Tortillas are really easy to make! You only need 3 ingredients, a bowl, a spoon, your hands and a frying pan. That’s all!
This recipe is gluten, dairy and soy free and it’s also vegan. The ingredients are really easy to get: cornmeal, salt and water. So cheap and easy!
We love Mexican cuisine and of course tortillas! But we prefer homemade tortillas. They are so much better than store bought, because you can choose the best ingredients and you make sure there are no chemicals, preservatives and additives in your food.
Authentic Mexican tortillas are made of a special cornmeal called masa harina, but here in Spain it isn’t easy to get, so we use cornmeal. If you can use masa harina, lucky you!
These tortillas are perfect for tacos. If you want softer tortillas you can add 40 grams or 1,4 ounces of oil (we use extra virgin olive oil).
We recommend adding the water gradually because it’s possible you’re gonna need more or less water than us, it depends on the cornmeal you use.
In this photo you can see how we make tortillas, it’s sooooo easy. If you don’t have a tortilla press don’t worry, we used a glass roasting pan.
You can make a lot of wonderful recipes with tortillas, our favorite recipe is baked tortilla chips, they are amazing! And we eat tortilla chips with our vegan cheese, yummy!
Corn Tortillas (Gluten Free)
- Prep: 5 mins
- Cook: 35 mins
- Total: 40 mins
- 15 1x
- How-to
- Vegan, Mexican
Servings 15 1x
Tortillas are so easy to make! You only need 3 ingredients, a bowl, a spoon, your hands and a frying pan. This recipe is vegan, gluten, dairy and soy free.
Ingredients
- 12 ounces precooked white corn flour (350 grams)
- 2 cups water (480 grams)
- 2 teaspoons salt
Instructions
- Combine cornmeal and salt in a bowl. Add warm water gradually, you maybe need to add more or less water (it depends on the cornmeal you’re using). It’s important to use warm water, because if the water is cold, tortillas will break and if it’s hot the dough will be very chewy. If at any point through the tortilla making process the dough seems too dry or too wet, add a little more water or cornmeal to the dough. You can mix the ingredients with a spoon first, and then you can use your hands. You should knead at least 3 or 5 minutes, or until dough is ready (look at the picture above).
- Take a piece of the dough and shape it into a ball the size of a plum. We made 15 balls from the dough.
- Take two pieces of plastic (we used a freezing bag). Place one piece of plastic on the table, place your dough ball, place another piece of plastic on top and press the tortilla with the glass roaster (or whatever you use). Make tortillas as thin as possible (1 or 2 millimeters or 1/10 inch thick).
- Place each tortilla on a medium hot skillet. Cook for about 1 to 2 minutes on each side, or until the tortilla does not look doughy.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 tortilla
- Calories: 85
- Sodium: 120.8 mg
- Fat: 0.9 g
- Saturated Fat: 0.1 g
- Carbohydrates: 17.8 g
- Fiber: 1.5 g
- Protein: 2.2 g
HI, I have cornmeal here at home but I am not sure if it is pre-cooked. Is it necessary for it to cooked? If so how do I take cornmeal and cook it for it to be prepared to make tortillas. I ask this question because I am growing corn to make my own flour and would like more understanding on the process to make these tortillas! Thank you, Go Vegans
Great recipe. I made a small batch for openers about ten tortillas. They were great. It went well with the pinto bean soup. We toasted them in the oven with some vegan cheddar cheese.
My wife and I are 78 and 81 and became vegan four months ago. Best life-changing thing we’ve ever done and the results are well worth it.
Thanks for the delicious and easy directions.
Al Larabee
Hi Al! I’m so happy to hear that 🙂 So glad you enjoyed the tortillas. Have a nice day!
I’m gonna try this recipe. I just want to know beforehand, what can I use these tortillas for? Burritos? Wraps? Quesadillas? I mean, can I fold them? Are they easy to handle?
Thank you so much! Lots of love from Uruguay.
Hi Ana! You can make any recipe that calls for tortillas. Do you know our Spanish blog? danzadefogones.com Just in case you prefer to read our recipes in Spanish 🙂
I just made these tortillas and oh(!!!) I LOVE them! Thank you very much for the recipe and clear instructions.
