Ingredient Information

Tortillas, Types

Tortillas are the bread of Mexico and Central America. They are thin, round, flat, unleavened bread made of either corn or flour. Corn tortillas are ancient and date to the Aztecs, with the original bread baked on hot stones. Today, the small balls of dough are flattened and then cooked on a griddle. Flour tortillas came into the Mexican diet only after the introduction of wheat flour to the New World by the Spanish.

Most corn tortilla recipes have around 50 – 60 calories and 1 gram of fat. The fat in corn tortillas is not added but comes from the masa, which is a coarse ground corn meal.

Flour tortillas have more calories, as a result of the combination of flour and a fat used to make the tortilla dough. All things considered flour tortillas are a poor choice for your tacos.  The fat can be anything; many tortillas on the market use lard but traditional recipes call for vegetable oil. There are about 80  calories per flour tortilla and up to 2.5 grams of fat.

Authentic tortillas are low in fat and calories, but you do have to be careful as there are so many variables in purchasing tortillas. Size is the most important. The information in this recipe is based on an eight inch tortilla.