Fry Bread is a beloved tradition in the United States. Serve it up savory as Navajo Tacos or go the sweet side and serve it up with a little honey butter and powdered sugar.
This recipe comes from an Aunt who lived among a local Native American tribe for many, many years. There are so many fond memories of visiting as a child and enjoying the culture. She learned to make Fry Bread from friends in the tribe and passed the recipe down several years ago. Fry bread goes by many names around these parts, including Indian Fry Bread, Navajo Fry Bread, Navajo Tacos, and Scones. Yes, we realize that the word “scone” means something completely different everywhere else in the world, but around here, scones are fry bread. There’s even a whole chain restaurant devoted to it called Sconecutter.
The dough for this is quite simple, requiring very few ingredients. Don’t underestimate how delicious it is based on the simplicity. This fry bread is so delicious! It is most frequently served as either Navajo Tacos, with all your favorite taco ingredients, or as a dessert. Our favorite way to enjoy it as a dessert is to lather on some honey butter and dust it with powdered sugar. Yum! It’s crunch on the outside, and soft and fluffy on the inside.
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What Toppings go on Navajo Tacos?
You can add beans, meat, chopped lettuce, tomatoes, olives, shredded cheese, and sour cream. A lot of people use ground beef cooked up with a little taco seasoning. My favorite way to serve it up is with some shredded beef or shredded pork. It’s always awesome to add on some diced avocado.
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Can Fry Bread be made ahead of time?
Fry Bread is best served hot and out of the fryer. We do not recommend frying these up ahead of time. However, you can make your dough the night before, cover your bowl with plastic wrap, and let it rest in the fridge overnight rather than on the counter for 2 hours. In the morning, take out your bowl and leave it on the counter to get to room temperature. Then proceed with recipe.
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Storage Instructions:
Indian Fry Bread can be stored in an airtight container for up to 3 days.
If you like this recipe, you may be interested in these other delicious bread recipes:
- Rustic Garlic Parmesan Herb Bread
- Easy Homemade Pita Bread
- Irish Soda Bread
- The Ultimate Garlic Bread Recipe
Watch the video below where Rachel will walk you through every step of this recipe. Sometimes it helps to have a visual, and we’ve always got you covered with our cooking show. You can find the complete collection of recipes on YouTube, Facebook Watch, or our Facebook Page, or right here on our website with their corresponding recipes.
How long in advance can this be mixed up?
I’ve seen it done 24 hours in advance.
Sorry, because the font is so light, I had to guess what I was writing the first time.
When I was younger, I went to pow-wows of the Eastern tribes and we had squaw bread or fry bread that was corn based. I went away for a while and suddenly all of the fry bread was wheat-based. Does anyone have a recipe for the corn-based bread? It was much more moist, almost like spoonbread, and had a thinner crust than cornbread.
My Mom always took off a piece of bread dough, formed it in a big donut sale and fried it in fat in a cast iron skillet. We ate it slathered with butter and jam. She called them ” flompy doone.”. If anyone knows this term, please post. She grew up near the Reservation in Uinta, UT. Thanks
Osyio! As someone who is Cherokee and Chickasaw and Blackfoot mixed I say Thank you for celebrating something that is part of our Native American heritage. My great Grandma mostly raised us and used to make a wonderful fry bread but sadly she forgot it before i was old enough to learn it. She did teach me how to make her biscuits and i was confused about how she could forget how to make her fry bread, but she said it was because it took longer and had to be set aside so she didn’t make much after moving back to the east once she was married because the men in our family were mostly English and Scott Irish and so just wanted her to make biscuits because that is what they grew up with so it was what they liked. My Dad’s family is also Cherokee and from the Nation and the Eastern and Western bands, but he mostly grew up in the southwest of the U.S. so he was the only one who liked for my great Grandma to cook the old way but by then she was in her seventies and eighties so many things were harder for her to do. She is in her late nineties now. Your recipe is one of the closest to my memory of what i remember her doing to make her fry bread only she liked to call it squaw bread because it made her daughter my Grandma and her granddaughter my mom so upset. My Great Grandma is a trickster and loves to laugh. She says we shouldn’t live life like the old mare with our heads hung down worrying about everywhere we have been but instead we should be like her fathers mules with our heads up so we can see where we are going. Yes i know they had cars when she was growing up but her family worked as migrant workers and couldn’t afford a car so her father’s father my great, great grandfather gave her father an old covered wagon to restore and use for his family and so that is what he did and during that time they had about ten children and were mostly cotton pickers and yes the kids all picked cotton too. My great Grandma doesn’t believe in people taking themselves too seriously or having anything they couldn’t happily give away or share. She says that it’s because when she was a kid she saw many grieving people and it seemed that those who went through bad things and didn’t spend much time worrying about their past losses and hurts and instead were quick to forgive and not hold on tight to every little thing they had but shared always seemed to do better in life and not be so sick and had more people that would also share with them too. Anyways sorry about rambling on here. Thank you so much for putting your fry bread recipe on here and sharing the stories. It is funny how much food can be so strongly linked to our identities as individual people by our memories and how we think of ourselves and other people. hahaha We are what we eat! I guess and so our history is in our food and our food is in our history! hahahaha have to tell that one to Grandma. Thank you very much for this and Wado!
Thank you so much for sharing that with me 🙂
This is great!! And your Grandma sounds wonderful. Tell her hello and I hope she is well. I have Cherokee roots myself, but all our traditions were put away because of the way others perceived Native Americans….so I do not know much of my ancestors, except names. I am definately trying this recipe. ?
