Homemade Flour Tortillas
Give your Mexican meals a delicious upgrade with these soft and tender Homemade Flour Tortillas! Simply made with just 5 ingredients and about 30 minutes of active time, this easy recipe for authentic flour tortillas has been in my familia for generations!
These flour tortillas are absolutely delicious, unlike anything you’ll find in the grocery store. Homemade tortillas are softer, chewier, and the flavor is simply unbeatable.
Making flour tortillas with my grandma’s rolling pin always transports me back to her cocina. I remember sitting at the kitchen table watching her roll out dozens of the softest flour tortillas you could imagine.
Here I am as a little girl with my grandma and cousin, eating a homemade flour tortilla.
The best part was when she let me snag one from the top of the stack. Honestly, there’s nothing more comforting than a tortilla still warm from the comal — especially when you slather it in butter!
If you’d like to taste a simple slice of my history, come along with me to the kitchen. Seeing these pictures of my mom making flour tortillas from scratch, just as my grandma used to, makes my heart so very happy. Making flour tortillas at home is a labor of love and takes practice, but once you learn how, you’ll never want to buy store-bought tortillas again!
What are Flour Tortillas?
Flour tortillas are beloved Northern Mexican flatbreads that are used for everything from quesadillas, burritos to breakfast tacos and are served alongside dishes like fajitas.
Why You’ll Love This Mexican Flour Tortillas Recipe
- Snack. From slathering with butter while warm, to adding a roasted chile strip or salsa, a simple sprinkle of salt, or for a touch of sweetness a dash of cinnamon and sugar. Every kid who grew up on the border or in Mexico has their favorite way to enjoy homemade flour tortillas.
- No fancy equipment needed. That means no stand mixer or tortilla press. All you need is a mixing bowl, a rolling pin, and a cast iron comal (griddle) or skillet.
- Authentic Mexican flour tortillas, just like grandma makes! Even restaurants rarely make their own flour tortillas.
- No yeast. No need to wait for rising time equals simplicity at its finest!
Ingredients & Substitutions
The complete list of ingredients, quantities, and instructions can be found in the printable recipe card below.
- All-Purpose Flour: This recipe is made with with basic white flour.
- Lard: My grandma always used the blue box of Morrell lard, and so do I. Pork lard is traditional for making Mexican homemade flour tortillas, but you can use an equal amount of vegetable shortening for a vegetarian version and I have heard softened butter also works well, but haven’t tried it myself.
- Baking Powder: A little bit of leavening power allows the tortillas to puff a little bit, which makes them softer and fluffier.
- Table Salt: A touch of seasoning is essential. Table salt and sea salt should be interchangeable, but if you use kosher salt, you may want to add a bit extra to account for the lower density.
- Hot Water: Using hot water helps to develop the gluten, which in turn improves elasticity. Make sure it’s warmer than lukewarm, but nowhere close to boiling, either.
How to Make Homemade Flour Tortillas
Step 1: Preheat. Place a comal (or a griddle or cast-iron skillet) over medium-high heat and allow it to heat up. Cast iron’s natural non-stick properties mean you don’t have to use any extra fat to cook them.
Step 2: Combine all the dry ingredients in a mixing bowl until uniform.
Step 3: Cut in the Lard (or shortening) and combine until you have the consistency of small crumbs.
Step 4: Rough Dough. Add the hot water and mix well with your hand just until the dough comes together. The mixture may be a little sticky.
Step 5: Knead the tortilla dough on a cutting board or smooth counter until the dough is pliable and springy. Sprinkle the ball of dough and your work surface with flour if the dough is too sticky.
Step 6: Shape. Form 2 to 2½-inch dough balls. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough balls with a rolling pin to form 7 to 8-inch disks. If the dough is sticky, sprinkle board and rolling pin with flour to make it easier to roll out the dough.
Step 7: Cook. As you roll out each disk, place on the hot comal to cook. After cooking the first side, turn tortilla over and let it cook on the opposite side. When the tortilla starts to form air pockets, gently press down on them with a rolled up kitchen towel (like Grandma did) to release the air. WARNING: Don’t press too much or too hard, or it will make tough tortillas.
Step 8: Keep the tortillas warm in a tortilla warmer or under a clean dish towel while you roll out and cook the remaining dough balls.
Check out this video of my mom making homemade flour tortillas to see just how easy it is to whip up a batch.
Serving & Topping Suggestions
Wondering what to make with flour tortillas next? There are TONS of recipes using flour tortillas so you’ll never get bored. Here are just a few ideas to get you started:
- Tacos: Using flour tortillas for tacos is generally only found in the northern part of Mexico and in Tex-Mex cuisine. My favorites are breakfast tacos filled with migas or machaca con huevo.
