Here’s How to Make the Best Homemade Flour Tortillas – It’s Easy!
Looking for a yummy homemade flour tortillas recipe?
Take taco night dinners to the next level by making some yummy homemade flour tortillas at home! They’re actually surprisingly easy to make, and require simple and inexpensive ingredients that you probably already have in your pantry. Plus, the homemade version is a million times better than what you’ll find at the store — I promise!
Making tortillas involves mixing a simple dough and then breaking it up into smaller sized balls to roll into circles. I have used my KitchenAid stand mixer to make the dough, or just a bowl and wooden spoon — both methods work great!
I’ve made this flour tortillas recipe too many times to count and always love the results.
Here are my tried-and-true tips for making the best homemade flour tortillas:
- Roll out your tortillas on a floured surface using a rolling pin or use a cast iron tortilla press as I do. I like the tortilla press because I find that it makes a more symmetric pretty circle than I can roll, and I really enjoy using it! I also use parchment paper in between the top and bottom of the tortilla press to avoid sticking.
- I usually use vegetable oil or butter to make tortillas, but you can use shortening or even coconut oil if desired.
- Make sure not to overcook the tortillas. When I first started making them, I had a tendency to overcook – and they won’t turn out as soft. About a minute on each side is usually all you need.
- Keep tortillas warm in a kitchen towel or inside a tortilla warmer after cooking them.
- Homemade flour tortillas are for sure best made fresh and eaten right away. I will sometimes split this recipe in half if I’m in a hurry and I know I will only need 8 tortillas, as this recipe will make 16 eight-inch round tortillas.
- Store leftovers in an airtight bag for up to a few days and reheat in the microwave with a damp paper towel. Readers have said these freeze well, although I have not personally tried yet (they go too quickly in my house to have a chance to freeze!).
Homemade Flour Tortillas
prep time: 20 MINUTES
cook time: 16 MINUTES
total time: 36 MINUTES
Make these soft and warm tortillas for tacos, fajitas, or just spread on some butter. Yum!
Ingredients
- 3 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil (you can also use lard, shortening, or sliced butter)
- 1 cup hot water
Directions
1
Combine flour, salt, and baking powder in a stand mixer with dough hook, or large bowl if you are kneading by hand.
2
Mix dry ingredients until well combined. Add the oil or fat you are using.
3
Start the mixer on medium-low and slowly add water. Stop and scrape the bowl a few times while continuing to mix for a few minutes. Consistency should be smooth, not sticky or crumbly.
4
Roll into a ball and let sit for 10-15 minutes, covered with a towel. After that, split large ball in half and divide each smaller ball into eight portions - you will end up with 16 smaller taco-sized tortillas.
5
Make your dough balls and keep them covered with a kitchen towel so they don't dry out.
6
Heat a skillet on the stove over medium heat.
7
Roll out a ball of dough on a floured surface until it's thin and almost translucent. I find it easier to roll out from the middle of tortilla equally on each side to make a circle. Sometimes I'll also rotate the tortilla instead of the roller. You can, of course, also use a tortilla press.
8
Place on skillet and you'll notice tortilla bubble up. Let it cook for about a minute or a little less on each side. You want the tortilla to be a little brown while still staying soft but not burnt. If the tortilla is burning, turn down the heat a bit.
9
Transfer the cooked tortillas to a kitchen towel or warmer until dinner to keep warm. Enjoy!
Homemade flour tortillas are so delicious and so easy!
I can eat plain homemade flour tortillas as is with some butter on top! Yum!
This week I made some for Carne Asada tacos, which took our Taco Tuesday to the next level. I also made homemade refried beans and fresh guacamole for a complete Mexican fiesta! YUM!
Make incredible restaurant-style salsa easily using your blender!
I swear, over the last couple weeks it’s like you’re following me. Lol. The timing on this could not have been more perfect. Thank you!!!
You’re welcome! 🙂
Does any one know how long these can be stored?
I’ve made them once and they only lasted two days in the cupboard and started going moldy. You should probably store them in the fridge.
