Homemade Corn Tortillas Recipe

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Homemade Corn Tortillas Recipe

Want to know what our latest favorite meal is? Easy tacos with yummy fresh homemade Corn Tortillas! I’ve been wanting to try and make these for years, but somehow it always slipped my mind. But a few months ago I ordered a bag of Corn Flour from my coop and mixed up my first batch.

They were such a hit for my boys that I hardly had any to put away for a meal, they kept snatching them while they were warm right off the plate! I love them because they are super easy to make and very inexpensive. Even using organic corn flour it only cost me about $0.01 per tortilla. Not bad at all!

So today I’m sharing this yummy, simple recipe with you! We use a tortilla press with this recipe because the dough is so soft. Amazon has several options if you don’t already have one (I’ve had this Cucina for several years now since we make Homemade Flour Tortillas as well. It’s expensive but it’s more than paid for itself.)

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Homemade Corn Tortillas Recipe

What You Need:

  • 2 1/2 cups Corn Flour
  • 2 cups Water
  • 2 Tablespoons Fat (Olive Oil, Coconut Oil, Lard, etc)
  • 1/2 teaspoon Salt

For our tortillas I used plain corn flour. I’ve seen several other recipes that use Masa but Corn Flour is what was available to me and what this recipe is based off of.

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In a bowl, mix together your ingredients. Let the dough sit for just a minute for the flour to soak up the water. The consistency of the dough will be wet but not sticky. You should be able to handle it easily but you won’t be able to roll it out.

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Make large balls out of the dough (Or have your helper make the balls! 🙂 Farmer Boy was giving me a hand here.) The size of the ball will depend on the size of your tortilla press, but will vary from the size of a golf ball to the size of a clementine.

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Follow the instructions on your tortilla press to flatten and cook your tortillas. Mine is an all in one machine so I simply just place the ball in the middle of the heated press, push down on the handle and let it cook. Once flattened these will only need to cook for about 30 seconds. Any longer and they will get crispy (but you can always use those as chips!).

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As long as they are warm, the tortillas are soft and pliable. If they get too cold they may get a little crispy but they are good either way. You might want to make a double batch and put the extras in the freezer. One recipe makes about 12 to 20 tortillas depending on the size you make them.

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These tortillas make great tacos and make a fresh meal taste even fresher. Of course it will be different with each kind of tortilla press used, but I can make a full batch of these in just about 15 minutes.

Have you ever made homemade Corn Tortillas or any kind of homemade tortillas?

merissabio

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35 Comments

  1. I live in Mexico, so tortillas are an absolute staple in my home.

    Besides making soft tacos full of beef, or vegetables like zuchini flowers, or quesadillas (cheese, or cheese and almost anything -ham, chorizo- beans), you can also make fried tacos.

    A tipical kids food for us is to use cooked shredded chicken inside a tortilla, roll it and use a toothpick to connect 2 or 3 so they don´t unroll. Fry them in a bit of oil (don´t really need to be completely submerged) to the crispiness that you like and serve with sour cream, salsa and shredded cheese on top.

  2. I have never seen a tortilla press that cooks them! Where can you find one of those?? My press just flattens them, then I cook them in a pan…

  3. I love this…been meaning to try making corn tortillas. I grind my own flour from blue corn or popcorn. Have you tried this recipe with your mill? Do you use the same amounts?

    1. I haven’t tried with my own mill, but I would think the only difference is that you may need a bit more flour (similar to when using fresh wheat flour in recipes) and just make sure to get the flour very fine.

  4. We love homemade tortillas. I make the flour ones from scratch and the corn ones with massa harina. Will definitely try this recipe since I know exactly what is in them. The intent is to freeze the extras from the double batch but they rarely make it to the freezer.
    By the way. Your blog is amazing and inspiring

  5. I don’t have a press, and right now it just isn’t in the budget. Is is possible to make these without one? I’ve been wanting to make my own for some time now. Buying organic corn tortillas can be so expensive, especially when you use them in place of bread and love Mexican food! 🙂 Thanks! I think your blog is just awesome!

    1. You should be able to. I would try placing the dough in between pieces of wax paper and rolling them out, then transferring them into your frying pan or griddle.

