Want to Save this Recipe?
Enter your email below & we'll send it straight to your inbox. Plus you'll get great new recipes from us every week!
Have you ever tried homemade whole wheat flour tortillas before? Let me just say that the taste and texture are far superior to tortillas that come in a plastic bag at the grocery store. Honestly, they don’t even deserve to be called tortillas compared to the real thing!
Luckily, the tastiness of homemade tortillas justifies the effort it takes to make them. Up until now, almost all the recipes I have posted have been easy to make, but I must admit that this one is definitely an exception to the rule.
Featured Comment
My family LOVED it and said to never buy tortillas again. I ordered a tortilla press as not rolling these out on a regular basis! :-)
Are Whole Wheat Tortillas Easy to Make?
I will also say that I actually tried a couple of different methods for making whole wheat tortillas, and this is the easy (easier) version. Please trust me when I tell you…it is worth it!
Once the dough has been made, it takes me about 30 minutes to roll out and cook a dozen of these tortillas. Everyone in my family (including me) practically scarfs them down as soon as I make them, and if used as wraps they can add some variety to your lunch over typical sandwich bread.
Tips for Rolling Out Homemade Tortillas
Let the dough rest. I find the dough is easier to work with if it's been resting for about 30 minutes (covered by a towel or plastic wrap) before I begin working with it.
Use a rolling pin. A rolling pin is the easiest way to spread out the dough properly to the correct thinness and shape.
What Can You Use Whole Grain Tortillas For?
My (now 15) 3-year-old’s favorite combination (which she lovingly called a “roll-up”) was to have hummus and cheese wrapped up in her tortilla. I actually love a “roll-up” myself, although I usually add diced tomatoes, cucumbers, or spinach to mine. My kids also just like to snack on plain tortillas too, and if you have time to make a big batch then you can freeze some for later!
Whole grain tortillas can also be used to replace a variety of breads in sandwiches or other snacks. Here are some fun ideas to try:
Tortilla Pizza
Use a homemade tortilla as pizza crust: Spread homemade pizza sauce (pasta sauce or anything similar you have also works fine) over the tortilla, then top with cheese, veggies, or cooked meat. This is an easy way for your kids to have a real food "pizza" snack with whole grain crust and reasonable portions. See the Tortilla Pizza recipe for more tips and tricks!
Whole Grain Tortilla Pinwheels
Pinwheels are another great snack for kids, especially picky eaters who need some coercing when it comes to vegetables. They’re also fun for parties and potlucks! Spread out your favorite fillings, roll up, and slice.
Quesadilla Style Grilled Cheese
You can also make these homemade veggie quesadillas with these whole wheat tortillas, but sometimes you just want some good ol' cheese. Thinly slice some organic cheese and place it on half of the tortilla. Fold and fry with a pat of butter until cheese melts.
You can also add vegetables like onions, zucchini, peppers, spinach, and tomatoes. Or, slice and serve with tomato soup.
Easy Breakfast Wraps
Breakfast wraps can be made fresh or ahead of time and frozen for an easy, filling breakfast idea. Add scrambled eggs, cheese, and your favorite meat and vegetables.
Can I Use This Recipe to Make Whole Wheat Tortilla Chips?
If you’re looking for a delicious, real food treat, these whole wheat tortillas can be baked into chips! It’s easy; no deep frying required. Enjoy on their own, or serve with fresh salsa.
- Make the whole wheat tortillas following the recipe directions and let them cool.
- Preheat the oven to 350 F.
- While the oven heats, slice your tortillas into chip-sized pieces (about 6) with a sharp knife or pizza cutter.
- Lightly spray or brush them with olive oil and lightly salt.
- Bake for 7 minutes.
- Flip the chips and lightly oil and season the other side.
- Bake again for another 5-7 minutes, until crisp.
You can also make these chips in an air fryer. The method is the same, just adjust the cooking time to 3 minutes per side.
How to Store Whole Wheat Tortillas
Cool tortillas completely before storing them to keep them from getting mushy. Then just place them into an airtight container or bag and store in the fridge or freezer. Homemade tortillas will keep in the fridge for a week and can be frozen for up to 6 months.
