Homemade Flour Tortillas. These flexible, soft and tender tortillas are the PERFECT homemade tortilla! This recipe is easier than you may imagine and needs only 4 ingredients!
How to make the BEST homemade Flour Tortillas!
Tips for making the best easy homemade tortilla recipe:
- Use a stand mixer with a dough hook if you have one, it saves time and is easy on the wrists. You can absolutely make these by hand. It involves kneading the dough for about 15 minutes. There’s nothing wrong with either method. It’s all about what works best for you.
- Heat the water and melt the lard. I LOVE this method. Most recipes will tell you to mix the fat into the flour until it’s like coarse meal. But I love being able to melt the lard into the warm water and then just pour that over the flour. I find that the fat is more evenly dispersed in the tortillas and that the entire process is just a bit easier.
- No baking powder! I love my tortillas a bit thinner, easier to roll and fold for burritos. If you are wanting thicker tortillas you can add 1 teaspoon baking powder to the flour and salt mixture.
- Let the tortilla dough rest. I like to divide the tortilla dough into the amount of tortillas I’m going to make, I typically get 12-14 tortillas with this recipe. It just depends on how big you’re making the tortillas. Divide the dough, roll each section into a ball, set on a baking sheet sprinkled with flour. Cover and let rest for 20-30 minutes. This allows the gluten to develop and there will be less shrinking in your tortillas when you roll them and cook them.
- Keep the skillet clean. If flour does start to accumulate in your pan it will burn. If you see black specks on the tortillas it’s time to carefully wipe the skillet.
- Find the perfect heat! Slightly increase the heat if a tortilla doesn’t have golden spots after 1 minute. However, decrease the heat if the spots are dark brown or black. I find my sweet spot between low and medium.
- Roll the tortillas pretty thin. You want them to look almost translucent, you should just barely see the counter through the tortillas when rolling. Thick tortillas won’t be tender.
- Avoid shrinking. If you try rolling out these tortillas and the dough keeps shrinking back, let it rest for another 15-30 minutes. The gluten just hasn’t had enough time to relax.
What should my tortilla dough look like?
Homemade flour tortilla dough should be smooth. If it has a stretched dough appearance, add a bit more flour and knead a bit longer. Once the dough is smooth and you can touch it and your hands come away clean, no dough sticking, then you are ready to separate the dough to rest!
What can I use to make homemade flour tortillas besides lard?
To make tortillas you need to use a fat. This is a major ingredient. However, you can switch up what you are using for that fat. Lard is the traditional fat used, and it can be found in most markets in the Latin American food aisle.
Here are some other options if you would prefer:
- Butter
- Oil (vegetable, corn, avocado or olive oil)
- Bacon fat (uuuhhhh yes please!)
- Shortening
Although! I do want to point out that lard is actually a great option! If done right, lard is a fairly “clean” source of fat. Meaning it’s natural, it’s rendered pork fat.
Can You Freeze Flour Tortillas?
Yes! If you’d like to make a large batch of flour tortillas for future use, they actually freeze really well. It is important to separate each flour tortilla with a piece of waxed or parchment paper, so that they don’t stick together.
Once separated, wrap the tortillas in foil and place in a freezer resealable plastic bag. Freeze for up to six months.
When ready to use, place the tortillas in the refrigerator to thaw overnight. To reheat place the tortillas on a hot skillet briefly just to heat through, or place on a heat safe plate, cover with a wet paper towel and microwave for 15-20 seconds until warm.
More Recipes You may enjoy:
Homemade Flour Tortillas
Ingredients
- 3½ cups all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup lard, or fat of choice
- 1 cup hot water
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl add the flour and salt. Whisk together to combine.
- Heat the water to a hot temperature, not boiling, either in a small saucepan or in a heat safe container in the microwave. Add the lard and stir, allow the lard to completely melt.
- Pour the melted lard and water into the mixing bowl with the flour mixture. Knead with the dough hook on a stand mixer on low for about 10 minutes. If not using a stand mixer, knead the dough by hand on a lightly floured surface for 10-15 minutes. Once the dough is no longer sticky and you have no dough sticking to your hands, the dough has a smooth appearance, then it's ready.
- Divide the dough into 12 equal sections. Roll and pinch each portion of dough to form a small ball. Place the dough portions on a lightly floured baking sheet, or on a floured counter. Cover with a clean kitchen towel and let sit for 30 minutes.
- Once the dough has sat for 30 minutes, heat a skillet (this is my favorite for tortillas!-affilate link) over medium low heat.
- Lightly sprinkle flour on a clean counter top and lightly sprinkle a rolling pin.
- Using your fingers, gently flatten out one tortilla, spinning as you go so that it flattens and creates a circle. If you notice a lot of resistance in the dough, let it rest a bit longer to allow more gluten formation.
- If the tortilla dough is soft and pliable, easy to press out with your fingers, continue and roll out the tortilla nice and flat in a round shape. The tortilla should be rolled thin and be slightly transparent.
- Place the tortilla on the hot skillet, allow to cook for about 60 seconds, you will notice bubbles forming, don't press them down. After 60 seconds, take a peek at the bottom to check the color of the tortilla, brown spots should have formed, if not, increase the heat slightly. If dark, almost black spots have formed, decrease the heat.
