Easy homemade corn tortillas made with just three ingredients. These tortillas are made with masa harina, so they’re naturally gluten free, and are perfect for taco night.
You might also love these high altitude tested recipes for soft flour tortillas, pita bread, and garlic naan.
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Why You’ll Love This Recipe
Only Three Ingredients. With just 3 ingredients, one of them being water, this recipe is super simple.
Gluten Free. Made with masa instead of wheat flour, corn tortillas are naturally gluten free.
High Altitude Tested. I develop all the recipes on my site for Denver’s altitude of 5,280 feet. If you’re at a lower or higher elevation, please see my FAQs for guidance on adjusting recipes for your altitude. That said, with no leavening to affect the recipe, these tortillas can be made at any altitude.
See the recipe card at the end of the post for the full ingredients list and instructions.
Ingredients
- Masa Harina. Masa harina is a type of corn flour that has been cooked with hydrated lime, before being dried and ground into a powder. You should not use corn starch, corn meal or corn flour that doesn’t list hydrated lime as one of the ingredients. Most major grocery stores will carry at least 2 or 3 different brands of masa, or you can try a store like La Estacion International Market, which will have lots of options.
- Salt.
- Water.
Instructions
- In a bowl, combine the masa and salt.
- Stir in one cup of water to make a crumbly mixture. Gradually add the remaining water a little at a time, until you can gather the dough together into a cohesive ball. You may not need all the water, or you may need a little extra. Knead the dough briefly on your counter until smooth. It should be moist enough to hold together, but not sticky. If it’s too dry and crumbly, add a little more water. If it’s too sticky, then add a little more masa.
- Divide the dough evenly into 16 portions, and roll each portion into a ball. This is easy to do with a medium cookie scoop (approximately 2 tbsp capacity) with a release lever.
- Heat a skillet over medium heat.
- Place one of the dough balls between two pieces of parchment paper or wax paper. If you have a tortilla press, you can press the dough ball flat with that, otherwise, use any flat object to squish the dough. I used a burger press. However, I find that these tools don’t get the dough thin enough. After pressing the dough, take a rolling pin and roll the dough a little thinner, so that it measures about 6 inches in diameter.
- Carefully peel the paper off the dough. If the dough is the right texture, the paper will peel right off. If the dough contains too much water and sticks to the paper, then you’ll need to add a little more masa to the dough.
- Cook the tortilla in the hot skillet for 1 – 1 1/2 minutes per side, until golden brown spots appear.
- Place the cooked tortilla in a lidded container and place the lid on so the tortilla can steam. You’ll find that the tortillas are initially somewhat crispy when they’re hot off the skillet, and they need to steam for a while to soften.
- Continue to cook all of the tortillas, stacking them in the lidded container so they can steam and soften. Keep covered until ready to serve, so the tortillas don’t dry out.
- Once softened, serve the tortillas with your favorite taco fillings.
Be sure to read all of my BAKING FAQs where I discuss ingredients, substitutions and common baking questions, so that you can be successful in your own baking!
Frequently Asked Questions
Store leftover tortillas in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3-5 days, or in the freezer for up to 3-6 months.
Reheat tortillas in a dry skillet for 30-60 seconds if you want to warm them up.
For crispy tortillas, chips or taco shells, lightly fry the tortillas in a skillet with a little oil or butter. If making taco shells, bend the fried tortilla into a taco shell while it’s hot from the skillet.
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Homemade Corn Tortillas (GF)
All recipes on Curly Girl Kitchen are developed for high altitude at 5,280 feet. See FAQs for adjusting to higher or lower elevations.
Equipment
- Skillet or Griddle
- Tortilla Press (Optional)
Ingredients
- 2 cups masa harina
- 1 tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
- 1 ½ – 1 ⅔ cups water
Instructions
- In a bowl, combine the masa and salt.
- Stir in one cup of water to make a crumbly mixture. Gradually add the remaining water a little at a time, until you can gather the dough together into a cohesive ball. You may not need all the water, or you may need a little extra. Knead the dough briefly on your counter until smooth. It should be moist enough to hold together, but not sticky. If it's too dry and crumbly, add a little more water. If it's too sticky, then add a little more masa.
- Divide the dough evenly into 16 portions, and roll each portion into a ball. This is easy to do with a medium cookie scoop (approximately 2 tbsp capacity) with a release lever.
- Heat a skillet over medium heat.
- Place one of the dough balls between two pieces of parchment paper or wax paper. If you have a tortilla press, you can press the dough ball flat with that, otherwise, use any flat object to squish the dough. I used a burger press. However, I find that these tools don't get the dough thin enough. After pressing the dough, take a rolling pin and roll the dough a little thinner, so that it measures about 6 inches in diameter.
- Carefully peel the paper off the dough. If the dough is the right texture, the paper will peel right off. If the dough contains too much water and sticks to the paper, then you'll need to add a little more masa to the dough.
- Cook the tortilla in the hot skillet for 1 – 1 1/2 minutes per side, until golden brown spots appear.
- Place the cooked tortilla in a lidded container and place the lid on so the tortilla can steam. You'll find that the tortillas are initially somewhat crispy when they're hot off the skillet, and they need to steam for a while to soften.
- Continue to cook all of the tortillas, stacking them in the lidded container so they can steam and soften. Keep covered until ready to serve, so the tortillas don't dry out.
- Once softened, serve the tortillas with your favorite taco fillings.
Notes
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