Our Favorite Soft Flour Tortillas

Our Favorite Soft Flour Tortillas

How we make flour tortillas from scratch! This easy recipe relies on flour, salt, water and fat. They are soft, pliable and perfect for folding or wrapping. Jump to the Flour Tortillas Recipe

Making flour tortillas at home

Our kitchen is always stocked with tortillas — both corn and flour — but I have to tell you that my favorite kind of tortilla is a freshly made one! That’s why we started experimenting with making our own. Freshly made, still warm from the pan tortillas are truly the best. I always jump at the chance of being the tortilla flipper so that I can sneak a tortilla for myself before sharing with the rest of the family. For corn tortillas, take look at our favorite corn tortilla recipe.

Making your own stack of flour tortillas is simple, here’s a quick overview (the full recipe is below)!

Ingredients

You only need four ingredients to make flour tortillas:

• Flour
• Salt
• Warm water
• Fat like oil, lard, shortening or butter

Some recipes swear by adding baking powder to the dough for softer flour tortillas, but after trying them with and without baking powder, we leave it out. It certainly doesn’t hurt to add it, but we just didn’t find that it made that much of a difference in texture.

Making them

Baking powder didn’t make much of a difference in the flavor or texture of the tortillas, but we did find four things that did!

1. Dissolve the salt in warm water before adding to the dough.
2. Roll (or press) the tortillas into very thin discs.
3. Get the heat right — medium to medium high is perfect.
4. Transfer the cooked tortillas to a towel or tortilla warmer.

Our first few batches of tortillas were fine, but not great. It was after discovering these tips that helped us make soft, chewy bubbly flour tortillas.

Dissolving the salt into the warm water helps to season the dough. I especially recommend doing this if you are using a coarser salt. Rolling the tortillas very thin and getting the heat right makes sure that bubbles start to form (our video shows just how large these bubbles can be). It’s these bubbles that create the perfect texture. Finally, transferring the warm tortillas to a dish towel and covering them (or using a tortilla warmer) helps to soften them even more.

Use these homemade tortillas to make one of the following recipes:

• Spicy Cauliflower Burritos
• Spinach Feta Breakfast Burritos
• Garlic Citrus Chicken Fajitas
• The Ultimate Fajitas with Chicken, Shrimp and Steak
• Crave-Worthy Vegetable Quesadillas

Storing Tortillas

As I mentioned above, tortillas really do taste best when made fresh, but these flour tortillas do keep well. I simply keep mine in a resealable bag and try to eat them within a day or two. If I have extra, I freeze them.

How to freeze flour tortillas: Store them, stacked with a small sheet of parchment paper between them, in a freezer-safe bag or container.

Fresh homemade flour tortillas are in their softest state when warm so if you have room temperature or cold tortillas, we recommend reheating them in a skillet until they are warm and pliable again.

More bread recipes to try

• Soft and fluffy flatbread made without yeast
• Yeasted sesame garlic flatbreads
• Rosemary garlic focaccia
• Seriously good drop biscuits

Our Favorite Soft Flour Tortillas

• PREP

How we make flour tortillas that are soft, pliable and perfect for folding or wrapping. We incorporate a few tricks in the recipe for the best results. Dissolving the salt into the warm water helps season the dough. I especially recommend doing this if you are using a coarser salt. Rolling the tortillas very thin and getting the heat of your pan right makes sure that bubbles start to form (our video shows just how large these bubbles can be). It’s these bubbles that create the perfect texture.

Watch Us Make the Recipe

You Will Need

2 cups (260 grams) all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon fine sea salt

2/3 cup very warm water

5 tablespoons neutral flavored oil, melted shortening, melted lard or melted butter

Directions

• Make Dough
• Cook Tortillas

Add the salt to the warm water and stir together until the salt has dissolved.

In a large bowl, use a fork to combine the flour with the oil (or other fat) until it looks crumbly. Pour in almost all of the salty water and stir until a shaggy dough forms. If the mixture seems dry, add a bit more of the water.

When the dough comes together, transfer to a floured work surface and knead until smooth, two to three minutes. Cover with a clean dish cloth and leave for at least 15 minutes and up to an hour or two. Resting the dough makes rolling it out easier.

Divide the dough into ten equally sized blobs and then shape into small disks. Use a rolling pin to roll each small disc into 8-inch rounds or use a tortilla press. The thinner the better, here. If you happen to get 9-inch tortillas, don’t worry! We also don’t worry too much about making them perfectly round. (See our video to watch us do it.)

Stack the rolled tortillas with a piece of parchment paper between them. Alternatively, you can roll and cook the tortillas at the same time. Roll one tortilla out, then while it cooks, roll the next tortilla out.

Make ahead: Divide the dough into smaller balls (this recipe makes ten 8-inch tortillas), wrap them very well, and then place into the refrigerator up to three days. About thirty to forty minutes before you are ready to cook the tortillas, take the balls out of the refrigerator and let them come to room temperature before rolling them out.

Heat a wide, heavy-bottomed skillet over medium-high heat. When it’s hot, add the first tortilla. Within 20 to 30 seconds, you should start to see it puffing up with bubbles forming.

When the bottom of the tortilla has some brown spots, flip it and cook until the second side is browned in spots and the tortilla looks dry around the edges. Each tortilla will take 1 to 2 minutes to cook. If this is taking a long time, increase the heat. If the pan starts to smoke or brown the tortillas too quickly, turn the heat down a bit.

