This No Lard Flour Tortillas Recipe is made with 4 ingredients: Flour, oil, water and salt. Yes, these flour tortillas are also made without baking powder. They come out way better than the store-bought ones.
If you love homemade bread recipes, you should see our bazlama bread, soft dinner rolls and simit bread recipe too!
Mom has been making these no lard flour tortillas for years without knowing the name "tortilla". She uses the word flatbread instead and she’s the best cook who is good at making dough based foods. I really feel lucky as I’ve learnt a lot of recipes from her including these easy flour tortillas.
You might think that it’s crazy to make tortillas at home while you can use store-bought ones, but believe me you will love your version more! I’m sure you will want to give it a try when you read how it’s easy to make these, you just need 30 minutes or less to make your own flour tortillas. What’s more, you don’t need many ingredients and complicated kitchen tools for these easy flour tortillas!
I searched for other recipes for homemade flour tortillas to see if mom’s recipe is the same with them and saw that many of those recipes call for lard or shortening and baking powder. Mom’s recipe doesn’t have any of these, so I think we can call these healthy flour tortillas, can’t we?
About The Ingredients
You need just 4 basic ingredients to make healthy flour tortillas; flour, olive oil, water and salt. We use white flour, but you can definitely use whole wheat flour instead. This is a no-yeast bread, just like our no rise bread rolls, so you don’t have to wait for the dough to rise.
How To Make
You just combine the ingredients, make small balls from it and roll them out.
Besides it’s easier to handle this dough when compared to a dough with yeast. I mean the rolling process is a lot easier than a dough with yeast as this one is not as loose.
You can prepare the dough in a stand mixer too, but mom always prefers to make it with her hands, and so do I. You don’t need to knead it a lot, just until it holds well. It should be a soft and non-sticky dough, so you can add a little extra flour or water if you think it’s necessary.
Make small balls and let them rest 5-6 minutes before starting to roll. You can sprinkle a little flour on each to prevent them from drying.
Roll them out one by one on the floured counter and sprinkle little flour when rolling if it gets sticky. I recommend you to cook rolled out tortillas in a non-stick pan right after you finish rolling out each. Otherwise they might dry very quickly.
I mean don’t pile up the rolled out tortillas, just cook one when you roll it out and then grab the second, roll it out and cook. Repeat this until you finish the balls or ask for help from someone in your family so that he can cook in the pan when you are rolling out. We do it that way.
Expert Tips
If you are alone and have to make it yourself and if you still want to roll them all and then cook, then you should cover the rolled out tortillas well with a kitchen towel to prevent them from drying.
Another tip about these homemade flour tortillas is about the time when you take them from the pan. Prepare a big kitchen towel and cover them with it right after they are done and still hot. Let them rest under the towel so that they remain soft and flexible. If you don’t cover them, they get a bit crunchy and it gets difficult to stuff and roll them up.
How To Use Them
You can use these tortillas to make wraps. So what can you put in your wraps? How about chicken kebab doner? You can make a delicious lunch or dinner this way.
Other ideas to put in your wraps are:
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📖 Recipe
No Lard Flour Tortillas Recipe
INGREDIENTS
- 3 cups white flour
- ¼ cup olive oil
- ¾ cup cold water at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ¼ cup extra flour to use when rolling out
INSTRUCTIONS
- Combine all ingredients well except the extra flour.
- Make small balls from the dough.
- Sprinkle a little flour on each.
- Roll them out one by one on the floured counter. Sprinkle a little flour when it gets sticky.
- Cook in a non-stick pan every time you finish one.
- Cook one tortilla at a time for about 30 seconds each side.
- Cover them with a large kitchen towl well right after you take it from the pan.
- Pile them in the same place and let them cool under the kitchen towl.
- Serve warm or cold.
NUTRITION
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Turkey says
The authentic way to make tortillas is with lard or vegetable shortening. Never with oil, for those who want to make authentic tortillas.
Manal says
Thank u dear for. Sharing this recipe with us I made this today they were amazing.
