Handmade Corn Tortillas

If you love tacos like I love tacos, then you absolutely need to know how to make handmade corn tortillas. These upgrade your taco game instantly. In-stant-ly.  You can whip up a batch fairly quickly and store any leftover tortillas in the fridge for about 5 days. If you don’t make tortillas for any other reason, make them because they’re therapeutic and they make your kitchen smell like fresh corn, which is a surprisingly very pleasant aroma.

Where to Find Masa Harina

Masa harina is corn flour made from ground nixtamalized corn (treated with lime), which the “flour” you use for making corn tortillas.  You can typically find masa harina in the international section of the supermarket.  Bob’s Red Mill also makes a masa harina corn flour.  I find that the Maseca brand is fairly common, which is labeled as instant masa.  I love the corn flavor that comes from it especially when salt is added to the mixture.

Tortilla Press (or the Bottom of a Cast Iron Skillet)

At times, I can be quite extra when it comes to kitchen equipment.  And, I absolutely love tacos, taco-making, and taco-eating, so I found having a tortilla press to be an essential for me. BUT I recognize that the average home kitchen does not include a tortilla press (and it doesn’t necessarily need to). You don’t need a tortilla press to make great corn tortillas. You can simply press the tortilla dough using the bottom of a cast iron skillet (be sure to line/cover the dough with a piece of plastic as you would with a tortilla press).  Or you can also use a rolling pin to roll out the balls of dough into thin discs.

For Tacos

Of course, I was not going to pass up an opportunity to give you some solid taco recommendations.  I actually prefer corn tortillas over flour tortillas for most of my tacos.  With a handmade corn tortilla, I think any filling will be amazing. Some of my favorites are Lump Crabmeat Tacos with Chile de Árbol & Pine Nut Salsa and Chicken Adobo Tacos.