Whole-Wheat Tortillas
Ingredients
- 2 ½ cups whole-wheat flour (I used King Arthur’s white whole-wheat flour)
- ½ cup avocado oil (or other oil)
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup water (heated in the microwave for 1 min)
Instructions
- In the bowl of a heavy-duty mixer set with a dough hook, pour in the flour, oil and salt. Beat with the paddle until crumbly, about 3 to 5 minutes. Scrape the sides as needed. If your hand-held mixer comes with dough hooks those can be used as well.
- With the mixer running, gradually add the warm water and continue mixing until the dough is smooth, about 3 minutes.
- Take out the dough and divide it into 12 equal sized pieces. I do this by making the dough into a big log shape that is about 8 – 10 inches long. Then I cut it in the middle. Then I cut each of those pieces in the middle and so on until you have 12 pieces.
- Using the palms of your hand roll each piece into a round ball and flatten it out on a baking tray or board. Cover with plastic wrap and let rest at room temperature for at least 15 minutes or up to one hour.
- Heat a cast iron skillet, griddle or 12-inch skillet over med-high heat. The pan should be fairly hot before you begin cooking the tortillas.
- On a lightly floured board or counter top, use a rolling pin to turn each ball into a 8 to 10 inch flat circle (measure against your recipe if printed on a 8.5X11 sheet of paper). Be careful not to use more than a teaspoon or two of flour when rolling out each ball into a tortilla because too much excess flour will burn in the pan.
- Grease the pan with a touch of oil (or ghee) and then carefully transfer each tortilla, one at a time, to the pan and cook until puffy and slightly brown, about 30 to 45 seconds per side. Set aside on a plate to cool slightly. Eat within an hour, refrigerate or freeze.
Sara says
Two questions:
1. Can you use coconut oil for these? I can't seem to find avocado oil anywhere!
2. I'm confused on step 4 and step 6. Do I roll them out before they rest?
marie says
EV Olive oil works and they are DELICIOUS!
100 Days of Real Food says
Yes, you can use coconut oil. Also the dough "rests" before they are rolled out into flat tortillas. I updated the recipe to make it more clear.
Kelly says
I found this recipe via Pinterest and have made it twice... SO delicious and worth the extra work. I never want to eat store bought tortillas again! I have a question... can you make the dough ahead of time and freeze it? Thanks for sharing your wonderful recipes! I've also made the muffins which are delicious, too!
100 Days of Real Food says
So glad the recipes are a hit. I've put finished tortillas in the freezer before, but I have not tried the dough....you could try it though!
Valerie Studney says
I made these yesterday and they came out great. My 8yr old loved them and wanted to have wraps today for her school lunch. This is a great site with tips and information on what we eat.
100 Days of Real Food says
You could try 2 eggs instead of 1...haven't done that yet myself, but think it would make a difference.
Marie says
I use olive oil and refrigerate them overnight-- some other recipe that I started making them with told me to do that. So I wonder if I DON'T have to do that? It said it was very important especially if your using whole wheat flour. I would love to be able to make them spur of the moment! These homemade tortillas are one of the best tasting things I have ever made, and really not as hard as I thought they would be. We had stopped eating tortillas for a while because we couldn't find any store bought ones that didn't have nasty stuff in them.
100 Days of Real Food says
Nope you don't have to...this recipe works great w/o any overnight refrigeration.
Jan Starnes says
I made these today with King Arthur whole wheat flour and avacado oil and warm water as stated, omitted the salt. I grilled them without oil and mine were greasy. Any suggestions, less oil...more flour? Help!
100 Days of Real Food says
You could maybe try less oil and more water if that's your preference. Not sure how it would turn out if the recipe is tweaked though.
Kay says
Thanks for sharing! Can't wait to try these!
Jana says
How do you freeze these, do you use ziploc freezer bags?
100 Days of Real Food says
Yes...exactly.
