Homemade flour tortillas are so easy to make! These homemade flour tortillas are made using your food processor. Only 5 ingredients! Make up batch and freeze some for later.
Have you ever decided to make tacos at the last minute and realized you didn’t have any tortillas? Well this happened to me once so I decided to make them. Most people have all of the ingredients on hand with the exception of lard, but you can substitute butter if you need to. After I made them once, I realized how easy and how much better they taste. I no longer buy them anymore.
This recipe updated from 2017.
What are the ingredients in a flour tortilla?
Only 5 ingredients! Here they are:
- flour – unbleached all purpose flour gives them a prettier color in my opinion
- Kosher salt (paid link)
- baking powder
- lard or butter
- boiling water
Choose your size!
You can choose how big you want them, this recipe makes 32 tortillas which are about 5 1/2 inches in diameter and work out to be 2 ww smart points a piece.
Or you can divide the dough into 21 balls (1.5 oz each) for 3 smart points.
Or divide the dough into 16 balls (2 oz each) which work out to be 4 smart points a piece for a larger tortilla. I recommend the medium or large size for wraps.
How to make homemade Mexican flour tortillas from scratch in pictures:
In a food processor (paid link), pulse all ingredients except the boiling water until the lard resembles cornmeal.
With the food processor (paid link) running, slowly add the boiling water and process just until the mixture forms a dough.
Knead the dough on a floured board a few times until smooth and elastic
Roll out the tortilla on a wooden board. Choose your size – small, medium, or large. Keep dough covered at all times, otherwise the tortillas will dry out.
Heat a griddle or pan on medium high heat. Cook on a hot griddle or pan, just for about 30 seconds, then flip over and cook about 15 seconds more.
Keep tortillas covered after cooking so they don’t dry out. When they are all cooked, transfer them to 2 large plastic bags. Leave the bag open just a bit so the condensation doesn’t make them soggy or place them into a tortilla warmer (paid link). If freezing, allow them to cool with parchment in between each one and then freeze.
Also great with my Easy Instant Pot Shredded Beef Tacos!
Homemade Flour Tortillas
Ingredients
- 4 c. flour all purpose works great
- 1 t. kosher salt
- 2 t. baking powder
- 2 T. lard or butter
- 1 1/2 c. boiling water
Instructions
- In a food processor, pulse all ingredients except the boiling water until the lard resembles cornmeal.
- With the food processor running, slowly add the boiling water and process until the mixture forms a dough.
- Knead the dough on a floured board a few times until smooth and elastic.
- Decide what size of tortillas you want to make: If you want small ones, then divide the dough into 32 balls. You can use a scale and weigh them at 1 oz each. Medium ones (best for wraps) divide the dough into about 22 balls or 1 1/2 oz each. For large tortillas divide the dough into 16 balls or 2 oz each.
- Since I really try to keep things even so I know the exact smart points, I weigh each one, it actually goes pretty quickly.
- To make the most of my time after I divide the dough into the balls, I turn on my non stick griddle pan on medium high heat. While it's heating up, I roll each ball into a 5 1/2 inch diameter circle for small tortilla or a little larger if you're doing a larger tortilla. Try to make them as thin as you can. I do one stroke with the rolling pin, then turn tortilla over and roll again. After I roll it out a small bit, I turn the tortilla about 1/4 turn, roll again, turn 1/4 turn. If you roll, turn, roll turn, your tortillas will come out somewhat round. I roll about 1/2 the balls into tortillas and then start cooking. Cover dough and balls as you go so they don't dry out.
- Make sure your pan or griddle is hot before you start. My griddle pan will hold 4 tortillas at one time so I place them on the pan (no oil needed), then I go back to rolling out more balls. When the dough begins to bubble (after about 30 sec) I flip them over and cook for another 15 seconds or until lightly browned. So I roll and cook at the same time, it makes things go faster. All in all I can make 32 small tortillas, 21 medium tortillas or 16 large tortillas in about 30-45 min.
- Be sure to cover them after you cook them, otherwise they will dry out. I place them on a dinner-size plate, cover with a piece of parchment and then a kitchen towel. If you cover them just with the towel, they might taste like fabric softener from the towel (believe me, it's a yucky taste).
- When they are all cooked, transfer them to 2 large plastic bags with parchment in between each one and freeze. Pull one out whenever you need one, wrap in a paper towel and microwave for 20 seconds or place directly on a skillet and reheat until hot.