Zerrin says
Hi Manal! Great to hear that you love these tortillas.
budget-savvy college student says
this would be genius for a budget-savvy college students to try
Beth says
I made these today and they were AMAZING! I've been looking for a tortilla recipe not using lard. These were the tastiest tortillas I've ever eaten, and I was pleased they weren't overpowering with the olive oil flavor. Now to figure out how to get them perfectly rolled out is my next mission. Thank you so much for posting this recipe!
Mrs. Johnson says
Can I use vegetable oil instead of canola oil?
Zerrin says
I think it works fine with vegetable oil too.
Jen says
This is great 🙂 But olive oil is a little too expensive where I live, could I use sesame oil instead?
Zerrin says
Hi Jen! I have never used sesame oil but I guess it works fine as I use oil so that the tortillas get soft when cooked.
Jen says
Thanks for the recipe :3
Jen says
They turned out amazing!
Laura says
I personally love them! Made them twice now. First time I only made a half recipe to try them out and second time I tried using part wheat. They weren't near as good but that was my fault I'm sure because they sat too long (while we ate) before rolling out and baking. when they cook too long my two year old daughter loves to just eat the "teeya" plain 🙂
Zerrin says
Hi Laura!
Hope you get the result you desire next time you make it.
Kids always love when something is crunchy, don't they?
Marian says
Wonderful. Thank you so much. This is a keeper.
Molly says
Tried this tonight. I've made flour tortillas before, but my mom's recipe uses manteca, which is like Crisco, so I wanted a healthier version. I followed the recipe, but they came out really stiff and dry 🙁 not sure what I did wrong!
Zerrin says
Hi Molly, maybe you should have cooked it for a shorter time. The longer you cook it, the drier it gets. Hope this helps.
Terrie says
So glad I found a good/quick/easy tortilla recipe! The husb requested fajitas for dinner and I don't have any but can make some!!
{plus my 4yr old loves tortillas and eats them like crazy!}??
Zerrin says
Hi Terrie,
This is an easy recipe actually and everyone in the family loves it. If you cook the tortillas longer, they get crunchy and my 2-year-ol boy loves it that way 🙂
Laura says
My two year old loves to crunch on the crispy ones as well 🙂
Heather says
I do not understand the rave reviews on this recipe. These were horrible. The dough was so elastic I needed all my body weight to roll them out and even then I couldn't get them thin enough to be to beautiful, pliable tortillas in these photos. And they have no flavor. They taste like flour. Gross. I'm throwing the whole batch out. Tortillas need fat.
Jessie says
Heather. This recipe is kinda off to me too.. But everybody has therir own way and tastes.. But my recipe that I've used for years is
3c all purpose flour plus extra if needed
2tsp baking powder
1tsp salt
1/2c veg oil
1 1/4c HOT water (very important)
I use my stand mixer with paddle attachment.. Mix all dry ingredients. Mix in oil. Add hot water a little at a time. Change to dough attachment and knead for about 5min. Add flour if to sticky. Rest dough for 20mins. Divide into 10 balls. Roll them out on a floured surface. Cook on Med heat. .
Zerrin says
Thank you Jessie for sharing your recipe here. Well mine works fine to me and I do love it but I'm always open to try new recipes. so I'll try yours too.
eileen ross says
"learnt". Is that a word?????
Debbie says
Self-rising or all purpose flour?
Zerrin says
All purpose flour.
Athoob says
I made them this evening for my family and turned out amazing! Thank you for sharing this recipe!❤️
Rekka B. says
I want to thank you for sharing this recipe! I used it in one of mine, i hope its alright. Gave proper credit naturally!
I never made homemade tortillas before so this was a lot of help, couldn't get them into nice circles though haha... that part is hard.
Here is the recipe i made with it:
Again, thank you for sharing! So incredibly helpful.
Marie says
I didn't have tortillas yesterday and came across your recipe on Pinterest and made them. I made half the recipe and the tortillas came out so good. My mom loved them and so did my boyfriend ( he is vey picky). Thank you for sharing your recipe. <3