This easy tortilla recipe is the best tasting homemade flour tortillas I have ever eaten and far better than store-bought. You only need 3 ingredients to make your own flour tortillas and it’s likely you already have the ingredients in your pantry!
Homemade Flour Tortillas are great for making your favorite Mexican food. From enchiladas to tacos and burritos, these easy tortillas will be the only way you will ever want to eat tortillas again.
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❤️ Why I Love This Recipe
✔️ This easy tortilla recipe uses only 3 simple ingredients!
✔️ Traditional flour tortillas are perfect for taco Tuesday to make your favorite soft tacos.
✔️ Fresh homemade flour tortillas made at home are far better than store bought soft tortillas.
🥘 INGREDIENTS
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This is one of the easiest recipes to make. I promise, once you have made this homemade flour tortilla recipe, you will never want to buy them in the store.
White whole wheat flour, this brand is the best!
Solid shortening: I use this solid vegetable shortening
Salt
🔪 INSTRUCTIONS
Making the dough
- Add the flour and shortening to a large bowl. Work the shortening into the flour with a pastry blender or your fingers until completely incorporated.
- Dissolve the salt in the water and pour ⅔ cup of the salt water over top of the flour mixture. Immediately work it in with a fork. The dough will be in large clumps.
- Scoop the soft dough onto your work surface and knead until smooth.
Shaping and resting the dough
- Divide dough into 12 equal pieces and roll each piece of dough into a smooth ball. Set the tortilla dough balls on a plate, cover with sheets of plastic wrap, damp cloth, or damp paper towel and let dough rest for 30 minutes at room temperature.
Making the tortillas
- After the resting period, heat a cast-iron skillet or a large frying pan over medium-high heat.
- Shaping by hand: On a lightly floured surface, roll out a portion of the dough into a 7-inch circle. Flatten a ball of dough with the palm of your hand, sprinkle with a little extra flour, then roll forward and back across it, rotating a sixth of a turn dough and roll forward and back again. Continue until it is a 7-inch circle.
- Using a tortilla press: Using two pieces of parchment paper, place one piece of paper on the press, place the dough ball in the center and top with another piece of parchment. Then press. Lift the tortilla press, and flip the tortilla over (still sandwiched between the parchment. Press firmly one more time. Then remove the tortilla and proceed to cook.
To cook the tortillas
- Lay the first tortilla on the hot griddle. After 30-45 seconds, when golden brown spots show underneath, flip it over. cook another 30-45 seconds more, until the second side is browned. Do not overcook or the tortilla will become crisp.
- Remove and wrap in a clean kitchen towel. Repeat procedure with remaining tortillas and stack them on top of each other.
🙋 Recipe FAQ's
It all comes down to flavor and diet. Lard is animal product so if you are vegetarian, use the vegetable shortening, if you want a different flavor profile, use lard.
Wrap the tortillas in a towel and place them in the microwave for 30 seconds. For just 1 tortilla, wrap and heat for 10 seconds. These can also be reheated on the grill for a few seconds on each side.
💭 Tips
- Use a pastry blender or a fork to cut the shortening into the flour until you have pea sized crumbs.
- Use hot water to aid in dissolving the salt better. Be sure the salt has dissolved into the water before using it.
- Center the dough ball in a tortilla press to make thin tortillas that are more uniform.
- Use a piece of parchment paper to separate the warm tortillas while stacking them after cooking and cover with a kitchen towel to keep them warm.
📖 Variations
- Lard or coconut oil makes a great substitute for the shortening.
- In a pinch, you can use all purpose flour in place of white whole wheat
🍽 Equipment
Tortilla Press or Wooden Rolling Pin
Cast Iron Skillet or large cast iron griddle: I highly recommend the cast iron as it heats evenly and holds heat well. You want the tortillas to cook quickly without getting crisp and I feel the cast iron does the best job.
🏫 What I've Learned
- Making homemade tortillas is not hard. The first time I made these I knew I would never buy tortillas from the store again. These are just as good, if not better than those you would get from a Mexican restaurant!
- This is an easy tortilla recipe to make with very little effort.
- The tortilla press is awesome! It takes a little effort to learn how to use it at first, but it makes the most perfectly shaped tortillas.
Serving Suggestions
Serve these easy flour tortillas warm as a side to Grilled Avocado with Cilantro Lime Cream. I also like to use them to make this Shrimp Enchiladas Recipe or Cheese Enchiladas with Red Sauce.
Serve the soft flour tortillas warm or toasted with your favorite dips. Some of our favorites are Spinach Artichoke Dip, Jalapeno Bacon Cheeseburger Dip and I love to spread Mom's Easy Cheese Ball Recipe on tortillas and make pinwheels.
Storage
Store cooked tortillas in an airtight container or a ziploc bag that has had the air pressed from the bag. Tortillas can be stored up to 3 days on the counter, 1 week in the refrigerator, and 3 months in the freezer.
Related Recipes
Easy Green Chicken Enchilada Recipe - low carb
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If you love this recipe, please leave a ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ rating
📖 Recipe
Homemade Flour Tortillas Recipe
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Ingredients
- 2¾ cups all-purpose flour
- 5 tablespoons vegetable shortening
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- ¾ cup hot water
Instructions
Making the dough
- Combine flour and shortening in a large bowl. Work the shortening into the flour with a pastry blender or your fingers until completely incorporated.
- Dissolve the salt in the water and pour ⅔ cup of the salt water over top of the flour mixture. Immediately work it in with a fork. The dough will be in large clumps.