Hi Katrin! You’re so welcome 🙂 Have a nice day!
I didn’t read what oil u put in the pan before baking? So I used coconut oil.
Just baked them and they look very good. First time after 322 efforts I got some vegan gluten free tortillas that don’t look like sand or fall apart like sand 😉 done with that. This looks far better. Can’t wait to taste ;)))
Hi Jacqueline! I hope you enjoy them 🙂
After a lot of trial and error, I was able to make tortillas using a modified version of this recipe. I used fresh ground cornmeal so the texture was very gritty, but it is hubby and kid approved 🙂 I used 1 cup of water and had to add a little extra cornmeal until it wasn’t sticky, but was never able to make a knead-able dough. The plastic did not work. I tried foil and it still was to sticking too badly. Finally, I sprinkled cornmeal in my counter, placed a small ball of dough, and used my rolling pin. After I got it as flat as possible without sticking (very tricky), I used a spatula to scoop it onto the foil and transfer to my pan. I definitely think the type of cornmeal you choose will effect the ease at which you are able to make these. Ultimately, I will make these again and appreciate the effort you put into making this recipe and sharing it. Thanks!
Hi Lynz! Thanks a lot for the ideas! Have a nice week 😉
As many have stated before, this recipe does NOT work if you use the wrong product. You state to use corn meal, but usually meal is very coarse and it won’t stick together unless cooked (cf. polenta). Perhaps using corn flour only (not the starch, but the actual flour) might work, cannot say for sure, as I added it later to make an actual dough.
So, please, instead of apologising that the recipe did not work for someone, make a remark in the ingredients about the exact product you are using – perhaps the brand and the the fact that it is precooked?
★
Hi Andy! I’m so sorry the recipe didn’t work for you 🙁 We used precooked white corn flour. Have a beutiful day!
It’s important to know that “corn meal” is not what is needed for this recipe. Straight corn meal won’t give you the pliability/foldy-ness that tortillas have.
Masa harina is a pre-cooked type of corn meal, much more like flour than meal. Masa harina is what tortillas/wraps are made in Latin American countries. This is what you need to use.
Masa harina is available in many grocery stores throughout the US, including the brand that Iosune used. It is not expensive.
NOTE: Bob’s Red Mill now sells both corn meal and masa harina.
Thanks a lot for your comment Caroly, it’s really useful! 🙂
Are you sure it’s corn meal and not corn flour? This was a failure. Corn meal and water makes a yellow cakey mess. Not a dough like your photo.
Hi Jamie! I used precooked corn meal. I’m so sorry your recipe didn’t work 🙁
Hi i was wondering how long these can be stored and how do you store them? Does cornmeal go bad or get weird in the fridge? I may have access to masa arina, is masa arina vegan? Also what about using a rolling pin to roll them out or is that not recommened because of the cornmeal? Very awesome recipe, thanks for sharing!
Hi Lexi! Masa harina is vegan. You can read about how to store them in this web: https://www.ehow.com/how_7785527_store-homemade-tortillas.html Feel free to use a rolling pin if you want 🙂 Have a nice day!
I wonder if it is that your cornmeal is pre=cooked?
Hi Derek! Yes, I used precooked cornmeal 🙂
Hello! I attempted to make these amazing looking tortillas, but, like many in the comments, it was a flop. I’m tempted to say “I wish I’d read the comments first”, however, if I had I wouldn’t have learned something new!!
I managed to successfully make these (albeit they look like ordinary corn tortillas, not the pretty fluffy ones you have pictured) using Bob’s Red Mill Corn Meal. I’m going to write a post on what I did differently and link it back here for your readers!
Hello! I attempted to make these amazing looking tortillas, but, like many in the comments, it was a flop. I’m tempted to say “I wish I’d read the comments first”, however, if I had I wouldn’t have learned something new!!
I managed to successfully make these (albeit they look like ordinary corn tortillas, not the pretty fluffy ones you have pictured) using Bob’s Red Mill Corn Meal. I’m going to write a post on what I did differently and link it back here for your readers!