- Burritos: Spread Homemade Refried Beans on a flour tortilla with some shredded cheese for the best bean burrito. Or make Egg and Chorizo Breakfast Burritos by combining scrambled eggs and chorizo in your fluffy homemade flour tortillas, then wrapping them up for the freezer. They’re the perfect on-the-go meal. For an even heartier option, tuck cheesy Chiles Rellenos and refried beans into a flour tortilla for my all-time favorite road trip meal.
- Dessert: Want a fun dessert option? Try these Mini Tortillas with Ricotta Cheese and Grilled Peaches for a sweet and savory snack that reminds me of my grandma.
- Snack: My favorite way to eat a fresh warm tortilla is with butter, but I also love a warm tortilla with a roasted chile or homemade salsa, and rolled into one perfect spicy snack.
- Side: Steak Fajitas, Sheet Pan Fish Fajitas, or Chicken Fajitas stuffed into fresh flour tortillas with plenty of guac, sautéed peppers, onions, and salsa? You can’t go wrong. Fajitas are always a hit.
Expert Tips & Tricks
- Hot water and hot comal: Using both hot water and a hot comal is super important! The water should feel hot to the touch, but not so hot that it will burn you. And a preheated comal is essential to getting puffy tortillas with beautiful golden brown blisters.
- Roll thin: Roll the tortillas fairly thin — about 7-8 inches in diameter. Don’t worry if they are not perfectly round. Thick tortillas won’t be as tender.
- Let dough rest: If you try rolling out tortillas and the dough keeps shrinking back, cover the dough with a towel and let it rest for 10-15 minutes to give the gluten some time to relax.
- Warning: If your tortillas feel stiff after cooking, you’ve cooked them too long, the heat was not high enough, or you pressed them too many times with a towel while cooking. Cook them only long enough to get some nice bubbles on the surface and a few light brown spots on each side.
- Floured work surface: If the tortilla dough is sticky, start with a lightly floured work surface. I also like to lightly dust my rolling pin with some flour.
- Patience: If it is your first time making tortillas, you might not want to multitask between rolling and cooking since the process goes fast — it will take 1 minute or less on each side to achieve the coveted golden brown spots.
- Keep covered: Stacking the tortillas allows the tortillas to steam. Keep them covered with a kitchen towel which will help them to be soft and pliable.
Storage & Heating Instructions
When it comes to these soft flour tortillas, you have a few options: Serve immediately or refrigerate and reheat.
- Fresh from the pan or stack. Keep tortillas warm and covered. Wrap tortillas in a dish towel or keep them in a tortilla warmer to keep them warm and pliable throughout the day. They can be left out at room temperature for up to 2 days.
- Refrigerate. Store any leftovers in a ziplock bag (with the excess air pressed out) in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
- Freeze. You can also freeze flour tortillas for up to 6 weeks. If you go this route, I recommend cooling the tortillas in a single layer, then separating the tortillas with pieces of parchment or wax paper before stacking. This will help them from sticking together in the freezer, so you can just pull out what you need as you need it.
- Reheat on a comal or cast iron skillet over medium heat until pliable. I beg you, please do not reheat flour tortillas in a microwave.
Frequently Asked Questions
The term “tortilla” can refer to two main types: corn tortillas and flour tortillas. The key difference between them lies in the main ingredient.
Corn tortillas are made from masa harina, a dough derived from specially treated corn, giving them a distinct corny flavor and slightly grainy texture.
Flour tortillas, on the other hand, are made from wheat flour and often include a small amount of fat. They are softer, more flexible, and larger than corn tortillas, which makes them excellent for wrapping ingredients in dishes like burritos and quesadillas. Flour tortillas are more common in Northern Mexican and Tex-Mex cuisines, whereas corn tortillas are more common in Southern Mexico.
It depends on the recipe, but my abuela’s best flour tortillas recipe is made with just all-purpose flour, salt, baking powder, lard or shortening, and water.
“Healthy” is one of those terms that can mean a great many things to different people, and since I’m not an RDN, I don’t feel qualified to classify something as “healthy” or not. What I will say is that these homemade Mexican flour tortillas are made with minimal ingredients, and despite what you may think, lard isn’t all that bad from a nutritional standpoint. If you’re concerned about the fat content, you’re welcome to use just 1 tablespoon of lard or shortening instead of 2; they just won’t be quite as soft if you do.