- Scoop the soft dough onto your work surface and knead until smooth.Divide dough into 12 equal pieces and roll each piece of dough into a smooth ball. Set the tortilla dough balls on a plate, cover with sheets of plastic wrap or damp cloth or paper towel and let dough rest for 30 minutes at room temperature.
- After the resting period, heat a cast-iron skillet or a large frying pan over medium-high heat. On a lightly floured surface, roll out a portion of the dough into a 7-inch circle. Flatten a ball of dough with the palm of your hand, sprinkle with a little extra flour, then roll forward and back across it, rotating a sixth of a turn dough and roll forward and back again. Continue until it is a 7-inch circle. Dust tortilla with flour as needed while rolling.
- If using a tortilla press: Using two pieces of parchment paper, place one piece of paper on the press, place the dough ball in the center and top with another piece of parchment. Then press. Lift the tortilla press, and flip the tortilla over (still sandwiched between the parchment. Press firmly one more time. Then remove the tortilla and proceed to cook.
- To cook, lay the first tortilla on the hot griddle. After 30-45 seconds, when air bubbles pop up and golden brown spots show underneath, flip it over. cook another 30-45 seconds more, until the second side is browned. Do not overcook or the tortilla will become crisp.
- Remove and wrap in a clean kitchen towel. Repeat procedure with remaining tortillas and stack them on top of each other.
Sue
Will leaving the salt alter anything (except the taste)? My husband is on a low-salt diet, and I'm always looking for ways to eliminate it in the things we eat.
Shelby Law Ruttan
Hi Sue, You could leave the salt out. I don't think it alters anything but the taste. Be sure to not skip the 30 minute rest period though. That's pretty important. Thanks for stopping by!
Alison
Can you refrigerate these?
Shelby
Hi Alison, yes, you can refrigerate these and you can also freeze them. Thanks for asking!
Connie Trujillo
Where is the Baking Powder to make them "bubble" and Rise??????
Shelby
Connie, no baking powder is needed 🙂
Yvonne
Can I use coconut oil instead of vegetable oil?
Shelby
Hi Yvonne, yes, I think you could use coconut oil and that's a great thought! I may have to try the recipe with coconut oil myself!
Anonymous
Made these tonight and they were delicious! Thanks so much for the recipe!
Julie Green
I lived in Arizona for nearly 8 years and people used to come into my workplace selling homemade tortillas. OMG! They were fantastic! I have never found any since returning home to the midwest. I will try these then next time I make one of my favorite mexican recipes. I can't wait!
Bellaisa
I do make my own, but I don't use shortening. I just use flour, salt, water, and baking powder. Will have to try this one and see what the taste difference is.
Karissa
Yum! These tortillas look really great. I always use Tortilla Land uncooked tortillas since I haven't quite figured out how to roll them thin enough, but I'll have to give your recipe a try! As for fajitas, I LOVE this fajita marinade!!! It works equally well with both chicken and steak. Check it out!
-Karissa
http://dishupdelish.com/marinated-steak-fajitas/
Patty Anderson
I saved this recipe as I purchased a Tortilla press last summer at a flea market and haven't used it yet. Liking this is from Rick Bayless - he's king.
Anonymous
I'm on my second round pf these-- the first batch went in less than a day! For fajitas, I use cumin, chipotle chili pepper powder, salt, black pepper, garlic. Adjust to your desired spice/smokiness level, sprinkle the seasoning on your meat or chicken, give it a little rub, let it sit, and then fry up with some slice onion and red bell pepper. Simple but delicious!
Heather
I pinned this awhile back, the ingredients and directions were in the description of the post so I never clicked the link, today I did to figure out what I was doing wrong, in the descriptions or said to use 1 cup of vegetable oil!!!! No
Jennifer Martin
I just made these tonight - and they were super delicious!!!! We eat mexican & tex-mex a lot in our house and now my family will not let me go back to the store bought variety!! - Now how to figure out how to freeze them......
Jennifer Martin
Just made these and they were delicious! My family won't let me go back to the store bought!!!
Michelle
I've been wanting to make flour tortillas on my own for a while now. The ones we like are across the border and with how things are now it's just not wise to go unless you absolutely have to. Thanks for the recipe!
Flour tortillas are like bread to mexicans, you can eat it with anything. Whether in taco form, burritos, or a an eating utensil. One thing that I LOVE with flour tortillas is barbacoa! Basically it's beef but more specifically the head area of the cow. We make it at home all the time now since we figured out how easy it really was!
We usually go to the grocery store the evening before and buy a cow tongue...yes i know it looks gross but it taste sooo good. Then around 10pm we take out the crock pot and place the tongue in there with skin and all plus salt and pepper to taste. Leave it on low all night long. It should be ready about 8am. You just cut into the skin and inside will be this juicy dark meat that goes great with Queso fresco, cilantro, etc.. Any way you like it. It's common to buy breakfast or lunch tacos here in southern Texas.
Kala Collins
I'm super excited to try these!!!
Kala Collins
I'm super excited to try these!!!
Anonymous
In 9th grade 30 years ago? ha, lets see that would be 49 years for me, now that is old! Retirement is my prize, lol.
now that I have made up my own taco seasoning mix, and my family loves it, I can make my own shells too...and people said I would get bored when I retired bwaahahahaa...fatter maybe but never bored.
Anonymous
I always had the impression these were hard to make..... Thanks for sharing the recipe, I'm going to have to try these! Do you happen to have a Corn Tortilla recipe?
Anonymous
How long do these last? Can you freeze them?
honeyb
To be honest, they don't last long 😉 We usually have them eaten within a week. However, I'm sure they would freeze well if you think you can't eat them up within a week.