While simple flour tortillas are a great go-to for traditional Mexican dishes, wraps, and pinwheels, spinach tortillas take the color and flavor to a whole new level. My beautiful, dark green-laced spinach tortillas elevate the flavor of any flour tortilla-based dish. Can you imagine these pretty green tortillas in pinwheels as an appetizer for the holidays? I sure can!
My Spinach Tortilla Inspiration
If you read my Roasted Red Pepper and Garlic Tortilla blog post, then you know my inspiration comes from the many store-bought spinach tortillas I used to buy. As with the roasted red pepper and garlic tortilla version, I knew I could make my own with spinach. Thus, I took my regular Mexican flour tortilla recipe, tweaked it a little, and added spinach. Voilà! Done! Awesome spinach tortilla recipe created! Store-bought spinach tortillas no longer and never again! I absolutely LOVE these tortillas just like the roasted red pepper and garlic tortilla version. I totally see red and green pinwheels for lunch with a bowl of soup or as an appetizer for the holidays!!
Spinach Tortilla Description
Spinach is clearly the main ingredient in these tortillas. Although, these are spinach focus in both color and flavor, they are definitely a soft flour tortilla with regular flour tortilla undertones. They are very soft and pliable making them a terrific flatbread base for other ingredients, dips, and dishes.
Spinach Tortillas: Ingredients
I’m excited to share my basic white flour tortilla recipe modified with the cool spin of added spinach. The ingredients for my spinach flour tortilla recipe include spinach, all-purpose flour, baking powder, salt, shortening, and water. It’s that simple!!
Prepare Spinach
For ease, thaw 12 ounces of chopped frozen spinach in the fridge overnight or in the microwave for a quick thaw. Drain and squeeze out most of the moisture. Don’t worry about squeezing it dry; just enough that it separates easily. If you use fresh spinach, rinse it under water in a colander. Place it in a large saucepan or skillet. Heat on medium and sauté it until wilted. Return it to the colander and rinse with cold water, drain, and squeeze out most of the moisture.
Place the spinach in a food processor or blender. Process until broken down and smooth. Set the mixture aside.
TIP: The spinach will remain in very small chunks, a little stingy. The small pieces will lace the tortilla with pretty green pieces once the tortillas are cooked.
Mix Dry Ingredients
In the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attached, add 420 grams (3½ cups) of all-purpose flour. Be sure to fluff, scoop, and level off the flour if using a measuring cup. Add 1½ teaspoons (6 grams) of baking powder, and 1¼ teaspoons (~7 grams) of salt. Turn the machine on low and mix until combined. With the mixer on low add 6 tablespoons (72 grams) of diced shortening and mix until the shortening is dispersed.
TIP: Instead of using a stand mixer, mix ingredients in a large bowl.
Add Spinach & Water
If using the stand mixer, switch to the dough hook attachment. With the machine on low, add the spinach and knead. The dough will look crumbly. Use a spatula to scrape down the sides of the bowl. As the machine continues to run, add warm tap water (1 tablespoon at a time -3-6 or so total). The amount of water you add will depend on the amount of moisture in the spinach and the humidity in the environment. Continue adding water until the dough comes together into a cohesive mound as it spins in the machine. The dough should be soft. Knead for 5 minutes increasing the speed to medium.
TIP: If not using a stand mixer, stir or knead by hand the spinach into the flour and then knead or stir in water until the mixture comes together. Once combined, knead the dough on a lightly floured work surface for 8- 10 minutes. The dough should not be sticky but soft and tacky.
Cover & Rest
Remove the bowl from the machine and use your hands to form the dough into a ball. Place it at the bottom of the bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a towel and allow the dough to rest on the counter for at least 30 minutes.
TIP: You can prepare the dough a day ahead of time. Place the dough in the fridge overnight or until you’re ready to divide, shape, and cook the tortillas.
Divide & Roll Dough
Divide Dough
Remove the dough and place it on an unfloured work surface. You can add a little flour if the dough is sticky but should be sticky only tacky. Divide the dough into preferred sizes either 10 large pieces (~84-85 g each) or 20 small pieces (~42 g each). You can weigh or eyeball the sizes.
Roll & Cover Dough
Roll each dough piece into a smooth ball in your hands. You can place each dough ball on the work surface with all flour moved aside. Cup your hand behind each ball and roll the ball towards you along the surface so the friction creates a smooth ball all around. Rolling these into balls will create a near perfect round tortilla when rolled out with a rolling pin.
Cover them with a towel and allow the dough balls to rest for 15 minutes.
