Homemade Corn Tortillas
These delicious homemade corn tortillas have only three simple ingredients and are so easy to make!
This year for Mother’s Day, my husband and kids gave me the cast iron tortilla press I’ve been eyeing for years now. I know it’s totally not necessary, and just one more (incredibly heavy) kitchen gadget, but I’ve wanted one for ages. I just love the idea of all of my tortillas being uniform (because I’m an incurable perfectionist.) I’ve been making these flour tortillas for years now, but I had never tried corn tortillas. I ran out to the store for a bag of masa harina, and I was all set! I was seriously shocked at how easy these tortillas are to make. Only three easy ingredients, and they are ready in less than 30 minutes!
I started by mixing my dough, and then measured it out into 1 ounce balls (again, due to my perfectionism). I would definitely suggest just eyeballing the balls to be about one inch, instead of using a kitchen scale, unless you are as crazy as I am.
I put my balls of dough between sheets of parchment, and it worked fairly well, but I think wax paper would be a better choice. About halfway through, my parchment got a little wet and wrinkly from the moisture in the dough, and started leaving wrinkles on the dough.
The tortilla press did a great job of smushing the dough into a flat tortilla (and it was pretty fun to use, too!). If you don’t have a tortilla press, you could do the same thing with a rolling pin. One thing I found helpful was to make sure the dough was moist and pliable. If the dough is too dry and crumbly, it will have a hard time flattening out into a good sized tortilla.
From there, they’ll cook for 30-45 seconds per side in a medium skillet over medium heat, and then they’re ready to eat. Mine were pretty similar to store bought corn tortillas, with a few advantages. First, they are way more pliable and don’t tear or crumble when you bend them. We made tacos with them for dinner, and they were perfect. Second, the texture is a little smoother and the taste is better too! They’re definitely the best corn tortillas I’ve ever had (and I’ve had a lot of corn tortillas in my day). I’m looking forward to replacing all my store-bought tortillas with homemade!
Homemade Corn Tortillas
Print Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 cups masa harina I used Maseca brand
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/2 cups water more or less as needed
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the masa and salt. Add the water and stir until combined. Add more water as needed to form a dough that is thick but not crumbly and has a similar texture to play dough. Roll the dough into one inch balls (I got twenty from my batch). Cover the balls with a damp towel to keep them moist.
- Heat a medium skillet over medium heat. Place the balls of dough into a tortilla press between squares of wax paper, or roll out between squares of wax paper. Cook the tortillas for 30-45 seconds per side, or until they appear dry and have small browned spots. Wrap the cooked tortillas in a towel to keep them warm and moist while you cook the remaining tortillas.
