The Best Flour Tortillas

Americans spent $16 billion on tortillas in 2023, according to retail sales data gathered by the Tortilla Industry Association. While many large companies dominate supermarket shelves, shoppers across the country have a growing number of options beyond those from top-selling brands. Today, smaller and relatively new tortilla manufacturers are not only selling in their local communities, but they’re also shipping directly to customers who may live thousands of miles away. (Plus, you can always make your own at home.)

We set out to compare flour tortillas from both big and small businesses. Based on sales data from Circana, a Chicago-based market research firm, we selected five brands of shelf-stable, nationally available tortillas. In addition, we chose refrigerated options from three smaller companies that we could purchase locally or have shipped directly to us: Yoli Tortilleria and Caramelo, both located in the Midwest, and Boston-based Taqueria El Barrio (which sells its product under the name El Barrio Tortillas). Our testing focused on 6-inch tortillas, commonly called taco or fajita size. Tortillas are traditionally served warm, so we heated the samples on electric griddles before tasting them plain. We also made cheese quesadillas.

Widely available and convenient to source, shelf-stable flour tortillas from companies such as Mission, Old El Paso, and La Banderita can be found in most large supermarkets. Added preservatives mean that these tortillas stay fresh longer and keep their soft texture, though refrigeration is sometimes recommended after purchasing or opening them. These tortillas are often sold in both small and large quantities and come in a variety of sizes. If you have tortillas like these on hand, your next meal can be ready in no time.

Our tasting panel had good things to say about every sample. But we had a slight preference for softer, more pliable tortillas with mild wheat flavor. Top-rated tortillas also browned nicely on the griddle and complemented the cheese in our quesadillas. All of the shelf-stable brands we tasted fared well, with Guerrero Caseras flour tortillas having a slight edge. One taster called them “the closest to what I would expect with a homemade tortilla.” Another described them as “toasty and bready in a good way—not boring.”

When we were assembling our lineup, we noticed the smaller companies were selling “Sonoran-style” flour tortillas. Sonora, a state in northwestern Mexico along the United States border, is known for its flour tortillas. But what makes them unique? “In essence, it should be a thinner tortilla,” explained Marissa Tapia Gencarelli, a native of Sonora and co-founder of Yoli Tortilleria in Kansas City, Missouri. “It’s stretchy, and if you put it up against the light . . . you should be able to see your hand through [it].” But that’s not to say that all tortillerias are making them exactly the same way. “Even within Sonora there are different styles of flour tortillas,” said Gencarelli.

Yoli’s tortillas have steadily gained popularity since the store’s founding in 2016, and production has kept pace. The company now supplies supermarkets and other retailers in multiple states and ships tortillas across the country. In 2023, Yoli Tortilleria received the James Beard Award for Outstanding Bakery.

About an hour west at Caramelo in Lawrence, Kansas, Ruben Leal is also making the sort of tortillas he grew up eating in Mexico and now ships them to restaurants, retailers, and homes from coast to coast. “They’re not as thick. They’re a little bit greasy, chewy,” he told us. “The flavor is what differentiates them from your typical flour tortilla here in the U.S.”

One of the main differences you’ll find between these brands and the larger ones is the number of ingredients. While some supermarket brands list a dozen or more ingredients, tortillas from Caramelo, El Barrio, and Yoli Tortilleria have just four ingredients: flour, a fat, water, and salt. The flour tortillas we tried from Caramelo and Yoli Tortilleria were made using pork fat, while those from El Barrio contained palm oil (which is also commonly used in supermarket brands). Caramelo and Yoli tortillas are made and sold fresh, and they can be warmed the same way you would reheat tortillas from larger brands. El Barrio tortillas, however, are sold raw, but they only take a little longer to cook (about 1 minute per side). We don’t view the required cooking step as a drawback. Quite the contrary, it’s nice to be able to monitor the tortilla’s browning and watch it puff up as it cooks. That puffing happens when the moisture inside tortillas turns to steam, and it’s almost like watching a small balloon inflate.

At our tastings, panelists had a slight preference for the tortillas made with pork fat and the “buttery” quality it brought out. Lard is also used in baked goods like pie crust and biscuits to enhance texture, and the benefits of using it in tortillas were clear. The tortillas were also both chewy and flaky, while in comparison El Barrio tortillas remained slightly “doughy,” even after they were fully cooked. The tortillas from these smaller companies deserve to be nibbled plain before you use them in a meal so that you can appreciate their unique flavors and textures before adding your favorite fillings. They all boasted impressive puffing when heated plain and cooked for cheese quesadillas. All three were also among the thinnest we tasted, matching the Sonoran style they’re recreating.

We found that all the tortillas we tasted may be worth a spot in your kitchen. Popular retail brands provide the flexibility and convenience, making them a great addition to your next snack or last-minute dinner. The Sonoran-style tortillas made by smaller companies are perfect for breakfast tacos (or really any tacos) and deserve to be featured alongside your favorite grilled meat the next time you fire up the grill. That first pillowy bite will leave you dreaming about what to try these tortillas with next. They have a shorter shelf life, but you can freeze them and thaw as needed. We hope you’ll try one of these tortillas or seek out a source made in your community if you should be so lucky.