If you’ve never had freshly-made flour tortillas, you really have to. After I had them the first time, I knew I could never go back. Yeah, there are times when I buy them and I always end up regretting it because I know what flour tortillas can be and a package of Mission tortillas ain’t it.
I tried a couple of times to make my own tortillas, but I always failed–they were always too thick because the dough was so tough that I wasn’t physically strong enough to roll them to the size and thickness and shape that I actually wanted them. And then I met Mel–Fabulous Fajita Mel–and I learned from her how to make my own gen-u-ine flour tortillas. And it’s really not THAT much work. Plus, the results are SO worth any extra effort it might take! I promise you, once you make these, you will never return to store-bought tortillas in good conscience.
Ingredients Needed
This is just a preview of ingredients and method, keep scrolling for full printable recipe.
- All purpose flour
- Very hot water – The water needs to be hot enough the melt the shortening but not hot enough to make an ooey-gooey mess. I usually get relatively warm water from my tap and then heat it for 45-60 seconds in the microwave.
- Kosher salt
- Shortening – Will this work with butter, coconut oil, lard, or any other fat? I have only ever used shortening in this recipe, but readers have reported luck with butter and other substitutes. If you try out an alternative, come back and let me know how it turned out!
How to Make Flour Tortillas
- First you’ll mix up some flour, salt and shortening in a heavy duty mixer. This mixture will look like bread crumbs.
- Then you’ll add some hot water to bring it all together.
- Portion your dough out into balls.
- When ready to cook, you’ll flatten each ball with your hand, then roll them thin, and pop them into a hot skillet to cook. In my experience dark spots on the tortillas mean they will cool and be a bit brittle. For best results I like to see gentle browning on the bubbled spots and a doughy look to the rest. You want them cooked through but supple.
- Serve immediately!
Storing and Other Tips
- Store leftover tortillas in an airtight container and enjoy within 2-3 days if left at room temp or 5-7 days if stored in the refrigerator.
- That first tortilla is sometimes like the first pancake: a bit of an experiment. Depending on how quickly it cooks, you can adjust your heat for the rest!
- This recipe will make 10-12 fajita-sized tortillas, about 8 medium-sized tortillas, or around 6 jumbo burrito/wrap tortillas.
- If your dough is a bit sticky, try letting it rest for 10 minutes so the flour can fully absorb the liquid.
Frequently Asked Questions
Absolutely! These make great enchiladas!
You can! For best results, layer them between parchment or wax paper, seal in a zip top bag, and freeze up to 3 months.
You can reheat gently on the stovetop or in the microwave, wrapped in a damp paper towel.
Nope! A rolling pin works well here. A tortilla press is more necessary with corn tortillas.
Homemade Flour Tortillas
Ingredients
- 2 ½ cups flour
- 1 cup very hot water
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- ¼ cup shortening
Instructions
- In a heavy-duty mixer, combine flour and salt. Add in shortening and mix until well combined (it will resemble coarse bread crumbs). Add hot water. The water hotness is the key to these being easy to make–it needs to be hot enough to melt the shortening, but not SO hot that the dough turns into an ooey-gooey mess. (I usually get relatively warm water from my tap and then heat it for 45-60 seconds in the microwave.)
- When the dough is fully combined, remove from mixer and divide into portions (see recipe yields in notes) and shape portions into round balls.
- Preheat a non-stick or cast-iron skillet to medium-low heat. If necessary, spray your work surface with non-stick cooking spray; you may not need to because the dough isn’t particularly sticky, but it may be and you also don’t want to add any more flour to your dough. Press your palm against the surface of the dough ball, trying to maintain as much of a round shape as possible. Place rolling pin in middle of flattened dough ball and roll to desired thickness, shaping in a circle as you go.
- Place raw tortilla on preheated skillet. You’re going to be watching for bubbles. If you get little blistery bubbles, your skillet is too hot and you need to reduce the heat. You’re looking for big, fat, slow-bubbling bubbles. When you start to see them, flip the tortilla over and cook for another 30-45 seconds or so.
- If you’re cooking these quickly, you can just stack them on top of each other and they’ll stay warm. You can also wrap them in damp paper towels and then wrap them in foil and keep them in a warm oven (170℉) until you’re ready to use them.
