The Genius Tortilla Trick We Wish We’d Known About Sooner

Flour tortillas are a pantry staple for us, but sometimes they get pushed wayyyy back in the pantry and we don't discover them until they're stiff as a board or someone doesn't close the zipper bag tightly and they go stale. Stale tortillas can be repurposed into homemade tortilla chips or crispy strips for topping soups or salads, but what if you need a flexible tortilla for making quesadillas, enchiladas, tacos or wraps?

Luckily, the internet is here to save us. We should have known we could count on food genius Dan Pashman (@thesporkful) to help us out. He shared a great way to revive stale tortillas so you can get back to wrapping and rolling ASAP. Here's what you need to know.

Related: The 10 Best Healthy Tortilla Brands to Buy, According to Registered Dietitians

How to Soften Stale Tortillas With Water

Fun fact: Pashman said that he learned this trick from Weird Al—talk about a weird hack! But this one actually works. All you have to do is run your stale tortilla quickly under some water and then you warm it up in a hot skillet. It only takes a minute to get your stale, dry tortillas warm, fluffy and chewy again.

This is almost too easy and we can't wait to give it a whirl.

"Works with a loaf of bread too," someone commented on the Instagram post. "Particularly good with sourdough. Douse entire loaf and bake 10-15 minutes at 400-450."

"It works well with corn tortillas too. While fresh is always ideal, I always keep a stash at home in the freezer. I will lightly put water on the corn ones and the steam brings them back to life," someone else said.

"I use damp paper towels and a microwave for all kinds of bread," another person chimed in. That's a great tip, too, and it's a great way to get leftover biscuits soft and fluffy again.

"Store-bought corn tortillas can be treated the same way. Since the refrigerator dries them out, the addition of water (place in running water) creates steam when heating in a skillet. The end product is a soft tortilla that is not dry and actually a bit moist," someone explained. We love this trick and we can't wait to use it on our tortillas!

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