Who doesn’t love corn tortillas? Their nutty corn flavor and soft, tender chew are perfectly suited for a range of dishes. We love to fold them around fillings for tacos, wrap them around cheese or meat and bake them for enchiladas, serve them alongside Huevos Rancheros, and fry or bake them to make homemade tostadas and crispy taco shells.
Corn tortillas have been a dietary staple in Mexico and other Latin American countries for centuries. While we enjoy making our own homemade Corn Tortillas, it’s more convenient to use store-bought tortillas. American shoppers agree: Sales of corn tortillas have been surging in the United States for years, and they continue to climb due in large part to their affordability, the increasing interest in gluten-free diets, and the popularity of Latin American food. It was time to evaluate them again.
We surveyed nationally available brands of 6-inch corn tortillas, the size we call for most frequently in our recipes. If a company made multiple products, our team tasted each option and moved the best to the final round of tasting. Some brands offer both yellow and white corn tortillas, but we didn’t have a preference, so our final lineup of seven tortillas included selections of both. Five of the products were made entirely from corn, and two were corn and wheat blends. Twenty-one America’s Test Kitchen staffers sampled them plain and in Citrus-Braised Pork Tacos. For each tasting, we warmed the tortillas gently in the oven.