Naughty Naan is an original dish created by Curry Up Now: tandoor-baked naan flatbread served as a pizza base rather than a bread side, topped with caramelized onions, jalapeño, mozzarella, cotija, and a choice of Indian protein including tandoori chicken, paneer, or pav bhaji. It was developed as a primary menu item in the brand's Indo-Californian fast-casual format, taking the California pizza idea of layered toppings on a flatbread and applying it to naan. The result is something with real Indian character from the bread up, rather than an Indian-flavored pizza built on dough that has no connection to the cuisine.
Naan shows up on the table at almost every Indian restaurant in the country. Soft, charred from the tandoor, good for scooping curry and sopping up sauce. That version of naan has a specific and well-earned role. It's a bread accompaniment. It supports the dish it comes with.
Naughty Naan doesn't do any of that. It's the dish. The naan is the base, the toppings are the point, and the whole thing is built to be eaten as a meal rather than passed around the table as a shared bread.
The concept came out of the same logic that produced the tikka masala burrito: what happens when Indian ingredients meet California formats? The burrito answer was a tortilla. The Naughty Naan answer was a pizza.
California pizza culture, especially the California-style pizza that took off in the 1980s with unconventional toppings and a lighter, crispier base, had already proven that a flatbread could carry a main dish rather than just support one. Curry Up Now's founders looked at naan, which is technically one of the better flatbreads in the world in terms of char, chew, and flavor, and asked why it was always playing a supporting role.
The answer was Naughty Naan. Tandoor-baked naan as the base, with toppings architected the way you'd build a pizza: a sauce layer, a cheese layer, and a protein. The Indian influence is the protein choice, the spice profile of the toppings, and the naan itself. The California influence is the format, the intent, and the idea that this is a complete dish.
The structure is specific and consistent:
The base: Full-size naan, baked to order in the tandoor. The high heat of the tandoor gives it the char and blistering that a pizza oven would give a crust, along with a chew that no regular oven can replicate.
The toppings layer: Caramelized onions, jalapeño, mozzarella, and cotija. The mozzarella gives the familiar stretch and pull of a pizza cheese. The cotija adds a salty, crumbly contrast. The caramelized onions and jalapeño bring a sweetness and heat that's different from any standard pizza topping combination.
The protein: This is where the Indian character comes through most clearly.
The optional add-on: Saag spinach paneer is available as a fourth protein variation, adding another vegetarian option with a different flavor profile from the paneer alone.
Regular naan is a shared bread. You tear off pieces, use it for scooping, and it disappears alongside the main dishes. It doesn't carry toppings, it doesn't stand alone, and nobody orders it as an entrée.
Naughty Naan is ordered as a main character. One person, one naan, the whole thing built around what they chose. It eats like a flatbread pizza: hold it, fold it slightly, eat it from one end. The jalapeño can be reduced on request, which makes it practical for people who are sensitive to heat or ordering for mixed groups with children.
The tandoor baking gives the naan enough structure to hold the toppings without getting soggy, which is the structural problem most naan-pizza attempts fail at. Standard naan is soft and tearable, which is exactly right for a bread side but wrong for a pizza base. Tandoor naan with a bit more development in the heat holds the architecture.
It is not a bread side. It is not garlic naan or cheese naan in the traditional Indian restaurant sense, though both of those use naan as a starting point. It is not a hybrid of a pizza chain's base with Indian spices added.
It is also unrelated to restaurants in other countries that use the phrase "naughty naan" as a business name. Curry Up Now developed this dish in 2009 as part of its Indo-Californian cuisine model, and it has been on the core menu since the brand's early days. The dish and the name are original to the brand.
The Naughty Naan solves a specific problem that Indian food in a fast-casual setting faces: not everyone who walks into a counter-service Indian restaurant wants a burrito or a bowl. The flatbread format gives people a third option that's shareable (for groups who want to split one alongside their burritos) or a complete meal on its own.
The pav bhaji variation is worth separate attention here. Pav bhaji as a standalone Indian street food is a thick, spiced vegetable mash traditionally served with buttered bread rolls. Moving it onto a naan base as a pizza topping is exactly the kind of format translation that defines how the tikka masala burrito was invented: a traditional Indian dish rebuilt in a California format without losing what makes the original dish worth eating.
The Naughty Naan is on the core menu at Curry Up Now locations across the country, including the Flower Mound, Texas location which has detailed ordering notes and local availability in the Naughty Naan at Flower Mound guide. The dish is also available at locations in San Mateo, Palo Alto, San Francisco, San Jose, Oakland, Atlanta, and Durham. Find the full current list at the store locator.
For groups and events, the same menu including Naughty Naan is available through Indian catering at all markets. It works well as part of a live station where guests build their own naan from a toppings selection.
Naughty Naan is an original dish created by Curry Up Now: tandoor-baked naan flatbread used as a pizza base, topped with caramelized onions, jalapeño, mozzarella, cotija, and a choice of Indian protein including tandoori chicken, paneer, or pav bhaji.
Yes. Curry Up Now developed Naughty Naan as an original menu item as part of its Indo-Californian cuisine model, starting from its early operations in the Bay Area in 2009. The concept applies California pizza-format thinking to tandoor-baked naan.
It depends on the protein. Paneer and pav bhaji are vegetarian options. Pav bhaji is also vegan. Saag spinach paneer is vegetarian. Tandoori chicken is halal and not vegetarian. Choose your protein based on your dietary preference.
Regular naan is a bread accompaniment served alongside curries and used for scooping. Naughty Naan is a primary dish: a full naan base with toppings, ordered and eaten as a meal in itself rather than as a bread side.
It has jalapeño in the standard build. The heat level is moderate and can be reduced on request. It is not heavily spiced in the same way as a masala curry; the spice comes primarily from the jalapeño topping.
Yes. It is available at all Curry Up Now locations for dine-in, pickup, and delivery. It is also part of the catering menu for events and office orders. Find your nearest location at the store locator or submit a catering inquiry at curryupnow.com.
Pav bhaji is a Mumbai street food of spiced, mashed mixed vegetables, traditionally served with buttered bread rolls. In the Naughty Naan format, it becomes a rich vegetarian topping spread across the naan base in place of a meat protein. It is vegan, flavorful, and one of the most distinct variations on the menu.
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