Thin and Tender Flour Tortillas Recipe (2024)

Bread
Mexican
Dairy-free Sides

Lard-laden flour tortillas that are thin, tender, and flavorful.

Joshua Bousel

Joshua Bousel is a Serious Eats old-timer, having started sharing his passion for grilling and barbecue recipes on the site back in 2008. He continues to develop grilling and barbecue recipes on his own site, The Meatwave, out of his home base of Durham, North Carolina.

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Updated June 02, 2020

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Why It Works

Back lard gives these tortillas their mild yet delicious flavor.
Using both cold lard and cold water creates a more tender tortilla.
Cooking the tortillas very quickly in a hot cast iron skillet ensures maximum tenderness.

I have a problem with those leathery flour tortillas sold at most supermarkets, because they give real-deal flour tortillas a bad name. The ones I love are thin and ultra-tender, so laden with lard that they verge on translucency, the way paper looks when you spill some grease on it. Any other flour tortilla with myskirt steak fajitas just won't do.

I've made flour tortillas at home in the past, but never perfected it. So I set out to do just that, and what I ended up with was the tortilla of my dreams.

Oh, Lardy

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The ingredients for flour tortillas are very simple: just flour, salt, lard, and water. And yet even with so few building blocks, the range of possible flavors is striking. Through experimentation, I've learned that lard can have a big impact on how the tortillas taste, so my biggest question was what type of lard to use.

I've made tortillas with the inexpensive hydrogenated lard available at most supermarkets, but it's never tasted quite right to me. There's always been an off flavor—not so bad that I wouldn't use it, but the results just weren't as delicious as I knew they could be. I went in search of some different types of lard, and compared them to see whether it's actually worth the effort to track down less common varieties. I ended up with both leaf lard and back lard to play with.

What's the difference?

Hydrogenated lardis rendered fat that has been infused with hydrogen to increase its self-stability, which is why it's the most common option on grocery shelves.
Back lardis fat rendered from the thick layer of pure white fat that rests just below the skin along the pig's back. This is sometimes rendered with the skin attached, and produces a smooth, dense lard with a slight porky flavor.
Leaf lardis made from the tender fat around the kidneys and abdomen; it renders into a pure white, crumbly lard with a very neutral flavor.

Thin and Tender Flour Tortillas Recipe (4)

I tried out all three of these fats, plus vegetable shortening, which is a comparable vegetable-based product. The back lard was the clear winner—it had the best flavor, both mild and clean. In comparison, both the leaf lard and vegetable shortening were relatively flavorless, and the hydrogenated lard had, as expected, a pronounced off flavor—it's so much worse than the others that I don't think I'll ever use it again.

Bringing It Together

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In addition to the type of lard, the method of mixing the ingredients can also have an impact on the texture of the tortillas.

I started with the most traditional method, which begins with cutting the lard into the flour until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs—just a few pulses in the food processor, if you're using one, though you can also do this by hand. Then warm water is added and mixed until a cohesive dough forms, which can then be kneaded, rested, portioned into balls, and rolled out into thin eight-inch tortillas.

Thin and Tender Flour Tortillas Recipe (6)

For the next batch, I wanted to see if I might be able to take a lesson or two from making pastry—specifically whether using very cold water and fat would help the tortillas by keeping the fat more solid. For things like biscuits and pie crusts, the cold helps create a flakier texture, so I thought it might help with the tortillas too.

The cold fat and cold water ended up producing the most tender tortillas with some thin, flaky layers. The ones made with warm water were still mighty tender, but had a tad more chew. They were the most like the ones I've eaten in Texas, but I ultimately preferred the cold-water ones most.

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I couldn't think of a better way to use them than with a big pile ofskirt steakand sautéed onions and peppers for fajitas, so I did exactly that.

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As I sat and assembled and ate one fajita after another, I took a lot of pride in my accomplishment—I'm pretty discerning with my tortillas, and these were among some of the best I've had.

