Navajo Frybread Recipe

[Saviolo]

This week's recipe is descended from an Indigenous recipe that arose during The Long Walk. The Navajo people had to make use of what they could while they were short on supplies, so this recipe would have more traditionally been made with powdered milk and not fresh. This is a super simple and tender frybread that requires very little work. In fact, if should not be kneaded at all, and just formed once the ingredients come together.

As with all things fried, you need to make sure that your oil is hot enough. If your oil is not hot enough, it will soak into the dough and make the frybread greasy. The final result of this recipe is extremely tender, and doesn't really fold well, but it does make a delicious sort of taco with the Three Sisters salad from last week. For a bit of extra pop, add a little bit of crumbled feta on top!

[Kali]

1. correct, should be powdered milk

[Jilly_in_VA]

2. I love frybread

and something similar is made by other indigenous tribes. I had both Ho-Chunk and Cherokee neighbors who made what they called frybread and it was pretty similar to this. My Cherokee neighbor put "soup beans " (pinto beans cooked with a ham hock or side meat) and chopped onion on hers. Ho-Chunk friend usually ate hers plain or with syrup or sugar on it. It was a treat for her boys.

[Saviolo]

3. For sure.

My hubby has some Choctaw ancestry, and this recipe is definitely in their culinary lexicon as well.

[JustAnotherGen]

4. My dad's mom made it

Evidently his GREAT Grandmothers (Cherokee Tribe) made the absolute best . . . and he would let his mom and gram know every chance he could get.


It's so good. I'll have to pull the recipe out and make it.

[Runningdawg]

5. I'm, Cherokee - recipes for fry bread are as varied as recipes for fried chicken. Even among tribes.

It's all good. I like it leftover, dunked in cup of meat gravy for breakfast.

[ret5hd]

6. I measure my gravy in cups also.

[Saviolo]

8. Absolutely.

And powdered milk was more traditional because that's all they had access to during the Long Walk. It's a matter of using what you have, so it would definitely vary depending on what they tribes had access to regionally and over time as well.

[SYFROYH]

7. I have to try this again. My first attempt was not good.

I love "Navajo Tacos". I went to college in Flagstaff AZ in the late 80s and there was this pub-like place called Charlies that made them so well. I've never been the same.

[Saviolo]

9. This bread doesn't "taco" very well!

It's a little too tender, so when you fold it, it just sort of comes apart. But it is really delicious and makes a good base for (for instance) the Three Sisters salad we did last week

[Nac Mac Feegle]

10. My go-to is the historic trading post at Cameron.

Whenever I'm in the area, I try to stop by.
This summer I had an opportunity to stay at the hotel there. It was fantastic, and the price was very reasonable.