How To Make Leftover Tortillas Taste First-Day Fresh

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At Chowhound, we're all for reducing food waste and finding the best approach for properly storing and reheating leftovers for the optimum experience. If you're looking for a way to keep your leftover tortillas tasting fresh, chef Hank Shaw, the brains behind the cookbook "Borderlands," has some helpful pointers. When describing how he would revive store-bought tortillas, he explained that he reaches for his comal, which is a flat griddle. For corn tortillas that are a day or two old, he suggests preparing them in the griddle heated to about 500 degrees Fahrenheit. For flour tortillas, a lower temperature of about 400 degrees Fahrenheit would suffice. "Flour tortillas are far more forgiving," Shaw said. "They will keep for 10 days wrapped in the fridge." As a word of caution, he says to heat them until you get the desired bits of char "without annihilating them."

However, if the tortillas have gone stale, Shaw would rather not spend time trying to revive them. Instead, he recommends transforming them into a variety of crisp creations that offer a satisfying textural crunch in your recipes. For instance, you can turn them into crispy chips by cutting up the tortillas and baking or frying them, perfect for scooping your salsa or guacamole. They can also be served in classic dishes like chilaquiles or migas, added as a crispy casserole topping, or even tossed into a tortilla soup. Plus, making homemade chips using tortillas is a savvy hack to avoid soggy nachos.

It's evident that corn and flour tortillas differ not only in ingredients and how they taste, but also in how they can be stored and savored. Unlike the prolonged storage period that flour tortillas are conducive to, Hank Shaw says that corn tortillas are best consumed within a couple of days after being wrapped airtight in plastic on the counter. While they can be transferred to the fridge, he advised that corn tortillas are not meant to be kept fresh. After a two-day window, they are better off being transformed into chips or baked in an enchilada.

Since flour tortillas hold up for longer, you have some extra time to whip up a variety of tasty recipes. Burritos and wraps are no-brainers, especially for using up large tortillas. For busy bodies and grab-and-go eaters, you can always prepare a batch of homemade frozen burritos that you can stock your freezer with as a healthier option to store-bought versions. Quesadillas are another obvious choice for putting your tortillas to good use, but you can also step outside the box and get inventive with your tortilla-inspired creations.

You can also use the tortillas as a base for a "thinner than thin crust" pizza-style dish, or swap out noodles with tortillas instead for a fusion lasagna with a Mexican flair. For the fans of filled and fried foods, look no further than a hearty chimichanga. Fancy a sweet treat? Perhaps turn your tortillas into a delightful (yet not quite French) crepe.