I love to bake, but I don’t do it on a daily basis. In fact, I typically only bake one or two times a week, and sometimes a whole week goes by without any baking. However, I make dinner pretty much every night with lots of help from Mom. Gotta give Mom some credit! Okay, a lot of credit.
Dinner sometimes gets a bit monotonous. Okay, if you twist my arm, I’ll eat Alaskan salmon everyday, but a girl needs a little variety in her life! I do try to eat a different meal each night of the week but those meals tend to be in a pretty frequent rotation.
The same was true when I was a kid. We ate a lot of the same meals, but, funny enough, the meals that were in heavy rotation then are almost never a part of the meal plan now.
Tacos were one of my favorite childhood dinners. Tacos for Christmas, tacos for birthdays, tacos for weekends, tacos for leftovers. It was all about the tacos. I’ll be the first to say I loved those tacos, but they were seasoned with pre-packaged mix, placed on top of store bought shells, and heaped with cheese and sour cream.
It was time for an upgrade! I’ve had trouble getting tacos off my mind lately, but I wanted to take them to a whole new level. It all started with some Kobe ground beef with hand blended spices. The homemade corn tortillas are the real star here. I was afraid they wouldn’t turn out and put off making them for awhile, but they were shockingly easy to make and crazy good. They are soft and pliable, yet sturdy, and full of flavor.
A little onion, avocado, cilantro, and parsley topped the tacos and made for one of the most amazing dinners ever. My taste buds were dancing with joy! I’ve been craving these tacos ever since. They were reminiscent of those childhood tacos, but even better – just what food should be.
Taco Night with Homemade Corn Tortillas
- Total Time: 50 minutes
- Yield: 16 tortillas 1x
Ingredients
- 2 cups masa harina (I used Bob’s Red Mill)
- 1 ¼ cups hot water, more if necessary
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
Instructions
- In a large bowl, place the masa and salt. Stir together and then slowly stir in the water until a dough is formed. The dough should come together and feel like Play-Doh, not dry and crumbly or sticky. If it is too dry, slowly add more water. If it is too wet, slowly add more masa.
- Once the dough is the right consistency, form it into a ball and cover the bowl with a towel or parchment paper. Allow to rest for 30 minutes – 2 hours at room temperature.
- Once the dough had rested, cut it into 16 roughly equal pieces. Roll each piece into a ball and press it between two pieces of parchment paper with your hands. Try to press it into an evenly thin, round shell, about 1/8 inch thick. Stack pressed tortillas on a plate with parchment between them.
- Preheat a cast-iron or non-stick skillet over medium-high heat. Depending on the size of the skillet, place 1 or 2 tortillas in the skillet and cook about 1 minute. Flip the tortillas and cook about 1 minute more until both sides are lightly charred.
- Wrap the cooked tortillas in a towel or parchment paper and continue cooking until all are finished. Tortillas may be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days, or frozen, wrapped in parchment and foil and placed in a zipper bag for up to 3 months. Thaw wrapped in the refrigerator.
Notes
Recipe adapted from Edible Perspective
Additional time is required for the dough to rest
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
Homemade Taco Seasoning
- Total Time: 2 minutes
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon chili powder
- 1 tablespoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon ground coriander
- ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
- ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- In a small bowl stir together spices. Use immediately to season ground beef, fish, steak, or chicken to make tacos.
- Prep Time: 2 minutes
I definitely want to make my own taco seasoning – much better for you and you know exactly what’s in it!! Great post 🙂
So important to know what’s in the seasoning. Most are loaded with salt. Thanks, Ashley!
Totally love corn tortillas… so this is awesome. Taco Tuesday! is the best
Mexican is my favorite and these tortillas look fabulous!
Yummy! I’ve never made my own tortillas…this recipe looks really easy to follow. I can’t wait to give it a try! 🙂
Homemade tacos are so good! And you’re right they’re so easy to make. As is one’s own taco mix. I’ll never buy that packaged mix again!
I have always wanted to make homemade corn tortillas. This looks fabulous!
Making dinner can get soooo monotonous! So I love that you’ve introduced these delish tortillas in as a yummy taco option!!!
These look awesome. I would love to make these from scratch. Yummy!
I am so impressed that you made your own tortillas!! So rockstar.
Homemade tortillas are on the top of my must-try list! I’ve wanted to make them for so long now!
Ooh, I so need to do this next time. Hate all the added “stuff” in conventional ones.
Homemade corn tortillas? Wow, I never even thought that corn tortillas can be homemade 🙂 I just thought that’s something you always get at the store. 🙂 Bravo on tackling this unusual recipe! 🙂
I love making as many things as I can from scratch. You can also make flour tortillas, which are a bit easier, as the dough doesn’t have to rest.
I have always wanted to try making my own corn tortillas! I am so excited to give it a shot 🙂
I don’t bake as much as I cook either…probably only bake twice a week but cook every night and my dinners get so boring. This taco will definitely be making a rotation!! I have to try making homemade tortillas. They look amazing.
Wow these are great! I never thought of making my own before!
Homemade tortillas are so much better than store bought! The flavor is fresher and the texture is so much softer!
I’m going to add some dried coriander to my next batch of tacos! i always wing it, so will have to make a point to think about what I’m throwing in for a change. And homemade tortillas are on my bucket list!!! YUM!
I had coriander in the pantry from another recipe, so I was excited to use it again and really enjoyed the flavor.
To help you form your tortillas, instead of flattening them by hand, try this:
Roll into a ball (golf ball size) and place between two sheets of parchment (or plastic wrap, which I use) paper on the counter. Using a flat bottom plate or pie tin (I use a glass pyrex pie dish – works amazing!), squish the tortilla flat. The tortillas come out thinner and more round. I find there is much less cracking this way too! I like my tortillas thin, and found this method works the best. Detailed here:
http://biggreencookbook.blogspot.com/2012/06/homemade-corn-tortillas.html
however, if you are going to make tortillas a lot, go for a tortilla press! They’re about $20 on Amazon and totally worth it! I finally splurged and it is totally worth it.
Thanks for the tips, Liz! I have thought about a tortilla press, but I’m not sure how much I’ll be making them. I’m sure I’ll get one one day.