Homemade Flour Tortillas

Homemade flour tortillas are super easy to make. Once you’ve made a batch of flour tortillas from scratch, you’ll never go back to store-bought tortillas. This easy flour tortilla recipe is perfect for tacos, burritos, enchiladas, and even making wraps.

I’m not sure why it’s taken so long to get this recipe to you. After all, no one loves tacos more than I do.

Spending my high school and college years in San Diego allowed me to try a lot of Mexican food.

I dare say that San Diego has the BEST Mexican food in the United States. I don’t know if I’ve ever found a Carne Asada Burrito that compares to the ones I had at Lolita’s in Chula Vista or Juanita’s Leucadia.

Needless to say, when it comes to Mexican food, I have pretty high standards. And these homemade flour tortillas fit the bill. They’re tender and flavorful and are worthy of being filled with homemade carne asada and guacamole.

What You’ll Love About This Recipe

• Quick and easy. Homemade tortillas take like 5 minutes to make.
• Make them ahead. These tortillas keep well in the fridge and freeze beautifully to make them ahead of time.
• The flavor. These tortillas taste amazing. I love them cooked with a bit of butter…mmmhh mmhhh good.

Recipe Notes

The easiest way to make flour tortillas from scratch is in a mixer with a dough hook. It makes the job effortless. However, if you don’t have a stand mixer, you can also mix these up by hand. It just takes a bit of elbow grease.

What you’ll need

• Flour. All-purpose flour is used to make flour tortillas.
• Salt. Salt is the primary flavor agent in tortillas, so you don’t want to skip it. Use kosher or sea salt.
• Baking powder. Baking powder acts as a leavener in tortillas and helps produce bubbles in the tortillas as they cook.
• Oil. I usually use olive oil or avocado oil to make my tortillas. You can always use lard any other type of fat here. Opt for something mildly flavored.
• Water. Warm water contributes to the smoothness of the dough.

Making Flour Tortillas in a mixer

1. Combine the dry ingredients. Add the dry ingredients to the bowl of a mixer fitted with a dough hook. Mix the dry ingredients until they are well combined.
2. Add the water and oil. With the mixer running on medium, add the oil and the water to the dry ingredients.
3. Mix the dough until the ingredients come together to form a ball — a minute or so.
4. Continue to mix the dough for a few more minutes until it is smooth.
5. Shape into balls. Transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface and cut it into 16 pieces. Shape the pieces into balls and flatten them slightly with the palm of your hand.
6. Rest the dough for 15 minutes and up to a few hours before rolling the tortillas out with a rolling pin.
7. Roll each tortilla out between two pieces of parchment paper. You’ll want them to be about 6-8 inches in diameter, depending on if you like thinner or thicker tortillas.
8. Set the tortillas aside until you’re ready to cook them.

🧬 GEEK WISDOM: Make sure to place parchment paper in between the tortillas if you want to stack them or store them in the fridge to cook later.

Making Flour Tortillas By Hand

If you don’t have a stand mixer, you can still whip up a batch of these flour tortillas from scratch.

1. Combine the dry ingredients. Add the dry ingredients to a medium-sized bowl and use a wooden spoon to mix them. Form a well in the middle of the dough.
2. Add the water and oil to the well and use the wooden spoon to combine the dry ingredients. Start in the middle and pull the flour in from the inside of the well.
3. Mix the dough until the ingredients come together to form a ball.
4. Knead the dough. After the dough has mostly come together dump it out on a lightly floured surface and knead for a few more minutes until it is smooth. Continue with the remaining steps.

How to Cook Flour Tortillas in A Skillet

1. Heat a heavy-bottomed skillet over medium-high heat.
2. When the pan is hot, place one uncooked tortilla in the pan and then cook until the surface has bubbles and the bottom is golden brown spots on the surface. The tortilla should still be soft and flexible.
3. Flip the tortilla over using tongs and cook for 15-20 seconds on the other side.
4. Place each tortilla in your tortilla steamer or a freezer bag while cooking the remaining uncooked tortillas. Allowing the cooked tortillas to steam each other keeps them warm and soft.

Recipe Variations

Of course, tortillas come in lots of different varieties. If you want to try more, you can try my corn tortilla recipe.

Storing + Freezing Tips

How to store flour tortillas

You can store cooked and even uncooked flour tortillas in the fridge. Just make sure to have parchment paper or wax paper in between each tortilla.

Place them in a gallon-sized zip-top bag or another type of airtight container. Store in the fridge for up to a week.

How to freeze flour tortillas

Flour tortillas freeze well. This is good news because it means you can have them on hand at all times. If you make a batch of homemade tortillas you can easily freeze any leftovers for several months.

How to reheat flour tortillas

You can reheat flour tortillas in a skillet or in the microwave.

To reheat tortillas in a skillet, heat the skillet over medium-high heat. Add the tortillas one at a time. Heat for 15-20 seconds on each side.

To reheat tortillas in the microwave, wrap them in a paper towel and heat them on medium power for 30 seconds.

Hungry for more Mexican Food?

Fill these delicious tortillas with Shredded Beef and your favorite salsa for an easy dinner or make a batch of Creamy Shrimp Enchiladas.

Serve with a side of Guacamole and Mexican rice and now it’s a fiesta.

FAQs and Expert Tips