How to make delicious and easy 4-ingredient chickpea flour tortillas using chickpea flour, sea salt, water, and arrowroot starch. These chickpea tortillas are vegan, gluten-free, and clean-eating!
As you may know by now, I really love tortillas. I love eating them AND I love making them. I mean - duh, right? Who doesn't?? They are the ultimate comfort food and I find it so fun and exciting to find new delicious flavors and healthy ingredients to pack into homemade tortillas.
This chickpea flour tortilla came about by a request on Instagram, actually. I had just shared my cassava flour tortillas and I was asked if I've ever made chickpea flour tortillas -- to which my initial answer was, "No."
But not for long, my friends! Bwahaha.
What is chickpea flour?
If you're new to chickpea flour, it's also called "garbanzo bean flour," "gram flour," or "besan." It's made from ground, dried chickpeas (which, yes, means you can totally make it yourself at home, too!), and has a slight nutty, bean-like flavor but is mostly neutral. In general, it can be used as a 1:1 ratio substitute for wheat flour.
Is chickpea flour expensive?
A great thing about chickpea flour is how cheap it is, making it one of the cheaper gluten-free flour alternatives. You can buy an entire bag of it for pretty cheap and it lasts quite a while or you can buy it in the bulk section of most health food markets and grocery stores or order it on amazon.
How to use chickpea flour
Until recently, I mostly used chickpea flour in savory dishes as either a binder or a way to thicken sauces and soups (like with this turkey gravy). It works great as an all-purpose flour replacement for breading, like in this salmon fish sticks or these zucchini fries.
Is chickpea flour healthy?
In short, chickpea flour is awesome and has all sorts of health benefits, such as being...
- high in protein
- high in (soluble) fiber
- high in micronutrients (like iron, magnesium, folate, and zinc)
- low in carbs
- low in calories
- good for your heart
- high in anti-oxidants
- contains anti-inflammatory properties
- low on the glycemic index (GI)
- gluten-free
Is chickpea flour paleo?
No, chickpea flour is not paleo. This is because chickpeas, like lots of other legumes, need to be cooked in order to be edible, which makes it not paleo.
Is chickpea flour keto?
While chickpea flour is nutrient-dense and low in carbohydrates compared to wheat, rice, corn, and other grain flours, it is not considered a great keto option because it still is higher in carbs than other keto-friendly flours, like almond flour and coconut flour.
Is chickpea flour vegan and gluten-free?
Yes, Yes, YES! Chickpea flour is an amazing resource for those following a clean-eating, vegan, and/or gluten-free diet. The amount of protein and fiber per carb in this flour is great, which makes it an awesome alternative to typical wheat flours.
How to keep chickpea tortillas from tearing
I first tried making this recipe with just two ingredients: chickpea flour and water. It did not go well. The flour didn't hold together enough and wasn't pliable or tender, like you want a tasty tortilla to be.
So, I added arrowroot starch to help soften the texture and bind it all together. Adding arrowroot starch also helps to keep the tortillas from tearing. It basically is magic.
If you don't have arrowroot starch, you could also use any of the following:
- tapioca flour/starch
- cornstarch
- cassava flour
- potato starch
- rice flour
How to store chickpea flour tortillas in the fridge
If you don't eat your tortillas right away (wrapped in a clean kitchen towel to stay warm), you can store them for up to 3 days in the fridge in an air-tight container, like these Stasher re-usable storage bags. Make sure you press the air out of the bag to keep them from getting dry.
How to freeze chickpea flour tortillas
You can also freeze them for up to 4-5 months -- just add in a sheet of parchment paper in between the tortillas to keep them from sticking and place them in an air-tight freezer bag.
How to warm tortillas
There are several ways to reheat your tortillas, fortunately. My personal fave is to use the microwave because I find it adds the most moisture back in. Here are the different methods:
Microwave: Place 4-5 tortillas on a microwaveable plate, and cover with a damp paper towel before microwaving them for 20-0 seconds.
Oven: Wrap 4-5 tortillas in aluminum foil and heat in oven preheated to 350 degrees F for 15-20 minutes or until heated through.
Stove: Reheat one tortilla at a time in a skillet over medium heat. There’s no need to add any oil to the skillet, but you could add a little avocado or olive oil, if desired. Cook each tortilla for about a minute or until heated through.
More homemade tortilla recipes!
Making your own homemade tortillas is pretty simple, right?? I hope you love these chickpea tortillas. Next, try one of these tasty and healthy homemade tortilla recipes I've also shared:
- sweet potato tortillas
- spinach tortillas
- cassava flour tortillas
- corn tortillas
- cauliflower tortillas
4-Ingredient Easy Chickpea Tortillas
Equipment
- Skillet
*This post may contain affiliate links for products I use often and highly recommend.
Ingredients
- 2 cups chickpea flour
- ⅔ cup arrowroot starch (can also use tapioca flour)
- 1 ⅕ cups water plus more, as needed to thin
- ¼ teaspoon sea salt
Instructions
- Add chickpea flour, arrowroot starch, and sea salt together to large mixing bowl.
- Whisk until evenly mixed.
- Add water, and whisk until smooth. Texture should be thin, like pancake batter. Add water, tablespoon by tbsp, to get desired consistency.
- Pour ¼ cup of the batter onto the pan (this will make taco sized tortilla). You can maneuver pan in a circular motion to help spread out evenly into larger circle, but keep as even as possible.
- Cook on each side for 1-2 minutes until golden-brown on medium heat. The tortilla is ready to flip to cook other side when the top appears dull, as opposed to shiny.
Notes
Nutrition
This post contains affiliate links for products I use often and highly recommend.
Amy
I’m not sure what I did wrong but these are much thicker than regular tortillas and gummy or chewy. I did not have arrowroot so used cornstarch. I also only did half a batch as I wanted to just try them out first. I had to keep adding water to get them to be thin enough to look like the picture. But they were the same at each thickness of the batter. Too thick. Any thoughts?