What Are Tortillas?
I love tortillas, you can make wonderful gluten-free dishes with this thin Mexican flatbread, such as tacos, burritos, quesadillas, taquitos, or enchiladas. Tortillas are super versatile and have become a staple at our home! A few years ago, I didn’t know the difference between a tortilla, a taco, and a burrito. I thought everything was the same, but that’s wrong. A tortilla is a thin flatbread made from corn- or wheat flour, with a hearty filling, and is eaten either hot or cold.
So what’s the difference?
Tacos are soft or hard tortilla shells, often filled with meat, sometimes also cheese and veggies. Since I am a vegan, I don’t fill my tacos with meat, I add all kinds of veggies, avocados, chickpeas, and a delicious sauce. Quesadillas are tortillas with lots of cheese and sometimes also veggies like corn, mushrooms, and potatoes. They are often folded in half and grilled. Burritos are large tortillas stuffed with beans, meat, veggies, cheese, and often also rice. They are tightly wrapped so you can eat them on the go. Enchiladas are folded tortillas filled with chicken, cheese, and baked in spicy salsa.
Did you notice how all these dishes have one thing in common? Yes, the tortilla!
Easy Ingredients And Preparation
Most homemade tortilla recipes contain wheat flour or cornflour. Wheat flour, in particular, is quite problematic, as more and more people suffer from a gluten allergy (celiac disease) or a wheat intolerance (like me). Corn is gluten-free but often processed in facilities that also process wheat. I don’t have a problem eating it, but some of my readers cannot tolerate corn. That’s why my gluten free tortillas contain chickpea flour and tapioca flour.
Tapioca flour is sometimes also called tapioca starch. You can use arrowroot flour instead. Some readers have also had success with cornstarch (I prefer tapioca flour though). Chickpea flour contains plenty of protein and also many minerals and vitamins such as folic acid, copper, manganese, magnesium, phosphorus, vitamin B1 + B6, zinc, and fiber.
Whipping up these homemade wraps couldn’t be easier. Many other recipes are more complicated and require that you knead a dough made from wheat flour, oil, and water, let it rest, roll it out and then fry it in the pan. My recipe is much easier since you only have to mix the few ingredients together and then pour the batter directly into the pan. So simple!
How To Make Gluten Free Tortillas?
You don’t even need a blender or food processor, just a bowl, a whisk, a pan and you’re good to go. STEP 1: Put all ingredients in a medium bowl and mix with a whisk. STEP 2: Pour a little oil into the pan (a new non-stick pan doesn’t require oil) and wait for the oil to warm up slightly. Then pour some batter into the pan and fry each tortilla on both sides for about 2 minutes. That’s it!
How To Serve & How To Store?
You can double the recipe and make a bunch of gluten free tortillas for meal prep. They are also perfect to take to school, university, or work. Furthermore, these gluten-free wraps are a great side dish for hearty Indian dishes such as Red Lentil Dahl or Chickpea Curry. You can also make them very thin (with more water) so that they turn out like crepes. If you leave out the salt, you can also enjoy them with a sweet filling (e.g. a Chocolate Spread or jam). Storage: Let the tortillas cool completely. I recommend stacking them on a plate and putting some wax paper between the individual wraps so that they don’t stick together. You can store them in the fridge for up to 3 days, ideally, wrap the plate in plastic wrap. They dry out a bit in the refrigerator, but you can easily reheat them individually in a pan (fry on both sides over a low/medium heat for about 20 seconds). They will become soft and elastic/pliable again. You can also freeze them in freezer bags (with wax paper between the individual wraps) for up to 3 months!
These Wraps Are:
Gluten-free Grain-free Wheat free Corn-free Nut-free Yeast-free Oil-free Vegan (egg-free, dairy-free) Protein-rich Easy to make with 2 ingredients (water and salt not counted) Perfect to make soft tacos, burritos, quesadillas, taquitos or enchiladas
I love this recipe so much because it always turns out great. The gluten free tortillas are elastic, pliable, can be folded and rolled (if more water is used) without tearing or breaking apart. They have the perfect texture, are flexible and robust at the same time. You can make the batter thicker (for tacos) or very thin (for crêpes). Here is a photo of thin crêpes that I made with the exact same recipe but with 1 2/3 cup (400 ml) of water:
You can even add spinach, which gives them a beautiful green color, which not only looks great but is also a fantastic way to add more greens to your diet. Check out my homemade Spinach Tortillas that are loved by adults and kids alike! If you try out my recipe, please leave a comment below, and don’t forget to tag me in your Instagram or Facebook post with @elavegan #elavegan because I love to see your recreations.