When you are done making the flour tortillas make sure to seperate them from each other and then stack them together again. Once they cool down a bit you can put them in a ziploc bag and put them in the the fridge. They should at least last you a week.
Fridge or freezer. They freeze really well.
Hi Collin, coming from a Mexican family who has made hand made fresh flour tortillas all my life, I just wanted to tell you that the most important ingredient is the water, we find that hot water works best because it helps the dough stay soft, warm water cools fast and cold water hardens and leaves ugly cracks in the tortilla. I also wanted to add that it is not necessary to use salt or butter, or oil much less lard as these ingredients only add calories and aren’t healthy anyway. All you really need is hot water, baking powder and flour! Anyway I just wanted to put my little grain of salt! Lol sorry for the long comment. BTW I love your post Collin you rock!!
thanks for the tips. my 10 year old is half mexican but unfortunately her grandparents passed several years ago before she was old enough to have the tortilla and tamale recipes instilled in her. she is gluten free due to celiac disease so we are going to try these with king arthur GF flour
Tilla ham- I hope you are successful making the gf tortillas! My daughter has celiac as well, so I would like to try to make these too.
Just wondering if you skip the butter what ratio would you use of the other ingredients?
Collin doesn’t do these posts. It’s Lina (Modern Martha).
Thank you Lina for such amazing recipes. I have never made flour tortillas, but I agree with Lucy, the same secret applies to corn tortillas which is what we make in Costa Rica. The water has to be as hot as your hands can safely stand it, the hotter/warmer the better!
Any chance of getting a corn tortilla recipe for those of us who have to be gluten free?
Lucy and Collin, Thank you so much for this recipe and the extra ideas in your comment, Lucy. I plan to try to make these with fresh ground whole wheat flour. I get them from the supermarket, but I know they would be cheaper and easy to make and far more healthy. Thanks so much!
Thanks for sharing your tips! I made corn tortillas taught by Hispanic women. We had so much fun!!
YES!! The hot water is essential!! We’re Mexican too. (•‿•)
Thanks. I was wondering about the butter etc.
That’s how we make ours, Lucy. I also noticed this recipe has too little water and too much oil. We also never cook them with oil or butter.
This I GOT to try. We love flour tortillas, but it gross me out when I see how LONG the expiry date are on the packages in the stores.
That picture looks yummy!
This looks somewhat similar to the one I use from Mexicoinmykitchen.com. Living in San Antonio you can get fresh hot tortillas at the grocery store. I tried a bunch of recipes to replicate the fresh ones here and that was the one! It is also much quicker to just use a food processor. Dump the dry ingredients and cut up fat in an pulse a cuple times. Then with the processor running slowly drizzle in the water. It takes only a couple seconds to make the dough that way. Also, the tortillas should puff up. you should also turn them twice. The first time when you see little bubbles form, the second time after anout 20-30 seconds. When the tortilla lands back on the original side is when you will get that really great puff where it looks like a balloon. Trust me that is so important to the texture.
Great tips!
Plus my friend from Mexico says the tradition is if they don’t puff you can’t get married. Oh how we laugh when we cook together!
Can these be made with Whole Wheat flour?
You can do it with whole wheat flour. User flour and water in the ratio 2:1. After kneading the dough, allow it to rest for a while. You don’t need any oil, salt or any other seasoning here and this is a very healthy flat bread 🙂
I’m Indian an we make these with whole wheat flour everyday! just flour, salt and warm water, no baking powder needed. Also if you follow Chatel’s comment above(#11) about how to puff them up; that’s the key to really soft tortillas or rotis as we called them. 🙂
You can skip the salt too if you want!
Can these be made with Gluten Free flour?
If you want truly authentic tortillas find a recipe with water, flour and baking powder only. Delicious.
Honestly I never measure my baking powder because I’ve been doing it for so long, but taking a wild guess here I would say, 3cups of flour, 3tablspoons of baking powder. Too much baking powder makes tortillas yellow but the taste is not very much different, too little makes it look undercook and taste like gum. Better to go over than under. Ideal looking tortillas are white. My family only uses the Gold Medal all purpose flour
How much water do you use?
