Making tortillas at home is much easier than it may seem, especially when the dough comes together with only three ingredients. These sweet potato tortillas are soft, flexible, slightly dense, and full of the natural flavor of sweet potatoes. They work well for tacos, wraps, enchiladas, quesadillas, or simply eating warm on their own.

The dough is made with cooked and mashed sweet potato, spelt flour, and sea salt. There is no need for complicated equipment or a long preparation process. A mixing bowl, rolling pin, and skillet or griddle are enough to get started.

The most important part is getting the dough to the right consistency. Sweet potatoes can vary in moisture, so the amount of flour needed can vary slightly. The dough should come together into a workable mixture without being excessively sticky.

What You Need

For the tortillas, I use:

2 cups spelt flour
1 teaspoon sea salt
2 cups (3 medium sweet potatoes) sweet potato, cooked and mashed

You will also need a mixing bowl, a rolling pin, and a non-stick skillet or griddle. A kitchen scraper can make dividing the dough easier, but a regular knife works just as well.
The sweet potatoes need to be cooked until completely tender. They can be microwaved for about 8–10 minutes or baked at 400°F for about an hour. The exact cooking time can depend on the size of the sweet potatoes, so the main thing is to make sure they are soft enough to mash easily.

Preparing the Sweet Potatoes

I start with the sweet potatoes because they need to be cooked and cooled enough to handle before they go into the dough.
There are two simple ways to cook them.
For the quicker option, place the sweet potatoes in the microwave and cook them for about 8–10 minutes, or until they are tender. For baking, cook them at 400°F for approximately one hour.
Once they are cooked, let them cool enough to handle safely. Remove the skins and mash the sweet potato until it is reasonably smooth.
The mashed sweet potato should be ready to mix into the flour. There is no need to add anything else to it.

Making the Tortilla Dough

Once the sweet potatoes are prepared, add the spelt flour and sea salt to a mixing bowl. Stir them together so the salt is evenly distributed through the flour.
Add the cooked, skinless mashed sweet potato to the bowl. Begin mixing everything together with a spatula or your hands.
At first, the mixture may look like the flour and sweet potato are not going to come together. Keep working the mixture until the flour is absorbed and a dough begins to form. Using your fingers can make this step easier because you can work the sweet potato into the flour more thoroughly.
If the dough feels particularly wet or sticky, add a little extra spelt flour. Add it gradually rather than adding a large amount at once. The goal is simply to make the dough manageable enough to shape and roll.
Once everything is combined, let the dough rest for about five minutes.
That short resting period gives you a chance to prepare your work surface and skillet before you start shaping the tortillas.

Dividing the Dough

Lightly flour a flat work surface. Transfer the dough onto it and shape it into a long log.
For taco-sized tortillas, divide the dough into approximately 18–20 portions. If larger burrito-sized tortillas are preferred, divide the dough into about 9–10 portions instead.
A kitchen scraper is useful for dividing the dough, particularly because it allows you to cut through the log without handling the dough too much. If you don’t have one, a knife works perfectly well.
Take each portion and roll it between your hands to form a small ball.
Try to keep the portions reasonably similar in size. This helps the tortillas cook at roughly the same rate and gives you a more consistent stack of tortillas at the end.

Rolling the Tortillas

This is the part where the dough starts to look like tortillas.
Flour the dough balls well enough to prevent sticking, then place one on the floured work surface. Using a rolling pin, roll it out until it is very thin, approximately between ⅛ and 1/16 inch thick.
The tortillas don’t need to be perfectly round. When making them at home, slightly uneven edges are completely fine. What matters most is keeping the thickness fairly even so the tortilla cooks properly.
If the dough begins sticking to the rolling pin or work surface, sprinkle on a little more flour.
Continue rolling the remaining dough balls. If you are working with several tortillas at once, it helps to keep the unused dough portions lightly floured so they don’t stick together.

Cooking the Tortillas

Heat a non-stick skillet or griddle over medium-high heat.
Once the pan is hot, place one rolled tortilla directly onto the surface. Let it cook for about 1–2 minutes on the first side.
As it cooks, you should begin to see bubbles forming. The edges may also start curling slightly, and small brown spots should appear on the surface.
Once you see those signs, flip the tortilla with a spatula.
Cook the second side for another 1–2 minutes, watching for the same light brown spots. You don’t want to leave the tortilla in the pan longer than necessary, because overcooking can make it less soft and flexible.
Once cooked, transfer the tortilla to a plate and continue with the next one.

Keeping the Tortillas Soft

One of the easiest ways to keep homemade tortillas soft is to cover them with a clean kitchen towel as you cook.
Simply stack the cooked tortillas and keep the stack covered. The warmth from the tortillas creates a little steam underneath the towel, which helps keep them moist and flexible.
This is particularly useful when cooking the tortillas one at a time. Instead of allowing each tortilla to cool and dry out separately, the stack helps retain their softness until the entire batch is finished.
Once all the tortillas are cooked, they can be served immediately or stored for later.

How to Use Sweet Potato Tortillas

These tortillas are versatile enough to use in several different ways.
They can be filled and folded for tacos, used as wraps, or layered into enchiladas. They can also be used for quesadillas or served warm alongside a meal.
Because they are soft and flexible when properly cooked, they are especially useful for recipes where the tortilla needs to bend without immediately breaking.
They also work well simply warmed and enjoyed on their own.

How to Store Them

If you aren’t serving all of the tortillas immediately, allow them to cool completely before storing them.
For refrigerator storage, wrap the cooled tortillas in plastic wrap or place them in an airtight plastic bag. They can be kept in the refrigerator for approximately 3–4 days.
When you’re ready to eat them, reheat them either in the microwave or on the stove.
For longer storage, freezing works well. Let the tortillas come to room temperature first, then stack them with a sheet of parchment paper between each tortilla. This prevents them from sticking together while frozen.
Place the separated tortillas into a freezer-safe storage bag and freeze.
When you want to use them, thaw them in the refrigerator and reheat as usual. Properly stored frozen tortillas can last for up to 6 months.

A Few Things to Keep in Mind

The consistency of the dough is more important than following an exact amount of additional flour. Sweet potatoes can contain different amounts of moisture, so one batch may need slightly more flour than another.
If the dough is too sticky to handle, add a little extra spelt flour. If it is workable and can be rolled without excessive sticking, there is no need to add more.
When rolling, flour the dough sufficiently to keep it from sticking, but avoid using excessive amounts of flour unnecessarily.
The tortillas should be thin enough to cook quickly while still being sturdy enough to handle. Keeping them between ⅛ and 1/16 inch thick gives them the right balance for this recipe.
The skillet should also be properly heated before the first tortilla goes in. If the pan is too cool, the tortilla may take longer to cook and can become dry. If it is heated properly, the tortilla should develop bubbles and light brown spots within a couple of minutes.
Most importantly, don’t skip covering the cooked tortillas. Keeping them stacked under a clean kitchen towel helps maintain their softness while the rest of the batch cooks.
With just sweet potatoes, spelt flour, and sea salt, this is a straightforward homemade tortilla recipe that can be prepared without complicated techniques. Once the dough is mixed, the process is simply dividing, rolling, and cooking each tortilla until lightly browned.