Rhiannon says
I recently did the 3 week Daniel Fast (no sugar, no meat, no dairy, no preservatives, etc!) and you would've thought I was going into business as a tortillaria! I made Whole Wheat ones, and then scored a few and toasted them in the oven to use as wheat crackers, but my favorite discovery was making BLACK BEAN and whole wheat tortillas! I used 1 1/2 cups whole wheat, a can of black beans run through my food grinder, a few cloves of garlic, a finely chopped jalepeno, 1 TBS of olive oil (you could totes use avocado!), and a few TBS of warm water added as needed (the beans provide a lot of moisture!). I added cumin and salt to the top when i toasted these into crisps and they were delicious!
I searched high and low for a tortilla press but to no avail! hand rolling isn't the easiest but it was worth it for these delicious tortillas! Even though I'm done with the fast, I will still continue a lot of things I learned on it, like making my own tortillas!
Cant wait to use your site to learn some new tricks to making healthy choices healthier!
Netty says
Made these last night...OH my goodness these were AWESOME. ;) I just LOVE every recipe we have tried.
Thanks so much,
Sharon says
I am making these tonight. I am using my new electric tortilla maker. Thanks for a wonderful site. I love it.
Melissa Haberman says
I love this! I've been wanting to make them for a while. Thanks for the recipe! I'm so excited to get started with more real food. Mine look just like your pictures, I couldn't be more pleased!
Sharon Rushton says
I have an oil querie. In South Africa we have sunflower oil. Do you class this as vegetable oil and how do you feel about adding it to the tortilla recipe?
Regards
Sharon
100 Days of Real Food says
Here's a post on oils and on the 2nd page of the comments there's some discussion about sunflower oil specifically...hope that helps! https://www.100daysofrealfood.com/2011/05/14/mini-pledge-week-10-no-refined-oils/
Melissa says
Delicious! I used coconut oil since that's what I have on hand. The tortillas were soft and delicious. So much better then store bought. Thanks to whoever mentioned using 2 layers of parchment paper. I did that instead of using flour and it was a neat trick. I'll have to make a larger batch to freeze next time. Thanks!
Amy @ A Little Nosh says
Made these yesterday (I've been cooking the heck out of your recipes lately, huh?). They were a little bit oily even though I reduced the oil based on some of the comments. Next time I'll reduce it a little bit more, but they tasted really good. Right now they're in the freezer awaiting some yummy quesadillas!
April W says
We are trying these today for the first time. I have a few questions though. 1) Is the dough supposed to be super sticky? 2) I rolled them flat before letting them sit for the minimum 15 minutes. As they are sitting there, I rechecked the recipe and it says to roll them flat *after*... is this going to ruin them in any way? I guess I was confused when I read step 4 and thought it mean to roll them flat at that point! :\
April W says
Grr. There goes tonight's dinner... they didn't come out. They were so badly stuck to the wax paper that we had to throw it all out. :(
100 Days of Real Food says
Oh no! Just saw your comments. If the dough is sticky you would need to add more flour. And yes the dough needs to rest before they are rolled out. Sorry to hear it didn't work out. Don't be discouraged...this is definitely one of the more involved recipes on the site!
Stephanie Cook says
These get better everytime we make them. My 6 year old rocked as my kitchen side kick today putting the balls of dough in the tortilla press and flour on the roller while I handled each tortilla in the pan. We had the entire process done in under 30 mins. I remember the first time took me close to 2 hours. A kitchenaid stand mixer and tortilla press helped immensely and finding a rhythm is always awesome when cooking anything.
NEdmonds says
Great recipe, but I need to work on my technique for making these round. I ended up with more amoeba shapped tortillas.
Starr says
These are a bit labor intensive, but so worth it! I didn't double the recipe the first time I made them because I wasn't sure how they'd turn out or if anyone would like them. Next time I may triple the recipe! They're so, so good!
misty says
I don't have a mixer with a dough hook, any suggestions on how I could still make these?
Starr says
You could maybe knead the dough well enough with your hands, after you get it mixed as well as you can with a spoon or hand mixer? Not sure, but it might be worth a try!