Preheat Skillet & Roll Out Tortilla
Heat a large dry (12-inch) skillet over medium-high heat. Use a rolling pin to roll out one tortilla into a 10-inch circle for a large tortilla or a 5-inch circle for a small tortilla. Keep the surface well-floured to prevent the dough from sticking. Flip the tortilla over as you roll. If the tortilla retracts, allow the tortilla to sit for a few moments to get used to its new shape and continue to roll. If the dough begins to curl, flip it over and roll on the other side.
TIP: The tortillas slightly shrink when they hit the hot pan. Consider rolling out each tortilla 1 inch larger than desired cooked tortilla.
Heat Tips
Skillet has heated enough to cook the tortillas when a splatter of tap water sizzles when it hits the skillet. Adjust the stove temperature as you go. Start out high and decrease as needed. If you cook the tortillas at a temperature too low, they will be stiff. If they are cooked at too high of a temperature, they will brown (even burn) too quickly.
Assembly Line Cooking
Create an assembly line. Once the skillet is hot, turn down the heat to medium. Place a tortilla in the skillet and cook for 1 minute or until brown spots appear on the underside. As a tortilla cooks, roll out the next. Flip the half-cooked tortilla and cook the other side for another 30 seconds or until brown spots appear. Set the tortillas aside on a foil-lined plate with another sheet of foil on top to keep them warm. Continue to roll out and cook the remaining tortillas stacking them on the plate as they cook. Keep foil over the top tortilla.
TIPS: Use a paper towel to wipe loose flour out of the pan as needed to keep the flour from burning. The tortillas should be soft and foldable. They should form bubbles, but they will deflate as they cool. You can also place a heat-proof plate in a 200˚F (93˚C) oven and stack tortillas as they bake to keep all the tortillas warm before serving.
Tortillas Cooked!
Check out the stack of tortillas. They can be eaten now or later. Notice the brown spots from the skillet. These truly are soft and foldable making them perfect for soft tacos, burritos, pinwheels, etc. They have a nice, layered tear like a regular basic flour tortilla with the same gluten stretch. Aside from being a beautiful tortilla, you can even smell the spinach!
Serving Suggestions:
Use these spinach tortillas for any recipe that calls for soft flour tortillas.
- pinwheels
- sandwich wraps (rolled flatbread sandwiches filled with cheese, meats, veggies, & preferred condiments)
- soft tacos
- burritos
- chips (brushed with oil, topped with salt, cut into triangles, & baked 400˚F(204˚C) for 10 minutes flipping at 5 minutes). See my recipe for making tortilla chips.
- enchiladas
- fajitas
- quesadillas
- tacos
- taquitos
Storing Suggestions:
Store the tortillas stacked in a sealed plastic bag at room temperature for about a week. For longer storage, freeze for a couple of months. They thaw quickly from the freezer to the microwave; simply heat for 30 seconds. You can also reheat them in the microwave between 2 damp towels to keep them moist or in a dry skillet over the stove until warm.
Spinach Tortillas Final Thoughts
These are so pretty! These spinach tortillas are a cool and fun take on a regular flour tortilla! I enjoy eating these hot and fresh out of the skillet. These tortillas taste great with other ingredients that go well with spinach. Consider making a simple egg and cheese omelet, and before folding it over, place it on top of the tortilla and roll it with the tortilla. You can see the egg and cheese in between the rolled layers. Yummy!! Now that’s a protein-packed breakfast, lunch, snack, or dinner!!
Baker’s Thoughts
These are so cute! Didn’t I already say that? In fact, they are easy to make if you use frozen spinach, thawed in the fridge overnight. No baking or roasting! The only extra step needed that’s different from my regular Mexican flour tortilla recipe is processing the spinach in a food processor to break it down (and that only takes like 2 minutes, if that). Like with standard tortillas, there’s a required rolling out of each tortilla. You can save time by making the dough the day before you cook them. It takes 20-25 minutes to cook all 10 tortillas and that includes rolling out a tortilla as one cooks. They can be eaten as soon as they come off the skillet. I highly recommend making these tortillas as they are fun and a good way to get some greens in you and your kids’ diets! Win!
Taster’s Thoughts
I really like these tortillas, but I LOVE spinach and eat it every day. If you’re not a spinach fan, you may not be a fan of these. However, once you add all of the cheese and condiments, the spinach flavor becomes minor. Spinach is the highlighted flavor, but they still taste like a flour tortilla. Personally, I love these as pinwheels or wrap sandwiches with a layer of cream cheese or other spread like hummus, slices of meat or shredded meat, and some roasted or fresh vegetables with shredded or crumbled cheese on top and rolled. They are so pretty to serve as appetizers for guests. You can also make these into tortilla chips to serve with your favorite dip!
