The Perfect Homemade Tortillas

Come and learn my secret to cooking the perfect homemade tortillas! These taco shells are made with flour and come out soft, moist, and flaky every time. This recipe adds a delicious and fresh flavor to your beloved Mexican-style meals. I invite you to come and try them out today!

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Taco night is a beloved night in my household. No proper taco night is complete without homemade taco seasoning, homemade Pico-de-Gallo, and well, of course, these homemade tortillas!

Honestly, these tortillas are perfect all the way around. And I mean perfect.

I used to devour store bought tortillas. In fact, as a kid, whenever my mom bought tortillas I don’t think they would last more than a day before my brother and I ate every last one.

However, after making these homemade tortillas I don’t think I could ever go back to the store bought ones.

These homemade tortillas taste better, they are better for you (no preservatives/parabens), and they are so easy to make in bulk and freeze for later.

These tortillas are always soft, flaky, and moist. They are large and flexible AND they have never fallen apart on me. (There is nothing worse than all of your taco ingredients falling out of their shell mid-bite.)

So, whose ready to jump on the band-wagon of “ditch the store bought tortillas & make ’em fresh” with me?

Tips and tricks for making the perfect homemade tortillas

Tip 1:

Allow the salt and butter to dissolve in hot water. This will help to incorporate the salt throughout the tortilla better. Melting the butter in the hot water will also help you to achieve having melted butter (which we need) without the butter or water becoming too hot.

Tip 2:

Give the dough time to rest according to the recipe instructions. Resting the dough gives the gluten a chance to settle. If the gluten doesn’t have time to settle, it will make the dough stronger… which means that the dough will be harder to roll out. If you go to roll out your first piece of dough and it curls up or fights you, roll it back into a ball and give the dough more time to rest.

Tip 3:

Don’t use too much flour when rolling out the dough. You need to sprinkle flour over your workspace when you go to roll out the dough. However, if you sprinkle too much flour over your workspace your tortilla will become coated in it and will probably end up tasting more like flour than tortilla.

Tip 4:

Cover the dough with a very damp towel when you give it time to rest. When I say a damp towel, I mean damp. You don’t want the towel to be sopping wet, however it should be wetter than “I just quickly splashed a little bit of water on here”. The damp towel keeps the moisture in the dough, preventing the dough from drying out during the resting time. The secret to creating moist tortillas is maintaining a moist dough.

Tip 5:

Flip and rotate your dough as you roll it out. The goal is to get a perfectly round tortilla. To help with that, flip your dough over and rotate it 90* after every few rolls.
Also, don’t press too hard on the edges of your dough. Leave a little extra lip on the edge of the tortilla until the tortilla is big enough, then press out the edge of the dough. This keeps the dough from getting a ragged, uneven edge.

How do I keep my homemade tortilla from becoming crunchy?

This is perhaps the greatest and most important tip that I could give you. So, here it is…

Tip 6:

Stack your tortillas and cover them with a dry towel immediately after they are finished cooking. The dry (not damp this time) towel traps the steam in with the tortilla. Stacking the tortillas right on top of each other also helps them to steam themselves.

It’s the steam that allows the tortillas to soften (and not harden) after they cook. Also, allow the tortillas to completely cool at room temperature before storing (putting them in cold too soon will cause them to harden as well).

Just to make sure that we are on the same page, here is a step-by-step of what you will need to do:

1. Cook the first tortilla.
2. Move the hot tortilla onto a plate (or towel).
3. Cover the hot tortilla with a dry towel.
4. Cook the second tortilla.
5. Remove the towel; place the second tortilla on top of the first.
6. Immediately replace the towel.
7. Repeat with each tortilla.
8. Allow tortillas to completely cool (while covered) at room-temperature before storing them.

Can I make homemade tortillas with gluten-free flour?

I attempted to make these tortillas with gluten-free flour a few days ago, and I am sad to report that they did not turn out. Gluten is what allows the dough to maintain its shape. So, without any gluten in the dough the tortillas would not hold their shape and simply crumbled when I attempted to roll them out.

If you need to eat gluten-free I would recommend trying to find a gluten-free homemade tortilla recipe. Alternatively, try my Perfect Sourdough Tortilla Recipe!

A long-fermented sourdough tortilla should be safe to eat for those who are gluten sensitive, as the gluten naturally breaks down as the dough long-ferments. However, it’s important to note that the gluten in a sourdough recipe does not fully break down, therefor it would not be safe for a highly gluten sensitivity.

Does the pan need to be oiled before cooking homemade tortillas?

The pan or skillet does not need to be oiled or greased before cooking these tortillas. It is also not necessary to use a non-stick pan to cook these tortillas.

The tortillas naturally do not stick when they are placed on a hot surface. However, they will stick to the countertop. So, flour your workspace when rolling out the dough, but you shouldn’t have to do anything before placing them onto a hot pan.

