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Ah, tortillas! They’re cheap, easy, and simple. Honestly, you can throw anything in a wrap, and you easily have a transportable meal on the go. Everyone knows about tacos, burritos, and quesadillas, but have you ever thought beyond that? Here’s a list of some of my all-time favorite uses of this amazing food…
But first, a few facts.
Okay, so I’ll admit it. I’m a sucker for some interesting facts and history, so let’s dig into the tortillas a little before we dig into the tortillas.
Did you know that the oldest tortillas we’ve found date as far back as 10,000 BCE? When I first read that fact, it literally (okay, figuratively) blew my mind. I knew these bread pancakes had been a staple in places like Mexico and South America for ages, but I didn’t realize just how long. The original tortillas weren’t that far off from a modern-day corn tortilla. Thousands of years ago, tortillas were one of the staples of the Aztecs. Back then, they were made of maize (more commonly known these days as corn).
Once considered just ethnic food, tortillas are found in pretty much every single grocery store in North America, with approximately 120 million being consumed a year in the United States alone. How can you incorporate this frugal-friendly ingredient into your frugal kitchen, though? Let’s take a look…
Kid-friendly uses for tortillas
- Peanut butter and jelly roll up
- Banana peanut butter roll-up (a quick, easy breakfast for the kiddos.)
- Peanut butter and honey roll up
- Peanut butter and Nutella roll up
- Peanut butter pizza (This is a term my friend’s son coined years ago. Basically, you just slather peanut butter and sometimes jam and eat it open-faced, pizza style!)
- Pan-fried s’mores (a handful of marshmallows, a dab of Nutella or some chocolate chips, and if you want to get really fancy, a little peanut butter to spice it up. Cook it all just like you would a normal quesadilla )
Tortillas for breakfast
- Breakfast wraps with scrambled eggs, any desired breakfast meat (I usually go with bacon), and cheese.
- Breakfast quesadillas
- Tortilla omelet
- Tortilla baked Eggs
- Stacked tortilla casserole
Lunch with a tortilla
- Tuna wrap (tuna, mayo, some vegetables just for fun, and you’re set)
- Chicken salad wrap (similar to the tuna version)
- The Classic BLT
- Egg salad
- Salad on the go -take all your normal salad toppings, and instead, put them in a wrap.
- Greek wraps
Dinner date with a tortilla
- Tortilla pizzas (take your tortilla, cover it in pizza sauce, cheese, and all your favorite pizza toppings, and back in the oven at 400 degrees for 8-10 minutes or until cheese is melted and bubbly.) These make for a fun dinner the kids can help with too.
- “Pizza pockets” – Kinda like a quesadilla, but with pizza toppings for filling.
- Enchiladas
- Falafel wraps
- Tortilla soup
- Taquitos
- Tostadas
- Taco Lasagna
- Mexican pizza (this was one of my all-time favorites growing up)
Snacks that incorporate tortillas
- Homemade chips in the oven
- Pinwheels – if you haven’t heard of these, they are absolutely amazing. They’re basically normal wraps, but they’re rolled tightly, stabbed with toothpicks, and sliced for easy two-bite servings.
- Cinnamon sugar chips (these taste amazing with a fruit “salsa”)
- Caramel apple taquitos
- Tortilla cinnamon buns
- A quick, easy replacement for tart shells in a pinch
There are so many kinds…
Honestly, I knew there were a wide variety of tortillas one could purchase or make, but upon scouring Pinterest, my eyes were opened even more.
If you’re looking to spruce your wraps up a little, try making your own with one of the recipes below! Honestly, a lot of these can probably be made with food you already have lying around.
- Of course, you’ve got your basic white tortillas,
- Whole wheat tortillas
- Corn tortillas
- Spinach tortillas – these were always my favorite kind of tortilla (even if kids thought it was weird I was eating green “bread”)
- Try Sweet potato tortillas
- Chickpea flour tortillas
- Rice flour tortillas
- Lentil tortillas
- Cauliflower tortillas (this one surprised me, but honestly, it shouldn’t have. Cauliflower is the magical vegetable that can be turned into literally anything after all.)
- Coconut flour tortillas
- Zucchini tortillas
- Your everyday gluten-free tortillas
- Tapioca tlour tortillas
- Cheese tortillas
- These quinoa ones, I think, are my favorite. There are numerous other flavors and alterations (including chocolate – um, yes, please!)
Will you try any?
I know in my research, I found a few recipes and I definitely want to try. How about you? Do you have a favorite way to use the humble tortilla that I failed to mention? I’d love to hear about it!
Happy Eating!
About Chloe Morgan
Chloe Morgan grew up living with a tight budget. In her late teens and early 20’s all the lessons she’d learned started to slip, like it does for many college age students on their own for the first time, and with their first credit card. As she’s gotten older, she’s started to deal with the repercussions and has taken on a frugal way of living, keeping her costs low, as she pays off debt and saves for her future. Chloe lives in Northern Ontario, Canada, with her cute dog, Rhea.
4 thoughts on “32 Frugal Ways To Use Tortillas and 15 Types You’ve GOT to Try!”
10 years ago when diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes I had to find a ‘bread’ to replace my WW homemade bread and it was WW tortillas. I use them almost every day for a bean burrito stuffed with beans, salsa and at least 1.5 cups mix of sprouts & greens from the garden. I also use them for sandwiches placing the meat on one 1/4, then adding the fixings to another 1/4 and folding up till done. They make a good pizza base, just a little harder/neater to eat than regular pizza. I’ve even sliced them up into 1/8″ strips and used instead of noodles in soup, with cream or spagehetti sauce for a main meal. I always figure, where’s there is a will there is a way. Oh, and I’ve always controlled by diabetes by diet, exercise and a loss of 90lbs and absolutely no medications – my doctor calls me her ‘gold star’ patient.
tortillas in Canada…..fascinating……
real cool ideas for using tortillas….ahm definitely gonna print out the essay and taste where I go with the ideas….
thank you, Ms Morgan
It’s a bit time consuming but not hard to make your own white flour tortillas if you’re out of bread. Basically white flour, lard (or butter), salt, baking powder. Mix, knead briefly, roll out and fry in a very lightly greased skillet. They come out thicker than store-bought until you get the hang of moving the thin dough around, but they’re fresh and tasty and cost pennies to make. Don’t judge yourself if your first efforts don’t end up on Instagram; they’ll still taste great. You can Google it and learn in five minutes. Suggest if you’re not really into cooking cut the recipe down so you’re not frying 2 dozen at a time. We’ve substituted butter for the lard because we don’t keep that around often and it works fine.
Great project for when you’re snowed in and don’t feel like fighting the elements or crowding in line with all your neighbors for that last bit of commercial bread (almost always some off-brand hot dog bun unsuitable for egg conveyance).
As Ms. Morgan wrote, you can do everything from a fried-egg breakfast to dessert on/in a homemade tortilla. Also, they’re almost as good as homemade bread just fresh off the pan with some butter and a bit of salt or seasoning on top if you’re having a lazy day and want your house to smell fresh baked 🙂 Butter and Cajun seasoning on a homemade tortilla with scrambled egg and cheese will save your morning if you’re out of breakfast meat. Happy tortilla making!
I came back to read this again.
I m convinced that tortillas would be cheaper n last longer than the organic seedbread I m currently using in my no spend challenge, so I m gonna try many of these ideas.
Thank you!!!