As for which is healthier between bread and tortillas, it depends. Homemade flour tortillas probably have fewer ingredients and less sugar than some commercial breads. However, since flour tortillas are usually made with lard or shortening, they can also be higher in calories and fat.
My mom and grandma always used regular all-purpose flour, so that’s what I use. That said, higher-protein options like bread flour or 00 flour might be great if you prefer a chewier result.
While I’ve seen some flour tortilla recipes that call for butter or oils, I make my flour tortillas recipe with lard, just like my grandma taught me. For a bit of porky flavor, use fresh lard; for neutral flavor, use shelf-stable lard. You could also use bacon fat if you like, but the bacon flavor will be strong and you won’t need to add any salt. If you want to make vegan flour tortillas, I recommend using vegetable shortening (e.g. Crisco), which can be used as a 1-to-1 replacement for lard.
So, why not use oil? First, using a fat that is solid at room temperature is key to achieving the proper consistency. Second, using either butter or oils may mess with the fat-to-flour ratio — butter, while solid at room temperature, includes water, and liquid oils have less fat than solids.
Since there is no yeast in this dough, there may be no need to let the dough rest. But, that doesn’t mean you don’t have to. If you try rolling out tortillas and the dough keeps shrinking back, cover the dough with a towel and let it rest for 10-15 minutes to give the gluten some time to relax.
Yes! Freezing flour tortillas is an excellent way to extend their shelf life. Jump up to the “Storage” section above for more info.
Again, it depends on the recipe. This one can easily be made vegan by using vegetable shortening in place of lard. If you’re at a restaurant, it’s worth asking.
As with all good things, flour tortillas can indeed go bad. To keep them in their best shape, refrigerating or freezing is the move. Hop back up to the “Storage & Reheating” section for more info.
Flour tortilla dough is softer and more elastic than corn tortilla dough because it contains gluten. The presence of gluten means the dough tends to spring back when pressed, making it difficult to achieve a thin, even shape with a press. Instead, rolling them out with a rolling pin allows for better control over the thickness and ensures that the tortillas are evenly thin and round.
There are tons of options! You can refrigerate or freeze them, or use them in recipes where stale tortillas are a benefit (e.g. for making tortilla chips or chilaquiles).
More Mexican Basics
- Homemade Corn Tortillas
- Masa For Tamales (Easy Tamal Dough)
- Tamales with Masa Harina (Masa Dough Made with Masa Harina)
Did you make this recipe? Don’t forget to give it a star rating below and leave me a comment to let me know how it turned out!
Homemade Flour Tortillas
Ingredients
- 4 cups all-purpose flour
- 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons lard or shortening
- 1 1/4 cups hot water
Instructions
- Place a (griddle or cast-iron skillet) over medium-high heat and allow it to heat up.
- In a bowl combine all the dry ingredients. Add the lard or shortening and combine until you have the consistency of small crumbs.
- Add the hot water and mix well with your hand. The mixture may be a little sticky. Knead on a cutting board or smooth counter until dough is pliable and springy. Sprinkle with flour if the dough is too sticky.
- Form 2 to 2½-inch dough balls. With a rolling pin, roll out the dough balls to form 7 to 8-inch disks. If the dough is sticky, sprinkle board and rolling pin with flour to make it easier to roll out the dough.
- As you roll out each disk, place on the hot comal to cook, it will take 1 minute or less on each side. After cooking the first side, turn tortilla over and let it cook on the opposite side; when tortilla starts to form air pockets press down gently on it with a rolled up kitchen towel (like Grandma did) to release the air. Don’t press too much, or it will make tough tortillas.
- Keep the tortillas warm in a tortilla warmer or under a clean dish towel while you make the rest.
Video
Notes
- Hot water and hot comal: Using both hot water and a hot comal is super important! The water should feel hot to the touch, but not so hot that it will burn you. And a preheated comal is essential to getting puffy tortillas with beautiful golden brown blisters.
- Roll thin: Roll the tortillas fairly thin — about 7-8 inches in diameter. Don’t worry if they are not perfectly round. Thick tortillas won’t be as tender.
- Let dough rest: If you try rolling out tortillas and the dough keeps shrinking back, cover the dough with a towel and let it rest for 10-15 minutes to give the gluten some time to relax.
- Warning: If your tortillas feel stiff after cooking, you’ve cooked them too long, the heat was not high enough, or you pressed them too many times with a towel while cooking. Cook them only long enough to get some nice bubbles on the surface and a few light brown spots on each side.
- Floured work surface: If the tortilla dough is sticky, start with a lightly floured work surface. I also like to lightly dust my rolling pin with some flour.
