Flourless, grain-free, whole foods, high protein tortilla that is not only soft and easy to make but the healthiest thing you can imagine to have on taco night. Beginners are welcome as you don’t need a tortilla press to make these.
It is so damn hard to find a good gluten-free tortilla. The first one I tried tasted like cardboard. It took me a long time to venture another try. But there are so many delicious meals that you need tortilla for. I love chili-loaded tacos and refried bean burritos with lots of salsa and guacamole. Don’t even get me started on fajitas and quesadilla. Before my gluten-free days, I ate the largest veggie-loaded wrap I could make or veggie pinwheels for lunch all week long every day. I never got bored with it.
The perfect gluten-free flour tortilla is still eluding me, but I perfected this grain-free tortilla that doesn’t leave me hanging if I want to do taco night. Who needs the recipe?
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Ingredients of our grain-free tortilla
Red lentils – Since discovering the plant-based diet, red lentils became one of my favorite ingredients to use and experiment with. Have you seen our Fluffy Vegan Pancakes recipe or our Crispy Vegan Waffles recipe? I make both of them with red lentils and we love them so much.
Buckwheat – The other – sometimes underrated and rarely used ingredients – that I have fallen in love with is buckwheat. Not the flour version, but the whole grain version. (Funny thing, buckwheat is not even a grain, but a seed and thankfully has nothing to do with wheat. Yeah!). This little seed makes the juiciest, most delicious Vegan Lentil Loaf ever.
That’s it! Red lentils and buckwheat. Only 2-ingredients. Only whole foods.
How to make Grain-free Tortilla?
Soak red lentil and buckwheat
Take your kettle and boil some water. Soak red lentils and the buckwheat in hot water for 15 minutes. The red lentils should split and become light orange instead of dark. If you can squash the buckwheat seeds with your fingers then they are also soft enough to continue. (You can certainly do overnight soaking in warm water.) When ready, drain it completely.
Use a blender to make the tortilla batter
Take your blender or food processor. Add the soaked lentils, the soaked buckwheat, fresh water, and seasoning (garlic powder, salt, and pepper). Blend until smooth.
We use Vitamix, but I tried this recipe in a regular blender and in a food processor. Both works. You need to blend the mixture as smooth as you can. Not necessarily Vitamix smooth is the only way to go.
Make tortillas or tacos
Take a non-stick frying pan or a cast-iron skillet and heat it to low/medium heat. Pour TWICE 1/3 cup of the batter for tortilla size and ONCE 1/3 cup for taco size. Try to distribute the batter evenly.
TOP TIP: shake the pan well or spread it with a wooden spatula (see video for visuals). I wish I have one, but the easiest way would be to use a crepe spreader.
Cook them on low/medium heat and flip when the top appears cooked/dry. Don’t rush it. The tortillas need to be cooked thoroughly, so keep it on low/medium heat the entire time. In a couple of minutes, you will have a soft and rollable grain-free protein tortilla or taco to fill and eat.
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Top tips to make perfect flourless tortilla or taco
Grain-free tortilla or taco or wrap
I guess it is just a matter of size. Use TWICE 1/3 cup of the batter for tortilla and wrap size and ONCE 1/3 cup for taco size. The original 1/2-1/2 cup red lentils and buckwheat amount will make 4 tortilla or 8 tacos.
How to store grain-free tortillas?
While the flourless tortillas are hot, they stick together especially the sides which were cooked first. I recommend placing a parchment paper in between. Or stacking them in order so, first cooked side down. When they cooled down, they are pliable without any problem.
These homemade tortillas are still soft for 1-2 days, but after then they get drier and might crack when you try to roll them. I recommend to use them within 1-2 days.
How to use homemade flourless tortillas?
Everywhere. 🙂
They are definitely softer than corn tortillas. I was aiming to get the softness I remember using wheat flour tortillas. This means wherever you would use wheat flour tortillas, you can use these grain-free tortillas:
- tortilla roll-ups aka veggie pinwheels,
- breakfast burrito,
- chili-loaded taco,
- quesadilla,
- fajitas
Let us know in the comments what is your favorite tortilla dish!
Is red lentil and buckwheat tortilla healthy?
Red lentils are an amazing source of protein, they contain more protein than most other types of beans and legumes.
According to Cronometer a 1-cup serving of raw red lentils has approx 46 grams of protein. That’s astonishing.
Apart from that red lentils are a great source of fiber and are high in different Vitamin B and folate. They are also iron-, copper-, manganese- and zinc-rich food. If you are on a vegan and vegetarian diet, you often search for iron-rich foods and recipes and red lentils are a great source to incorporate in your diet. For more details read Healthline’s article on lentils.