100 Days of Real Food says
You could certainly try it by hand (they made tortillas long before kitchen appliances!) or in a food processor with a dough blade if you have one of those.
Monica says
Any suggestions to decrease smoking while cooking these? I did not add any oil to my non-stick pan. Do you think it was from some flour on the tortillas (I tried to use as little as possible when rolling them out) or pan too hot? Thanks for your help. Finally happy to have a recipe I can use. Have not been able to buy store bought due to son's soy allergy. Amazing how soy is in everything especially packaged products.
Leslie says
I love this recipe but I am having the same issue with smoke. I used a press so I didn't have excess flour. Any help would be greatly appreciated!
NEdmonds says
I just made these, and I found that if I turned the temperature down slightly, it was less smokey. My pan gets really hot, even on medium so I stuck the temperature around med-low for better less smokey results. it takes a little bit longer to cook, but the result is the same.
Brooke says
I really want to make these but we have a glass stove top that cannot have a iron skillet put on top of it. I want to try them with a regular non stick skillet but do I keep the temp the same with using a different pan?? Also my husband loves his white flour so i was wondering if i could use whole white wheat flour instead.
Leah says
I use my cast iron on a flat top stove all the time. I refuse to use non-stick pans because of the chemicals. You just have to make sure your cooktop is clean and the bottom of your cast iron has no dried on food on the bottom. Either of those could damage the top. I know a lot of people who have a flat top and use cast iron. I wouldn't use it to make fried chicken, but I don't make it anyway.
Nancy says
Is there a special kind of avocado oil that I should get? Can I use it in all baking? We have a great recipe for zucchini - carrot muffins with whole wheat flour that my kids like. You cooked the tortillas in butter, would you be able to cook them in avocado oil as well? Thanks for your help. I love your recipes, but wish they were in a book.
100 Days of Real Food says
Just a standard avocado oil will work and I have not tried it in any other recipes yet, but might be worth some experimenting!
Holly says
Are there any suggestions on flour I could use instead of wheat? My daughter can't have whole wheat. I cook a lot with coconut flour or almond flour. I'm wondering if either of those would work?
100 Days of Real Food says
Hmmm...I haven't tried any other flours with this recipe. Instead of substituting you might be better off with a different recipe all together like this one: https://www.100daysofrealfood.com/2011/04/26/recipe-easy-whole-grain-corn-tortillas/
Kristin says
Help! I finally tried these and they turned out hard like chips :( what did I do wrong? Did I cook them to long? I don't have a cast iron pan so I used my non stick griddle. I am so sad, this is the first recipe of yours that hasn't turned out for me.
anna says
They were probably too thin or cooked too long. You want to cook them just until they start to get puffy, 30 secs or so per side. It took me a while to get the hang of it. You might be able to microwave them until a damp towel or steam them somehow if they were still a little pliable. You can also keep them under a towel to keep them warm and keep them from drying out while you finish cooking them all.
100 Days of Real Food says
This recipe definitely takes practice so don't be discouraged! There are a couple things that could have gone wrong. If you rolled them out too thin they could crisp up while cooking. Also, if you don't have the heat high enough they could be on the stove too long before they start to cook/brown and also be crispy.
rachel h. says
I made these again for the fifth time. So so delicious. I also made your refried beans (with black beans) and chicken enchiladas using chicken from your crock pot recipe and stock from the carcass. Thanks for providing all my recipes for the weekend.
Sarah says
I just tried to make a batch of these and I used olive oil and I had the coming out too greasy problem... What should I do about this half the amount of oil?? I live in a VERY rural area and getting anything organic at my local kroger is like having a parade everyday...
100 Days of Real Food says
I don't think olive oil is the best choice since the tortillas are made at a high temperature. Here is a post on oils for more info: https://www.100daysofrealfood.com/2011/05/14/mini-pledge-week-10-no-refined-oils/
Amy says
Can you make these if you don't have a heavy duty mixer or a dough hook? They look fabulous!