- Patience: If it is your first time making tortillas, you might not want to multitask between rolling and cooking since the process goes fast — it will take 1 minute or less on each side to achieve the coveted golden brown spots.
- Keep covered: Stacking the tortillas allows the tortillas to steam. Keep them covered with a kitchen towel which will help them to be soft and pliable.
- Fresh from the pan or stack. Keep tortillas warm and covered. Wrap tortillas in a dish towel or keep them in a tortilla warmer to keep them warm and pliable throughout the day. They can be left out at room temperature for up to 2 days.
- Refrigerate. Store any leftovers in a ziplock bag (with the excess air pressed out) in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
- Freeze. You can also freeze flour tortillas for up to 6 weeks. If you go this route, I recommend cooling the tortillas in a single layer, then separating the tortillas with pieces of parchment or wax paper before stacking. This will help them from sticking together in the freezer, so you can just pull out what you need as you need it.
- Reheat on a comal or cast iron skillet over medium heat until pliable. I beg you, please do not reheat flour tortillas in a microwave!
Photos by Jeanine Thurston / Video by Pure Cinematography
Originally published: November 2013. This recipe is also published in the Muy Bueno cookbook.
105 Comments on “Homemade Flour Tortillas”
What memories were brought back! My mom made wonderful tortillas and your video was right on. Every step. …just like Momma made. …even the Comal. Thank you for attention to detail and history.
Thank you Margi. So happy to hear the video brought back special memories for you. Please keep in touch 😉
Why do my tortillas shrink so small
Hola just wanted to ask if you could send me measurements for half of the recipe.Thank you and God Bless.
Can I use a gluten free flour or mix to make these tortillas? My children have a gluten allergy.
Thanks!
Hi Rebecca, I’m sure you can, but I have never tested. If you try it out please let me know.
I believe it was warm water, maybe it was too warm. Do you have any thoughts on what temperature the water should be? And thanks for the reply. I will be trying again cause they were awesome the first time.
This was my second time making these and they were terrible, I have no idea what I did wrong. The first time they were amazing and this time they were like crackers.
Hi Jeff,
Did you use warm/hot water? The temperature of water usually makes a big difference. Don’t give up! It takes lots of practice 😉
I knew this was the recipe I wanted to try when I read your first few sentences. My husband just asked me if we had a rolling pin and I pulled out the wooden one that I used to watch my grandma make tortillas with. I asked for it years ago! She is still alive but in a nursing home and that was one of few items that I wanted from her home! Your story made me smile!
When I told my husband I’ll make tortilla after watching you video. He insisted we do not own a tortilla presser. I told him rolling pin works! He insisted it will not work. First question:does that really make a huge difference?
As I started rolling and cooking it, I was thinking the tortilla I ate is thin so I rolled it really thin! But it just gets crisp… By 6th piece I try to make it more round but less thin. When cook finally the whole piece fully puffed up! Question 2:So shd I roll it really thin or it should be able to puff up thickness?
Hi Mae,
A tortilla press only works for corn tortillas. You have to use a rolling pin for flour tortillas. Thickness is truly a personal preference. I prefer mine a little thicker 😉
Hi Yvette,
I wanted to thank you and your mother for a truly wonderful recipe.
I have tried many internet recipes and could never find the rest taste and texture until now. I made a half batch, stacked between wax paper, and then cooked.
The only issue I had was that the dough was too sticky and I couldn’t free all the tortillas from the wax paper. Did I just have too much water in the dough? Also, do you need to rest the dough at all before rolling to reduce the dough elasticity?
Hi Bruce,
I’m so happy to hear our recipe was wonderful. We don’t use wax paper, so I can’t answer that question. And no, we don’t rest the dough. This dough recipe is meant to roll directly and cook as soon as rolled. Hope that helps.
Enjoy!
Omg thx my husband and kids love these not hard at all …. It’s letting the kids pitch in and knowing all the recipes were just in your kitchen, thank you so much my kids and I enjoyed making them !!!
Omg thx my husband and kids love these not hard at all …. It’s letting the kids pitch in and knowing all the recipes were just in your kitchen, thank you so much my kids and I enjoyed making them !!!
I tried these tonight, and my dough was a bit tough. Therefore they were too thick and tough. Any advice for next time? I’m presuming I used the right measurements and didn’t mis-read. LOL!
I’m sorry to hear the dough was tough Amy. Maybe the water was not warm enough or the pouring of the water was too slow? Are you using all purpose flour? ~Vangie
Wonderful video and recipe. I’m making them now and it truly IS an art to make tortillas. I’m loving it though and so is my daughter!! My son and daughter eat them faster than i can make them!! Delicioso!! Muy Bueno!!!
