Tortilla wraps: They freeze well. They thaw well. And they can totally be reheated (and refrozen).
Sweet, sour, spicy, or not, there are almost a hundred ways to use and eat tortilla wraps—and probably more than you can imagine.
Not to mention you can get flour, corn, and gluten-free wraps, whether you make them yourself or buy them at the grocery store. Tortillas are a quick and easy dinner, and they make for an excellent lunchbox idea.
If you can buy them in bulk or make them and freeze them, all the better.
Tortilla wraps can be frozen, thawed, and reheated. Doing so doesn’t take all that much, and you can enjoy them whenever you want without having to eat them all up in a few days.
Brace yourself and mix up that dough, or buy those discounted wraps in bulk at Costco, because tortilla wraps are ready to take up some space in your freezer!
How to Freeze Tortilla Wraps
As a general rule of thumb, tortilla wraps freeze well. To freeze them for single-use, remove them from their packaging and insert a piece of parchment paper between the wraps to separate them.
Then, place a few—or all—the tortillas in a voluminous enough freezer bag, preferably a zip-lock one, press out as much air as possible, and freeze them.
Sometimes, tortilla wraps come with a thin plastic divider between each wrap. When that’s the case, freeze them as they are. Most of the time, the original packaging is freezer-friendly. To use the whole pack after freezing, thaw it overnight in the fridge.
Like their storebought counterparts, homemade tortilla wraps can also be frozen. Once you’ve mixed, pressed, and browned them on your skillet, leave them to cool down and follow the same procedure as above for freezing.
How long can you keep them there?
Storebought tortillas will keep at their best in the freezer for up to 6 months. Homemade tortillas, because they don’t contain preservatives, only keep up to 3 months.
And will they eventually go bad?
As you are about to see, the answer is not as clear-cut as most of us think.
According to the U.S. Food & Drug Administration, frozen food is safe to eat indefinitely, as storage at 0°F (-18° C) inactivates most bacteria. That said, the tortillas will dry out and lose their aroma and flavor over time, so don’t wait too long to eat them all up.
Defrosting Tortilla Wraps
Defrosting tortilla wraps is as easy as one, two, three!
Remove the frozen tortilla wraps from the freezer and let them thaw overnight in your fridge. Since tortilla wraps are pretty thin, they will thaw very quickly.
If you only want to use a few but forgot to take it out of the freezer, you can give each frozen tortilla a quick 30 seconds on the defrost setting in the microwave before tossing it in the pan to brown.
We don’t recommend defrosting a whole stack of tortilla wraps at the same time in the microwave; they might warm unevenly, and some might not come out as great as you would have hoped.
Can You Defrost and Refreeze Wraps?
It is entirely possible to thaw and refreeze. However, don’t do that too many times. Most foods shouldn’t sit out at room temperature for more than 2 hours, or they will become unsafe to eat.
While tortillas, much like bread, can last a little longer than that, bacterial growth is nevertheless a risk if you thaw and refreeze them one too many times.
How Do You Reheat Tortilla Wraps?
Tortilla wraps are a simple food. So you might be surprised to know that there’s more than one way to reheat it and cook it for final use.
Depending on which of the 1,001 recipes out there you will try for your tortilla wraps—or what Mexican (or Tex-Mex?) dish you will make—you can reheat tortilla wraps in the microwave, oven, skillet, or, for the stiff and dry corn tortilla wraps, over an open flame.
Reheating tortilla wraps in the microwave:
Reheating tortilla wraps is quite simple. Put a tortilla wrap on a plate and cover it with a damp paper towel microwave for 30 seconds on high, until the tortilla wrap is nice and soft.
If you are reheating more than one, you can place a paper towel between the tortillas and microwave it for between 30 seconds to one minute.
Reheating tortilla wraps in the oven:
Preheat your oven for 15 minutes to 250°F (120°C). Then, wrap the tortilla wraps in aluminum foil and reheat them for 10-15 minutes, or until they are warm enough. This reheating technique works for stacks of tortillas, but it will also do for single or a few wraps.
Reheating tortilla wraps in a skillet:
Homemade fresh tortilla wraps are the best when heated in a skillet or griddle pan. So, returning them to the skillet for reheating makes total sense!
Place the tortillas one wrap at a time in a hot pan and turn after 30 seconds.
Reheating tortilla wraps over an open flame:
This method works well with corn tortillas that tend to harden if left out or a day or two old.
According to The Spruce Eats, this is how the Mexicans reheat their corn tortillas. They suggest that you soak the corn tortilla wrap under the water faucet until it is completely soaked.
Now, take your wet corn tortilla wrap and place it on the open flame of your gas or flame burner until it becomes soft and edible again.
You will only need to keep it on the flame for a few seconds before turning it. You can also place it on your barbecue grill if you have to reheat a big batch of them.
Conclusion
Freezing, defrosting, and reheating tortilla wraps is such an easy life hack that it is an absolute must to always have a stack or two in your freezer, especially if you work late hours or have a few hangry teenagers in your family.