How to Fry Corn Tortillas for Tasty Soft Tacos
Are you a lover of Mexican food, and looking for how to fry a corn tortilla? Watch these easy tips on how to fry corn tortillas for tasty soft tacos.
Everyone loves tacos and tacos don’t have to be fancy! So this post shows you how to fry a corn tortilla!
Tortillas for Tasty Soft Tacos
How to Fry Corn Tortillas for Tasty Soft Tacos goes hand in hand with adding your favorite toppings.
Serve these tortillas on my Taco Tuesday Epic Fish Taco Board, Easy Pork Carnitas Taco Board, or this MOST POPULAR Easy Taco Recipe Dinner Board!
If you have chicken lovers, try this Taco Tuesday Chicken Taco Bowl Board where guests make their own chicken taco bowls! Perfect!
Tacos work just fine on the menu for weeknight planning, or even when last-minute company drops in.
Ingredients needed:
- Corn Tortillas
- Light olive oil or corn oil
How to serve corn tortillas (with Mexican food)
Did you know that you can buy a bag of 100 corn tortillas at Costco for $3.65? I usually divide the bag up into thirds and FREEZE what I don’t use.
We like to serve them this way: Enchiladas, tacos, cook a little longer for a tostada. Set out Best Homemade Guacamole Recipe and Cowboy Caviar Pineapple Dip, for a delicious Mexican feast.
Toppings or corn tortillas
- Meat
- Beans (kidney, black, pinto)
- Shredded cheese
- Chopped lettuce or cabbage
- Sour cream
- Olives
- Fresh tomatoes
- Salsa, or hot sauce
- Cilantro
- Lime
They are also delicious served on the side with this Chicken Quinoa Black Bean Bake recipe!
Or in this Crunchy Black Bean Mozzarella Tacos recipe!
How to Fry Corn Tortillas for Tasty Soft Tacos
- Heat a heavy skillet over medium-high heat.
- Add 1/2 cup light olive oil or corn oil (you may need to add more, depending on how many you fry).
- Sprinkle a drop of water into the pan and when it pops, the oil is hot enough to start cooking the tortillas.
- Fry the tortilla for about 10-30 seconds on each side, until browned and cooked. The tortilla should be soft and pliable, not crispy.
- Fold a paper towel in half, and lay it on a plate. On the left side, place the hot, cooked tortilla. Fold the remaining right side of the paper towel over the top of the cooked tortilla (to absorb any grease). Place a new cooked tortilla down on top. Start with a new paper towel, folded in half, and place on top of the hot tortilla (again, to absorb any grease). Continue the process by adding a fresh paper towel every 2 tortillas. You will have one stack of hot tortillas.
Growing up eating tacos
Growing up, tacos were a staple in my home. And on week-long camping trips with family friends (sometimes there’d be 20 in our group), my mom and her friends would cook tacos for the gang.
They must have fried up well over 100 taco shells. So Clara Mae, Avis, and my mom taught us how to fry corn tortillas for tasty soft tacos when we were out camping!
I seemed to always get the job of taking my little hands, tearing off the paper towels, folding them in half, and standing by the cook who was frying up the tortillas.
It was a boring job, but the outcome was very good: Delicious tacos that for some reason tasted a whole lot better in the outdoors.
Last week was an incredibly busy week for me, and although we don’t usually do much entertaining on weekdays, we invited our friends over anyway because it was the only day that worked for both families.
My slow cooker was full of Mango Chicken, which is perfect for tacos, enchiladas, taco salad, or burritos. These tortillas are also yummy served with my Crock Pot Salsa Chicken on Brown Rice, or on the side with this Smoked Turkey Mango Chili recipe.
Set out good condiments
We set the table and chopped up all of the condiments. And then my daughter took over the “tortilla job,” this time, frying the tortillas, and placing them on folded paper towels to absorb the oil.
Tacos are actually a very easy dish to serve to guests if you don’t mind serving a buffet dinner, because you can cook the tortillas up in advance and place them in the oven to stay warm.
You can pre-chop all of the condiments and pull them out of the fridge right before serving. There’s not a lot of stress involved in serving a taco meal!
It’s perfect for the “reluctant entertainer.”
Get the Recipe:
How to Fry Corn Tortillas for Tasty Soft Tacos
Ingredients
- Corn Tortillas
- Light olive oil or corn oil
Toppings
- Beans, shredded cheese, chopped lettuce, cabbage, sour cream, olives, tomatoes, salsa, or hot sauce, and always cilantro and slices of lime.
Instructions
- Heat a heavy skillet over medium-high heat.
- Add 1/2 cup light olive oil or corn oil (you may need to add more, depending on how many you fry)
- Sprinkle a drop of water into the pan and when it pops, the oil is hot enough to start cooking the tortillas
- Fry the tortilla for about 10-30 seconds on each side, until browned and cooked. The tortilla should be soft and pliable, not crispy.
- Fold a paper towel in half, and lay it on a plate. On the left side, place the hot, cooked tortilla. Fold the remaining right side of the paper towel over the top of the cooked tortilla (to absorb any grease). Place a new cooked tortilla down on top. Start with a new paper towel, folded in half, and place on top of the hot tortilla (again, to absorb any grease). Continue the process by adding a fresh paper towel every 2 tortillas. You will have one stack of tortillas.
- Delicious served with meat, beans, shredded cheese, chopped lettuce, cabbage, sour cream, olives, tomatoes, salsa, or hot sauce, and always cilantro and slices of lime.
I absolutley LOVE my Le Creuset iron skillet, perfect for so many applications!
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I’m excited to try this technique. I am confused about the folding though. I’ve read your instructions, I’ve googled and I still can’t figure it out:
“Fold a paper towel in half, place the hot tortilla on one side” ::: so one side of the paper towel yes?
“and fold the other side over.” ::: other side of what? Paper or Tortilla?
“Place the next tortilla on top” :::of the last tortilla or the paper towel?
“add a new paper towel, and continue the process.”
I can’t figure out if the paper towel goes in the middle of the tortilla as you fold it or if it goes between the tortillas and the tortillas are simply folded over.
No, you don’t fold the tortilla. Leave it whole. You make a BIG stack! :) Enjoy!
I’m just wondering if there is a safer way to test the temperature of the oil . Putting a drop of water in it certainly will make it pop but to me that seems to run the risk of the hot oil splattering
and causing injury, especially if it gets in your eye.
It’s a trick my mom taught me years ago and I do it to this day. Feel free to try whatever method works for you :)
I have found that if you tear off a tiny piece of the corn tortilla and put it in the oil, once it starts to bubble it’s about the temperature you want to start cooking!
Yes, this works, too!
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Thanks for the recipe! I’ve always made soft ya is the hard way by browning one side, then turning & folding & frying both folded sides. This is great ! Saves time! Can they be frozen & reheated easily? I made a HUGE pile & want to just use a few at a time with different fillings. Doable?
I haven’t tried freezing and reheating. Let me know if it works!
A paper towel in between each one? Seems pretty wasteful, but I will still try it.
It’s just how my mama dit it. We usually get a few tortillas out of 1 paper towel.
There is nothing as delicious as a fresh corn tortilla out of the fryer, piled high with beans and veggies.
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You really should have included a picture of your paper towel oil-blotting technique. i’m a little confused by your direction because I can’t seem to picture it in my head.
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