HOW INCREDIBLY DELICIOUS AND EASY IS THIS RECIPE? ! I am an incredible Brazilian home cook and I can whip up a banquet out of anything #MCGYVER. But if there is one thing i’m terrible at is flour tortillas from scratch. Today all of that changed. WOW. My kids and my husband truly savored every last one. I have a few leftover dough balls ziploced up for bfast. So happy to add this recipe to my family’s cookbook. Obrigada!
Hi
I loved the video. You know what Indian flat bread called ‘roti’ or ‘chapati’ is made in exactly the same way. The only difference is that instead of white flour(all purpose flour) we use whole wheat flour and there is no baking powder added to the flour.
Thanks.
Wow, super interesting Madhu! Thanks for sharing, and so happy to hear you enjoyed the video.
When i was little growing up in the San joaquin Valley, we lived in farm labor camps. My mom would cook for the Eastetn indian farmworker men. She made those”tortillas” out of wheat flour for them. They were delighted but we didn’t like them, we wanted the texan flour ones. 🙂
YummO! I’ve tried a recipe that added powdered milk and they were ok. Why would you add powdered milk anyway? Maybe for protein? Just curious. I can’t wait to try this recipe especially after such a detailed video. I loved how your mom put the lard into the dry ingredients but to the side of the mixing bowl until she thoroughly mixed in all the dry ingredients first. Then she worked it in. Then she hand kneaded each pinched off “ball” of perfect size before rolling each out. I’m wondering what wood the rolling pin was usually made of… Then flattening out the bubbles as they were cooked! WOW! Wonderful video! Watching over and over again. Thank You and your mom!
I add alittle coconut milk. Makes the dough silky pliable for making huge burrito size tortillas.
Just 1 tbsp of lard? I use a 1/3 cup to 3 cups of flour. Just wondering if that’s the correct amount of lard.
Love, love, love this! What a beautiful video, too!
Thanks Kelly! I wish my mom lived nearby so she can be in more videos. Your videos really inspire me so your compliments are truly special. Gracias.
Lovely! Made me a bit teary eyed thinking of my grandma. She never measured a single thing and I always wondered how she made such amazing food-this video brought her close to mind and heart, she made flour tortillas with love and joy.
Thank you Bernadine. My grandma and mom never measured anything either. It took my mom many tries to get recipe just right and having to stop and measure it all. So glad we now have exact measurement to share.
Great tutorial, and your mom is so cute! You should send it to a certain Argentinian TV chef making the rounds on social media these days. 😉
Great video!
It made my day when I saw your ma making the tortillas. It so reminded me of my time in the kitchen with my ma and sisters. Great times around the kitchen table laughing and poking fun at our tortilla skills along with anything else that just happen to be a topic at the time.
We always tried to make our ma pick one of us as the best daughter with the best tortilla making skill……she was very wise and always pick all of us sisters. 🙂
Yvette, this is a great recipe from your cookbook and the video helped me fill in a few small gaps in my understanding of the technique. Next time I make them I’ll be sure to use the towel to press down some of the bubbles. Also the way your mother rolled the tortillas taught me a lot. Your mom is a star- great video from you both!
¡Hola! ¡Qué lindo el video de su mamá! ¿Puede Ud. compartir el nombre de la canción que toca en el video? Me encanta la guitarra española y me gustaría usar esta música en mis clases de Zumba para descansar después de la clase. ¡Mil gracias!
Gracias Krista!
La cancion se llama Charango:
https://www.pond5.com/stock-music/158035/charango.html
You know that this is my favorite recipe in your book. I have told everyone who will listen to give it a try and never buy store bought again. I just need to work on my technique a bit. These are delicious no matter what the shape!
Love your blog. Found some great recipes I’ve always wanted to have. Great tortilla recipe. They’re exactly like the ones my mom taught me to make. I just wanted to say that after I knead my dough I cover it and let it rest about 5 to 10 minutes and it’s usually easier to work with. Also, humidity and altitude can effect your dough and can cause you to need more or less water.
Hi Yvonne,
Thank you! You are absolutely right about humidity and altitude affecting the dough — thanks for making that point 😉
Keep in touch!
Can not wait to try to make these. I tried to get my grandma to teach me how to make homemade flour tortillas and her tamales. I even purchased all the ingredients. She made them without me, then got too sick to ever show me 🙁 . Thank you for your shared recipes.
Mine came out kind of hard and crisp. What did I do wrong? I followed the recipes to the tee.