Simple Soft Corn Tortillas (3-Ingredients!)

Made with 3 ingredients, corn tortillas are incredibly easy to make at home. These are soft, pliable, and well-seasoned, perfect for tacos of all kinds!

Nearly 20 years ago, I had my first taste of really good corn tortillas. I was in San Francisco for a wedding, and after a morning a run — those were the days! — Ben and I stumbled upon the Ferry Building Farmers Market and specifically the Primavera stand, where a very long line suggested maybe we should hop in it.

We did, and about 30 minutes later, we were eating the best chilaquiles — maybe the best meal — of our lives. To this day, I cannot visit San Francisco (if I’m there on a Saturday morning) without stopping by the Primavera stand, which without fail continues to have the longest line at the market and which continues to make the most delicious chilaquiles on the planet.

Upon returning from that wedding 20 years ago, still dreaming about the texture and flavor of the tortillas in those chilaquiles, I began researching how to make really good corn tortillas at home. I learned that the secret was to use fresh masa, which produces tortillas with deep corn flavor and a pleasing texture.

But as I researched how to make masa, I quickly became discouraged by the process, which requires soaking dried corn in a lime solution, then grinding it into a dough. The alternative would be to find fresh masa, an equally discouraging prospect, or masa harina, a readily available finely ground flour that requires only water to “activate.”

Over the years, I’ve stuck to making flour tortillas at home, either these or these, because I had never been that happy with the tortillas I made from masa harina. But a few years ago, I received a few bags of Masienda masa harina in the mail, and I realized perhaps the masa harina I had been using was part of the problem.

Following the recipe on the back of the Masienda bag, I got to work, and while it took some trial and error to get right, I finally was able to make a corn tortilla that actually tasted like corn and didn’t have the texture of soggy cardboard. Today, I use Bob’s Red Mill masa harina, which I can find at nearly all of my local grocery stores, and I find the tortillas to be equally delicious as those made with the Masienda masa harina.

Friends, the recipe below is simple, requiring only three ingredients and just a little bit of time. Once your tortilla dough is made, you can crank out a dozen homemade tortillas in less than 15 minutes. We’ve been enjoying these with breakfast tacos (see below) as well as simple fish tacos, which I should write about soon. Stay tuned!

How to Make Soft Corn Tortillas, Step by Step

First, you’ll need some good corn masa harina. You can find Bob’s Red Mill at many supermarkets:

You can also order it online from shops like Masienda:

Once you have masa harina on hand, all you need is water and salt:

Whisk together the masa harina and salt:

Then add the water:

Mix until you have a cohesive ball: it should feel like the texture of play-doh, damp but not so moist that it sticks to your hands when pressed:

Cover the bowl and let the dough rest for 30 minutes.

Before you portion the dough into smaller balls, you’ll want to make a tester tortilla to ensure the dough is not too moist. Pull off a 25-gram (scant 2 tablespoons) portion:

Then press it using a tortilla press lined with parchment paper. (Alternatively you could roll it out using a rolling pin, or you could use two heavy books.)

If you are able to release the tortilla from the parchment paper easily without any sticking at all, you’re in business. If the tortilla sticks to the parchment upon peeling it away, scrape it back into the bowl with the remaining dough, press it back together and add more masa by the tablespoon, repeating the testing process outlined above until you have a tortilla that releases easily from the parchment paper. Portion the dough into 25-gram portions.

If you don’t have a scale, you can use a 2-tablespoon measure to portion. Ball them up.

Set up your pressing/cooking station:

You want your skillet over high heat.

I use a small skillet, and I cook one tortilla at a time. While one tortilla is cooking, I press another dough ball. Cook the tortilla for roughly 30 seconds on one side:

When the tortilla begins lifting from the surface of the skillet…

… flip it and cook for another 30 seconds.

The whole process of cooking 12 tortillas should take roughly 15 minutes.

Serve them immediately with your tacos of choice topped with salsa of choice…

Or stack them into a dish and cover with a towel…

… or keep them warm in a tortilla warmer.

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