Freezing tortillas means you can buy your favorite brands in larger, more economical packages — or make a big batch of your own — and you’ll always be one step closer to a great tortilla meal. Here’s how to easily freeze and thaw them, plus guidance on how long they keep and how to recognize a tortilla past its prime.

Can You Freeze Tortillas?

Tortillas are one of the most freezer-friendly baked goods out there: As long as they’re properly wrapped, they’ll maintain their flavor and texture excellently for up to 6 months. Even better, they’re easy and speedy to defrost once you’re ready to use them.

Here’s how to freeze and thaw them for best results. Just remember to act well before they show any signs of advanced age: mold, sourness, staleness or brittleness. And you can use these same techniques for sandwich wraps.

How to Freeze Tortillas

These simple steps preserve the flavor and texture of tortillas for up to 6 months. Freeze them as soon as you know you won’t be using the whole batch or package for best for quality.

Step 1: Pack Them Airtight

If the tortillas are unopened in a sealed plastic bag, you can place the whole pack right in the freezer. If they’re loose or bagged with a twist-tie, place them in resealable freezer bags, preferably in batches that make sense for the meals or recipes you make. Or wrap small stacks first in plastic wrap and then securely in foil. To keep homemade tortillas from sticking, place squares or rounds of wax paper or parchment between each.

Step 2: Label and Freeze

Label the package with the date and number of tortillas. Remove excess air from the packaging if there is any, check the seal and place in the freezer. Frozen tortillas become brittle, so keep them flat and don’t top them with heavy items that could crack them.

Step 3: Use Within 6 Months

The flavor and texture of tortillas will begin to degrade slightly after 6 months.

How to Thaw Tortillas

Note that tortillas don’t have to be totally thawed for you to toast them — once you can pull them apart easily you can finish heating them in a hot pan. However you thaw them, the process can leave one of two tortillas slightly dried out and more likely to tear or crack. Your best bet is to defrost a few more than you’ll need and set any that break aside for recipes that call for ripping them up anyway, like migas or chilaquiles.

On the counter: Place the tortillas out at room temperature, and small packs should be thawed in 1 to 2 hours. Make sure you cook them immediately.

In the refrigerator: Transfer tortillas to a plate to catch any condensation and place them in the refrigerator. They should be thawed in 3 to 4 hours or overnight depending on how large the pack is.

In the microwave: Remove the tortillas from any packaging. Place them on a microwave-safe plate, cover them with a damp paper towel and microwave them on 50 percent power in 1-minute intervals. Flip the stack once or twice to help them cook evenly and stop the top ones from curling too much. Defrost them just enough to pull them apart and toast them, or heat them until piping hot to serve immediately.

How Long do Tortillas Keep?

Fresh, fragrant homemade tortillas are a wonder, and making a batch big enough for a few meals is a delicious project. They’ll keep refrigerated only for 4 to 5 days however, so freezing them should be your go-to if you can’t get around to using them all up.

Commercially made tortilla have a much longer shelf life, beating out sandwich bread and other baked staples by quite a bit. Both corn and flour tortillas generally keep a week on the counter, several weeks in the fridge and up to 6 months frozen. The same goes for most types of wraps.

How to Tell If Tortillas Are Bad

There are several signs that your tortillas are past their prime. The most conspicuous is patches of mold, but they might also feel slimy and smell rancid from sitting in excess moisture. If they show any of these signs you should toss the batch.

Tortillas can also just go stale; if you’re thinking yours might be, just pull off a corner and taste it: A good corn tortilla should have a distinctive fresh corn flavor, while a flour tortilla should be mild and lightly nutty. If yours are stale, or just a bit brittle or dried out, there’s a silver lining: Act fast, and you can make a few dishes especially suited for using up stale tortillas: migas, chilaquiles or tostadas.

How to Toast Tortillas

Toasting tortillas does two things: It preheats them and makes them flexible enough to easily fold or roll without breaking, and it adds flavor in the form of lightly browned spots. You can of course simply reheat them in the microwave and skip the browning steps if you’re in a hurry or your recipe calls for that.

Step 1: Heat a Comal or Skillet

A comal is a cast-iron pan designed specifically for tortillas, but a cast-iron skillet works well too. Place your pan over medium-high heat.

Step 2: Toast the Tortillas One at a Time

Place a tortilla on the hot pan until the underside begins to brown and the top puffs in spots, 30 seconds to 1 minute (double that if they’re still slightly frozen). Flip and cook the other side. Lower the heat if the pan begins to smoke too much.

Step 3: Keep Them Warm

Place the tortillas on a plate and cover it with a kitchen towel. You can also put them in a 200-degree-F oven for up to 20 minutes. Serve warm.

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