These gluten free tortillas made with cassava flour are a great option for gluten free wraps! If you need a flexible grain-free tortilla that tastes great, look no further!
When my husband learned during the Whole30 that he reacts to gluten, there were two things he was sad about missing out on: Homemade Pizza and taco night.
We’ve made HUGE progress on taco night ever since I discovered this gluten free tortillas recipe with cassava flour!
WHAT IS CASSAVA FLOUR?
In case you’ve never heard of cassava flour, here’s a brief lesson.
- Cassava flour is made from yuca.
- Yuca is a root vegetable, and it’s NOT a nightshade.
- Yuca has a very, very mild “potato-y” taste that, unless you’re actually eating it and thinking about whether or not it tastes like potatoes, you won’t even notice it.
Note: If you’re not gluten-free, grain-free, or otherwise do not need to avoid grains, I highly recommend making either Homemade Corn Tortillas or Homemade Flour Tortillas, just because they have cheaper ingredients.
However, if you need gluten-free flour tortillas (or grain-free) or for whatever reason need to avoid grains and are missing out on all the foldable, bendable love that comes from a tortilla or wrap (like Bacon Chicken Caesar Salad Wraps), then this cassava flour tortillas recipe is for you!
P.S. If you’ve heard that people with food allergies cannot afford their groceries, let me bust the myth and say that it is COMPLETELY possible to eat allergy-friendly without going broke IF you have a tried-and-true, solid system in place.
Graduates from my course Grocery Budget Bootcamp have had MULTIPLE food allergies and follow all sorts of diets (i.e., GAPS, Paleo, WAPF, Whole30, AIP, etc.), and they’ve all learned how to make it work within their budget.
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GLUTEN FREE FLOUR TORTILLAS RECIPE INGREDIENTS
Some gluten free flour tortillas recipes have ingredients like xanthan gum or psyllium husk, but you won’t find those here! Aside from the cassava flour, you’ll find simple pantry staples in this recipe. Here’s what you need:
- Cassava Flour. I use this brand, and the brand makes a difference! (Read below for more.)
- Salt. If you’re going to use salt, make sure it’s a good one like Ava Jane’s Kitchen that doesn’t have microplastics! You can get a free 8oz. bag of sea salt right now (just pay shipping and handling!).
- Baking Soda. One of the leavening agents in the tortillas, to keep the tortillas soft and fluffy.
- Cream of Tartar. When you combine cream of tartar with baking soda, you end up with a stable dough that doesn’t crumble or become tough.
- Coconut Oil. Coconut oil helps keep the tortillas softer and more pliable.
- Warm Water. To help the dough come together.
- Black Pepper (optional). If you’ve ever bought Siete cassava tortillas, you’ve seen the flecks of black pepper. You don’t have to add it, but it adds great flavor!
- Granulated Garlic (optional). I’ve made these both with the extra spices and without, and they’re equally delicious, but the smell of the tortillas cooking with the garlic powder and pepper is amazing! They add extra “oomph” to our tacos.
The brand of cassava flour that you buy is a very big deal. Different brands have different textures. Some are very coarse, and some are very fine.
- I’ve worked with Otto’s Natural cassava flour and Anthony’s cassava flour, and both make delicious gluten free tortillas. If you’re not using either one of these brands and your tortillas don’t turn out, I’m willing to bet it’s the brand.
- If you’re planning on making these AND you’re working within a grocery budget (which you should be), buy a “cheaper” flour at your own risk. Personally, though, I don’t recommend it. It might seem like you’re saving money, but if nothing you make turns out, then it’s just a waste.
HOW TO MAKE CASSAVA FLOUR TORTILLAS
Step 1. In a large bowl, or the bowl of a stand mixer, combine all the ingredients except water. Using your hands or the beater blade (a pastry blender works too), mix everything together until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs.
Step 2. Add the water and mix until the dough starts to come together, looks smooth in some parts (it will never be completely smooth), and the dough pulls cleanly away from the sides of the bowl.