Same. I don’t really measure either. But I definitely use more water than what is listed here. You don’t want a dry dough. You want it to be sticky so it sticks to the rolling pin. I also noticed way too much flour on the board they are rolling them out on. you barely need any flour. It makes the tortillas too hard if you kneed them too much and add too much flour. I barely kneed them. I would never use my Kitchenaid. It over mixes it. You just want the ingredients combined.
you can do with wheat flour also same thing.
I’m from NM and tortillas are a neccessity. The best flour to use is Blue Bird brand, which I know some may find it difficult to find especially on the east coast. Skip the butter and use hot water. Also using a cast iron skillet is best.
I can’t wait to try these! Didn’t realize it was so simple or I would have tried them before, thanks Lina!
these are similar to indian chapatis… although for those i use whole wheat flour from the indian stores, water, a little salt and some oil, throw it all in the kitchen aid (water slowly to ensure the dough is not too dry or runny) and then portion and roll out as described above. so yummy!
If you add a bit of sugar to this recipe just like 1 tblspoons this can make empanada dough. You can flatten then and add the filling of your choice ex. Leftover ground beef or left over turkey or chicken cooked down a little in some water or broth to soften a bit or maybe breakfast ham and cheese. You fold over the tortilla can with a bit of egg wash under and use a fork for the edges to close empanada. You can fry or bake these. Fry is the best though ….. drain of excess oil on a paper towel and that makes snacks or another dinner…. this is the best for all leftover as the empanadas can basically hold anything and taste delicious!!!!! Kids love it too. Try guava paste, white soft cheese, even leftover rice with chicken arroz con pollo…. i love empanadas ans come from latin background cuban and puertoricans. Enjoy guys this will stretch that dollar for lunch or dinner the next night!!!
Ana, I was just wondering whether there was an easy conversion from this recipe to empanada crust! So you add the filling while it is still uncooked, and then bake or fry? Do you let it rise at any point before filling? How long do you bake it for (if baked), at what temp?
Filling is precooked. If baking then 350 for about 8 /10 minutes until golden brown. If youuse deli meats or guava or cheese that has no need to be cooked. Also no need for rising.
Ok how do you make them Anna? The same recipe as Linas But with sugar? How much sugar? My mom and dad are from PR and I had one Grandma from Italy and the other from Cuba so I can 100% relate to the empanadas. My favorite ones are ground beef or cheese ones. Have been in KS from over 30 years now but my kids 10, 12 and 14 love them also.
Lina, this is awesome, I so want to try this! My family is going through a “tortilla phase” right now… how fun!
I love your posts!
I love making home made flour tortillas, they r the best
If your too lazy (like me) and want fresh tortillas, buy Tortilla Land uncooked tortillas. They are in the refrigerated case near the biscuits and crescent rolls. They have the same ingredients (no preservatives) and you just cook as many as you need. Plus they usually have a 4 week expiration date which I love because I eat them 2 at a time. I have found them at Walmart, Randalls, and Krogers.
I am lazy too! LOL (mostly has to do with having no time to roll out and then clean up, haha) Thanks for the tip, I’ll definitely check these out!
Yep tortilla land tastes better, no extra ingredients like some brands. Some Costco’s sell them too, comes in 2 sealed bags of (if I remember right) 20 each, so 40 total. These do freeze fine, just put waxed paper in between the cooked ones, the tend to freeze together.
Fry’s sells them too – near yogurt/cookie dough/Pillsbury rolls
Saw them also in Safeway and Albertsons. One near eggs, the other with the cheese, like Kraft.
Not going to lie, I was a wee bit frustrated tonight because these took so long to roll them all out. I think I’ll wait until i have a tortilla press before making these again.
Amy, I know it can be frustrating, but if you keep at it you will become a pro at rolling them out. Like every thing else, practice makes perfect. You’ll whip them out in no time and you’ll feel so accomplished. Speaking from experience.