::Edit::
Here’s the link to how I did it with Bob’s Red Mill Corn Meal:
https://aberfamilyblog.blogspot.com/2015/06/corn-tortillas-successful-failure.html?m=1
Thanks a lot for your comment Michelle! 🙂
I made these last night and it turned out just how I think flour tortillas should be. I mixed 1.5 cups masa harina, 1 cup warm water, 1 tsp salt, and 1 Tbsp olive oil together. This made 8 tortillas (with plum sized dough balls). Thank you for sharing darling! Cheers.
I’m glad you liked the recipe Mindy!!! Have a great day 😀
Hey, folks. As one who has eaten a VERY STRICT VEGAN DIET since 2004, I’m all for it.
Why on Earth do you have ads for “Simply Potatoes” since they show picture of meat from innocent animals that were tortured, then brutally murdered, then fed to ignorant humans???
It’s not very vegan of you!
Hi,
We use ad networks, which serve ads that we can´t totally control.
We have animal product filters applied we these networks, that way the ads shouldn’t be about animal products, but I guess there has been some error with the filter of some of the networks we work with.
We also can block specific ads, but as we live in different places and the ads served depends on the place on Earth you are, we can’t see the same ads as you, so we can’t block them. Anyway, I’ll do my best to block “Simple Potatoes”.
I’m sorry for the inconvenience and thanks for letting us know!
most sites use adsense, the advertisements have nothing to do with the site itself
on top of that, they are also based on things you have searched for. Whenever it gets overwhelming for you, you can try searching for hair removal or something that you normally don’t search for to try to remove ads about food
Thanks for the help Faith 😀
i too live in Australia, and recipe failed, second one this week, all because of FLOUR & MEAL saga!i if its flour then I think we know how fine a consistency that is, if it’s anything courser then it’s meal, or is it?
Culprits here are:- Almond, potato, corn, etc., I have decided. Never to take for granted if the recipe says flour again, it’s hard enough being gluten intolerant without so many disappointments.
I’m sorry the recipe didn’t work 🙁 I’m not gluten intolerant, but I eat gluten-free most of the time and it’s not hard at all, there are so many amazing recipes that work, you just need to find those that work for you!
Hi, if this is of any help I used Fioretto Cornmeal, a very fine yellow cornmeal used to make polenta. It worked perfectly even though I didn’t pay much attention about the water temperature and they are delicious.
★★★★★
Thanks a lot for your comment Francis 😀 I’m glad you liked the tortillas!
Hi, just making your recipe. I live in Spain and have been searching for masa harina. Just found it!! Carrefour is selling it, (I went to the one in Benidorm) and they had it in the specialty food section under the header “South American” in the back. Carrefour is a chain so likely they will have started selling it in all of them. The cost is a little under 3 euro’s for a kilo. Hope this helps and thanks for the recipe!
Thanks a lot Melanie!! I’ll buy it 😀 Have a nice day!!!!
I tried this seemingly easy recipe and… it was a complete waste of time. The dough resulted in a pile of unworkable crumbs of different size. More or less water made no difference. About 40, 60 or 80 degrees water made no difference either. It would either be to watery or crumble, with no middle ground. And no sign of the flour turning too elastic with too hot water either.
You need to specify exactly the grain of flour you use. I have “medium size meal” flour here, and it was a complete waste of time.
★
Hi Dario! I’m sorry to hear that! I’ve made tortillas hundred of times with this recipe, probably it was because of the flour. I use precooked white corn meal. This is the brand I use 🙂
Hi Iosune – love the look of your tortillas 🙂 Can I just ask for clarification – you say you use “corn flour” – by that do you mean corn meal? (Here in Australia, corn flour is the starch
Hi Laura! I mean corn meal, not corn starch. Sorry but English is not my first language 😛
Hi, could I suggest that you change the wording of the recipe so that people know to use corn meal and not actual cornflour? We call the starch cornflour here in the UK too. Wish I’d read the comments before I tried to make these and wasted my cornflour – but it was an interesting experiment! I’ll try again with cornmeal and let you know how it goes. I have used mada harina successfully, but it’s expensive and I have to get it online, so I’d love to find an alternative. Thanks!
Thanks a lot for the suggestion. English is not my first language, so I appreciate your help 🙂
Hi Iosune !
I made these with the same flour and they are amazing!!! These are my new go to tortillas. Love your blog!