Step 3. Preheat the griddle to 350F. Weigh the dough into 1-ounce portions and set aside.
Step 4. When the griddle is ready, roll each portion of dough into a ball. Place the dough ball between two pieces of parchment paper on a tortilla press and press. Gently peel back one piece of parchment paper. Turn the tortilla into your hand and gently pull off the other piece of parchment paper.
Step 5. Place on the griddle and cook for 2-3 minutes, or until you see small bubbles start to form on top. The underside may get traditional brown spots that you see on tortillas.
Step 6. Flip and cook again for 2-3 minutes, or until you see small bubbles start to form on top. Remove to a cooling rack to cool. Serve warm.
BEST TECHNIQUE FOR GLUTEN FREE TORTILLAS RECIPE
The good news? These cassava flour tortillas taste EXACTLY like regular flour tortillas. Your allergy people will be so happy!
The honest news? There’s a technique in order to get these things to work. It’s not hard, but you do need to follow my directions. Here’s the deal:
I highly recommend a tortilla press. I have this tortilla press that I bought from TJ Maxx or Marshalls several years ago, and I love it. If you don’t have a tortilla press, try using a rolling pin with parchment paper.
You need parchment paper. I love my Silpat mats for all sorts of recipes – they’re a one-time investment that I can wash and reuse a million times over again. But they don’t work for these cassava tortillas.
- Use parchment paper. You don’t need much, but I PROMISE it will make your life a million times easier. Plus, the tortillas will actually turn out!
- Pull out enough parchment paper to cover the width of the tortilla press, and then fold it in half.
- You need two pieces, but parchment paper is really wide. I was able to cover the surface of the press twice by folding the one piece and cutting it in half.
- If your parchment paper is a bit too big for the press, trim it as needed. You don’t want a ton of excess paper crinkling up on the hinge and lever sides of the press.
- Make sure the two pieces of parchment paper are facing the same way.
- The paper will likely have a slight curl to it on the edges. You want both pieces to curl together, so they’re going in the same direction. This makes peeling the parchment paper off the raw cassava flour tortilla much easier.
I recommend using a kitchen scale to weigh your dough. Kitchen scales aren’t expensive – I’ve had this cheap model for several years and it’s still going strong!
- The idea of weighing your dough may sound silly, but doing this not only ensures you’re getting tortillas that are even in size, but it also means you’re getting as many tortillas as you expect.
- This gluten free flour tortilla recipe yields 21-24 tortillas when you weigh just 1 ounce of dough per tortilla. If you use more than this, you will get a significantly smaller number of tortillas. This means fewer tacos AND not getting the most out of the money you spend on cassava flour.
Work in batches. After you’ve mixed the dough, resist the urge to weigh each ball of dough individually, and then pressing, and then cooking, and then flipping, and then cooking, and then removing to a cookie sheet. Working in small batches uses your time more efficiently.
- Weigh 6-8 portions of dough at a time.
- Roll portion #1 into a ball, press it, and put it on the griddle.
- Immediately roll portion #2 into a ball, press it, and put it on the griddle.
- Immediately roll portion #3 into a ball, press it, and put it on the griddle. Flip #1.
- Roll portion #4 into a ball, press it. Remove #1 to a cooling rack and flip #2. Slide all the tortillas to the left one slot (so the oldest tortilla is on the far left of the griddle), and put #4 on the griddle.
- Repeat the last step until all of the 6-8 portions of dough are now cooked tortillas.
Speaking of a griddle, use one. Griddles have a non-stick surface, making them great for all homemade tortilla recipes. But they also have a larger cooking surface, so you can cook more tortillas in less time than if you used a cast iron skillet.
Allow tortillas to cool on a cooling rack. This helps keep the tortillas soft and pliable but also prevents them from cooking and melting into each other when you stack them on top. They only need a few minutes to cool on cooling racks, which is exactly how long it takes to cook the 6-8 portions of dough!
