I adore fusion food, where two cuisines are combined to make something new - often creating something that's even better than the sum of its parts.
This Indian pizza is the perfect example - a wonderful cross between Indian and Italian! Naan bread makes a perfect low-effort pizza crust that's soft and chewy, yet crispy round the edges. Add a curry-infused pizza sauce, and sprinkle over some creamy paneer cheese, and you've got one irresistible Indian pizza!
I have genuinely been dreaming about this paneer pizza since the first time I made it. The flavours are unreal. And considering I'm a huge pizza lover, and I think sometimes it's pretty hard to improve on a simple vegetarian pizza... even I have to admit that this recipe has just about done it.
❤️ Why You'll Love This Recipe
- It is delicious. You'll have to cook it yourself to understand truly how much this point needs to be emphasised. Bold and italics are not enough.
- Using shop-bought naan bread makes it really quick and easy to prepare, but still with big flavour.
- Fusion food (Indian pizza = Indian + Italian) gives you a new, fun way to enjoy two cuisines at once.
- This paneer pizza is more interesting than a regular margherita, so it's fun to serve for guests, or when you want something a bit different.
🥗 Ingredients
Here's what you'll need to make this recipe. You'll also need a few cupboard staples, like salt and pepper. See the printable recipe card below for detailed ingredient quantities.
- naan bread - choose a large, flat naan if you can find one. It's worth spending a little more to get a good quality base.
- pizza sauce - just a regular tomato-based sauce, nothing fancy.
- curry paste - I used tikka paste, but use your favourite.
- paneer cheese
- cheddar cheese - to add extra flavour to the paneer, and some meltiness to your pizza.
- sliced tomatoes
- red onion
- cilantro (fresh coriander)
👌 Top tip
Don't be too careful when crumbling your paneer cheese - it doesn't all need to be perfectly even in size. In fact, I like to deliberately leave a bit of size variation. The larger pieces remain soft and creamy in the middle, and the smaller pieces crisp up beautifully.
📋 Instructions
Here's how to make this recipe - see below for the printable recipe with detailed ingredients and instructions.
Step 1: Combine the curry paste and pizza sauce, and spread over the naan bread.
Step 2: Add the pizza toppings: grated cheddar, crumbled paneer, red onions, and sliced tomatoes.
Step 3: Bake until crispy.
Step 4: Top with fresh cilantro, and serve.
👌 Top tip
I like to keep the pizza toppings pretty simple on this Indian pizza, so the focus can be the flavours of the curry and the paneer. Some sliced tomatoes and red onion work beautifully. You could add some additional veggies if you like, but don't go overboard.
💭 Recipe FAQs
There are lots of curry pastes available, from super spicy ones (e.g. madras) to a milder paste (e.g. korma). I used tikka paste, which has a medium level of spice. Choose one that suits your spice preference! You only need a Tablesoon of curry paste for this recipe, but the rest of the jar can be stored in the fridge, and used to make a vegetarian curry.
This recipe specifically uses curry paste, which is then diluted with the pizza sauce. If you'd prefer to use a curry sauce, which doesn't need to be diluted at all, you can skip the pizza sauce if you like.
Leftover pizza can be covered and stored in the fridge for up to 3 days. If you're in a rush, you can reheat it in the microwave, but it's much better reheated in the oven or a frying pan.
🍕 More Vegetarian Pizza Recipes
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📖 Printable Recipe
Indian Pizza with Paneer (Naan Bread Pizza)
If you've cooked this recipe, don't forget to leave a star rating!
Print Pin CommentIngredients
- 75 ml (~ ¼ cup) pizza sauce or passata
- 1 Tablespoon curry paste (I used tikka paste)
- 1 large naan bread (~ 180g / 6 ½ oz) - mine measured approx. 9 x 12 inches
- 50 g mature cheddar cheese, grated (~ ½ cup when grated)
- ½ red onion, sliced
- 2 medium tomatoes, sliced
- 100 g (~ 3 ½ oz) paneer cheese, roughly crumbled
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- Few sprigs fresh coriander (cilantro), roughly chopped
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 190°C (Gas Mark 5 / 375°F).
- Combine the tomato sauce and curry paste in a bowl, then spread it over the large naan bread.
- Sprinkle the grated cheddar onto the base, then add the sliced red onion, sliced tomatoes, and crumbled paneer. Top with a little black pepper.
- Bake for around 15 minutes, or until crisped up to your liking. Serve sprinkled with chopped cilantro.
Nutrition
Nutritional information is approximate, and will depend on your exact ingredients. Please calculate your own nutritional values if you require accuracy for health reasons.
Carrie says
I love the look of this! Dare I whisper that I'm a bit bored with regular margharita?! What make was your curry paste, please? All the jars I see seem to be more like the cook-in sauce type - or need to be used in a few days which isn't practical with something I'm only going to be using a spoonful of now and then.
Becca Heyes says
I just used Tesco Tikka Paste :) Not sure how quickly it says it's supposed to be used up but I tend to leave them in the fridge for a good week or two with no problems. You only need a tablespoon for this recipe but you could easily use up most of the rest of the jar in a big veggie curry with a can of coconut milk.
jackie @ marin mama cooks says
Ok, Becca! Your pizza looks amazing as well. We could do a pizza swap. Totally going to try this recipe. :) xoxo, Jackie
Ashley Bee (Quarter Life Crisis Cuisine) says
I love naan as a pizza crust. Yum...
miss messy says
Where i live in the midlands every other shop has the biggest array of Indian goodies. I've never bought paneer despite being a vegetarian because i don't know what to do with it. i think i'll have to head to the corner shop and get some!
Christy@SweetandSavoring says
My husband and I LOVE sag paneer! Have never made it, though I like this idea. Plus we just started growing coriander in our herb garden :)
LittleMonsterx14 says
yes this is brilliant! i absolutely love paneer!
Eileen says
I heart paneer, and have made many a pizza on leftover naan bread, but I've never tried paneer on a pizza! That's clearly going to change. And Hollie, paneer is one of the easiest cheeses to make--as long as you have milk, lemon juice, and cheesecloth, you too can soon be eating paneer pizza!
Hollee says
You're lucky to live where you do...I doubt I could find a place to buy paneer within 50 miles of here.
[email protected] says
That's a shame, where do you live? I just get it in my usual supermarket. Do you have any Asian supermarkets nearby? Or maybe you could order it online? If not, you could just do a veggie version, it would still be delicious :)
Hollee says
I live in North Dakota, which if you're not familiar with the states is very middle of nowhere. We happen to have quite a few Asian markets in town but they're almost exclusively East Asian. We've got an Indian restaurant that sells groceries too but paneer is not among them. Maybe I could ask anyway...
Carrie says
I made paneer once or twice with whole milk and, I think, lemon juice. It was very easy - the curds separate out and you strain and squeeze it through muslin/jelly bag. I'm sure there are recipes online. I actually preferred the taste of my homemade one!
fuzzilla says
I remember saving a "how to make your own paneer" recipe a while ago. Never tried it, but I remember it seemed easy.
Charlotte says
I've made paneer - dead easy. It was a recipe from an old indian cookbook but I'm sure there are plenty of recipes online. The bonus is that you can add extra flavourings to the cheese as you make it. We added fresh corriander last time which was scrummy!