Homemade tortillas are a staple in our household and I think they are soon to be a favorite in yours too! The texture, the flavor, the warmth. They are golden rounds of goodness and worth the effort. If you’re like me and have Mexican food cravings often, it’s nice to be able to whip these up at home with a few simple ingredients instead of running to the store. If you have a sourdough starter, check out my recipe for sourdough tortillas here.
A little backstory on tortillas…
You know when you eat something in a different setting, say, on vacation, and it’s just incredible and changes your whole view-on life and food? That is how I feel about tortillas. Well, homemade tortillas. I had always been a fan of tortillas since I was a little girl. Mom would buy a big bag of burrito-sized flour tortillas at the grocery story each week and we would pack them full of cheese and chicken and dunk them into jarred salsa. They were always SO good…put anything in a tortilla and I was a fan.
With a childhood love of tortillas, my love of tortillas was innate. My interest in homemade tortillas peaked when I was just a teenager and happened to witness a worker at our local tex-mex restaurant roll out 20-30 tortillas within a matter of minutes while we waited for our table to be ready. I watched this lady roll out dough ball after dough ball, for each & every tortilla with precision and ease. How…and why?! There’s hundreds of people here needing to be served… Why is this a necessary task right now? It seemed like a lot of effort…but I was intrigued. Let’s just say, I found out why the effort mattered later that night And, it’s safe to say, the tortilla lady gained my respect that night.
Though inspired, years went by and I still hadn’t learned how to make tortillas myself. I hadn’t made the time or effort to learn how to do so. My attention and love of tortillas was ignited once again, this time, on the beautiful coast of Cabo, Mexico. The rising sun was lighting up every inch of the villa and a subtle breeze glided through the air. I found some other family members gathered at the kitchen table and sat down happily. As I soaked in my surroundings, I was handed a plate of fresh, warm enchiladas verdes for breakfast. The tortillas wrapped around these enchiladas were divine. Handmade. Hand-rolled. The best I’d ever had. The woman who made this meal rocked my world of tortilla and enchilada standards. The taste of an authentic hand-made tortilla in Cabo, Mexico had me hooked. I wondered. It wasn’t just another tortilla packed with meat, rolled up and covered in sauce – it was fresh, warm, hearty & amazing. The whole meal was different, the vibe was different, the labor put into the meal itself was different. This was the moment I realized I had to learn how to make homemade tortillas.
Slowly, but surely I learned how to make these golden gems. It started with understanding good tortilla dough structure, then onto rolling & lastly how to cook them properly. The end result of learning these steps was so wonderful – delicious, warm, homemade tortillas. I couldn’t believe I was able to recreate the taste of what I experienced that morning in Cabo, Mexico at my fingertips.
Handmade tortillas, in my opinion, are worth the effort every. single. time. I would go so far to say they are one of the best investments of time spent in the kitchen if you’re a taco, enchilada, quesadilla fan. They raise the meal to the next level. I have never regretted the time I’ve spent making them and to me, they are such a treat. Once you try this recipe a few times and get in the rhythm, you’ll find the result is worth the process.
If you have a sourdough starter, check out my recipe for Homemade Sourdough Flour Tortillas for the added flavor and health benefits. Either way, you gotta try this homemade tortilla process!
A few notes on measuring ingredients for tortillas:
I typically like to use a digital scale to measure the ingredients for tortillas but I have included approximate conversions for standard measuring cups if you do not have a scale! They will turn out great either way. The important thing is to pay attention to the texture of the dough when you get to the kneading stage and adjust as necessary.
If you’re interested in getting a digital scale for bread making:
I was pleasantly surprised when I saw how affordable a digital scale for bread making can be. I thought it was some fancy piece of equipment but it’s actually super basic and super useful to have! I also find myself having less dishes and cleanup when I let the scale do the measuring for me. Sit the bowl on the scale, pour in each ingredient until you reach the correct amount of weight (grams). Mix & boom, you have your dough with way less dishes! This digital scale is the one I got from amazon that has been holding up for over a year now! It’s slim, lightweight and easily fits in my kitchen drawer.
Ingredients you’ll need:
- all-purpose flour, whole wheat or freshly milled flour
- kosher salt
- baking powder
- butter or oil (avocado oil or olive oil preferred)
- water
Recipe Tips
Use Quality Butter or Oil : I prefer using salted butter or avocado oil in my tortillas. Olive oil works too!
Roll them thin: Use a heavy rolling pin (or tortilla press) to roll the tortillas as thin as possible. Roll them until you can almost start to see through them.
