No matter if you use flour or corn tortillas in your recipes warm tortillas taste the best
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But what do you do with tortillas that are a couple of days old, frozen tortillas, or store-bought tortillas? Today we will show you the best ways to warm both flour tortillas, corn tortillas but also cauliflower, and keto tortillas. Ready to learn how to warm tortillas? Let’s get started!
Warm Tortillas
You can easily eat tortillas cold especially flour tortillas are often served in wraps but also in pinwheels snacks.
If you serve a tortilla with your favorite fajitas or burrito, they definitely should be warm.
They should be soft and pliable so you can roll or wrap them with your favorite filling instead of dry and hard.
Which will happen if you do not know how to best warm a tortilla. To get soft and pliable tortillas you need moisture which is the most important thing to remember.
It is good to remember that you should treat your corn and flour, cauliflower, and keto tortillas slightly differently.
How To Warm Flour Tortillas
I make a lot of my own flour tortillas and freeze them in a ziplock bag.
As you thaw them, they will lose moisture so it is good to thaw them covered either in the ziplock bag or a clean kitchen towel.
This way the moisture stays within the tortillas. These ways to warm a flour tortilla also work perfectly for:
- Cauliflower tortillas
- Chickpea flour tortillas
- Keto tortilla
- Quinoa flour tortillas
Three ways to warm flour tortillas
- Oven – my favorite way to warm tortillas is in the oven. They get time to warm and closely resemble the texture when originally made:
- Kitchen towel – you can choose to warm them in a kitchen towel. If your tortillas are a couple of days old sprinkle them with water. Preheat your oven to 250℉/120℃. Wrap them in a damp kitchen towel.
If you do not want a burned towel, put them in an oven dish and cover it with aluminum foil. Put the dish in the oven for 20 minutes - Aluminum foil – another way to warm in the oven is with aluminum foil. If your tortillas are a couple of days old you can again sprinkle them with a bit of water. Wrap a stack of max 5 tortillas in aluminum foil. Preheat your oven to 350F/160C and place the wrapped stack in the oven for about 12-15 minutes
- Kitchen towel – you can choose to warm them in a kitchen towel. If your tortillas are a couple of days old sprinkle them with water. Preheat your oven to 250℉/120℃. Wrap them in a damp kitchen towel.
- Stovetop – you can warm your flour tortillas in a skillet. Preheat the skillet to medium heat. You do not want to turn the skillet up to high else they will get dry and crispy instead of soft and pliable. Heat for about 30 seconds to 1 minute and turn to warm the other side. This is close to the original way of making tortillas but will take more work because you can warm one tortilla at a time
- Microwave – it looks like the microwave will work faster it is more elaborate. Take a plate and put a tortilla on it covered with a damp paper towel. If you want to heat more than one place a second tortilla on top and cover it with another damp towel. Do not heat more than 5 tortillas this way.Turn your microwave to high or 800 Watt for 30 seconds if you warm just one and 1 minute if you warm 5 tortillas. Check if they are warm enough or extend for 10 seconds at a time
Bonus Way
- Steam your tortillas – if you have small tortillas, you can also warm them the way you would warm Peking duck pancakes. These are warmed in a bamboo steamer on top of a pot of boiling water. Warm for 5-7 minutes and leave them in the bamboo steamer. Cover the bottom of the steamer with baking paper and punch some holes in the baking paper to let the steam go through.
How To Warm Corn Tortillas
As Mexican tortillas are made with corn the best way to warm them differs from flour tortillas.
This is because corn tortillas lack gluten which makes regular tortillas soft and pliable.
Instead, these will turn stiff when they cool so it is good to keep them warm if you want to use them in your recipes
- Skillet or griddle – as corn tortillas are baked in a skillet or a cast-iron griddle this is the best way to reheat. Warm your griddle and place the tortillas on top for about 30 seconds, turn and repeat the process
- Gas stovetop – if you cook with gas, you can try this method used in Mexico. If you have stiff tortillas that are a couple of days old wet the tortilla completely with water. Put them on the gas stove for 5 seconds and turn. Warm again for 5 seconds and turn. Keep on doing this until you have a dry and warm tortilla
How To Keep Tortillas Warm
Once you have warmed your tortillas you can best keep them warm:
- Tortilla warmer – if you have an authentic tortilla warmer you can put them in close the lid to keep them warm
- Kitchen towel – you can keep your tortillas warm in a clean kitchen towel wrapped close
- Aluminum foil – if you warm them in aluminum foil just keep them covered in aluminum foil
If you want to learn more about all the different types of tortillas and flatbread, take a look at my, How to make tortillas the ultimate guide.
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