Gently Warm Store-Bought Tortillas For A Homemade Taste

Store-bought tortillas are a tasty addition to home-cooked Mexican food, but one simple hack allows them to taste more authentic, heat evenly, and be a satisfying accompaniment to your meal. So, shut the microwave door and instead opt for the approach of Marc Marrone, Executive Chief at the Austin, Texas Mexican cantina Arriba Abajo. Pulling from his years of experience in Mexican cooking, he advises, "Store-bought tortillas can be dry at times but warming them can create an elevated flavor that makes them feel homemade. Ahead of serving, I like to take some mateca or butter and gently warm my tortillas in a cast iron skillet."

Marrone's advice comes in handy for all types of tortillas including corn, classic flour, uncooked flour, and even almond flour tortillas. To properly heat up store-bought tortillas first you want to get your hands on a quality cast iron skillet with a large, flat surface, such as this Lodge variety. Widely known as a comal, this is still a popular piece of Latin American cookware, which has existed in Indigenous cooking for more than a millennium. 

To replicate Marrone's advice, bring your skillet to medium heat and optionally add a little butter. Add tortillas, then flip periodically until they're warm throughout and begin to puff slightly. Place the tortillas in a clean kitchen towel to preserve their heat before eating.

Quality store-bought tortillas can seriously transform your tacos, but if you have a little extra time try making them from scratch. Even if you don't happen to have a tortilladora or a cast iron tortilla press handy, there are other ways to make tortillas without a masa press. Begin by obtaining corn masa flour like the widely available Maseca before following a 3:4 water-to-flour ratio to mix up your masa. 

Section off the resulting dough into one-ounce balls before flattening using plastic wrap paired with a tortilladora, rolling pin, or your hands. Peel the tortillas off the plastic wrap before placing them on a comal or cast iron griddle on medium heat for about 30 seconds on each side.

With notably delicious tortillas taken care of you can opt for straightforward fillings like seasoned vegetables and proteins (just remember they are seasoned differently), shredded cheese, canned beans, and store-bought salsas. With enough practice tortilla making you'll soon even be able to tell when a restaurant's tortillas are homemade or store-bought.