How To Make Corn Tortillas – Step-By-Step {Vegan, Gluten Free}
These soft Homemade Corn Tortilla are made with just 4 ingredients and are quick and easy to make.
Suitable for Vegan and Gluten-Free diets.
Remember the moment you first came across this post. Because you have just found the best Corn Tortillas of your life. I don’t say this lightly because I know this. I have tested a gazillion Homemade Tortillas so you don’t have to. And THIS one right here, is the best.
And if you are a Mexican food lover then you certainly want to drop make these authentic Mexican Corn Tortillas. Because they will be fresher and tastier than shop bought versions. And you know exactly what is going in them.
But before we go into the Corn Tortilla Recipe, let’s start with a few fun facts.
What Is Masa Harina?
A key ingredient for corn tortilla is masa harina. This is a very finely ground corn flour that has been made from dried corn kernels, which have been cooked and soaked in lime water and dried again. Mixed with water (or sometimes oil), it forms the dough called “masa” that is used to make corn tortillas. Pictured below is white masa harina and blue masa harina.
Is Masa Harina And Corn Flour The Same
Due to its treatment, masa harina is softer with different properties. Corn flour or polenta is made in a different way so you cannot substitute these for masa harina.
Where to Buy Masa Harina
You can get masa harina in big ethnic stores or gluten free stores. (You may need to look at the ethnic or free from aisles.) Or you can easily buy it online from Amazon (my preferred method):
- Buy white masa harina
- Buy blue masa harina
Are Corn Tortillas Gluten Free?
Corn Tortillas are normally made with Masa Harina which is naturally gluten free. However, there is the possibility of cross-contamination where the corn flour is processed and packed or where shop bought tortilla are made. So please make sure to check that versions you buy are marked as gluten free. The recipe I give here is gluten free.
Are Corn Tortillas Healthy?
Yes. They are. They are made of just four simple ingredients and typically, Masa Harina is from whole grains, giving it a good level of fibre.
One of the main health benefits of corn tortillas comes with how they are eaten. Typically eaten with beans and other vegetables, they mean that the carbs in the meal are only those wrapped around the veg and meat, meaning that the carbs tend to make a smaller proportion of the meal than with other foods.
Are Corn Tortillas Vegan?
Yes, they have just the four ingredients, none of which comes from an animal.
How To Make Corn Tortillas – Step-by-Step Tutorial
Step 1. Mix all the ingredients together, and knead until you can form a ball of dough.
Step 2. If you have time, let it rest for a bit, covered by a tea-towel. If not, it doesn’t matter too much.
Step 3. Make small (about the size of a golf ball) balls of the dough. Each one will be one tortilla. The amount above is enough for 10 or 12 tortillas, depending on how big you like them.
How To Make Corn Tortilla With A Tortilla Press
Making this Corn Tortilla recipe is much easier and quicker using a tortilla press. (You can buy a good one here.) And because of the way the tortilla press works you end up getting nicely round tortillas if you use it. Round, thin tortillas batch after batch.
Let us go through how to make how to make Corn Tortillas with a tortilla press step by step:
- Cut up a Ziploc bag or parchment paper and lay it over the open tortilla press.
- Place a ball of the Corn Tortilla into the middle of the tortilla press.
- Close the tortilla press using the handle to flatten the Corn Tortilla dough.
- Open the tortilla press and check your dough if it is not thin enough you can press it once more.
- If it the tortilla is much wider on one side than another, turn it round (so the fat side is nearer the hinge) and squeeze again.
- The carefully remove your tortilla dough from the plastic / paper and cook on your griddle pan / cast iron pan.
- Store the cooked wrapped tortillas in a dishcloth to keep them from going hard.
How To Make Corn Tortillas Without A Press
You can still make corn tortilla without a press. What you would do is place the dough between the plastic bag sheets (or parchment paper) and roll it into a flat disc, aka tortilla.
They may not turn out as perfectly round as when using a press. Just try and make sure you apply an even amount of pressure over the whole tortilla as you roll it out.
You can also use any bottles (olive oil bottles are awesome for this) if you don’t have a rolling pin. Then you would simply peel it off the plastic/ paper before cooking it on the griddle pan.