★★★★★
Hi Angela! Yayyyy! I’m glad you liked them 😉
I love your blog so much! The recipes are so simple and all homemade, these tortillas are a perfect example! Minimal Eats has been a big help in eating vegan and gluten free!
Hi Jette! Thanks a lot 😀 Sometimes is hard to eat vegan and gluten-free, but it’s totally worth it 🙂
These look delicious! What brand of flour do you use in Spain? Is it a white corn meal?
Hi Angela! I use precooked white corn meal. This is the brand I use 🙂
I too was intrigued by the beauty of the pictures and the seeming simplicity of this recipe and now wish I hadn’t made a whole batch… Because now I’m sitting on a large ball of unbaked dough (I’m not really sitting on it; it’s in the fridge) and I’m racking my brain as to what I did wrong.
My dough was either wet and crumbly or dry and crumbly despite adhering to everything you recommended. I did love the method with the glass roaster. But my problem was that I couldn’t remove the tortilla from the plastic; it was extremely fragile and crumbled immediately. I added mor flour, more oil, kneaded it, made a thicker one – then I did get it into the pan but it became hard and brittle instead of soft and pliable like the ones in the pictures that I was after.
I think the answer is probably in the flour like you suggest. Mine is not white like yours; it’s yellow (Bob’s Red Mill brand) and the dough feels sandy. Yours almost look like the rose a bit…?
Do you have any solutions or ideas? Which brand of flour did you use? (I suppose the brand also really depends on where you live. I think altitude too will change baking results….)
Thanks for any tips.
Kathi
I’ll make a video with this recipe soon because it’s difficult. You need to add warm water, neither too hot nor too cold. I live in Spain, so I can’t recommend you a brand (I think you won’t be able to buy it in your country). I’ve never tried this recipe using yellow flour, so I don’t know if it could work. Sorry for the inconvenience!
I had the exact same problem! I ended up just going to buy tortillas 🙁 I think this method only works with the specific type of flour that she used…shame.
Hi Ann! I know the recipe works with this type of flour, but I don’t know if it does with other flours 🙁 I’m sorry it didn’t work!
Usas Harina Pan?
If the brand she used is Harina Pan you can find it in the United States at every supermarket in the latin isle. If this recipe didn’t work for you, make arepas with the dough (google it), if is too wet add more Harina Pan, if is too hard add little water (tiny amounts and knead it well). Harina Pan is precooked corn meal but is not the same as the rest of the corn meals that you can find at supermarkets, used only that brand, is the best
★★★★★
Hi Laura! Yes, it’s the brand I use 😀 Thanks a lot for the info 😉
I was so excited for these when I stumbled upon this recipe and recently went and purchased some genuine masa harina (as suggested in the blog). The wonderful pictures… and the method just sounded SO easy.
Reality: this few ingredients did *not* make a workable dough. I spent nearly an hour having to add wheat flour (more than 1/2 cup!) more corn flour (about 1/2 cup) and a full tablespoon of oil. I had to knead for more than 10 minutes.
In short: this was the *hugest* disappointment, and I am so grateful that I chose to halve the recipe. I think hot water is actually best (the instructions on the masa harina bag uses hot water for tortillas), but I will not use this as a guide for tortillas in the future. Good luck to those who try!
I’m sorry to hear that! We’ve made tortillas hundred of times with this recipe, probably it was because of the flour.
I’ve made these tortillas with the same corn flour they used and it worked perfectly for me. Maybe the change in flour changed how successfully they came out?
The tortillas I buy so often get expensive- I’m excited to try out this easy recipe instead 🙂
Great! I hope you like it 😉
Talk about gorgous photos! You can even make tortillas look pretty! I love how simple and few ingredients these call for. I have yet to make my own tortillas but I think I will start here! Pinned!
Haha thanks Meg!!! 😉
Your photos are gorgeous! I’m here from Jasey’s Crazy Daisy and totally pinned!
Thanks a lot Jasey! 🙂
Hi,
Is there another flour that I can sub for the corn flour ? (I can’t consume corn goods)
Thanks
Hi Stella! I’ve never made this recipe using any other flour, but you could try… Happy new year!
No worries – but thank you anyway. Happy new year !
You’re so welcome!