Transfer the cooked tortilla to a dish towel and cover it then continue with the remaining tortillas, adjusting the heat as needed.

Store leftover tortillas in a resealable plastic bag for a day or two or freeze if needing to store longer. Fresh homemade flour tortillas are in their softest state when warm so if you have room temperature or cold tortillas, we recommend reheating them in a skillet until they are warm and pliable again.

Adam and Joanne’s Tips

• Neutral oil: We simply mean to use an oil that is lighter in flavor like avocado oil, vegetable oil, grape seed oil or safflower oil. You can use a light and fruity olive oil or coconut oil, just keep in mind that the tortillas will pick up their flavor.
• Whole wheat flour tortillas: Substitute whole wheat flour for the all-purpose flour. You might find that the dough needs a dash or two more water.
• Nutrition facts: The nutrition facts provided below are estimates. We have used the USDA database to calculate approximate values. Calculations included vegetable oil.

If you make this recipe, snap a photo and hashtag it #inspiredtaste — We love to see your creations on Instagram and Facebook! Find us: @inspiredtaste

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• February 11, 2023, 10:24 am

  I’ve been trying to make tortillas for my Mexican husband for the past 5 years, and usually use the pre-mixed flour that you just have to add water to. Today I went to make some tortillas and realized I didn’t have any, so I decided to try out this recipe. These were the BEST tortillas that I have ever made! Definitely a 5 star recipe, and so so glad that I found it!

• January 27, 2023, 8:52 pm

  it was my first time in making tortillas and they were delicious. Yhey were soft and pliable. The whole family loved it. I used colza oil for this recipe. Thank you for sharing.

• January 12, 2023, 7:02 pm

  Really good and easy. I usually use 100% all purpose flour and decided to do half whole wheat flour tonight and they still were soft and amazing. Delicious!

• January 3, 2023, 8:05 am

  Excellent recipe. Tortillas turn out soft, unlike another recipe I tried before where the tortillas turned out more like crackers

• December 27, 2022, 7:19 pm

  When I was working with the dough, I thought it might have too much oil. It felt greasy. But the tortillas turned out great! Easy to roll out, and did that great puffing-up thing that, to me, is the mark of a good flour tortilla!

• December 3, 2022, 10:17 am

  this is the best tortillas my family ever eaten thank you for your recipes

  kindly james

• October 26, 2022, 10:33 pm

  This recipe is so easy, and the results were great! Much faster than I expected! I used salted butter and they turned out delicious!

• September 24, 2022, 12:41 pm

  First try making my own tortillas. The recipe was simple. I watched the video to make sure what I did matched what she did. The tortillas did not come round (work in progress). But the texture and taste was absolutely wonderful.

• September 16, 2022, 9:27 pm

  Can’t wait to get some recipes! I’m going to make the flour tortillas!

• August 29, 2022, 4:24 pm

  This recipe is fantastic and straightforward. My first time making tortillas of any kind. I used this recipe with half wheat flour and half all-purpose flour. This added some nutty flavor to my delight! We eat tortillas regularly. Nice to have fresh tortillas for breakfast burritos in the morning rush. I am looking forward to discovering more of your recipes in the future!

• August 17, 2022, 1:04 pm

  In retirement, we have less income, but lots more time. Making items from scratch reduces our grocery bill a great deal. So, both flour and corn tortillas are now home made. This year for Independence Day, my husband’s Irish Italian, and my Mexican relatives descended upon our tiny farm for the weekend celebration…My 2 sisters and 95 year-old grandmother came toting their tortilla presses, because in San Antonio, my family makes at least 3 tortillas per person daily. We had 27 attending. It had to be a daily assembly line to knock it out after breakfast. Abuela completely agreed with this recipe except for one thing: The fat. She insisted on regular lard, or better yet, beef tallow….Beef tallow is not a neutral fat, but let me tell you, it makes an incredibly rich tortilla that stands up by itself in flavor. Everyone loved them. After the crowd was gone, my husband and I make this recipe using flavorful olive oil. We believe flavor fats in the tortilla just adds another layer of intensity. Thank you for the recipe. You are on point.

  • September 29, 2022, 8:29 pm

    I’m 100% with you on the beef tallow or lard. Using oils just doesn’t give them that rich authentic taste and texture!

• September 29, 2022, 8:29 pm
• August 17, 2022, 1:19 am

  This is the best tortilla recipe. I have never made my own tortillas before and they way prices have gone up this just seemed too easy not to try. They came out perfect. I used melted shortening and they tasted great. I might try it with melted butter next time but they were perfect this way too. Thank you for the recipe!

• July 30, 2022, 9:20 pm

  Followed the recipe as it was written. Absolutely delicious

• July 6, 2022, 7:11 pm

  Haven’t cooked them yet but the dough is so silky and pliable. I know they’ll be perfect. Cooking them in one of my cat iron pans. Thank you for sharing. Always looking for economical foods.

• June 29, 2022, 8:37 pm

  Tonight was my first time ever trying to make tortillas and decided to use this recipe. These came out so well- they’re so mucb fresher than something you get at a fast food restaurant and even some nicer places. My only concern was that they looked a bit greasy with the finished product. I wonder if that is because the butter was melted when mixed into butter. I wonder if using lard or even solid butter would help the final product just look a little less greasy. Or maybe it was the canola oil I used in the pan? Anyway- overall these were sooo good and I’m going to hang onto this recipe!