In our Taste Test series, BA editors conduct blind comparisons to discover the best supermarket staples (like vanilla ice cream or frozen pizza). Today, which flour tortilla is worth the purchase?
If you’ve never spent time carefully tasting and thoughtfully considering the various strengths and weaknesses of a flour tortilla, it’s fair to say you haven’t lived. Though corn tortillas are their own beautiful and separate category, flour tortillas live in their own unique universe of different flavors and textures. This kitchen powerhouse does the heavy lifting in some of the meals we love most, from simple and reliable quesadillas to a crisp and gooey Crunchwrap.
Corn tortillas have an extensive history throughout Mesoamerican cultures, which themselves date back thousands of years. Flour tortillas have a more murky lineage. Some argue that flour tortillas were first made in Mexico by Jews who had fled Spanish Inquisition, while others claim they were first created by Spanish colonizers when they came to Mexico. Wherever they were first made, flour tortillas remain an integral part of Mexican and Tex-Mex culinary traditions.
While many handmade flour tortillas are made with lard, yielding light and chewy bites of heaven, we’ve tempered our expectations for the store-bought, industrially produced variety, which are often made with oil or other fats in place of lard. The best supermarket flour tortillas are soft but not limp, and chewy but not gummy. We want a tortilla that’s confidently wheaty, with no distracting chemical flavors. It should be thin enough to see light through, just slightly stretchy when tugged, and flaky when pulled apart.
To find the best of the best, we tested seven of the most popular tortilla brands. Our tasters tried them straight out of the package, and in cheddar quesadillas to discover which was the toasty, flaky favorite. Here’s our ranking.
Deeply Disappointing: Old El Paso Flour Tortillas
What’s inside: Food editor Shilpa Uskokovic correctly predicted that these tortillas were a mass-market brand based on their ingredients alone. The long list of additives (like mono and diglycerides, potassium sorbate, and calcium propionate), she said, would make this tortilla quite gummy.
The verdict: I am not being hyperbolic when I say that reactions to this tortilla were immediate and intense. “This is dry!,” said senior cooking editor Kelsey Youngman. “This is…unpleasant,” she muttered to herself, almost in amazement, upon taking a second bite. “Bad, really bad,” senior cooking editor Emma Laperruque kept repeating, like it was a mantra. Everyone agreed that there was a strange sweetness, and multiple tasters compared it to the processed flavor of bad sandwich bread. Somehow this tortilla was both crumbly and “squishy,” as associate cooking editor Antara Sinha described it. Rarely has there been such a quick, unanimous no from our testers.
Unfortunately Spongey: Chi-Chi’s Burrito Style Flour Tortillas
What’s inside: Shilpa says that because of the “bleached flour, shortening, starches, soy flour, and oil,” it would make sense for this tortilla to taste a lot like cheap, supermarket white bread. Ingredients like soy flour and oils are often found in processed loaves.
The verdict: “It’s not right,” Kelsey said, chewing under a furrowed brow. Test kitchen coordinator Inés Anguiano noticed a “clay-like taste” to this tortilla, and Shilpa declared that they smelled a lot like homemade playdough; though since tortillas and playdough share three common ingredients (water, salt, and flour) maybe that’s not so strange. Everyone agreed it was quite a cushiony tortilla, and some tasters noticed an herbaceous, minty flavor. Suffice it to say that Chi-Chi’s flour tortilla would not be our first choice.
Puzzlingly Pale: Mayan Farm Flour Tortillas
What’s inside: Shilpa noted that there were a striking number of fats and conditioners in this tortilla, which likely means it could stay on shelves “for months.” As she put it, “It’s giving Wonder Bread but make it flat and round.”
The verdict: Mayan Farm, we agreed, just didn’t look right. No one could quite figure out why, until Kelsey pointed it out: Straight out of the bag, the tortilla didn’t have browned blisters, but instead delicate freckles. In short, it hadn’t been cooked enough. Inés said it “didn’t retain much flavor,” and Shilpa felt like it had the texture of “squished sandwich bread.” In its quesadilla form, it became majorly dried out.
The Big Name Flop: Mission Burrito Flour Tortillas
What’s inside: These tortillas contain bleached flour, shortening, and glycerides, which Shilpa suspected were the culprits for its slight gummy texture.
The verdict: Mission tortillas have a lot of name recognition, and before we blind tasted, most of us expected to be able to pick them out by flavor alone. While tasters like Inés liked that they were “very soft and very thin,” Antara wasn’t crazy about their sweetness. When this tortilla was toasted, though, tasters agreed it improved. Although it entered the taste test with a lot of name recognition, Mission tortillas fell short of our expectations.
Suspiciously Structured: Whole Foods 365 Organic Flour Tortillas
What’s inside: The ingredients in this tortilla, like organic wheat flour, organic expeller pressed soybean oil, and organic apple cider vinegar, were “serviceable and standard,” according to Shilpa. She said, based on their ingredients, that these tortillas would be sturdy but pliable.
The verdict: After a few bites of the Whole Foods tortilla, opinions were split in the test kitchen. Kelsey declared its distinct layers “very structured,” and other tasters noticed that the tortilla became gummy while chewing. Shilpa said this tortilla was strangely sweet in a way she didn’t love, but Inés said, as a quesadilla shell, it crisped up more evenly than a lot of the other options. Overall, tasters thought these issues were negligible, and the 365 tortillas placed solidly in the middle of the pack.
The Solid Second Place: Trader Joe’s Homestyle Flour Tortillas
What’s inside: Shilpa called this relatively short, nine-item ingredient list “pretty lean and clean.” It’s mostly wheat and barley flour, water, and sunflower oil. After reading this, Shilpa predicted these tortillas would be “tender and even a touch malty tasting.”
The verdict: We knew these tortillas would be great just by looking at them. Emma noticed each tortilla was so thin you could almost see through it, and Shilpa noted how flaky it was when pulled apart. “You can tell there’s a decent amount of fat in the dough,” she said, examining the layers of a torn tortilla. Our first bites revealed it to be chewy but not gummy, and “a perfect neutral,” as associate editor Zoe Denenberg said.
The Lovely, Layered Winner: Mi Rancho Organic Flour Tortillas
What’s inside: These tortillas are made with sugar, which Shilpa said would help them “toast up well” and take on a nice color. The vinegar and cream of tartar that appear on the ingredients list, likely included as leaveners, could also bring a tangy note to each tortilla.
The verdict: “Whoa, this is really good!” Shilpa said excitedly, tearing off bite after bite from her tortilla. Tasters agreed this was the flakiest tortilla of the bunch, and they loved the buttery nuttiness. Kelsey noticed that these tortillas were less sweet than some others, which she enjoyed, but what pushed these tortillas into first place was their subtle tang. “I’m not mad at it,” Inés said. Mi Rancho won the tournament thanks to its rich, flaky texture, and superior, complex flavors. As our crowned winner, we deemed Mi Rancho the best, most versatile tortilla of the group. Seek out burrito-size Mi Rancho tortillas for Shilpa’s ingenious Crunchwrap for a Crowd, or use the original size for for omelet roll-ups and quesadillas.
