This easy Indian Fry Bread Recipe makes a delicious fry bread that can be used to make Navajo Tacos, also called Indian Tacos and a variety of other foods. We like to make the Indian tacos, but sometimes the kids just like to eat the Navajo fry bread with honey. Either way, they are delicious!
This easy Indian fry bread recipe makes a wonderfully delicious Navajo fry bread, which you can eat by itself, eat with honey as a dessert or snack or cover in taco fixings to make Navajo tacos!
Navajo tacos are an easy family dinner recipe that everyone loves. The Indian fry bread has a texture that is crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. It makes a different kind of base for tacos, which is much more delicious than regular taco shells or tortillas.
This Navajo fry bread recipe is easy to make traditionally according to our recipe below, but if you’re in a big hurry, you can make these even faster by rolling out Grands biscuits and frying according to the recipe instead of making your own dough from scratch.
How To Make The Indian Fry Bread
Besides being super tasty, this recipe is easy to make with ingredients you already have at home like all purpose flour, baking powder, salt, milk, and water. Don’t over-think it. The recipe is super simple. (Full recipe below)
First, you will mix the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Then, stir in the water and the milk. If you do this all in one bowl, you will have fewer dishes to wash and who doesn’l’t like less dishwashing?
Once it is mixed, turn out onto a cutting board and knead several times to make a smooth dough. Again, don’t overthink it. This is an easy recipe.
Roll out the dough into approximately 5-inch circles. Make a small home in the center of each circle with your fingers. This will make them cook more evenly when you fry them.
Heat the oil in a skillet until it is about 375°. I like to use a digital laser thermometer like this one to double check the temperature. Once the oil is hot enough, fry each Indian fry bread circle, one at a time, until it puffs and bubbles. It should turn a light golden brown. Then using tongs, carefully turn it over and fry the other side.
Place a paper towel on a plate. As you remove each fry bread from the frying pan, place it on the paper towel to drain it while you fry the next one.
When you have finished frying them, you can serve them as a snack or make Indian tacos (Navajo tacos). If you serve them as a snack, you can top with things like honey, powdered sugar, cinnamon or your favorite flavor of jam or a combination of these.
My kids love to eat the Indian fry bread as a dessert or snack with honey. If there are any bubbles in the bread, they like to pour some honey inside the Navajo fry bread to make it extra sweet!
How to Make Indian Tacos
Once you make the Indian fry bread recipe, you can make fry bread tacos by topping with your favorite taco ingredients. You can really use any kind of toppings that sound good on Indian tacos. I am including a list of some of our favorite toppings here.
My husband and I like to make the Indian tacos recipe for ourselves more elaborate with a lot of different toppings. If you have picky eaters or small kids, you might want to keep it simple and include only a few things like ground beef, refried beans, or cheese. The beauty of this recipe is that it is very easy to make and it is easy to customize for each person’s tastes without causing you a lot of extra work.
Here are some toppings you might like to include when you make the Navajo tacos recipe:
- Taco seasoned ground beef
- Taco seasoned chicken
- Pot roast or pulled pork
- Black beans or pinto beans
- Refried beans
- Your preferred shredded cheese – Mexican blend, Cheddar, Asiago, etc.
- Sour cream
- Lettuce, green leaf, iceberg or romaine
- Chopped tomatoes
- Salsa – We prefer pico de Gallo salsa
- Guacamole
- Black olives
- Cilantro
- White onions, chopped
- Green onions or red onions, chopped (especially on top to add to the color)
- Anything else you can think of that might go well with tacos
In addition to the tacos, you can use the Indian fry bread to make other kinds of sandwiches and treats, so don’t be afraid to experiment! You can use the Navajo fry bread in place of bread, taco shells or tostadas.
This Navajo Tacos Indian Fry Bread Recipe is from Volume 1 of our Cookbook:
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Indian Fry Bread Recipe
- Yield: 6 servings
Ingredients
4 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. baking powder
1 1/2 cups water
1/2 cup milk
oil for frying
Instructions
- Mix dry ingredients in a bowl.
- Stir in the water and milk.
- Knead several times until smooth.
- Roll out into 5-inch circles.
- Make a small hole in the center with your fingers.
- In a skillet, fry in several inches of hot oil at 375°.
- The dough will puff and bubble.
- Turn when golden brown.
- Drain the Indian fry bread on paper towels and serve hot for tacos or with honey. Serves 6.
Indian Tacos Recipe (Navajo Tacos)
Ingredients
Indian fry bread
refried beans
cheese
shredded lettuce
shredded tomatoes, chopped
Instructions
- Place refried beans on Navajo fry bread.
- Top with cheese, lettuce and tomatoes.