Buckwheat seeds are a great source of protein among grains, for example almost double compared to rolled oats.
According to Cronometer a 1-cup serving of raw buckwheat seeds has approx 19 grams of protein.
They are also a great source for fiber and different minerals like iron, copper, copper, magnesium, manganese. Buckwheat is relatively low in phytic acid, an inhibitor of mineral absorption found in other grains and seeds. For more details, read Healthline’s article on buckwheat.
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FAQs and Substitutions
What can I use instead of buckwheat?
I only tested this grain-free tortilla recipe with buckwheat. But if you must, you probably will have success with quinoa. Both buckwheat and quinoa are pseudo-cereal grains aka seeds that behave like grains. We have a whole guide for gluten-free grains, flours, starches if you’re interested.
Can I use other lentils?
I only tested this tortilla recipe with red lentils. The only thing which is on my list to test and I think they should also work are yellow split lentils. Let us know in the comments if you had success using other lentils.
Is soaking red lentils healthy?
This grain-free tortilla recipe contains soaked red lentils as the main ingredient. A lot of people are worrying about lectins in food and asking questions like are they dangerous or safe to eat or how to decrease lectin content with cooking. My trusted resource when it comes to nutrition is Dr. Greger’s website. He has a short video about lectins in food. In this video, he mainly talks about red kidney beans, but he explicitly highlights the following sentence: “many lectins are non-toxic, such as those from tomatoes, lentils, peas, chickpeas, fava beans, and other common foods.” However, if you feel that your stomach doesn’t tolerate lectins, you can use cooked red lentils instead of soaked ones to make this flourless tortilla recipe.
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This Flourless Grain-free Tortilla / Taco / Wrap recipe is dairy-free and egg-free. It is also suitable for vegan, vegetarian, nut-free and gluten-free diets. It can also be WFPB-friendly (whole foods plant-based) if you use a non-stick frying pan.
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More recipes
You can browse through our Vegan and Gluten-free Dinner Recipes or our Quick Vegan Meals collection or check out
- Vegan Chili with Beans and Millet
- Vegan Spaghetti Bolognese
- Vegan Eggplant Meatballs Spaghetti
- Vegan Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms
- Vegan Jackfruit Stew
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What more you need to try it? If you’re ready, watch this short video:
Grain-free Tortilla or Taco
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup Red lentils 110g
- 1/2 cup Buckwheat seeds 100g
- 3/4 cup Fresh water
- 1 tsp Garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp Salt
- 1/2 tsp Pepper
Equipments You Need
Instructions
Soak red lentils and buckwheat groats
- Take your kettle and boil some water. Soak red lentils and the buckwheat in hot water for 15 minutes. The red lentils should split and become light orange instead of dark. If you can squash the buckwheat seeds with your fingers then they are also soft enough to continue. (You can certainly do overnight soaking in warm water.) When ready, drain it completely.
Use a blender to make the tortilla batter
- Take your blender or food processor. Add the soaked lentils, the soaked buckwheat, fresh water, and seasoning (garlic powder, salt, and pepper). Blend until smooth. We use Vitamix, but I tried this recipe in a regular blender and in a food processor. Both works. You need to blend the mixture as smooth as you can. Not necessarily Vitamix smooth is the only way to go.
Make tortillas or tacos
- Take a non-stick frying pan and heat it to low/medium heat. Pour TWICE 1/3 cup of the batter for tortilla size and ONCE 1/3 cup for taco size. Try to distribute the batter evenly.TOP TIP: shake the pan well or spread it with a wooden spatula (see video for visuals). I wish I have one, but the easiest way would be to use a crepe spreader.
- Cook them on low/medium heat and flip when the top appears cooked/dry. In a couple of minutes, you will have a soft and rollable grain-free protein tortilla or taco to fill and eat.
Claire
Thanks for the recipe! I’m definitely going to try this, as the high-protein tortillas that I find, in my price range, tend to have trans fats, saturated fats, and a ton of preservatives!
I just wanted to point out that the 19 grams of protein is for 1 cup of UNCOOKED groats, which is far more than a serving. In fact, they bulk up, quite a lot, when soaked or cooked in water. When comparing amounts, it’s important to match the cooked portions, side-by-side. A cup of cooked buckwheat groats has 5.68 grams of protein and a cup of cooked oats has about 5.9 grams of protein.
My Pure Plants
Thanks for the info. The nutrition calculation is automatic, but I will check which input data was it based on. Let me know how you like the tortillas.