How To Defrost Tortillas? 5 Easy Ways!

Tortillas taste good when they are fresh and warm. But maybe you had some left-over tortillas, or you could not eat them, so you decided to freeze them.

But now what? How will you defrost them to enjoy their taste?

The simplest way to defrost tortillas is to take them out of the freezer, keep them in the refrigerator and let them thaw overnight. However, there are many ways by which you can quickly defrost tortillas, including the usage of a toaster, oven, microwave, and stovetop.

Excited to learn all the ways to defrost your tortilla in detail? Then keep reading till the end!

5 Easy Ways To Defrost Tortillas:

Move to refrigerator for 12 hours

Using the refrigerator to thaw the tortillas is one of the first ways to easily defrost the tortillas.

Take your frozen tortillas out of the freezer.
Then put them on the shelves of the refrigerator such that they don’t get stuck to each other.
As a general rule, you expect a time frame of around 12 hours before they get defrosted completely. So you can leave them overnight at your convenience.
After the tortillas get defrosted, you can take them out of the refrigerator. And once again, heat them in a stove or oven because they will still be a bit cold.

The only downside of using this method is it is time-consuming. But don’t worry, continue reading as I will now share with you the quick methods.

Use toaster

This is one cool hack to defrost tortillas. I came to know about this by watching the following video:

So here are the steps you need to follow to defrost tortillas using a toaster:

Take tortillas out of the freezer
Take two tortillas at a time and put them inside the toaster
And let them go down inside the toaster. (Remember two at a time)
Keep them for some time in the toaster
And then you will find the tortillas completely defrosted

You will notice nice soft tortillas. You can then either use them as it is if you don’t need any oil. But you can also put them in a hot pan with oil, and then your tortilla will be ready to use.

Microwave for 30 seconds

Want to know the fastest way to defrost tortillas? Using Microwaves! Here are some important points you should keep in mind:

First, wrap one frozen tortilla in a damp towel and place it in the microwave.
Avoid keeping them in a stack as that will lead them to be soft and sticky.
You can then turn on the defrost setting in your microwave and allow the tortilla to thaw for about thirty seconds.
You can also flip the tortilla appropriately to make sure it remains warm on either side.
Then after thirty seconds, you can check if your tortilla is defrosted or not. If they are not ready yet, you can allow them to get defrosted in the microwave for another thirty seconds.
However, remember that you should not allow the tortilla to be in the microwave for more than a minute as it can turn chewy, which you may not like.

So in this way, you can defrost tortillas using a microwave. However, there are still some ways to do it without using a microwave, so read on.

Use stovetop

You can either defrost the tortillas on the flame directly over the stove. However, if you have an electric stove, the method will be a bit different, but don’t worry, I will share both ways with you.

On Open Flame:

Take a pair of tongs, preferably the metal tongs, so that you can put the tortillas over the flame using the tongs.
Using a pair of tongs, grab your tortilla and hold it over the flame.
Then allow the one side to get heated until you feel that it has started to warm up feels nice and toasty.
Then flip over the tortilla and repeat the same process to defrost the other side.

Whether you have flour tortillas or corn tortillas, this method will work well with both.

On Electric Cooktop

Place a pan over your cooktop. You can use a cast-iron pan or a non-stick pan so that your tortillas won’t stick to the surface.
Keep a few tortillas on the pan and then allow their one side to get warmed up and defrosted enough for some time and then repeat the same process with the other side of the tortilla.

Heat in oven at 350°F

The oven method to defrost and warm-up is quite handy. You will not only be able to defrost a lot of tortillas at once, but also you will be able to keep a bunch of them warm.

So if you are serving many family members for your taco night, this is what you should look at. So let’s look at the steps:

Firstly, preheat your oven up to 350°F.
Then use tin foil to wrap your tortillas in a stack of five.
After that, place them on a baking tray and allow them to be in the oven without any disturbance.
You should ensure that the tortillas don’t get overlapped while placing them in the tray and then in the oven.
You can allow the tortillas to get heated up for about 15-20 minutes or until they become as soft as you would like.

Now, after you have defrosted your tortilla, if you want to keep them just warm, then you can just wrap them in a paper towel and allow them to be in an oven and set on low heat.

Conclusion

If you are not in a hurry, then leaving your tortilla to thaw on a refrigerator shelf is one of the simplest ways you can use to defrost it. But if you want the quick option of defrosting it, you can use the microwave.

You can also use the stovetop, toast, or oven method to defrost your tortilla, following the guidelines already shared with you in this post. I hope that helps you and wish you have a nice taco, burrito, or any other recipe using the tortillas. Good luck!