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Easy easy

Easy Homemade Garlic Tortillas

By: Nicole 33 Comments
Posted: 02/16/15 Updated: 12/14/15

This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure policy.

Easy Homemade Garlic Tortillas

I find a certain solace in making foods myself that are easily picked up at the grocery store. Things such as handmade pasta, from-scratch salad dressings, fresh pesto and ricotta cheese are just a few of the foods I find to be worth the extra effort to make at home versus getting them store-bought . It wasn’t until my recent trip to Mexico that I fully understood the discrepancy in quality of a freshly made tortilla compared to the run-of-the-mill tortillas you find piled high at the end of the Mexican food isle. They’ve now been added to my long list of items I’ll skip a grocery store run for.

Easy Homemade Garlic Tortillas

The reason I fell in love with Puerto Vallarta wasn’t purely for the warm weather and sunshine, it was also because of my deep-rooted adoration for the authentic Mexican food you find around (literally) every corner. Even at the most ordinary, hole-in-the-wall, family-run restaurants, you can expect nothing but fresh, local ingredients, and can even usually catch a glimpse of the family matriarch whipping up freshly made tortillas faster than Bobby Flay can slice an onion (FAST). You’d think at the wrap speed those babies are churned out, the quality might suffer, but I’ve found it to be quite the opposite. The faster, the tortillas are made, the more experience the tortilla-maker has, in turn, producing tastier tortillas. Even coming from a saturated Mexican food market here in Kansas City, most of the restaurants around here don’t hold a candle to what you can find in Mexico, and I’m guessing, a lot of them outsource that aspect of restaurant life.

After far too many discussions with my Mom about how you just can’t find tortillas here like they make them across the border, I finally decided to peruse the Internet for an easy recipe so I could make homemade tortillas.

Easy Homemade Garlic Tortillas

Enter: Easy Homemade Garlic Tortillas.

So. Let’s just dive into it. Because there are plethora of pictures here, I think it might just be best to explain each one.

But first, a little about the recipe. When searching the Internet for a recipe, I knew I wanted one that could easily be adapted and also one that didn’t require the use actual lard. While I’m sure I could find it, I really didn’t feel like searching high and low; plus I had vegetable shortening on hand. After skimming through five or so recipes, I finally spotted a recipe by the great Rick Bayless, and I just knew it would be perfect. For those of you who don’t know him, Rick Bayless is pretty much the end all, be all of Mexican cooking. It’s his specialty, and if you live in the Chicago area, you might have even dined at one of his restaurants — to put it mildly, he’s the king of authentic Mexican cuisine, so as you can imagine I trust his recipes implicitly.

Easy Homemade Garlic Tortillas

The steps really couldn’t be simpler. As shown above, the first step is very much similar to making a pie or biscuit dough, the only difference being that you don’t have to keep your ingredients cold, in fact, it’s just the opposite, as you want them to be slightly warm.

Room temperature shortening is cut in with a pastry blender until it resembles a course meal (again just like a pie crust), if you don’t own a pastry cutter (I only recently have), a fork will do the job perfectly as well. Once the fat is completely blended in, a salt and garlic laced water is slowly stirred in — Rick’s recipe calls for 3/4 of a cup of water, but I found that I needed closer to one cup to bring the dough together. I’d start with ¾ of a cup and then add more if you need it.

Also, a note on the garlic. I happen to love the flavor of garlic laces throughout pretty much anything I eat, especially Mexican food, but if you don’t love the flavor, cut it back to one clove, or even omit it altogether.

Easy Homemade Garlic Tortillas

Once the dough is sort of shaggy, I use my hands to bring it together completely and then knead it on a lightly floured surface just until it’s smooth — for me, it took about five minutes, but for someone with stronger arms, it might take less time.

The dough is then divided into twelve (I wanted small tortillas so I divided mine into 14 pieces) pieces, rolled into tiny balls and set aside to rest.

Easy Homemade Flour Tortillas 17

Once the dough rests, all you have to do is pop each one into your tortilla press and flatten them. If you don’t have a tortilla press no worries, you can just use a lightly floured rolling pin and roll the dough out in a circle as thin as you’d like. I actually tried both ways, and surprisingly preferred rolling them out myself.

Lastly, you cook them up! All you need is a clean dry pan, or if you have a gas burner, you can cook them directly on grates of the your stove. I ended up using a cast-iron skillet, which browned up the tortillas perfectly. Just set the tortilla in the dry skillet set over a medium-high heat and wait for it to brown, once it does, flip it over and wait for the other side to brown. The whole process takes literally no time at all, maybe 2-3 minutes.

There you have it! Homemade flour tortillas. Perfectly easy. Perfectly delicious. Infinitely better than store-bought.
Tomorrow, I’m recreating these streets tacos I had several times in Mexico. So easy and so flavorful – stay tuned!