How to Make Campfire Corn Tortillas
Yeap, you can make this Corn Tortilla recipe on a campfire or on a BBQ grill. Why make tortillas inside in the summer when you can enjoy them outside instead when you’re camping and BBQing? This recipe is perfect for the outdoors because….
- It contains only 3 easy ingredients.
- You can roll the tortillas out with bottles on wood (perfect for camping when supplies are short).
- You can cook them on a grill or cast iron pan.
Homemade Tortilla Tips
- One thing that is important to remember is that you don’t want the dough to be too sticky. It wants to be sticky enough to form a ball with perhaps a few cracks in it but that I sit.
- Different masa harina flours have slightly different rates of absorption so you will have to play it by ear, but a 1:1 ratio of flour to water is usually about right.
- You will really know if your dough is too dry or wet when you are making the actual tortillas. If too dry it will not squeeze out properly and crack, if too wet it will stick to the plastic bag.
- If you have got it wrong, it is easy to fix. If too dry, add a little bit of water, if too sticky just add flour.
- You will soon see if your balls of dough are the right size – if they are too big, they will squeeze out of the sides, if too small, you will get tiny tortillas.
- Don’t worry if you got the size wrong, it takes two ticks to squeeze everything back into a ball and to start again.
Weight Watchers Points in Corn Tortillas
There are:
- 7 Freestyle points per serving
- 7 PointsPlus points per serving
What To Serve With Homemade Corn Tortillas
You can serve what you like with your tortillas. But just in case, I have added a few suggestions for you below.
Slow cooker Three Bean Chilli {vegan}.
How to Make Corn Tortilla Chips
Making corn tortilla chips is very, very easy and is a great way to use leftover corn tortillas.
Simply, brush the tortillas them with a little oil, cut into wedges, spread on a baking tray (with space between the wedges so that they crisp up) and bake. Then take out of the oven and let cool as they crisp up as the cool down.
Thank you for reading my Corn Tortilla recipe post. And please come visit again as I continue dreaming up recipes, traditional African recipes, African fusion recipes, Sierra Leone recipes, travel plans and much more for you.
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Corn Tortillas
Ingredients
- 250 g (2 cups) Masa Harina flour
- 250 ml (1 cup) warm water
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- Salt
Instructions
- Mix all the ingredients together and knead until you can form a ball of dough.
- If you have time, let it rest for a bit, covered by a tea-towel. If not, it doesn't matter too much.
- Make small (about the size of a golf ball) balls of the dough. Each one will be one tortilla. The amount above is enough for 10 or 12 tortillas, depending on how big you like them.
- Cut up a Ziploc bag or parchment paper and lay it over the open tortilla press.
- Place a ball of the Corn Tortilla into the middle of the tortilla press.
- Close the tortilla press using the handle to flatten the Corn Tortilla dough.
- Open the tortilla press and check your dough if it is not thin enough you can press it once more
- If it the tortilla is much wider on one side than another, turn it round (so the fat side is nearer the hinge) and squeeze again.
- Then cook on a frying pan or a flat griddle. You don't need oil. They are done when they start to puff up or have brown spots on them.
- And when they are done, wrap in a tea towel to keep them soft.
Notes
- 7 Freestyle points per serving
- 7 PointsPlus points per serving
How can I make crispy corn tortilla for crisp corn tacos.?
The recipe given here is my favorite which I want to make at home but we apply differently so I will try to make this again.
Thanks for sharing useful recipes.
Great recipe! Just what I was looking for to accompany our Tortillas dinner. Thank you!!
Bintu, thank you for your blog post.Really thank you! Awesome.
These look so simple to make and I love how they only have a few ingredients! I am going on the hunt for some Masa Harina flour!
I absolutely love how detailed your instructions are! Definitely going to give these corn tortillas a go after seeing how easy they are to make!
This looks much easier than I had expected! Thanks for all the tips on how to make corn tortillas!
Nice to see that our Mexican traditions now is also being embraced in other household and home chefs.. I am Mexican so tortillas are a must in our home. We love the blue corn tortilla a lot. Better when is homemade.
Oh how delicious this recipe looks! I really like. It’s just incredible. I am in love with the colors and how simple and short the ingredient list is. Yum!