This is a wonderful share, Malaa. I am actually going to go back and re-read your great grandmother’s words over and over. It seems like a great guide to keep in mind for the upcoming year. Much love to you both!
I whole heartedly agree. It touched me deeply and spurred memories of growing up with my grandma who was born in 1901. I needed that. I don’t want to forget anything of her knowledge, that she taught me and knowledge soaked in thru daily living. We must try to hang on to what we were fortunate to be shown.
Malaga and Rachel
What a wonderful memory. It’s curious that so many of our memories are tied to a particular good
I have perhaps a distant ancestor who was Choctow. My husband, however, has a strong Cherokee heritage. He has not been interested until later in life to learn about his heritage. I have encouraged him to become more aware. Whenever I can present him with something to prod his intetes, i am grateful for the opportunity. Often this is in the form of food.
Thank you Malls for your story
Thank you Rachel for sharing recipes
Malaa, that is fantastic….
I love your story. My mother’s family is from Louisiana and we are mostly Chitimacha which is a small tribe there and an offshoot of Cherokee. My grandmother and great grandmother taught me to cook from very young, my parents both died when I was four so my grandmother raised me. I can cook Cajun food from scratch as well as a few tribal dishes. I learned this fry bread as a child. It is a great treat we would have with my grandmother’s fig preserves. We grew alot of our own fruits and veggies, fresh produce is the best.
Thank you for this wonderful story of your ancestors. I have just learnt something from this about living my life simply.
Thank you for taking the story of your family; especially the women who shaped you in your young life. My grandmothers were both born in 1901, and lived long lives. We lived with gran Rosa. How I wish that I had soaked up every bit of knowledge that come forth from her! I strive to remember any bits and pieces of her knowledge and wisdom; handed down for generations in her culture on the remote Eastern shore of VA. What I did take away from my growing up with her was the greatest gift. Thank you for bringing this back to my mind and my heart.
What a fantastic story 🙂
Malaa.. Is like to thank you for your wonderful story.. Your grandmother sounds like an amazing woman 🤗❤️
Thank you for sharing your story with us. So much is lost when our ancestors pass on. Things we later wish had been written down for later generations to know.
Beautiful memories and I’m so glad you shared them with us❤
Thank you so much for your story. Our book club just read 1000 White Women and I was looking for an authentic recipe to go along with our book review night. Your story was touching and helped me definitely pick fry bread to serve to our group as we discuss the book. Much love to you!
@Rachel Farnsworth,
After living 24+ years with a full blooded Navajo, the suggestion of using “honey” when eating “fry bread”, was consider “odd” by everyone in the Pinion region.
Now(honey) as a south of the border additive to a sopapilla is ok…. but Navajo Fry bread…. not so much.
I can agree that fry bread is an American loved dish. But it also happens to be responsible for countless obesity and diabetes problems in the Native American cultures. Fry bread was the result of the U.S gov march of Natives to relocation and deaths. There is a movement to bring back to life real indigenous and Native cooking. Perhaps you can learn and post those recipes. Best wishes and well being to you!
I am making these with ground bison for my world history project I can’t wait to make them for my class!
In the video you say 4 1/2 cups of flour…but in the recipe it is printed 4 cups…which is it please?
4 to 4 1/2 cups. The amount of flour is always an estimate when it comes to bread making.
Actually there is no measurement, If you are “Authentic NATIVE AMERICAN” you know how to make them with out measurements thats how i learned from my grandmother, and that is how i have taught my children to make them. i’m sorry I mean no disrespect but you should come out to Scottsdale, AZ to the Salt River Pima Mricopa Indian Community and right here on the reservation my Uncle has a small stand that he sells “our” native food Monday through Saturday it’s called “The Stand”. Try real Authentic Native American food. I’m sure yours taste good but There’s comparison to the REAL deal.
Ooops I meant there is NO comparison to the REAL DEAL
You are very correct … no comparison at all. 🙂 Only the best when your mom, aunt or gramma makes it.
So where is this place, I live in Cave Creek and want to try it
When I saw this recipe I thought “oh wow, a recipe?” My recipe calls for a handful of this, a pinch of that, and a drizzle of this ? that’s how I was taught from the elders here in Alaska. THats how I do all my recipes down to my moose soup
Get over yourself Millie, seriously. This is a recipe, not a theoretical discussion regarding terminology.
Thank you Peter!
My mother made Indian fry bread when I was a child. She passed away in 2011 and I inherited her recipe box. Sadly though I never found her recipe for the fry bread. I’m so glad I came across your recipe. Definitely excited to try it. My mom always made a powdered sugar glaze to pour over hers. Yummy!!
For a sweet treat, I coat them with sugar and cinnamon. Right outof the oil, put them in a bag with the above mixture and shake. Delicious!!!!
THAT sounds good, Renee!
When we made them right out of the oil, we put grape or strawberry jam!! Yummy. But also excellent with honey. We also used to make with thawed Rhodes bread. Will try this recipe ASAP when grandkids get here. Thanks for recipe.
Wow Laura! Our stories are so alike. I am sorry about yourand mom passing. When I was a kid my parents would take me often to these pow-wows that were put on locally, and that is where I first tried it. It was a family favorite so my mom would also make it for us occasionally at home. She passed away a year ago unexpectedly. I never got her recipe either, and have always regretted it. My mom loved to cook and made it look so easy. This past year it’s been quite intimidating to me, thinking of trying to make the same things she did and them not even coming close to hers (which were everyone’s favorites of course). But for the first time, I’m going to attempt this fry bread, and I am so excited about it! This recipe and directions are written in a way I can understand and feel confident about trying. Thank you for sharing your story, I bet it turned out great!