Roll them all first: I like to roll all the dough balls out before I start cooking any of the tortillas. This helps the cooking process go much easier and smoother.
Use a HOT pan: Get the pan super hot. Tortillas should cook hot and fast. You’ don’t want to them to burn obviously but you should get the pan hot enough that each tortilla only takes 30-60 seconds to cook. Cast iron pans work amazing or use a Blackstone (outdoor griddle) if you have one! This is my new favorite (and quickest) to make a batch of tortillas.
Lastly, if you make these Homemade Flour Tortillas, please let me know down below by leaving a comment and rating! I love to hear from you guys! It’s so fun to share food stories & cook these recipes together. And of course, if you do make this recipe, don’t forget to tag me @saltedseasons on Instagram! I love looking through your food photos. Cheers to handmade meals!
Love y’al
– Țaylo
Homemade Flour Tortillas
Ingredients
- 2 cups (240 g) unbleached all-purpose flour, plus more for kneading stage
- 1 1/4 teaspoons (7 g) kosher salt, half if using fine sea salt
- 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 cup (58 g) unsalted butter, softened can sub with avocado oil or olive oil
- 2/3 cup (155 g) warm water
Instructions
- Whisk flour, salt and baking powder together in a medium bowl. Add softened butter or oil and use a fork to combine until crumbly mixture forms.
- Stir in warm water and mix with until a shaggy dough forms. Use your hands to gently knead the dough in the bowl to get the mixture to form a rough ball.
- Turn dough onto a floured surface and knead for another 1 to 2 minutes or until smooth and not sticking to the surface.
- Cut the dough into 10 pieces for taco-sized tortillas or 4 pieces for large burrito-sized tortillas. Shape each portion into a ball using your hands and tension of the work surface.
- Cover the dough balls with a light kitchen towel to rest. Let the dough rest for 20 minutes up to two hours. If you are making the dough in advance, you can store the tortillas balls in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 24 hours.
- Using a heavy rolling pin, roll out each ball until very thin (until you start to see the work surface through them.) For taco-sized, the balls should roll out to about 6 to 8 inches. For burrito-sized, about 10 to 12 inches.
- Heat a large cast iron skillet to medium-high heat. Do not add any oil to the pan. Wait until pan is HOT to start cooking the tortillas. Lay the rolled out tortilla in the pan and cook on first side until it puffs slightly (around 30 seconds). You will hopefully see little brown spots on the underside appear, this means time to flip! Flip with spatula and cook again till lightly brown. If the skillet is hot enough, cooking time should be about 60 seconds to 1 minute total.
- Stack tortillas on a plate or in a tortilla holder and cover with a light kitchen towel while you continue making the rest of the tortillas.
Notes
- The dough should come together nicely within a couple minutes of kneading- not too sticky, not too dry. Depending on the humidity in your home, they made need a bit more flour or water. Add a tiny amount of flour if too sticky or a splash of water if a bit dry. Add and knead until you reach a smooth texture.
- This recipe will make around 10 taco-sized tortillas or 4 very large burrito size tortillas perfect for quesadillas.
- If your first few tortillas are taking longer than a minute to bubble, the skillet probably isn’t as hot as it should be. Crank up the heat. Once you make a few, you will find a rhythm and get a better feel for the heat setting and timing of each tortilla.
- A tortilla press will help speed up this process but I prefer the thinness I can get by rolling them out with a heavy rolling pin. If you do have a tortilla press, I would recommend pressing twice per tortilla or using rolling pin to further roll each tortilla after pressing if necessary. Use pieces of parchment paper on either side of press to prevent tortilla from sticking. Depending on your press, you may not need to roll at all.
Thinness of these tortillas is personal preference. Leave them thicker if you prefer a meatier tortilla. You can experiment with the thickness as you go! - If you like a bit of char, keep the tortillas in the skillet a bit longer.
- Storage: Once the tortillas cool, store them in an airtight bag or container at room temperature for up to 5 days or freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw them at room temperature when ready to eat and heat in skillet or oven on low to warm them up. You can also store the rolled out tortillas (before cooking) in the freezer. Just make sure you separate each tortilla with parchment paper before freezing in airtight bag or container. When ready to cook, thaw to room temperature and cook like normal with instructions above.
I hope you enjoy this recipe that has become a well-loved favorite here at Salted Seasons— where we celebrate seasonal eating and down to earth living. Thank you for being here and thanks so much for cooking with me! Until next time—