How should I store homemade tortillas and how long will they last?

Homemade tortillas are best stored in a large Ziploc bag or wrapped in foil and plastic wrap. I personally prefer to wrap mine in a layer of plastic wrap, followed by a layer of aluminum foil to ensure that they maintain their freshness.

Homemade tortillas will last at room temperature for up to 5 days or they can be frozen for up to 2 months!

Thaw the frozen tortillas by placing them on the countertop at room temperature at least 1-2 hours before you plan on eating them. They can also be thawed or warmed by placing them in the oven at 250* until no longer frozen or until warmed to your desired temperature.

Ingredients

Butter: It is necessary to use some kind of fat when making tortillas. If you don’t have butter, you can swap it out with olive oil.
Lard or beef tallow is also a fantastic option for a butter substitute. I, personally, haven’t tried making these tortillas with lard or tallow yet. However, I am itching too after hearing so many positive reviews!

Salt: I think that this recipe has the perfect amount of salt in it. However, you can adjust the amount of salt according to your preferences without compromising the final texture of the tortilla.

Flour: I use a cheap & basic all-purpose flour when I make my tortillas. However, I do know that the tortillas will taste better if a higher quality flour is used.
You can also sub the all-purpose flour with half all-purpose and half whole-wheat if desired.

Baking Powder: Baking powder is what makes the tortillas soft! If you don’t have baking powder on hand you can go ahead and omit it. But, I do think it makes a difference having it in there, so I encourage you to use it if you can.

How do I make the perfect homemade tortillas?

Homemade tortillas are very easy to make, and they are just about fool-proof with my tips and step-by-step instructions!

Mixing the dough

To begin, you will need to heat up your water just until it begins to boil. I prefer to heat up my water in the same bowl that I mix the dough in order to make the process easier. I use a bowl similar to this one here.

If you choose this method, go ahead and add 1 cup of water to the bowl. Put the bowl in the microwave for approx. 2 minutes (or until the water begins to boil).

Another option is to heat the water in a pot on the stove. If this is your preferred method, go ahead and add 1 cup of water to the pot and heat it on high heat until it begins to boil.

Next, add the water to a large mixing bowl (if it isn’t in there already). Add 2 tsp salt and 1/2 cup of unsalted butter to the very hot water. Stir the mixture until the salt is dissolved and the butter is completely melted.

If you are using cold butter this may take a few minutes. Try to avoid heating the water back up. You don’t want the water to be too hot for mixing. The butter should melt as long as the water hit its boiling point before you removed it from the heat.

Go ahead and add the 3 cups of flour once the butter is melted and the salt is dissolved. The 2 tbsp of baking powder can be sprinkled over the top of the flour.

Now, stir the dough with a large mixing spoon. The dough should form loose, wet clumps. At this point, you will need to lay the spoon down and begin to knead the dough with your hands. Knead the dough for 2-3 minutes or until the dough forms a soft & smooth, round ball.

Leave the dough in the bowl and cover it with a very damp towel. Allow the dough to rest for 10 minutes. This resting time allows the gluten to settle, which will help us to roll the dough out into a thin & large tortilla.

Forming the tortillas

After the resting time, the dough can be shaped into 12 equally sized balls. I like to do this by splitting the dough in half, then splitting each half into a third, then each third in half. This should give you 12 balls of dough.

Roll each ball into a nice, smooth ball. The balls don’t have to be perfect, but a smooth and round ball of dough will roll out better than a lumpy ball of dough.

Cover the dough with a damp towel. Let the dough rest for another 10 minutes to allow the gluten to settle again.

Once your dough has rested, we can begin rolling out the tortillas!

Begin by lightly sprinkling flour over your workspace (keep the flour light, you can add more as you go).

Remove the first ball of dough from underneath the towel (keep the other ones covered). Using a rolling pin (like this one), roll your dough out until it forms a circle measuring approx. 10 inches in diameter.

As you roll out your dough, be sure to flip it over and rotate it 90* after every few rolls. This will help it to form a perfect circle and it will keep the dough from sticking.

Cooking the tortillas

Make sure your skillet is nice and hot before placing your first tortilla on it. Do this by heating up your skillet (I have one similar to this that works well) over medium heat approx. 5 minutes before you plan on cooking your first tortilla.

Place your first piece of rolled out dough onto the hot skillet. Allow it to cook for about 20 seconds, or until the tortilla forms bubbles and begins to slightly brown. Flip it over and allow it to cook for another 20 seconds.

Move your hot tortilla onto a plate and immediately cover it with a dry towel. The towel traps in the steam and keeps the tortilla from becoming crunchy.

Roll out and cook all of your dough until all 12 of your tortillas are made! As you cook your tortillas, stack them on right on top of each other and cover them with the towel immediately after cooking.

Your tortillas can be enjoyed right away or saved for later. I hope you enjoy!

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