- Flip the tortilla and continue to cook the other side for another 30-45 seconds, bubbles will still form and brown spots will appear.
- Remove the tortilla from the skillet and place on a plate or in a tortilla warmer. If you don't have a tortilla warmer you can place the tortillas on a clean towel that you will be able to cover cooked tortillas with to help retain warmth.
- Continue this process until all tortillas are cooked. Do not roll several tortillas at a time and stack them since they will stick.
- Tortillas are best served warm. Serve immediately and enjoy.
Video
Equipment
Notes
- If you're looking for fluffier tortillas you can add 1 teaspoon baking powder to the flour and salt before adding in the fat and water.
- Store leftover tortillas in a resealable plastic bag. Can be stored at room temperature. Reheat briefly in a microwave or on a skillet.
This is favorite tortilla recipe. I don’t like baking powder in my tortillas
What is the purpose for the dough sitting for :30?
This gives time for the gluten to form in the dough and gives less shrinking when you roll and cook the tortillas.
This is the first time making tortillas. I used a tortilla press which worked great! Got them round and seemingly thin but wondering now if they could of even been thinner at least the middle, the edges were super thin.. Did not use baking powder (will try next time tho) and used bacon grease only. Dough was very pliable. They taste good but maybe a little thick in the middle. Will try again with press first then rolling. I have had fresh tortillas before and these were not the same as those so not sure where I went wrong but will try again. Always fun to try again and again, yum!! 😉☺
Question, I have the tortilla press do you not use that? (Of course I have never used it!) Would it make it easier to flatten the tortillas out?
Hi Linda! I love that you have a tortilla press, those are typically used for making corn tortillas though. Not flour.
Thank you I would never known that.
Love your recipe. Make at least twice a week
Excellent, easy recipe. Great flavor too! I have had success using both coconut oil and lard. A stand mixer is definitely the way to go. The tortillas are soft and pliable, but stand up to all our taco/burrito fillings! They do get stiff (we store the rare leftovers in the refrigerator), but soften up again with a little warming in the microwave. Hubby loves them! He fries them while I roll them out. Who knew taco night could be so fun? I will never buy tortillas again! Thank you for sharing.
Love this recipe!!!! So perfect. I used coconut oil as a replacement for lard and it worked great. I’ve been on a quest for the perfect tortilla recipe. Thank you for sharing. My family loves them.
Great recipe!! I appreciate all the tips – I’ve made tortillas before but these were so much better thanks to those tips!
Will never purchase store bought tortillas again – so easy and delicious! Just have to work on making them look like circles 😉 Thank you!!!
I’m not able to get lard right now…could I use vegetable oil?
Yes! You can use oil, butter or shortening as the fat for this recipe.
Can I make these using an all purpose gluten free flour?
I haven’t tried. But if it’s a one to one substitute I think it would work.
I am a flour tortilla snob
OMG these were the best!
Definitely use the stand up mixer route the dough was perfect and easy to work with
I did use Baking powder
The cooking instructions were spot on and super helpful it allowed me to keep rolling tortillas as I was cooking I find that often cooking times in recipes are way off, not the case here. Love that!!
Thanks Allyson! I’m so glad you enjoyed the recipe 🙂
Thank you so much. Since the ? I cannot find Them. This is so easy to do. ❤️❤️❤️❤️????♥️???
Just made these, they are really good. I’ll up the sale a little next time as I used kosher salt.
Am I able to leave out the flour, salt and lard? or what can I substitute those all for im allergic
Should the tortillas stay soft after they’re cooked? Mine were hard as soon as they cooled..
Where are you setting the tortillas once you make them? You want to keep them warm. If you have a tortilla warmer, place them in there while you continue cooking the remaining dough. If you don’t have a warmer, you can make one with some foil! Just fold a piece of foil over, lay the tortillas in between and close while cooking the remaining tortillas. And keep them in there while preparing or serving dinner. You want the tortillas to remain warm to stay soft. If you are needing to store leftovers, keep them in a plastic bag, and reheat in the microwave or oven to warm them back up and help soften the next day to re-serve.
Fantastic recipe!
I discovered a typo, though. Where you write about a thicker or fluffier tortilla, you say to add baking FLOUR to the flour. I know you mean baking POWDER, but some folks might question this.
Great website. I’m going to poke around a little bit more before I start on my salsa fresca.
Have a most blessed day.
Hi Skye! Thank you so much for the sweet comment. And thanks for pointing out my typo..it definitely should be baking powder. So glad to have you poking around the site!
I have made tortillas all my life I learned watching my Mom and Great Aunt, your recipe is close to theirs but they added baking powder to fluff them a little, I like the idea you use by blending together the lard, and warm water, great method I will try that next time, you have great blog and some nice recipes, I also do my salsa as you do. Thanks
Ernesto`
Thanks Ernesto! I do like warming the lard and melting it first. It mixes into the flour so much easier than when it gets mixed dry. Thank you so much for your kind comment 🙂
Love the recipe. I learned to make tortillas with lard too. But I will have to try melting it. I have always mixed it with the flour. Will let you know how it goes.