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A Healthy Tortilla

November 23, 2010   21 Comments

Tortilla means "little cake" in Spanish. Many of these little cakes are not the healthiest option for a snack.

A Healthy Tortilla

A Snack Girl reader, Laura, challenged me to find a healthy tortilla. From Laura:

Could you do a review on tortillas? I can't seem to find a tortilla that doesn't have a bunch of junk in it- and there are so many kinds. I would love to find a simple whole wheat tortilla without too many fat grams/calories.

Yeah. I hear you.

There are 3 different places to find tortillas in my supermarket. Next to the deli, in the aisle next to the Mexican food, and in the refrigerated case under the yogurt. Such a pain!

What is so funny is that I came home with a healthy option, but I didn't realize until right now that they aren't exactly tortillas. I found La Tortilla Factory Whole Grain Soft Wraps and I liked their facts:

tortillanut

I liked that they were made with EVOO (extra virgin olive oil) and whole grain. BUT, they are not 100% whole grain and they have some preservatives (sodium metabisulfite and calcium propionate) that I would prefer to avoid.

And, I spent $4.50 on these babies. argh.

On the other hand, they do have 5 grams of fiber, 6 grams of protein, 6% of your daily value of iron and all for 170 calories. Also, they taste good.

We made our daily children's quesadilla and my kids just ate them up.

For healthy tortilla searchers, my suggestion is to look for whole wheat. Then, take a close look at the fiber amount in the nutritional facts. If you see 4 grams or above then the tortilla was made with more whole wheat flour than just wheat flour.

The tricky thing is that it can say "WHOLE WHEAT" and still have just a little whole wheat flour in the product. The fiber amount will give you a clue to how healthy the tortilla REALLY is.

There are so many awesome snacks to make with tortillas. Check out my Banana Quesadilla for a great afternoon snack.

Do you have a favorite healthy tortilla brand that you can share with Laura?

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21 Comments:

I used to buy these tortillas, because of all the packaged tortillas they were the "best" I could find. They did taste pretty good. The closer I looked, the less I liked about them. They have some questionable ingredients in them. I found a wonderful recipe and I now make my own tortillas. It is time consuming, but I just make several batches at once and freeze them. They are the BEST tortillas ever! Once you try homemade, you will never go back! I can't stop eating them. :)

Trader Joe's has a great one. It's great for portion control, low in calories (45), and high in fiber (7 grams). Here's a picture of it ... http://bit.ly/aYVm7N

Instead of bread for a sandwich, I use this tortilla ... calorie savings ... 155 calories!

@Cristina - would you be willing to share your recipe?

I like Mission wraps & tortillas. They're carb balance ones have 20+ g of fiber.

I can't take credit for this recipe, I got it from AllRecipes.com. But here it is:

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Mexican-Whole-Wheat-Flour-Tort…

Read the user comments, they're very helpful. One suggests adding 1/2 tsp. of baking soda per batch. I add that as well as a TBSP or two of vital wheat gluten. I also use organic shortening, although a few of the commenters used EVOO successfully. YUM! :)

Almost forgot! I also add a few TBSP of organic ground flax, which is my secret ingredient in almost everything! :) And you will probably need a little more shortening than the recipe calls for.

Thanks so much Cristina! You just improved this post 100%. I can't wait to try making my own tortillas.

You HAVE to try La Tortilla Factory's Smart & Delicious Low Carb, High Fiber Large size tortillas. Very highly recommended by HungryGirl and Weight Watchers, numerous books and magazines..... 80 calories, 3g fat, 12 g fiber, 8% iron, and since the fiber is insoluble, carbs are only 6grams. Tastes fantastic and has been a staple in my successful healthy lifestyle for a while now!

Thanks so much for all the information and definitely want to try to make our own sometime too!

Although just struggling with time now therefore the La Tortilla are really tastey if you can't make your own.

We have them sometimes a couple times a day for all types of meals. :-) For example: breakfast - egg burritos, Lunch - all types of wraps with fruit, turkey, veggies, Dinner - pizzas and definitely desserts too! Definitely agree and love the banana idea!

Just in case you are interested we did a quick review on them too and also included our favorite Italian Pizza recipe. Although you can substitute any of the vegetables for your favorites but we just listed a few of ours.

Hope you can enjoy! http://bit.ly/b1wvFM

Ken, I get the Trader Joe's for my very picky daughter and she loves them! She likes to make chicken and turkey wraps and these are the ones she likes best. I love TJ's and make a point to go whenever I am near - the closest one to me is about 20 miles away so don't get there as often as I would like!

I was buying the La Tortilla Factory Low Carb ones for a while, but I was the only one in the house that would eat them. My DH is Mexican American and will not eat those. I will have to try that recipe above. We eat a lot of tortillas in our house...

Thanks so much Snack Girl and everyone for your tortilla info! I think I might have to try making my own :) Unfortunately, Colorado doesn't have Trader Joe's so I might check out Whole Foods.

For Canadian readers, I found some wraps at the grocery store (FreshCo) that fit the bill fairly well. They are called "Crispy 100% Rotis". I've only been able to find the white flour version, but I am thrilled with the fact that they have no preservatives. Ingredients: wheat flour, non-hydrogenated vegetable oil, water, baking powder and salt. Only 1 gram of fiber but I'd rather do without all the chemicals!

If you live near a fancy Whole Foods (some have more to them than others), they might make fresh tortillas in house! At ours, you can choose regular or whole wheat. The ingredients mimic what you'd use at home. I wish they were made with olive oil, but instead, they're made with palm shortening. Otherwise, they're a great, healthy option with an ingredient list you can actually understand! If you're lucky, you might even be able to watch them make a batch in front of you (and, if you live near me, you can sit at the brew bar to watch the tortillas being made while listening to a live jazz band)!

Love those tortillas but recently have found Tumaro whole grain tortillas which are quite similar in their nutritional content!

How about a new column - your favorite healthy meals/snacks in a good tortilla?

I read this post with great interest. My lovely area of the U.S. lacks both Trader Joe's and Whole Foods. Boo hoo. As a vegetarian, it's difficult to find healthy tortillas without fish oil or some other type of fish product. Perhaps I'll try the fab recipe posted here. Thanks!

Where do you people live????hahahaha the Tortillas I get here in chicago are way better than the wheat ones you recommend, both in flavor and nutrition. El Milagro makes them.

If you have a Costco nearby, you might want to try their Damascus Bakeries Whole Wheat Roll-Ups - only 17 carbs, 7g fiber and 110 calories - 3 WW pts+. They measure 7"x9" and are great for anything you'd use a tortilla for. I make great individual pizza in the toaster oven with these. I prefer the rectangular shape to the round shape of a tortilla. And there are very few additives!

Many krogers make wheat tortillas fresh in house

Don't eat those Mission "carb balance" tortillas. They use the poison soybean oil!

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