How to Make Mexican & Spanish Tortillas at Home From Scratch

Nothing beats freshly-made, home-cooked tortillas with your favorite taco fillings. No idea how to make them?

This tutorial will let you know how do I make tortillas for the perfect Taco Thursday, or Tuesday, or Wednesday, or everyday!

And yes, it will also teach you how to use a tortilla press like a tortilla master. Now sit back and grab onto your sombrero and let’s go for a ride on the tortilla wheel of fortune.

No time to read the whole article? Watch this quick video!

How To Make Easy But Fresh Corn Tortillas

To make the perfect corn tortillas, you need to get your hands on some masa harina. It’s made of specially prepared corn kernels. Do not, for heaven’s sake, substitute your masa harina with cornmeal because that will ruin your tortilla from the very start.

Do you need a tortilla press? No, you can use a rolling pin to flatten your tortillas, but a tortilla press will make perfectly flat and round tortillas every time.

For a yield of 20 tortillas that are six inches across, you will need the following:

2 cups masa harina
Quantitatively kosher salt
1 Teaspoons hot water
Zipper bags

Step by Step Procedure

1
In a bowl, mix your masa harina with the salt, then add the hot water. Stir it well.
2
The best doughs are mixed by hand. So get in there and start kneading that mixture, for 1 to 2 minutes or until the dough is smooth, not sticky and can easily be balled up.
3
If the dough still feels dry and crumbly, add more water slowly. You can add one tablespoon at a time to make sure you don’t add too much.
4
If the dough feels sticky, add more masa harina, one tablespoon at a time. Your final product should feel springy, much like play dough.
5
Let your dough rest for about 15 to 30 minutes by covering the bowl with a towel. It will have time to absorb the water completely, and it will taste better too. However, you can skip this if you’re in a hurry.
6
Cut the sides of a freezer bag. Open the tortilla press and lay one side of the cut freezer bag on top of the opened press.
7
Make a ball of about 3 to 4 tablespoons of dough that is about the same size as a table tennis ball.
8
Here’s The Process of Using Tortilla Press: Put the dough ball on top of the tortilla press that you covered with plastic, in the middle. Fold the other side of the plastic on top of the dough.
9
Press down the top of the tortilla press and press down the handle to flatten the dough. Now your tortilla is ready to cook!

How to Make Authentic & Thin Flour Tortillas

To make 15 to 20 flour tortillas, you need the following ingredients:

● 3 cups all-purpose flour
● 1 teaspoon salt
● 1 teaspoon baking powder
● ⅓ cup vegetable oil
● 1 cup warm water

Steps to Prepare Flour Tortillas

1
In a bowl, mix the flour, salt and baking powder thoroughly.
2
Add the oil and water, and knead well until the dough is smooth.
3
Now you’re ready to start pressing. Do the same procedure for pressing corn tortillas above (steps 7 to 9).

How To Make Soft Mexican and Spanish Tortilla

You might think that a Mexican tortilla and a Spanish tortilla are the same, but you are dead wrong.

The recipes on tortilla making that we just went through (corn and flour tortillas) are Mexican, while Spanish tortillas are made of potatoes. Yes, it is a classic, delicious Spanish staple. Here’s how to make this savory Spanish delight:

To make 2-4 servings of Spanish tortillas:
● 6 eggs, beaten
● 2 Yukon Gold potatoes
● 2-3 green onions, chopped up to the light green sections (may be substituted with 1/4 cup chopped yellow onion)
● 1/4 cup olive oil
● Salt

Process of Making

1
Slice peeled or unpeeled potatoes as evenly as you can (between ⅛ to ¼ inch thick).
2
Heat olive oil in a cast-iron pan. When it is hot enough to make the potatoes sizzle as soon as they’re added, start frying the potatoes by batch until they are lightly browned. Be careful that they don’t get crispy though. Dry fried potatoes on a paper towel and season with salt.
3
Pour out most of the olive oil in the pan and saute the onions. When they’re just starting to crisp, turn off the heat and arrange the onions evenly on the pan.
4
Arrange the cooked potatoes on top of the onions, making a scalloped pattern.
5
Turn on the heat, after which you can pour in the eggs, salt, and shake the pan so that the eggs coat all the surfaces. When the eggs start to set, place the pan under the broiler and continue cooking until the top is browned.

You can keep cooking the tortilla on the stove top. Just slide it onto a plate, and flip it back into the pan to cook the top.

How to Make Tortillas from Scratch

As you can see from the recipes, making tortillas from scratch is not too complicated. You need just a few ingredients, and you may or may not use a tortilla press. Just a few tips on making the tortillas:

1
You must never substitute masa harina with cornmeal. You can buy masa harina from most big stores, in the baking supplies section or you can order online. There are also Mexican specialty stores that sell fresh masa, but these have to be used immediately.
2
If you don’t have any masa, just use wheat flour and make flour tortillas instead. You will need some lard and baking powder for that, as the recipes show.
3
Knead your dough well and make sure you get the right consistency: springy like play dough, not sticky, not dry and crumbly.
4
Let it rest if you have time.

How to Cook Tortillas

Now that you have made your tortillas, it’s time to get cooking. You can cook your tortillas as you press them or press all your dough and then cook the tortillas afterward. Cooking tortillas is very easy.

Pre-heat a cast-iron griddle or skillet. Place a tortilla on the pan, cook for about 30 seconds or until it starts to puff up and flip. Cook that side for 30 more seconds and remove from pan. The same procedure goes for cooking both corn and flour tortillas.

Wrapping Up

Contrary to widespread perception, the best way to make tortilla is not tricky at all. However, to achieve that sumptuous, delectable taste, you may have to follow the guidelines mentioned above precisely.

See Our Article On the Making of Zucchini Noodles also!