Easy Homemade Flour Tortillas

Last Updated on September 15, 2024

It’s easy to make your own homemade flour tortillas. It just takes 4 ingredients which you probably have on hand and some water. They are perfect for tacos, burritos, or quesadillas.

Easy Homemade Flour Tortillas

Easy because there are only 4 ingredients that you probably have in your cabinet, and they’re easy to make by hand or with a stand mixer.   Economical too because it only costs about 70 cents to make a batch of 10 or 12!  Compare that to what you pay at the grocery store for flour tortillas that might be a couple of months old or more.

Mary Jo used to make tortillas all the time when our kids were young.  It seems like they lived on quesadillas with cheddar cheese and homegrown alfalfa sprouts .  They could have a healthy, tasty lunch in no time, thanks to the new-fangled invention…the microwave oven.

But these tortillas have a lot more uses than just tacos and quesadillas.  They are really good at dinner with soup, or at breakfast with eggs, or as an afternoon snack with butter and either a little honey or a light sprinkle of cinnamon sugar.

You could also make some larger tortillas and make some Crispy Tortilla Wrap Pizzas. Yum!

The basic recipe for tortillas is all over the internet with slight variations.  I like a Cooks.com one that uses vegetable oil instead of lard (like The Pioneer Woman) which is so much easier to mix together.   The Cooks.com recipe doesn’t include any baking powder but baking powder gives the tortillas a little lift and makes them a bit more tender.  

I think that 1 teaspoon of baking powder is just about perfect.  The tortillas are not hard and stiff, and they don’t turn into tortilla puff muffins either.

Sizing the Tortillas

You can make anywhere from 10 to 16 tortillas per batch.  I first separated the dough into 16 pieces and made a couple but they were little 6 incher’s.  Too small for me.  (This was my experimental batch mind you).  Then I rolled two of the balls together and made a 10 or 11 incher.  Way too big! (But perfect for Tortilla Wrap Pizzas).

The second batch I made was separated into 10 balls.  I grabbed our little kitchen scale to measure them out.  The whole batch of dough weighed 770 grams.  Grams makes it easy to divide up.  So I had balls of dough that were 75 to 78 grams.  This is the size that is in the photo below.  They are 8 or 9 inches give or take.  

Mary Jo came in to see now I was progressing and she said they look fabulous.  I told her, “They aren’t round.”  She consoled me and reminded me that I am not a factory!  Oh yeah…I felt a lot better after that.  

They are eclectic little, almost round shapes that taste really good!  And I made them myself…for 70 cents!  Take that you perfect grocery store bagged-up tortillas that cost two dollars and sixty-nine cents!

Here’s the recipe…Make your own easy homemade flour tortillas. (Originally posted January 28, 2016).

Here are some more tasty recipes to try:

• Easy Naan Bread Recipe
• Easy French Baguette
• Seared Beef Tenderloin Crostini
• Restaurant Style Mexican Rice
• Bread Dipping Seasonings

Easy Homemade Flour Tortillas

Save some money and make your own flour tortillas.

5 from 5 votes

Print Pin Rate

Course: bread, Condiment, Homemade Tortillas

Cuisine: American

Keyword: homemade flour tortillas, tortillas

Prep Time: 1 hour hour 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes minutes

Total Time: 1 hour hour 35 minutes minutes

Servings: 10 people

Calories: 202kcal

Author: Joe Boyle

Ingredients

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 cup hot tap water

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Instructions

• If you're making these by hand, put the dry ingredients in a large bowl. If you use a stand mixer attach the dough hook and place the dry ingredients in the mixer bowl
• Add the oil and water all at once and mix well until combined.
• Knead by hand or machine until the dough is smooth, about 3 minutes.
• Remove the dough from the bowl and form into a ball.
• Place on a lightly flour-dusted surface and cover with a towel to rest for 30 minutes.
• After 30 minutes, divide the dough into 10 evenly sized balls, (75 to 78 grams each).
• Flatten the balls into disks with the palm of your hand and cover again for 30 minutes.
• Heat a heavy skillet or griddle pan to medium high, (375° to 425° measured with my laser thermometer)
• Using a rolling pin, roll the dough on a floured surface until very thin, then place one tortilla on the hot pan.
• Cook about 45 seconds or so, just until the dough bubbles up with medium brown spots then flip and do the same on the second side. This will take about 1 1/2 minutes total in your hot skillet.
• Repeat with the remaining dough. Place the finished tortillas on a plate and cover with a towel.
• Serve the warm tortillas right away, or cool and store in a plastic bag in the refrigerator.

Nutrition

Calories: 202kcal