Check out my YouTube video for visuals of each step along with tips, tricks, and techniques along the way. “Spinach Tortillas: Soft Flatbread Perfect for Wrap Sandwiches, Hummus, Pinwheels, & Mexican Dishes”.
Spinach Flour Tortillas
Ingredients
- 12 oz chopped spinach, frozen or fresh thawed, drained, and squeezed (if fresh- sauté, rinse, drain, and squeeze)
- 420 g (3½ cups) all-purpose flour fluffed, scooped, and leveled if using a measuring cup
- 1½ tsp (6 g) baking powder
- 1¼ tsp (~7 g) salt
- 6 tbsp (72 g) vegetable shortening (diced into small pieces) or lard, butter, or coconut oil
- 3-6 tbsp warm tap water
Instructions
- Thaw frozen spinach (in the fridge overnight or quickly in the microwave). Drain and squeeze out most of the moisture. TIP: If using fresh spinach, rinse it under water in a colander. Place it in a large saucepan or skillet. Heat on medium and sauté just until wilted. Return it to the colander and rinse with cold water, drain, and squeeze out most of the moisture.
- Place the spinach in a food processor or blender. Process until broken down.TIP: The spinach will remain in very small chunks, a little stingy. The small pieces will lace the tortilla with pretty green pieces.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attached, add flour, baking powder, and salt. Turn machine on low and mix until combined. With the mixer on low, add shortening and mix until the shortening is dispersed. Switch to the dough hook attachment and with the machine on low, add the spinach and continue to knead. The dough will look crumbly. Add warm tap water (1 tbsp at a time, 3-6 or so total depending on the amount of moisture in the spinach) until the dough comes together into a cohesive mound as it spins in the machine. The dough should be soft. Knead for 5 minutes increasing the speed to medium.TIP: Instead of using a stand mixer, mix ingredients in a large bowl. Stir or knead by hand the spinach into the flour and then knead or stir in water until the mixture comes together. Once combined, knead the dough on a lightly floured work surface for 8- 10 minutes. The dough should not be sticky but soft and tacky.
- Remove the bowl from the machine and use your hands to form the dough into a ball and place it at the bottom of the bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a towel and allow the dough to rest on the counter for at least 30 minutes.TIP: You can prepare the dough a day ahead of time. Place the dough in the fridge overnight or until you’re ready to divide, shape, and cook the tortillas.
- Remove the dough and place it on a work surface (only lightly flour if the dough is sticky but it’s not necessary here). Divide the dough into preferred sizes either 10 large pieces (~84-85 g each) or 20 small pieces (~42 g each). You can weigh or eyeball the sizes.
- Roll each dough piece into a smooth ball in your hands. You can place each dough ball on the work surface (all flour moved aside), cup your hand behind each ball and roll the ball towards you along the surface so the friction creates a smooth ball all around.
- Cover them with a towel and allow the dough balls to rest for 15 minutes.
- Heat a large dry (12-inch) skillet over medium-high heat. Use a rolling pin to roll out one tortilla into a 10-inch circle for a large tortilla or a 5-inch circle for a small tortilla. Roll thin enough to see through the dough. Keep the surface well-floured to prevent the dough from sticking. Flip the tortilla as you roll. If the tortilla retracts as you roll, allow the tortilla to sit for a few moments to get used to the shape and continue to roll. If the dough begins to curl, flip it over and roll on the other side.TIPS: The tortillas slightly shrink when they hit the hot pan. Consider rolling out each tortilla 1 inch larger than desired cooked tortilla. Skillet has heated enough to cook the tortillas when a splatter of tap water sizzles when it hits the skillet. Adjust the stove temperature as you go. Start out high and decrease as needed. If you cook the tortillas at a temperature too low, they will be stiff. If they are cooked at too high of a temperature, they will brown (even burn) too quickly.
- Cook each tortilla as you roll out the next one. Turn down the heat to medium. Place a tortilla in the skillet and cook for 1 minute or so (or until the brown spots appear on the underside. Flip the tortilla and cook for another 30 seconds or until brown spots appear. Set the tortillas aside on a foil-lined plate with another sheet of foil on top to keep them warm. Continue to roll out and cook the remaining tortillas stacking them on the plate as they cook. Keep foil over the top tortilla.TIPS: Use a paper towel to wipe loose flour out of the pan as needed to keep the flour from burning. The tortillas should be soft and foldable. They should form bubbles, but they will deflate as they cool. You can also place a heat-proof plate in a 200˚F (93˚C) oven and stack tortillas as they bake to keep all the tortillas warm before serving.
Video
Notes
Interested in other flatbread recipes? Check these out!
Roasted Red Pepper and Garlic Flour Tortillas
Classic Italian Focaccia Flatbread
Unleavened Bread Gluten & Gluten Free Versions
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