Easy Homemade Garlic Tortillas

 

5.0 from 1 reviews
Easy Homemade Garlic Tortillas
 
Print
Prep time
1 hour 10 mins
Cook time
10 mins
Total time
1 hour 20 mins
 
Author: Nicole
Serves: 12 tortillas
Ingredients
  • 2¾ cup all-purpose flour
  • 5 tablespoons vegetable shortening
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 2 garlic cloves, grated
  • 1 cup warm water
Instructions
  1. Using a pastry cutter or fork, cut the shortening into the flour until it resembles a coarse meal.
  2. Dissolve salt in warm water. Stir in garlic.
  3. Slowly pour in water, stirring with a fork to combine. Use the fork to stir the mixture until it comes together.
  4. Transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface and knead with hands until the dough comes together and is smooth, about 3-4 minutes.
  5. Divide dough into 12 pieces. Roll into a ball and set on a large plate or sheet pan. Cover with plastic and let rest at room temperature for one hour.
  6. Using a tortilla press, take the dough and press into tortillas. If you don't have a tortilla press, just use a rolling pin to roll dough into concentric circles.
  7. Heat a skillet to a medium-high heat. Add tortilla dough to the hot skillet. Cook until golden brown, about 1-2 minutes. Flip, cook another 30 seconds to one minute.
Notes
Recipe adapted from Rick Bayless
3.2.2925

You'll never believe how easy homemade flour tortillas are to make!

Meet Nicole

Welcome! My lifelong passion for delicious food and cooking has evolved over time into an equal love of showing you an elevated meal can be easy, approachable and most importantly, tasty. Dive in and find something perfect for you and your family!

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  1. Gayle @ Pumpkin 'N Spice says

    Posted on 2/17/15 at 1:49 am

    I’ve never been to Puerto Vallarta before, though I’ve heard such great things about it! These tortilla shells sound fantastic, Nicole! I’ve never actually thought about making my own, so I’m loving these. And the garlic seems like the perfect touch!

    Reply
    • Nicole says

      Posted on 2/17/15 at 5:12 pm

      Thanks Gayle!

      Reply
  2. Jess says

    Posted on 2/17/15 at 3:24 am

    Ooo – you make this seem so do-able! I’m always intimidated by tortillas, but the result sounds well worth making it a little project. There’s nothing like fresh tortillas!

    Reply
    • Nicole says

      Posted on 2/17/15 at 5:12 pm

      Definitely do-able!! In fact, they’re straight up easy!

      Reply
  3. Stephanie @ Girl Versus Dough says

    Posted on 2/17/15 at 4:12 am

    These look incredibly delicious and totally worth every bit of effort. I just want to eat a stack plain!

    Reply
    • Nicole says

      Posted on 2/17/15 at 5:11 pm

      I might have done that….. 🙂 Thanks girl!

      Reply
  4. Megan {Country Cleaver} says

    Posted on 2/17/15 at 3:07 pm

    If you put these in front of me, there are no guarantees they would make it into anything other than just my face!! YUM!!!

    Reply
    • Nicole says

      Posted on 2/17/15 at 5:11 pm

      I had that problem Megan!!

      Reply
  5. Marissa | Pinch and Swirl says

    Posted on 2/17/15 at 4:39 pm

    There is nothing like homemade tortillas! I love the garlic twist on these…yum!

    Reply
  6. Justine | Cooking and Beer says

    Posted on 2/17/15 at 7:36 pm

    I will never by store-bought tortillas again! I absolutely love these and as my obsession with garlic just continues to grow exponentially, this is the perfect spin! Pinned!

    Reply
  7. Sarah @ Making Thyme for Health says

    Posted on 2/17/15 at 10:53 pm

    Oh man, I can imagine these are sooooo much better than store bought tortillas. I would probably end up eating them all before I got around to making something! They look so good. As if I needed another reason to want to visit Puerto Vallarta!

    Reply
  8. Isadora says

    Posted on 2/17/15 at 11:10 pm

    I feel the same way too, Nicole! It is so much more rewarding to make some things from scratch 🙂 I was really into getting a tortilla press a while ago and never did, but now I’m re-thinking it! These look so soft and pillowy and way better than anything you could ever buy!

    Reply
  9. Melissa @ Bits of Umami says

    Posted on 2/20/15 at 3:37 am

    Oh my… this makes me wanna run out buy a tortilla press and start pressing. You make this look so easy! I’ve never even thought about making my own tortillas, but I think I’m going to give this a shot!

    Reply
  10. Henry Armknecht says

    Posted on 8/12/20 at 10:11 pm

    I just ran across this when I was looking for a garlic tortilla recipe. I know that it is 5 years old so you may already have discovered this. You can make the tortillas with any oil you like. It is easier than using shortening. We have even used olive oil but generally just generic vegetable or canola.

    We also sometimes use a percent of whole wheat flour. They are not as soft and dry out faster, but are a little healthier than just white flour and taste great. A tortilla press is actually a hindrance for making flour tortillas. Our neighbor from Mexico just used a section of galvanized pipe to make hers. In Mexico I have often seen them just using their hands sort of like making a pizza crust.

    I admit that it has been quite a few years since I ate tortillas on the street in Mexico so cannot vouch that these taste the same, but they are delicious.

    Tortillas are so easy and quick to make and taste so far superior to any in the store that there is no excuse to not make your own. I could eat them several meals a day for the rest of my life. Thank you for promoting making tortillas at home.

    Reply
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Meet Nicole

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