Man Food: Homemade Tortillas and Tortilla Chips

Last Updated on March 22, 2012

If you’d like to make some homemade tortilla chips for your Game Day nachos, this post is for you. First you make corn tortillas, then you fry them into chips. I prefer the gluten-free masa harina from Bob’s Red Mill to make mine.

Homemade Corn Tortillas

2 cups masa harina (organic or GMO-free strongly preferred) 
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/3 cups water

Preheat an enameled cast iron skillet or a cast iron skillet to medium to medium-high heat.

In a bowl, combine the masa and salt and pour in the water. Stir until the masa comes together but looks crumbly. Then dive in with your hands and knead the dough until it comes together. Add more water, one tablespoon at a time, if needed.

Break the dough into 12-16 golfball sized pieces, roll each piece into a ball and cover with a wet towel to keep moist.

Take a quart-size zippered storage bag and cut off three sides, leaving the bottom of the bag intact.  Open your tortilla press and place the hinged side of the bag with the hinged size of the tortilla press. Flatten one dough ball and place it about half-way between the hinge and the middle of the press.   Cover the top of the dough with the free end of the zip top bag.

Close and press until circular.

Peel the top layer of plastic off of the tortilla.  Flip the tortilla into your palm and peel the other side of the zip top bag off.  Pop it into your skillet and cook, without adding any oil, for about one minute per side. In my enameled cast iron skillet over medium heat, it took one minute and ten seconds per side. Repeat until you’re done.

And that’s all there is to making corn tortillas.  It’s easy!  And it goes very quick if your cast-iron skillet is wide enough to hold two tortillas at once.

Tortilla Chips

Stack up your tortillas and cut them into quarters and set aside.

In a dutch oven or other heavy pot with a wide top, heat 3 or more inches of tallow over medium-high heat to 375 degrees. Here I’m using an enameled cast iron oval dutch oven by Staub. When the oil is up to temperature, fry 5 or 6 chips for about 30 seconds.  Pull them from the oil, drain and immediately sprinkle with salt.  Allow the temperature to come back up to 375 before you fry the next batch.

That’s all there is to making tortilla chips! It really is easy, even for a beginner. Try it out for game day to make your nachos!

[boilerplate sig]