A great recipe for homemade Fat Free Tortillas. Low in calories, oil free, and absolutely delicious! With only 4 ingredients, you can have fresh warm tortillas any time you want!
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I absolutely love Mexican food. We eat it in our house at least twice a week. Taco salad, tostadas, nachos, enchiladas – we love it all. While almost all corn tortillas are free of oil, it’s extremely difficult to find flour tortillas that don’t contain oil. This makes it more difficult to enjoy some of the other dishes like burritos on an oil free vegan diet.
I usually make tostadas or corn tortilla enchiladas, but sometimes I’d really really like to have a wheat flour tortilla. I’ve used the Ezekiel sprouted grain tortillas from Food for Life, but they are rather expensive and not the same as a traditional tortillas.
Most recipes for homemade flour tortillas have oil, lard or shortening. But this tortilla recipe is low in fat (less than 1 gram of total fat per serving), uses unbleached all purpose flour, and just a couple of other ingredients you already have in your pantry. They’re lower in calories and salt than the store brands. And they taste great!
Ingredients for fat free flour tortillas
You only need four simple ingredients to make these warm, fresh tortillas!
- Wheat flour
- Baking powder
- Salt
- Hot water
How do you make tortillas without oil?
Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl.
Add the hot water a bit at a time and stir together until you have a crumbly dough. Add more water and mix by hand until the dough is soft, but not sticky. If you add too much water, add a little flour a spoonful at a time to reach the right dough consistency. If it’s too dry, add a sprinkle of water.
Knead the dough until it becomes soft and smooth.
Divide the dough into 10 portions and roll each portion into a ball. Cover the balls of dough with a damp towel, and allow them to rest for 15 minutes.
Preheat an electric griddle or seasoned cast iron pan to medium heat. I prefer cooking these on a cast iron pan because it retains its heat well, and does a nice job of creating the light brown spots on the tortillas. A nonstick pan can be used, if desired.
Roll out a ball of dough on a lightly floured surface, adding more flour as needed to keep the tortillas from sticking to the surface or the rolling pin. Roll them as thin as you can. If the tortillas resist rolling and spring back, allow the dough to rest a little longer.
Cook the tortilla in a hot pan until it begins to bubble and lightly brown. Then flip the tortilla and cook on the other side. If they start to cook too quickly, turn down the heat.
The cooked tortillas will be a bit dry. To make them soft, place a damp towel over the cooked tortillas, or place them in a closed container or plastic bag with a couple of paper towels. The moisture from the steam will soften them.
Repeat with the rest of the balls of dough until they are all cooked.
Serving suggestions for oil free tortillas
This recipe is perfect for soft tacos! Roll out a bigger ball of dough if you want to make burritos. How about a vegan quesadilla with my Vegan Cheddar Cheese or my Vegan Pepper Jack Cheese? or breakfast taco? They would even make great sandwich wraps!
Explore our Plant-Based Handbook
Frequently asked questions
No. While tortilla presses can make more perfectly round tortillas, but I don’t mind the irregular shape and find it easy to roll out with a rolling pin.
Place the leftover tortillas in a Ziploc bag and refrigerate for up to 4 days.
Yes! For longer storage, freeze them in a Ziploc bag with a piece of parchment between each tortilla to prevent them from sticking together. To thaw the tortillas, place them on a plate and allow them to thaw at room temperature for an hour before using. Or thaw them overnight in the refrigerator.
La Banderita sells fat free tortillas, but I haven’t seen them in any of the stores where I shop. Food for Life produces sprouted whole grain tortillas that are oil free.
Looking for more Mexican Recipes?
- Soy Curl Fajitas
- Guacamole
- Vegan Taco Salad
- Lentil Walnut Taco Meat
- Instant Pot Black Beans
- Easy Vegan Refried Beans
- Vegan Tostadas
For my complete list of vegan and Southwestern recipes, check out my Vegan Cinco de Mayo Recipes post.
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Fat Free Tortillas
Ingredients
- 3 cup unbleached all purpose flour
- 1 ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 to 1 ¼ cups hot water
Instructions
- Mix together the flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium sized mixing bowl.
- Gradually add in the water and mix together with a fork. Continue adding in just a bit of water at a time, until the ingredients begin to come together. You want a soft dough, that is not sticky. If your dough is too dry, add more water a spoonful at a time. If it is too sticky, add more flour a tablespoon at a time.
- On a floured surface, knead the dough for a few minutes until it becomes smooth.
- Divide the dough into 10 pieces and roll each into a ball. You can divide it into more or less pieces, depending on the size of tortillas you want.
- Cover the balls of dough with a damp towel and let them rest for 15 minutes. This will help the gluten to relax and make it easier to roll out the tortillas.
- Roll out each ball of dough on a floured surface. You want to make the tortilla as thin as you can.
- Preheat a cast iron skillet to medium heat. Cook the tortilla in the pan until it starts to bubble and develop light brown spots. Turn it over and cook on the other side until it bubbles and forms brown spots on that side.
- As the tortillas are cooked, transfer them to a plate and cover them with a damp towel. The steam will help to soften the tortillas.
- Continue rolling and cooking the tortilla dough until all the tortillas are made.
Nutrition
Nutrition facts are approximate.
