Naan: Nutrition Facts, Calories, Is Naan Healthy and Naan vs Roti

Naan is a soft, leavened flatbread with a blistered, chewy crust, served alongside curries, dals and grilled dishes. This guide uses USDA data for naan nutrition and naan calories, gives a fair answer to whether naan is healthy, compares naan vs roti, and covers the sodium, gluten and allergen facts that matter when you read a label or a menu.

Peptide Labs does not sell naan or any bread. This article is general nutrition information, not medical advice.

What is naan?

Naan is made from a soft wheat dough raised with yeast or another leavening. Many recipes add milk or yogurt for a tender crumb, and some add egg. The dough is slapped against the hot inner wall of a tandoor, a deep clay oven, where it puffs and chars in minutes; home cooks get a similar result in a very hot skillet or oven. Once baked, naan is often brushed with melted butter or ghee.

Popular styles include butter naan, garlic naan, seeded naan topped with sesame or nigella seeds, and stuffed naan filled with potato, minced meat or paneer. Packaged and restaurant naan differ a lot in size and recipe, so the label or the restaurant’s nutrition information is the place for exact numbers.

Naan nutrition: USDA values per piece

USDA SR Legacy, the database this site uses for food values (April 2018 release), has two naan entries: a plain, commercially prepared refrigerated naan (FDC 171845) and a whole wheat version (FDC 174077). The table compares one USDA piece of each with roti, paratha and a slice of white bread. Percent Daily Values (%DV) use FDA reference amounts.

A few things stand out in the USDA numbers. The whole wheat naan has more than twice the fiber of the plain one, but also more saturated fat, 3.1 g against 1.3 g per piece. The plain naan is higher in thiamin and iron, with 0.70 milligrams of thiamin (59% DV) and 2.9 milligrams of iron (16% DV) per piece in USDA data, against 0.19 and 1.8 milligrams for whole wheat. The USDA entry name does not say whether its flour was enriched; when a label lists enriched flour, FDA’s standard (21 CFR 137.165) requires added thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, folic acid and iron. SR Legacy reports total sugars, 3.2 g in the plain piece and 3.6 g in the whole wheat piece, not added sugars, so the Added Sugars line on a package label is the place to check whether sugar went into the dough.

Naan calories by size and style

Naan calories follow size more than anything else. USDA lists 291 calories per 100 g of plain naan, so the 90 g USDA piece comes to 262 calories, and a larger or smaller piece scales up or down from there. The whole wheat entry is similar by weight, 286 calories per 100 g, and its USDA piece is heavier at 106 g, which is why it lands at 303 calories.

The USDA entries are packaged refrigerated breads, so they do not show how much butter or ghee a restaurant brushes on, and SR Legacy has no entry for garlic naan, cheese naan or stuffed naan. For those, the restaurant’s or the package’s numbers are the reliable source; our ghee guide covers what the brushing adds.

Is naan healthy?

Is naan healthy? It is a bread, and how it fits depends on the flour, the size of the piece, the butter on top and what it is served with. The Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2025-2030 say to prioritize fiber-rich whole grains and to significantly reduce highly processed, refined carbohydrates, naming white bread among the examples. Plain naan made with white flour sits closer to white bread than to a whole grain; our refined carbs guide explains the difference.

• Sodium: FDA’s general guide says 5% DV or less of sodium per serving is low and 20% DV or more is high. In USDA data, one plain naan has 18% DV and one whole wheat naan 22% DV. The Daily Value for sodium is less than 2,300 milligrams, per FDA. Our low sodium guide lists lower-sodium foods to serve alongside.
• Saturated fat: the Dietary Guidelines 2025-2030 say saturated fat should in general not exceed 10% of total daily calories. Butter or ghee brushed on top adds to the USDA figures above.
• Whole wheat labels: FDA’s draft guidance on whole grain label statements suggests checking whether the first ingredient listed is a whole grain, such as whole wheat flour; our crackers guide covers that label wording in detail.
• The plate around it: naan is often eaten with dishes built on lentils, chickpeas, spinach or paneer; those guides give their own USDA values.

Naan vs roti

Naan vs roti is mostly a question of dough and cooking method. Roti, also called chapati, is an unleavened flatbread usually made from whole wheat flour, water and salt and cooked on a dry griddle. Naan is leavened, often made with milk or yogurt, and baked in a tandoor or a hot oven, which makes it thicker and softer. Paratha is a third cousin: a griddle bread folded with fat into flaky layers.

• By weight: USDA lists 291 calories per 100 g for plain naan and 297 for plain roti, so neither is lighter gram for gram.
• By piece: the USDA plain naan weighs 90 g and the plain roti 68 g, so a piece of naan carries 262 calories against 202 for roti, per USDA.
• Fiber: the USDA whole wheat roti has 4.2 g of fiber (15% DV) in a 43 g piece; the plain naan has 2.0 g (7% DV) in 90 g.
• Sodium: per USDA piece, plain roti has 278 milligrams (12% DV) and plain naan 419 milligrams (18% DV).
• Paratha: the USDA whole wheat paratha has the most fiber per piece, 7.6 g (27% DV), and the most saturated fat, 4.6 g (23% DV).

Allergens and gluten in naan

• Wheat: regular naan is made from wheat flour, and FDA lists wheat among the nine major food allergens that packaged food labels must declare.
• Gluten: NIDDK says gluten is a protein found naturally in wheat, barley, and rye, and that breads and baked goods made from these grains contain it, so regular naan is not gluten-free. Packaged gluten-free breads exist, and FDA rules limit foods labeled gluten-free to under 20 parts per million gluten, as NIDDK notes. Our foods with gluten guide lists common sources.
• Milk: many naan recipes use milk or yogurt, and butter or ghee on top; ghee is made from butter, so it comes from milk. FDA lists milk among the major food allergens, so check the ingredient list.
• Eggs: some recipes add egg, which FDA also lists as a major food allergen; the ingredient list will show it.
• Sesame: FDA says that as of January 1, 2023, sesame must be labeled as an allergen on packaged foods, and that some manufacturers changed their recipes so that products now have small amounts of sesame that did not before. FDA advises checking the ingredient list and the Contains statement, and asking restaurant staff about ingredients. Our sesame seeds guide has more.
• Eating out: NIDDK advises people with celiac disease to let the server know about their gluten-free needs.

Serving and reheating naan

• Reheat: sprinkle a few drops of water on the bread and warm it in a hot skillet or oven until soft again; a covered pan keeps it from drying out.
• Freeze: wrap extra pieces well and freeze them; reheat straight from frozen in a hot pan.
• Classic pairings: dal made from lentils, chickpea curry, spinach and paneer, or a cooling yogurt sauce made with Greek yogurt, with a glass of lassi on the side.
• Crisp alternative: for a dry, crunchy wheat snack with very different numbers, see our crackers guide.

Frequently Asked Questions

Questions about a label? Contact us or read our Buyer’s Guide. Food comes first; follow the label and ask a healthcare provider before starting a supplement, especially if you take medicines, are pregnant or have a food allergy. These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.

Last reviewed October 2026.

Related guides: Crackers: Nutrition Facts, Are Crackers Healthy, Saltines and Whole Wheat Labels, Pita Bread: USDA Nutrition, Whole Wheat Pita, Enrichment and Gluten Facts, Ghee: What It Is, Nutrition, Ghee vs Butter and Is It Healthy?, Refined Carbs vs Whole Grains: Simple and Complex Carbs Explained.