Ur so right, that happened to me when i started, i got fustrated, now i roll them out with a quickness
Press between two skillets and 2 pieces of wax paper! 🙂
A tortilla press won’t work. Think of it like this: imagine trying to press pizza dough…it’s just going to pull back in. Your tortilla will be too thick and not cook correctly. Like these tortillas in the picture are super thick. I can see the raw spots in the center of the cooked darker circles. You want the tortilla to be translucent when you roll it out. Even me getting them translucent they still come out thick. A press will never get you that result.
You can also use a comal.
Anyone ever try to freeze the dough and do later? I assume so but curious!
I have! I used half whole wheat flour and half oat flour (Quaker old fashioned oats pulsed in a blender), little oil and salt for the dough. Made balls and put 6 in a Ziploc freezer bag because that is the quantity I use at a time. Just take it out the morning of or the night before and put in the fridge. Need to freeze dough balls that you can roll out, not the entire dough. Works for me.
Thank you!!! First time making tortillas and I followed your recipe to the T. These came out so unbelievably delicious! Reminds me of the tortillas my Mom used to make and she would knead by hand. I’m from south Texas and we use lard as I did today. Maybe fattening but the taste is so rich and delicious as long as you don’t eat them everyday it’s ok!
Oh thanks for letting us know!! Yum
Just another option is that you can make them with olive oil. They are a bit more delicate but it works and is slightly healthier than the other fats/oils.
Man it’s hard to want to make my own when my favorite texas grocery store makes them fresh right in front of you but one day I will try this!
Thanks Lina! And OMG have been a hip2saver for over 10 years now and I just noticed that (I guess it was added recently?) I can pin this into My Cookbook! This is 🤯. Love it! Love that I can pin recipes and save them.
Oh yay! Yes, isn’t that cool? Enjoy Jackie! Thanks for stopping by today 🥰
I’m Hispanic and use very hot water to make, and instead of lard, I use coconut oil they come out very soft. I use butter to spread on my tortilla once they are made.
great tip! I tried last night and I changed it to say hot water – thanks!
I make flour tortillas every week. (:
So yummy!
I use bacon fat instead of lard – delicious
YUM!!
Great idea!
You should try oat flour tortillas. So chewy, tasty, low calories and gluten free.
Oh interesting! Thanks for sharing 👍
I do not know if anyone is interested, but there is a special flour made in Cortez, CO. called Blue Bird Flour. Many people buy it special to make tortillas Cortez Milling CO. Comes in a neat cloth bag with a blue bird on it. Several sizes available.
Oh thanks for sharing I’d like to try it!
The Navajos also buy this flour to make their Navajo Fry Bread.
Anyone have a really good recipe for carne asada tacos? I tried them at a Mexican restaurant and they were so good since then I’ve tried them at other Mexican places and they weren’t as good! I’d love to find a a tasty recipe!
My family’s favorite carne asada recipe is this one: https://carlsbadcravings.com/best-grilled-carne-asada-recipe/ I don’t add the liquid smoke, and I usually throw a handful of cilantro into the marinade. Go easy on the salt in the seasoning if you use regular soy sauce… I often use low-sodium soy sauce for that reason. Hope you enjoy it too!
Thank you so much Amy!
You have luck with a tortilla press and flour tortillas? I’d love to use one because I’m terrible at rolling, but I’ve read it doesn’t work, only on corn.
Ya it works, but I
Use parchment paper in between so it doesn’t stick 👍
Looks thicker – more like naan bread. I bet this would be great brushed with butter and garlic.
How about Keto tortillas?
We love using cheese to make Keto tortillas! Check out some of our fave recipes: https://hip2keto.com/recipes/keto-quesadilla-cheese-ketodilla/ or https://hip2keto.com/recipes/low-carb-taco-recipes/
These are so delicious! Love, love them. Now I need a tortilla press. So good, thank you Lina!
Oh yay Alison, thanks for sharing! I made them the other day again too. Yummm.