      1. I don’t have a press and this is exactly what I did yesterday when I tried your recipe: I rolled out each ball between two sheets of oiled wax paper, peeled off the top one, placed that side of the tortilla (bottom sheet, thus becoming top, still attached!) on my frying pan. As it started to cook I was able to gently and carefully ? peel off the second sheet. I was very glad I found your recipe, as I live in rural France and masa flour is nowhere to be found here!!! I used the following quantities and ingredients: 1 and 1/2 cups organic corn flour, 3 TBSP ground flaxseed to help bind everything together, 1/4 tsp salt (could have taken more), 1 TBSP olive oil, 1 cup water. I wanted to make tacos so I had to ply the tortillas straight out of the pan while still warm. They were very, very good.
        Thank you very much, Marissa, for this recipe. I have read your story (“about me” page) and wish you all the best in your journey with your family. My husband and I have been married for many, many years and like most couples have had to face some financial issues and more recently health related ones, which we fight as much as possible with real food and natural remedies. My husband’s health depends on homemade food, totally free of additives. So we are on the same wave length ? and I will be taking a closer look at your blog.

  6. With Masa flour, we use just water and the masa – no oil.
    I tried that recipe with corn flour and – yuck! LOL
    I’ll have to give your recipe WITH the oil a try because truly, the cornflour we get with our co-op is SO much cheaper than masa!
    Thanks for sharing!

    1. In UK what we call corn flour is what in the US is corn starch. Using Corn flour like that will be horrid.

  7. I noticed the electric tortilla press was made of aluminum. We got rid of our nonstick & allum pans. I’m hoping to find a stainless steel or ceramic one. Can’t wait to try these!

  8. Are flour tortillas made the same way, same amounts of ingredients? Thank you for the recipe and ideas.

  9. I don’t have an electric press, just a regular one. So, could you please tell me how to cook them?

        1. A low to medium heat. The timing will depend on your individual stove but it’s most likely going to be no more than 30 seconds per side.

  10. I made tortillas and the press didn’t go down very tight and they cooked up too thick. Almost like a pancake. They didn’t work too well and I haven’t tried it again. The press is not a combo one that cooks. There’s a stop on it that prevents it from pressing down far enough. This was a gift, but it may have to be replaced anyway. Thanks for sharing your recipe and insights.

  11. Can’t wait to try this recipe. I sooooooooooooo LOVE soft corn tortillas. I grew up watching my (adopted) grandma making tortillas by hand & how beautifully they cooked up & how yummy they tasted. I found a recipe to make them years ago & tried it, it required the masa, it didn’t turn out (not even remotely) but it was yummy. I followed the recipe on the package, still a failure. 🙁 so i’m hoping that this will work for me (even though i don’t have the press/cooker to make it easier. But if this works for me, I will be thrilled & driving my family (especially oldest kid) nuts on having tacos frequently LOL

  12. If you don’t press down and keep them a little thicker you will get an authentic “Gordita”. I cook a little longer but when they are done they will split through the middle and you can stuff them, much like pitas. I have only used masa harina with directions on pkg.

  13. I have the ChefPro Tortilla Maker and am excited to try your corn tortilla recipe. I’ve had success with the flour tortillas but still am trying to find a corn tortilla recipe. I’ll let you know how they come out for me! Thanks for
    all the info you provide with pics!

  14. I make flour tortillas. I don’t have a press and just flatten by hand. They are delicious and so easy and delicious.

    1. Are you using corn flour in your recipe? The amount of water is correct if used with corn flour. If you are using corn masa, the results may vary.

  15. Yeah I have to agree with a few others, that this basically creates a soupy batter. I used stone ground corn flour (not corn meal, and not masa) *exactly* as you described and it came out like a pancake batter, a thick soup. I think the measurements are off. In fact, I’m wondering if it’s 3 1/2 cups of flour (and not 2 1/2) to 2 cups of water. Or maybe it as supposed to be 1 cup of water. It’s just way too wet. I think there might be something to this because i’m not even sure what you mean by “You should be able to handle it easily but you won’t be able to roll it out.” I’ve never had a dough that couldn’t be rolled out… so a bit confused. Do you mean it should be tacky enough that it *sticks* to the rolling pin unless you use wax paper? Thanks!