Notes
- Store leftover tortillas in an airtight container and enjoy within 2-3 days if left at room temp or 5-7 days if stored in the refrigerator.
- That first tortilla is sometimes like the first pancake: a bit of an experiment. Depending on how quickly it cooks, you can adjust your heat for the rest!
- Yield: This recipe will make 10-12 fajita-sized tortillas, about 8 medium-sized tortillas, or around 6 jumbo burrito/wrap tortillas.
- Nutrition facts were calculated for one medium-sized tortilla.
Questions & Reviews
About how much time is supposed to pass before you flip them? I tried making these tonight and they cooked forever and never bubbled. . .so then I read through the comments section on here and turned up the heat–to no avail. They were just weird and dry and never bubbly. Did I not make them thin enough? Too much flour? I just don’t know. Thanks!
Hmmmm…you don’t happen to have a pic, do you?
Honestly, it sounds like maybe it wasn’t hot enough when you started and then they were dried out by the time it got hot enough.
Kate~
Sadly I don’t have a picture. Honestly, I would probably be too embarrassed to show it to you even if I did. I felt like I let the skillet preheat a good long time, but sometimes my stove occasionally acts possessed. Thanks though. I have been making lots of other stuff off here that has turned out great!
I made these, using lard as someone else suggested. It’s really not that bad…Alton explained the pros of it in one of his episodes of Good Eats, it may have been the pie crust episode. Anyway, these turned out divine! And so easy! We made tacos out of them last night and we still have some leftover, so I think I’ll make cheese quesadillas to go with chicken noodle soup tonight.
I want to make a about 150 tortillas for a dinner. I read that you can freeze them and I would prefer to freeze them cooked.What method would you suggests for reheating them, especially that many? Thanks!
I want try making these but I want to know if the results will be the same using a Gluten Free flour replacer (Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free All Purpose Flour to be exact). I would imagine they would but the flour is pricey & I don’t have the budget to lose that flour. With gluten free twins in my house I really need tortillas they can have. Corn tortilla quesadillas aren’t cutting any more. LOL…
Thx bunches.
Lisa, you can always give it a shot! This recipe doesn’t rely heavily on the gluten, but I don’t have any firsthand experience, so I can’t say whether or not it would work for sure!
Did someone say homemade tortillas? I make them ALL THE TIME! My husband and I love them with just about everything. I use my griddle which I can cook 4 tortillas at time on. I put mine at the highest setting (400)and cook each side no more than one minute. Also, on my tortilla press… I never roll, but to make it easier I use a gallon sized zip lock and cut the zip part completely off and then slit the sides so that it is a folded piece of plastic and then lay that on your press and the dough ball between the plastic. It makes it much easier to peel the dough back and much less mess. Hope that helps everyone!
Shannon–I pretty much never use my electric griddle, so I may be way off here, BUT if I were, I would say the lowest temp on the dial is "low," the highest is "high," the middle is "medium," so I would go for the middle of the lowest and medium setting. How long it takes just depends on your griddle, dough, elevation, everything–there's always a little trial and error. But it shouldn't be longer than about 2 minutes–if it takes longer than that, try increasing the temperature a little.
Hope that helps!
This is a dumb question, but if you were to give a specific temperature for "medium low" for these babies, what would it be? I'd like to set my griddle to the right heat before ruining too many tortillas. Also, about how long would you say you cook it on the first side before the bubbles start to come up?
I just made these tonight as a surprise for my husband who LOVES fresh tortillas. They were wonderful and suprisingly easy to make. He loved them and we both loved your fajita recipe (one of his favorite foods), which we thought were amazing!
Tried these tonight and my dough was kind of sticky. It was hard to roll them out so I added more flour, which helped a little. Mine sure didn't look anything like the picture, very uneven in shape and thickness. They also did not bubble, but they did brown nicely. So, here I'm thinking my kids are going to make fun of me for trying a new recipe, but instead, they were thrilled when I took the foil off the plate! They didn't even care that they looked different from the store bought tortillas and said "this is a keeper Mom!"
Lyle Lovett stayed at the Salish Lodge when I worked there. We had to stock up on white cheddar popcorn and Rold Gold pretzels for him, in case you ever have him over…