Total time
- 35 min
- Servings
- 4
- Vegetarian
- Vegan
Ingredients
- 2 cups wholemeal flour (atta)
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder (optional, for a softer roti)
- 2 tablespoons curd (optional)
- About 3/4 cup water
- Butter or ghee, to brush
NNWA health note
This is the plainest bread on a restaurant menu: wholemeal flour, water and salt, with no refined flour and no fat in the dough unless butter is brushed on at the end. That makes it the more sensible pick beside a naan or a laccha paratha. It is thicker and wider than a home chapati, so one tandoori roti is closer to one and a half rotis in quantity, which is worth knowing when portioning a meal.
Method
- 01
Mix the flour with the salt, along with the baking powder and curd if you are using them.
- 02
Add water gradually and bring it together into a dough that is firm rather than soft, then knead for six minutes until smooth.
- 03
Cover with a damp cloth and leave it twenty minutes, so the bran softens and the dough stops fighting back.
- 04
Divide into six balls and roll each one thicker than a chapati, about three millimetres, into a rough round.
- 05
Heat a cast iron tawa until it is smoking. Wet one face of the roti and lay that face down; it will grip within seconds.
- 06
When bubbles rise across the surface, lift the tawa, invert it over a high flame, and let the top char in dark patches, moving it so the colour spreads evenly.
- 07
Prise it off with tongs, brush with butter if you want it, and serve at once.
Last reviewed on 10 September 2026.
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Why is the dough firmer than chapati dough?
The roti has to sit against a very hot surface for a minute or more without drying right through. A soft, high-water dough steams itself limp at that heat and sticks badly to the iron. A firmer dough holds its shape, takes a char on the outside while staying cooked but not brittle inside, and peels away cleanly when it is ready. It is harder work to knead and the extra effort is the whole reason it works.
How does it stick to an upside down tawa?
Water does it. Wetting one face of the rolled roti and pressing that face onto hot iron makes it grip almost instantly, and the same thing happens on the wall of a tandoor. The grip holds while the pan is inverted over the flame and lets go on its own once the base has cooked and dried out. Do not oil the pan, since oil is precisely what prevents the bond. If a roti drops, either the tawa was not hot enough or the surface was not wet enough.
What is the difference between a tandoori roti and a naan?
Flour and enrichment. Tandoori roti is wholemeal, unleavened or only lightly leavened, with no fat in the dough at all. Naan is plain flour, proved with yeast, enriched with yoghurt and often ghee, and finished with butter. They are cooked the same way and eaten with the same food, but they are not interchangeable on the plate: one is bran and starch, the other is refined starch plus fat.
Why is it not charring properly?
The pan is not hot enough, almost every time. Cast iron needs five to seven minutes over a high flame before the first roti goes on, and a thin nonstick tawa will never reach that temperature and should never be held over a flame anyway. Charring happens in seconds at real heat and simply never happens at moderate heat, where the roti dries out instead. Give the pan time to recover between rotis.
Can it be made in an oven?
Reasonably well. Preheat a baking tray or a pizza stone at the highest temperature the oven will give for at least twenty minutes, slap the roti on, allow three to four minutes, then finish it for half a minute under the grill for colour. It comes out softer and less charred than the tawa version. An air fryer manages a fair imitation as well, and what that appliance does and does not change is covered in is an air fryer healthy.
How does it compare with a chapati in a meal?
It is wider and thicker, so counting one tandoori roti as one roti understates it by around half again. The flour is the same, which means the difference is portion rather than composition, and the figures for one chapati give the baseline to scale from. A brush of butter adds a few grams of fat on top. To get more out of the same bread, missi roti brings gram flour and its protein into the dough. Choosing between breads is a small skill with a large cumulative effect, and the healthy eating essentials course spends real time on it.
Learn the science
Healthy Eating & Everyday Wellness
This dish's nutrition reasoning is taught in full in this NNWA course.
What people ask about Tandoori Roti
How do I make tandoori roti without a tandoor?
Use a cast iron tawa heated for five to seven minutes over a high flame. Wet one face of the rolled roti and press it onto the pan so it sticks, wait until bubbles rise, then lift the pan, turn it upside down and hold it over the flame until the top chars in patches.
Why does my roti fall off the inverted tawa?
Either the pan was not hot enough or the roti was not wet enough on the side you stuck down. The bond comes from water meeting very hot iron, so wet that face properly and let cast iron preheat fully. Never oil the pan, because oil is exactly what stops the roti gripping.
Is tandoori roti healthier than naan?
It is the plainer of the two. Tandoori roti is wholemeal flour, water and salt with no fat in the dough, while naan is refined flour enriched with yoghurt and oil and usually brushed with butter. That makes tandoori roti higher in fibre and lower in fat for the same weight of bread.
How many chapatis does one tandoori roti equal?
Roughly one and a half, because it is both wider and thicker than a home chapati even though the flour is identical. This matters when portioning a restaurant meal, since two tandoori rotis are closer to three chapatis. Butter brushed on at the end adds a few grams of fat per piece.
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