- Serve warm.
Notes
If you like, you can add your favorite taco toppings in addition to or in place of the refried beans. Some good choices are:
- Taco seasoned meat (ground beef, chicken, roast, etc.)
- Black beans, pinto beans, etc.
- Salsa
- Guacamole
- Black olives
- Anything else that sounds good on tacos.
If You Like This Indian Fry Bread Recipe, You Might Also Like:
Easy Stacked Enchiladas Recipe
Green Chile Recipe! Quick And Delicious!
Easy Homemade Enchiladas Recipe
Navajo Fry Bread Recipe – Quick and Easy Version
From: JO ANN G.
I was in a rush this evening, so I thought I would use Grand biscuits, instead of making the version of the Navajo tacos fry bread you included here. I just rolled out the Grands biscuits with a rolling pin, put a small hole in the middle and followed the rest of the recipe. My family loves it!
We also had fried apples for dessert, and I crushed up some homemade (plain)granola bars on it. It was YUMMY!
Thank you so much for a wonderful site to explore new recipes and tips for living on a dime!
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This is called bannock by the natives in Canada.
you can add blueberries, smoked salmon, cheese and almost anything you enjoy to the batter.
You can also bake it around wieners as a change from hot dogs.
When camping or around a fire wrap some of the dough on the end of a cleaned stick and cook it that way. Great fun for the kids and adults alike.
It is an old family favourite that my children still want when they get home.
Sounds good! Instead of frying, you bake the dough around the hot dog? What temp and how long?
Patty I have made these hot dogs with other type of dough wrapped around them and usually I bake them at about 350 degrees. When I make them I like to slit the hot dog long ways partially down the middle and lay a sliver of cheese in the slit then wrap with the dough.
my mother made this recipe and used self-rising flour and added milk…super simple and tasty.
I make this without milk. Also this recipe can be used to make torillas on a pan without oil.
We have and sometimes still make this when we run out of bread and want some some quick! I had that recipe on my refrigerator door for years and years!
Thank you for reminding me! Honey butter goes well with this! And many other things. We make ours smaller. Sometimes we sprinkle with powdered sugar like doughnuts. Cause that’s what they are! Quick, quick!
Nice, this is the same recipe I use when I make my fry bread and Pow Wow soup. We are not fully Native American, as it was my maternal great grandmother who was full blooded Cherokee; but I still want my children to appreciate the NA culture, to include some of the foods. Thank you for sharing this you guys. Oh and we serve it like tostadas or taco or drizzle with honey and cinnamon for desserts. This is good stuff ya’ll.
Geez, that was about as clear as mud, wasn’t it? lol When we serve it with the Pow Wow soup, it’s served as a bread. Otherwise it’s served like tostadas/tacos or with the honey/cinnamon.
Them being my children. Sheesh, I think it’s time for bed now..lol.
I believe Stacy is talking about”white corn soup”. That could be her pow wow soup. I’m full oneida and that is what we make . Made with white corn, ham hocks . I know of no other soup called pow wow soup.
Stacy,I really enjoyed your post. My father’s mother was full blood Cherokee. What I would like to know is, what is Pow Wow soup? I also would like to know where it originated. You can contact me on my E Mail,Thank You .
I just went to the Pow Wow in Talaquah Oklahoma. I am trying my hand at fry bread tonight but could you share with me what is in pow wow soup?
Do these frybreads store very well? If so, what is the best method. There’s only the two of us now – empty nesters – and I don’t want to waste the flour. That being said, can this recipe be cut down, maybe half?
They don’t store at all you need to really serve them hot. You can very easily cut the recipe in half or fourths as needed but if this still isn’t enough you can buy bags of frozen dough and use one frozen roll flattened for each serving. This does cost a little more.
You can also use the same recipe without the milk sir sopapillas. Then after you fry them add honey.
I have a similar recipe from my Navajo friend. It uses all water and a few Tablespoons of powdered milk. It also puffs better if you let it rest for 30 minutes before you fry it.
Do you roll them out and then let them rest or before you roll them out?
That is what is nice about this fry bread recipe Elaine, you don’t need to let them rest or anything just roll them out and fry them up.
This recipe looks easy to make. I’m Cree/Scottish from northern Ontario Canada. Bannock actually is a scottish bread we adopted many many decades ago. The Hudson Bay Company employees came from Scotland and introduced bannock to the Crees. Its actually called bannock in Scotland. :-)
Ditto to the comment from Grandma at the beginning of this post. We love bannock here, and I was pleased to learn that the Scottish people brought it to Canada. I am Scottish descent. Another form of fry bread, is to just take some raw dough from a batch of yeast bread, on bread baking day, and fry it and serve it as you would bannock. The yeast bread version is best after the dough has risen at least once. A great treat on bread baking day.
