BBQ Chicken Naan Flatbread
Naan, a foil pouch of chicken, and barbecue sauce, crisped on a grate over the fire.
- calories
- 620
- weight
- 9 oz
- cal / oz
- 69
- protein
- 34 g
- serves
- 2, scales
- prep
- 5 min
- cook
- 12 min
- total time
- 17 min
- water
- none
- cost
- $$
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Dinner
- Lunch
- Grill grate
- Campfire coals
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Canoe / raft
- Nut free
- Foil packet
- Grab and go
- Needs a cooler
- Basic
Ingredients
| Naan flatbreads | 2 | the shelf-stable packaged kind keeps two weeks unopened |
|---|---|---|
| Barbecue sauce | 1/3 cup | single-serve packets if you want to skip the bottle |
| Cooked chicken | 1 cup, shredded | a 10 oz foil pouch of chicken breast needs no cooler |
| Low-moisture mozzarella | 4 oz | buy it in a block, not shredded |
| Red onion | 1/4, sliced thin | |
| Cilantro | a small handful, chopped | optional, and the first thing to go limp |
Method
- Get a bed of coals or a low flame under the grate. You want steady heat, not a bonfire.
- Lay the bare naan on the grate for two minutes a side until it stiffens and picks up some char. Skipping this gives you a soggy middle.
- Pull it off. Spread barbecue sauce nearly to the edge, scatter the mozzarella, then the chicken tossed in a spoonful more sauce, then the onion.
- Back on the grate, off to the side of the hottest coals. Cover with an inverted pot or a sheet of foil so the heat pools and the cheese melts, six to eight minutes.
- Check the underside once. Pull it when the cheese has gone glossy and the bottom is dark but not black. Cilantro on top, cut in halves.
This started as an oven recipe, which is fine at home and useless in camp. The whole thing translates to a grate over coals because naan is already a cooked bread — you are only reheating it and melting cheese, not baking dough. The one step worth keeping from the original is toasting the naan naked first. Sauce hits bread that has already firmed up, so it does not soak straight through.
Heat control matters more than timing. Direct flame burns the bottom before the mozzarella gives up, so build the fire, let it fall to coals, and work off to the side. The lid, or a foil tent, is what actually melts the cheese: with an open top the heat leaves and you get a warm flatbread with cold cheese on it.
Packing
Naan flat in its bag so it does not crack. Cheese block and onion in the cooler; sauce in a squeeze bottle or packets. If you are going without a cooler, use pouch chicken and skip the fresh cheese for a hard aged one.
Variations
- Smoked gouda in place of mozzarella, which is closer to the restaurant version it comes from.
- A tortilla works if naan is not around, but it needs a shorter, hotter turn and no cover.
- Foil-packet version: build it on foil, fold a tent over the top, and set it in the coals for eight minutes.
https://www.bowlofdelicious.com/easy-bbq-chicken-naan-pizza-copycat-california-pizza-kitchen-recipe