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If you’ve never made homemade flour tortillas before, you’re missing out on the softest and most tender flour tortilla you’ve ever had in your life! I can’t go back to store-bought tortillas now that I’ve made my own flour tortillas!
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Homemade Flour Tortillas Is My Sourdough Baking
Have you ever been to a truly authentic Mexican or Tex-Mex restaurant and watch them make tortillas by hand? When I was in California, all the breakfast burrito places we went to made fresh, in-house tortillas and the difference is there. It makes the burritos and tacos just so much more tender and has the right chew consistency.
Truthfully, for myself, I never truly thought to make homemade flour tortillas because it’s just so much easier to pick up a pack at the store when you’re in a pinch. Of course, that’s where you sacrifice quality, right? Convenience sometimes is greater than quality though but if you have the time, I encourage you to make these homemade flour tortillas!
Spend your next meal prep day and make a large batch of these homemade flour tortillas and then freeze them!
For ways to use these flour tortillas, you’re in for a treat! Homemade Chicken Enchiladas are a favorite in our household as are Homemade Crunchwrap Supremes. Making Chipotle Shrimp Tacos is a stellar choice too!
How to Make Flour Tortillas
- Add flour, salt, and baking powder to the bowl of a stand mixer with the dough hook attachment and mix on low for 30 seconds to incorporate the dry ingredients.
- With the mixer running on medium low, add the vegetable oil and warm water and continue to mix until the mixture forms a smooth ball.
- Transfer dough to a well-floured surface and divide dough until you get approximately 16 equal portions then shape each portion into a ball then gently, using the palm of your hand, flatten out the dough. Cover flattened dough with a clean kitchen towel and let rest for 15 minutes before proceeding.
- After the dough has rested, roll each dough ball into a 6-inch diameter circle on a lightly floured work surface. Do not stack them on top of each other.
- Heat a skillet over medium-high heat. When the pan is hot, place one dough circle in the middle of the pan and let cook for 1 minute OR until the surface of the dough starts to bubble and the bottom starts to brown. At that point, flip it and cook the same way on the other side, but for slightly less time, 20-30 seconds. You want the tortilla soft and to have little brown spots on it. You don’t want to cook the tortilla too much that it becomes crispy.
FAQs for Making Flour Tortillas
Yes! You can absolutely make these flour tortillas to be street taco size, regular taco size, or burrito size. Keep in mind you’ll have more or less dough depending on what size you make them.
Allow it to sit out at room temperature a bit longer. The gluten isn’t relaxed enough yet. You may have overworked it in the mixer.
If they’re from the refrigerator, put them on a plate and using a damp paper towel, cover the tortillas when you reheat them so they don’t dry out. Alternatively, you could use gentle heat in a toaster oven to reheat them.
If they’re from the freezer, put them directly into a skillet on the stovetop over low heat and gently warm them through until defrosted and softened.
Homemade Flour Tortillas
Equipment
Ingredients
- 3 cups (375 g) all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ⅓ cup (79 ml) vegetable oil
- 1 cup (237 ml) warm water
Instructions
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook attachment, add flour, salt and baking powder. Mix on low for 30 seconds until dry ingredients are incorporated.
- With the mixer running at medium speed, add the vegetable oil and warm water.
- Continue to mix on low until mixture starts to come together and starts to form a smooth ball.
- Transfer dough to a well-floured surface and divide dough until you get approximately 16 equal portions then shape each portion into a ball then gently, using the palm of your hand, flatten out the dough.
- Cover flattened dough with a clean kitchen towel and let rest for 15 minutes before proceeding.
- After dough has rested, roll each dough piece into a 6-inch diameter circle on lightly floured surface with a lightly floured rolling pin. Do not stack uncooked tortillas on top of each other.
- Heat a non-stick pan over medium-high heat. When the pan is hot, place one dough circle in the middle of the pan and let cook for 1 minute OR until the surface of the dough starts to bubble and the bottom starts to brown. At that point, flip it and cook the same way on the other side, but for slightly less time, 20-30 seconds. You want the tortilla soft and to have little brown spots on it. You don't want to cook the tortilla too much that it becomes crispy.
- Place cooked tortillas on a plate and continue cooking the rest of the tortillas.
Nutrition
Photographs by Meg McKeehan Photography
I don’t have the mixer with dough hooks…how else can I properly mix it?
Hands!
LOL!!! That could work!! I was thinking more of just a regular mixer!
I haven’t tried it with a regular mixer without the dough hook! To be safe, your hands are your best tools :)
My daughter and I found corn and flour tortillas at Heb, can I half the flour with corn meal to achieve this?
I honestly have no idea what the consistency will be like and whether or not it will work. You could try though!
I love i
Can I use corn flour?
I haven’t tried it with corn flour but I imagine you might need more ingredients to make it bind better. I’m not sure.
Hey thanks for sharing this recipe!!! The whole family loved them!
One question, how long are they good in the refrigerator???
Thanks!!!
They should be good for a couple weeks!
Just made these and turned out great! Thank you ?
I am searching for a way to make the big tortillas for burritos. Like the kind you get at Chipotle or Moes. I tried just doubling the dough ball, so it would make 12 in, since the smaller size was 6in, but the dough kept tearing and snapping back. I even let the dough rest overnight to relax the gluten. I could never get it thin enough without tearing, or if I did, once I tried to transfer it to the griddle it would lap over on itself. Any suggestions?
I have no idea how Chipotle or Moes gets their tortillas to be that big! I don’t think this recipe is made to be stretched out that big. Was the dough room temperature when you worked with it?
I let it rest overnight in the refrigerator and then let it sit out for 30 mins on the counter. So maybe not quite room temp. Thanks for the reply.
If it’s room temperature, it won’t shrink back. I learned this with pizza dough :)
Going to try these.
Hey, I’m from Trinidad and we eat this a couple times per week and sone have it everyday; this can be found everywhere. It originated in India and the recipe was brought to Trinidad by our ancestors. It’s called “Roti”. we have it daily with sauted or as we say “chonkay” vegetables and/or meats or choka.
I haven’t bought flour tortillas from the store in years. I always prefer to make my own.
This recipe is an excellent one but lately I have been substituting either bacon fat or duck fat in it. The tortillas have more of an unctuous flavor and mouth feel.
I use my own bacon fat from bacon that I have cured and smoked and it far superior to store-bought bacon. And the duck fat I get either from Amazon or Thrive Market.
I am not affiliated with either of these sites.
There’s nothing better than homemade everything if you have the time to do it.
Happy cooking everyone.
Ooooh! This is the second time I’ve made this recipe. Nothing beats homemade tortillas. Next time I’m going to try bacon or duck fat. Thanks for the tip!