My grandmother would always save some extra dough when making bread, to fry up for us. We ate it with butter and salt. So yummy! I’ve had fry bread both ways, but the yeast dough is by far my favorite..:)
Love this recipe. In a pinch, I’ll just fry up store-bought flour tortillas.
Why do you put a hole in it? Doesn’t that make the fillings come out?
It helps them to cook more evenly and it might keep them from puffing up too much in the center while cooking. You make a small hole and by the time it is done cooking, it is generally closed over.
I think it’s done so the bread doesn’t fry up into a puffed up ball.
You put the toppings on AFTER you fry… not before. The hole is to keep it from becoming a puffed ball when it fries (the hole is tiny)
So I know this post is old but my family grew up in Montana and the natives there put a whole in the middle of their fry bread to keep the evil spirits from cooking into the food.
I grew up in Oklahoma and was told by an elder woman that it was to let out the spirit inside the dough. NAs did not know about baking powder or yeast added to the dough and thought there was a spirit inside the cooking bread. The real reason is so it does not puff up so much like others have said.
I worked with Native American high school students and we had fried bread sales on campus to raise money a couple of times a year until we were banned because we became too much of a competition with the cafeteria. I found that we could mold the dough into balls and place them on a flowed pan and cover them with plastic wrap and freeze them. Thaw the dough at room temp. and fry as usual. This also helped give us a head start on the crowds as we were getting set up. Such precious memories I have about Native Tacos and the students.
Good to know, thank you Virginia!
I made this for supper a couple of nights ago and used what we had for filling which was chicken, leftover salad along with sour cream, salsa and cheese. It was a big hit. I had about half of the bread leftover so the next morning I sprinkled it with cinnamon sugar and baked until crispy. The Wildbunch aka my children and grandkids loved it for supper and again for breakfast.
This worked well with gluten free flour, and only 1/3 inch of Avocado oil. This bread is now a new favorite of ours! I’m gonna try frying left overs in a little butter and cinnamon for breakfast.
If you used self rising flour would you still use baking powder?
You would not use the baking powder and cut back on the amount of salt
As a Navajo, I suggest not including milk . I have made frybread without milk.
Do you have your own recipe for these you would like to share? I like to compare the different options. (And thanks for the no milk suggestion. Authentic and simple are what I love to see!)
If you don’t use the milk do you add more water
You can just add water. It is like any other bread dough you can leave out the milk. I have bread recipes that call for milk and I have just used water instead. We even have a bread recipe that calls for no milk or eggs in it and you would never know it wasn’t just regular white bread.
Thank you all for helps, hints and answers.
I’ve been making this fry bread for years now and it’s especially great with beans soups (navy, white, lima, black, etc and smoked hock or ham) and I also love it for what we call in Washington “Indian tacos”. Using the fry bread as a “shell” for a taco that really adds special goodness to regular taco Tuesday. Hope you can try either of these ways to use fry bread and enjoy them…not that I wouldn’t always enjoys elephant ears for after dinner too! Thanks again.
I tried making some fry bread using this recipe, how do you keep it from being so sticky? do you put more flour in the mix or use more flour when rolling out.
It depends on how sticky it is. If it is really bad do both. If it is borderline sticky then just use more flour when rolling it out.
Do you have a gluten free version of this fry bread recipe? Thanks.
I have a Bake Navajo Fry Bread.
1 c flour, 1/4 tsp salt, 1 tsp milk, 1tsp baking powder, 1tsp under 1/2 cup water
Preheat oven to 350,
Mix all dry ingredients together, add milk, water(try not to over mix, so they will turn out fluffy), form a ball, divide 4 sections, flatten similar to pancakes. They don’t have to be perfect. Set into a greased pyrex pan (long one). Bake 10mins. Make sure the center of each piece is not doughy. You can make Chalupas with these. Just fill with shredded lettuce, shredded cheddar cheese, dices tomatoes, sour cream, ground beef with onion. yum!
I know it is Kim. I am afraid some of these things we don’t have a lot of control over.
I tried this in my air fryer with good results.
Instead of frying at all? And it worked?!
Can this be made gluten free? Looks yummy
I believe it can but like I always say in changing these recipes to gluten free it sometimes changes the texture and the flavor.
I was wondering, I love fry bread, this is a tasty recipe too. But if have an Air Fryer, if you sprayed the dough round with the cooking oil and then popped it in the air fryer, how well would it do? just thinking, as if my oil isn’t above 360 my fry bread tends to absorb too much oil just trying to be a little more oil careful.
I am not sure Melanie – I would try one and see what happens.