100 Days of Real Food says
Yes, readers have told me they've mixed it by hand! (Plus tortillas have been around longer than kitchen appliances LOL)
Ashley says
I just made these and they are AMAZING! Food always tastes better when it's a silly shape!
karthiga says
Im originally from India now residing in US .We call these tortillas( Chapathi's )and various indian curries go along with this tortillas (http://www.manjulaskitchen.com/category/gravy/). We eat them almost every day .It does definitely take time to get the proper shape & texture .
Sue says
Just made these. Love them. I only got 10 tortillas, instead of 12. Otherwise they were just a little too thin. They also were definatly not as perfectly round as they are in the picture :) I used chili oil and they have some mild heat to them, which is great with my black beans and cheese. MMM awesome lunches all week.
Angelica says
I couldn't get them perfectly circular or to 8", but I love them! I have non-stick griddles so I didn't need any oil. BTW-I'm a overseas Navy spouse adjusting to a mostly domestic role. I never cooked anything like this before. I used to just use pre-made, preservative laden products. On Day 4 of the 10 day challenge & my normal gastro issues are mostly gone! I've shared this with other spouses in the same "boat"!
Amanda from Canada says
WOW! To die for! Made these tonight (my first attempt at tortillas - and used my brand spankin' new tortilla press) and filled them with your crock pot chicken, a little cheese and freshly made salsa. My husband agrees - we will never be going back to store-bought tortillas again. Thanks for you wonderful posts and recipes.
Lindsay says
So I am confused, you say you can use canola oil and to spray the pan with canola spray, but your link says those oils are on the "Bad Oil" list. I'm confused....
100 Days of Real Food says
You have a point there! :) I wrote that recipe a long time ago before we changed our views on oil...I just updated the recipe and appreciate you bringing that to my attention. Thanks!
Maurine says
do you have a favorite tortilla press that makes this tortillas?
100 Days of Real Food says
I've found that a tortilla press is really better for corn tortillas...I recommend a rolling pin for this recipe.
Margie says
Any thoughts on Sunflower oil? I bought sunflower oil recently for the first time. Has anyone had experience with it? I thought it smelled a little rancid when I opened it from the store and it was not out of date. I was wondering if it had any odor to it too. I compared it to my bottle of vegetable oil that was almost empty and it had more of a smell to it.
Mary says
These passed the boyfriend test! :-)
I rolled them out really thin, and cooked them in a pan that had melted coconut oil (refined). After the tortilla was cooked, I melted a slab of butter on it, sprinkled cinnamon, and then drizzled maple syrup on top, before rolling it up and handing it off to dear boyfriend. He loved it! :-)
rachel heldt says
I made these tonight for your vegetable quesadilla recipe. The meal was fabulous. I used grapeseed oil in the tortillas and it worked great. It's one of the few healthy oils to cook with and Costco has it. Win win!
100 Days of Real Food says
So glad the recipe was a hit! Also, check out this post for more info on oils: https://www.100daysofrealfood.com/2011/05/14/mini-pledge-week-10-no-refined-oils/
Nichole says
I just made these and they taste great! I made them with canola oil, definitely greasy. I also think they came out a little too thick or maybe I'm just comparing them to the one's in the store. How do you get yours so thin? Also, are they less greasy using avocado oil? Thanks for the recipe!
100 Days of Real Food says
You have to roll them out with a rolling pin...they shouldn't be "thick" at all. Also check out this post about oils b/c I would not recommend canola: https://www.100daysofrealfood.com/2011/05/14/mini-pledge-week-10-no-refined-oils/
jessica gilbert says
SOOOOO gooooooooood!!
j. t. says
I cannot find advocado oil ANYWHERE near where I live. I absolutely REFUSE to spend as much money as they are asking for advocado oil on the internet so I went with canola oil. When I made them with the CO the dough was oozing oil while they "sat". I decided in the next batch to cut the oil in half and it worked wonderfully. I would suggest if you live in a rural area (and can't get a hold of advocado oil without traveling 2 hrs away) to half the canola oil.
These are such a great addition to lunch/dinner time!!