HOW TO STORE GLUTEN-FREE TORTILLAS WITH CASSAVA FLOUR
- For short-term consumption, i.e., you’re eating them today or tomorrow, a container with a lid on the counter is fine.
- If you’re fortunate enough to still have tortillas after two days, you can store them in the fridge for up to a week in an airtight container or covered in plastic wrap. Be sure they are fully cooled before storing otherwise you’ll get excess moisture.
- For long-term storage, place gluten-free tortillas in a single layer on a cooling rack on top of a cookie sheet. Place in the freezer for 45-60 minutes – this is called flash freezing. When they’re semi-frozen, you can remove them to a freezer-safe container, remove all the air, and freeze for 3-6 months.
- This freezing method lets you pull as many tortillas as you want to serve, without dealing with the tortillas sticking to each other. (This same method works for Pancakes and Waffles, too.)
- You can also freeze them stacked with wax paper between every 2-3 tortillas. This isn’t the most cost-effective method, but if you reuse the wax paper every time you make a new batch of gluten-free tortillas, it could be worth it.
GLUTEN FREE WRAPS AND OTHER SERVING IDEAS
Now that you’ve got your cassava tortillas ready to go, you can make gluten free wraps and tacos and all sorts of yummy meals!
MACRO-FRIENDLY GLUTEN FREE TORTILLAS
Much like any other tortilla recipe, these cassava flour tortillas give you mainly carbohydrates. But you can make them fit with your macros for the day when you choose your filling!
Focus on gluten free wraps or tacos that have a protein filling, like chicken, steak, or lean ground beef, and fill up most of the remaining space with produce, whether that’s lettuce, diced tomatoes, cucumbers, grated carrots, or sliced onions.
Use fat as a garnish! A drizzle of your favorite salad dressing or a few slices of avocado round out your macros and add creamy, delicious flavor to whatever you fill your tortillas with.
GLUTEN FREE TORTILLAS WITH CASSAVA FAQS
Are cassava flour gluten free tortillas Keto?
No. For a keto diet, cassava flour tortillas are too high in net carbs.
What are cassava tortillas made of?
Cassava flour is made from yuca root, or cassava root, which is naturally gluten-free.
Are cassava flour tortillas healthy?
Cassava flour is great for people with various dietary needs because it’s grain-free, GF, paleo, and nut-free. Plus, it’s healthy, easy to use, and it can replace all-purpose flour in many different recipes.
Are tortillas gluten free?
These cassava flour tortillas are! Standard flour tortilla recipes are not gluten-free, since they are made with wheat flour.
MORE YUMMY GLUTEN FREE RECIPES
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Gluten Free Tortillas with Cassava Flour
These gluten free tortillas made with cassava flour are a great option for gluten free wraps! If you need a flexible grain-free tortilla that tastes great, look no further!
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 5 minutes
- Total Time: 15 minutes
- Yield: 24 1x
- Category: Breads
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: American
Instructions
- In a large bowl, or the bowl of a stand mixer, combine all the ingredients except water. Using your hands or the beater blade, mix everything together until the flour resembles coarse breadcrumbs.
- Add the water and mix until the dough starts to come together, looks smooth in some parts (it will never be completely smooth) and the dough pulls cleanly away from the sides of the bowl.
- Preheat the griddle to 350F. Weigh the dough into 1 ounce portions and set aside.
- When the griddle is ready, roll each portion of dough into a ball. Place it between two pieces of parchment paper on a tortilla press and press. Gently peel back one piece of parchment paper. Turn the tortilla into your hand and gently pull off the other piece of parchment paper.
- Place on the griddle and cook for 2-3 minutes, or until you see small bubbles start to form on top.
- Flip and cook again for 2-3 minutes, or until you see small bubbles start to form on top.
- Remove to a cooling rack to cool. Serve warm.
Notes
** I made these both with the extra spices and without, and they’re both equally delicious. The smell of the tortillas cooking with the garlic and black pepper is intoxicating! Omit if you want, but definitely feel free to experiment with the additional flavors. We thought they added extra “oomph” to our tacos!
