Oh my delicious, how fun are these? Homemade tortillas are such a treat! They have such a tasty texture and flavor, totally worth the time to make. But how do you recreate this classic Mexican staple? With a flavor pressed and patterned homemade tortillas. Yes, it's a real thing and you can make them too!
While dining at Pujol during a recent trip to Mexico City, some unique green tortillas were brought to our table. These gorgeous blue corn tortillas were pressed with a large green leaf, completely covering one side of the tortilla with an inlaid design. Taken aback by this clever way to make homemade tortillas, I decided to make my own creative creation, with some flavorful toppings. Then, my patterned homemade tortillas were born! My patterned homemade tortillas are a little different from the ones at Pujol and are totally open for customization. Press in different ingredients, cut the tortillas into new shapes - the sky is the limit when you let your taste buds guide you!
Imbedding flavorful ingredients into your homemade tortillas gives your tortilla an extra flavor boost. What's my favorite tortilla topping combination? Jalapeño and cilantro leaves - the jalapeño is cut so thin that the spice sensation is light and warming while the cilantro is so flavorful and cooling. It's the equivalent of edible yin and yang!
Decorative ingredients used for these gorgeous patterned homemade tortillas: jalapeño, bell pepper, cilantro leaves, and hot sauce. If you don't love these toppings, feel free to switch it up! The topping combinations are truly endless. Stick with ingredients that have less water and pat them dry to remove excess moisture. Removing the moisture will help the ingredients better stick to the tortilla dough when pressed.
All you need to get started is a tortilla press and plastic wrap. Other optional kitchen tools include a circular pastry cutter and mandolin. Now, let's get pressing!
Flavor Pressed & Patterned Homemade Tortillas
Pressing the tortilla dough into the flat tortilla shape, then placing the toppings and pressing the tortilla dough once again helps the toppings stay in place. Below, I demonstrate using an optional circular pastry cutter to keep your tortillas a uniform shape. I prefer to use a circular pastry cutter because it helps make the tortillas look picture-perfect.
Making These Patterned Homemade Tortillas? You Might Need These!
PrintFlavor Pressed & Patterned Homemade Tortillas
Classic homemade and pressed tortillas with a Mexican-inspired twist. Imbed a gorgeous and tasty design into your tortilla by pressing ingredients, like jalapeño and cilantro, into the tortilla! You will love the flavorful and creative designs you can create with this recipe.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Total Time: 35 minutes
- Yield: 12 tortillas 1x
- Category: Side
- Method: Pressing
- Cuisine: Mexican
Ingredients
For the Tortilla:
- 2 ½ cups white all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 cup hot water
- ¼ cup canola oil, 1 additional tablespoon needed for cooking
Suggested Decoration Ingredients:
- 1 jalapeño
- ½ bell pepper
- 1 bunch cilantro, leaves separated from stems
- hot sauce
Equipment:
- mandolin slicer or a very sharp knife
- tortilla press
- 4 inch circular pastry cutter
Instructions
Making the Tortilla Dough:
- Combine flour, baking powder, and salt together and mix until well combined
- Using a fork to mix, slowly add the hot water and oil to the dry ingredients bowl. Gently stir the dry and liquid ingredients until the dough has a semi-uniform consistency. Take the tortilla dough out of the bowl and knead the dough by pressing your palm firmly into the center pushing the dough away from you, then pulling it back towards you in a circular motion. Knead the dough for about 30 seconds, ensuring a smooth consistency. Note: don't over mix the tortilla dough. Also, if the dough is too sticky, add more flour. If the dough is too dry, add more water.
- Separate the dough into 10 pieces, rolling each piece in your hands to form a ball. Place each ball onto a plate, cover with a towel, and let rise on the counter for 30 minutes. Note: covering the plate prevents the dough from drying out. You can place a semi-damp cloth over the dough if you are concerned they will become too dry.
Prepping the Decoration Ingredients:
- Using a mandolin slicer on the ⅛ inch setting or with very sharp knife, slice the jalapeño and bell pepper through the center of the vegetables, creating rings.
- While slicing, make sure your slices are very thin and maintain your desired shape for decorating.
Pressing and Cooking the Tortillas:
- Line the top and bottom of the inside of the tortilla press with plastic wrap. Place a dough ball in the center of the tortilla press and close the top of the press, flattening the dough ball.
- Open the tortilla press, peel off the plastic wrap from top and bottom of the tortilla and place the plastic wrap back onto the top and bottom of the tortilla press.
- Using a circular pastry cutter, cut a circle into the center of the freshly flattened tortilla dough. Cutting the dough with a circular pastry cutter helps keep the tortilla shape more uniform. Reuse the excess dough around the pastry cutter to form another tortilla ball - after all, it's still good dough.
- Assemble your flavor design on top of the tortilla and place the flattened and decorated dough back into the tortilla press and squeeze the tortilla press down again, flattening the design into the tortilla.
- Place a skillet on medium high heat and drizzle canola oil into the pan. Once the pan is hot, cook each side of the tortilla for 30 seconds, or until sear marks appear.
Notes
- If you decide to not use the circular pastry cutter to shape the tortillas after pressing, note there will be a decrease in the overall amount of tortillas and your should adjust your dough ball to be a smaller size when rolling before letting the dough rise.
- If you choose different vegetables for the tortilla topping decoration, pick vegetables that have less water or pat dry with a paper towel. If the vegetables are too wet, they could more easily separate from the dough after it's pressed.
- Additional decoration ingredient ideas: spring onion, purple onion, corn kernels, and edible flowers (like squash blossoms or blooming herbs). But honestly, the sky is the limit!
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 3 tortillas
- Calories: 415
- Sugar: 0 g
- Sodium: 416 mg
- Fat: 14 g
- Saturated Fat: 1 g
- Unsaturated Fat: 14 g
- Trans Fat: 0 g
- Carbohydrates: 62 g
- Fiber: 2 g
- Protein: 8 g
- Cholesterol: 0 g
Keywords: jalapeño tortillas, cilantro tortillas, homemade tortillas
There is nothing wrong with store bought tortillas (trust me, I buy them all the time). But homemade tortillas have such a tasty texture and flavor, they are really worth your time to make. And if you are going to make homemade tortillas, you should add a pressed edible pattern!
Switch up taco night, reinvent enchiladas, or flavor boost your burrito! Impress your guests with these flavor pressed and patterned homemade tortillas. Patterned homemade tortillas are stunning, delicious, and so unique! Don't let a flavorless tortilla take up valuable space on your pallet. Pressing flavor into the tortilla gives your dish a boost of flavor that would have otherwise gone utilized.
Get your tortilla press on!
dancing for donuts says
These are SO cool!!!!! I love how gorgeous they are, and how there are endless things you could add for flavor! I wonder if I could make them without a tortilla press...
Michele says
Thank you!! Yes, the sky is the limit (or in this case the tortilla size is the limit) for topping possibilities! You absolutely don't need to have a tortilla press, a rolling pin will do. Just use a lot of flour or line the rolling pin with plastic wrap to prevent the dough from sticking. I hope that helps!
Danni says
So fun! Tried it with jalapenos and so soooo good.
★★★★★
Michele says
So fun Danni!! The jalapeños are my favorite too!