April 2015

Recipe Details

Thin and Tender Flour Tortillas Recipe

Active20 mins

Total45 mins

Serves10 tortillas

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 cup cold lard, preferably back lard (see notes)
3/4 cup coldwater

Directions

Place flour and salt in the workbowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade and pulse to combine. Add lard and pulse until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add water and process until a cohesive dough forms.
Turn dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and knead until smooth, about 1 minute. Cover with a damp cloth or plastic wrap and let rest for 10 minutes. Divide dough into 10 equal pieces; roll each piece of dough into a ball. Cover dough with a damp cloth or plastic wrap and let rest an additional 15 minutes.
Heat cast iron skillet, griddle, or comal over medium-high heat. Meanwhile, place one ball of dough on a lightly floured work surface and pat down into a flat disc. Using a rolling pin, roll dough out to a very thin 8-inch round. Place dough in skillet and cook until bubbles form on top side and bottom side has light browned spots, 15-30 seconds. Flip tortilla and cook until second side develops light browned spots, 15-30 seconds longer. Transfer tortilla to a plate and cover with dish cloth. Repeat with remaining balls of dough. Serve immediately while still warm.

Notes

Back lard is preferable for its very mild pork flavor, although more neutral tasting leaf lard or vegetable shortening can be substituted for great results. The tortillas are best eaten fresh and while still warm. They can be stored in the refrigerator and reheated individually in a hot skillet or wrapped together in foil and placed in a warm oven.

Special Equipment

Food processor, rolling pin, cast iron skillet

Nutrition Facts (per serving)
137	Calories
5g	Fat
19g	Carbs
3g	Protein

Show Full Nutrition Label

Nutrition Facts
Servings: 10
Amount per serving
Calories	137
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 5g	7%
Saturated Fat 2g	10%
Cholesterol 5mg	2%
Sodium 127mg	6%
Total Carbohydrate 19g	7%
Dietary Fiber 1g	2%
Total Sugars 0g
Protein 3g
Vitamin C 0mg	0%
Calcium 4mg	0%
Iron 1mg	6%
Potassium 27mg	1%
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.

(Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate.)

Thin and Tender Flour Tortillas Recipe (2024)

FAQs

Why can't I get my tortillas thin? ›

I've made tortillas from our local Oaxacan market's masa para tamales, and those are pretty chubby because of the coarse grain. Dough consistency: if your dough is too sticky you won't be able to press it thin without it sticking hopelessly. If it's too dry it'll be too stiff to press thin, or will crack.

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Why are my homemade flour tortillas tough? ›

She is adamant that the dough should not be tacky. If the bread is sticking to your fingers, add a small amount of flour until it stops sticking. She does warn that going too far in the other direction — adding too much flour during this process — will make the tortillas hard.

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Why are restaurant tortillas thinner? ›

The thin tortillas lend themselves more easily to mass production, packaging and distribution than the thick ones do. They can be made more quickly (no waiting for the dough to rise), and the dough is easier to handle and cut into shape.

How long to let flour tortilla dough rest? ›

Rest the dough.

Set them on a plate, cover with plastic wrap and let rest at least 30 minutes (to make the dough less springy, easier to roll).

Get More Info Here ›

Why are my flour tortillas thick and hard? ›

What makes flour tortillas hard is not adding enough lard or oil and water and not kneading the dough for the required amount of time, and NOT allowing the dough to rest in a warm place at least 30 minutes before making flour tortillas.

Find Out More ›

Why is my tortilla dough not elastic? ›

Use warm water: Using warm water instead of cold water when making the dough can also help to increase its elasticity. Rest the dough: After making the dough, let it rest for at least 30 minutes before rolling it out. This will allow the gluten to relax and make the dough easier to work with.

Keep Reading ›

Why are my tortillas too sticky? ›

The pan may not be clean or seasoned well enough to create a nice non-stick surface or it may have not heated up enough before placing the tortillas. Avoid attempting to move the tortillas on the pan until at least 20 seconds has passed. The dough being too wet could also cause this.

Why do my tortillas puff up? ›

A puff occurs during the cooking process of a tortilla, wherein, once meeting heat, the trapped moisture at the tortilla's core expands outward in the form of steam. A ballooning puff is born, as a result.

Know More ›