The Best Homemade Flour Tortillas {Step-by-Step}

Presenting the best homemade flour tortillas, complete with step-by-step instructions. They are easy to make (with just five ingredients) and so delicious.

Jump to Recipe

Hi friends.

It’s been over two weeks into this crazy time. And maybe this is just me, but I’m loving having my people home all day to feed. Feeding people that I love yummy food always makes me happy. And with 2 big teen boys around all day, food sure seems to disappear fast.

These homemade flour tortillas are no exception. We love them and have been eating them like crazy the last couple of weeks. They are super easy to make (and a delicious comfort food).

I’ve made a lot of homemade flour tortillas over the years. And most recipes that I’ve tried are better than store bought tortillas. But it wasn’t until just recently that I finally nailed the best homemade flour tortillas. And these are them.

I’m declaring them the best because I’m finally no longer out searching for more recipes. That’s right. What I’m sharing here with you today meets all of my expectations for the perfect homemade flour tortillas.

They are soft and tender with a lovely light and flaky texture. Their melt-in-your-mouth flavor means you really can’t stop after eating just one. And talk about EASY! Just 5 ingredients (all of which are pantry friendly).

Those lovely colorful dark spots that make you swoon with happiness and guess what? Using whole grain flour works great too. Literally everything I’ve been looking for in a homemade flour tortilla recipe, my friends. I’m so excited to share them with you.

And today I’m going to walk you through step-by-step so you can be successful making homemade flour tortillas right now, (in your pj’s if you’d like).

First let’s talk about the five ingredients

Flour – I’ve made these four tortillas with both all-purpose unbleached flour and whole-wheat flour. I haven’t tried them with other types of flours but I’m sure you could experiment.

For best results weigh your ingredients. But if you don’t have a kitchen scale, make sure to measure the flour with a light hand. Fluff it in the container, then spoon it into measuring cup and level it off with a butter knife. You don’t want to over flour the tortillas or they won’t be light and tender.

Baking Powder – I use the Rumford brand of baking powder for all my baking because it’s aluminum free and I’ve found that baked goods rise well using it. But honestly I don’t think the type of baking powder you use in this recipe will make much difference. Some recipes for flour tortillas actually leave out the baking powder so you could try that if you were in a pinch and didn’t have any. But I think it adds to the lightness.

Salt – I use this fine sea salt (aff. link) or Himalayan salt, but again use any salt you have (table salt will work just fine).

Cooking Oil – For best flavor use a neutral flavored cooking oil. I normally use canola or avocado oil, but a regular vegetable oil would also work. I’m guessing again could use whatever you had on hand.

Hot Water – I normally microwave the water for a minute or so until it’s hot but not quite boiling.

Mixing the dough

I like to use a Bosch mixer (aff. link) with a dough hook to mix these tortillas, but they would be quite easy to mix by hand as well.

First add the flour, baking powder, and salt to the mixer (or bowl) and mix until combined.

Then combine the hot water and oil in a measuring cup and slowly add to the mixer while it is on low.

The dough should start to come together as it’s mixing (or as you’re mixing it by hand).

Let it mix on medium speed for about 2 minutes.

If you are making these by hand, after the dough comes together, place it on a floured counter and knead it by hand for about 5 minutes. At this point the dough should be soft, stretchy and workable, but not overly sticky.

If after mixing dough still seems too sticky, add flour (a tablespoon at a time) until it reaches a good consistency. Or if dough seems too dry, mix in a little more hot water (a tablespoon at a time).

Just a quick note that I’ve never had to add any additional flour or water when I’ve weighed my ingredients. Just another plug for using a kitchen scale, my friends. This is the scale I am loving right now (aff. link).

The resting period

Okay let’s talk about the resting period.

I did a lot of experiments with the resting period as I was trying to come up with best homemade flour tortilla recipe. And believe me, I was really hoping to ignore it (I’m all for taking shortcuts, you know).

But in the end, I found that I really enjoyed eating the tortillas more that had a chance to rest before I rolled them. They were more tender and flaky-textured with those delicious air pockets inside. While the ones that were subjected to my rolling pin right after mixing were just a little tougher and not as airy.

Having said that, I must also tell you that all the tortillas that came out of my kitchen during recipe testing were consumed and enjoyed. So if you only have a few minutes to whip these babies out before a hungry bunch of teenagers exploded in hangry threats, just omit the resting period (or cut it back) and feed them.

But if you’ve got some time to kick back your feet and rest a minute yourself, do it. They do come out quite a bit tastier after having rested (and what can I say, I’m a lot happier after a nap too).

While the dough is resting, cover it with plastic wrap so it’s air tight. Otherwise it will develop kind of a weird film on the dough that gives it a discoloration when you roll them out.

Don’t be surprised when the dough hasn’t risen during the resting period, that’s completely normal (see pictures below).

Forming the dough balls

I experimented both with rolling the dough into balls before and after the resting period and didn’t notice a huge difference. So do it whichever way makes you happy.

This recipe makes ten 8 to 10-inch tortillas. I normally weigh the dough so the tortillas are somewhat uniform. Each dough ball should weigh about 1.8 to 1.9 ounces.

You can always make smaller or larger tortillas depending on what you are using them for. This size is just perfect for most of my tortilla needs (but I would probably make them a little smaller for soft tacos and a little larger for wraps).

To form round dough balls, I cup the dough in my hands and then roll around and around in my other palm or on a flat surface.

It doesn’t have to be perfect, but it’s a lot easier to roll the dough into a round shape when it starts out round.

Rolling and cooking

I normally roll the tortillas out as I’m cooking them. Once you get kind of a flow down, it goes pretty quick.

Preheat a heavy bottom (or cast iron) skillet on medium high until a drop of water sizzles on top.

Lightly flour a counter top and roll dough with a floured rolling pin. Flip and turn dough 90 degrees after each roll until dough forms a round shape. Keep lightly dusting surface and dough with flour as you roll and turn to keep dough from sticking.

Don’t worry too much if they are not perfectly round. They will still taste amazing. And please don’t roll them back into a ball and start again. Yes, I’m talking to all you perfectionists out there. You’ll lose the nice, tender flavor that way and sacrificing flavor for looks is just not worth it.

Cook each tortilla on preheated skillet for about 30 to 45 seconds on each side or until bubbles form on top and brown spots appear on the underside.

You may need to adjust the temperature of the stove after the first one depending on how quick they are cooking and the color of the spots you are going for.

Then as the pan gets hotter during the cooking process you may need to adjust the heat again.

Be careful not to overcook them or the tortillas will be dry and crumbly.

How to store and use them

Store cooled tortillas in an airtight container or resealable bag with a paper towel on the top and bottom to soak up moisture.

Tortillas will stay good at room temperature for a few days, in the refrigerator for up to a week, or frozen for a few months.

They are delicious plain, but we also use these tortillas for tacos, wraps, burritos, quesadillas, etc.

And there you have it, my friends. All the steps you need to become a homemade tortilla producing machine.

And I’m sorry to say it, but once you make these from scratch it’s REALLY hard to go back to the store bought ones again. Consider yourself warned.

Recipe Source: Heather @ The Cook’s Treat, recipe inspired by Cooking Classy and Isabel Eats, changed ingredient amounts and method based on my own recipe tests

All images and text ©The Cook’s Treat

Disclaimer: post contains affiliate links for items on Amazon.