Trying to Cut Carbs? Try These Gluten-free and Guilt-free Tortillas (and Pancakes)

Gluten-free does not mean healthy. You can have a terrible diet while avoiding gluten. You can get gluten-free pizza and brownies and cookies. They are still made with very highly refined carbohydrates like tapioca and potato flour, even corn starch.

So I thought I would experiment with some bread-like recipes that have NO refined carbs. Here’s the result:

Grain-free Tortillas

The first one I tried was Robb Wolf’s Paleo Tortillas. I love it that there are only 3 ingredients: Plantains, water and salt. What I wasn’t crazy about is how sticky/ tacky the dough was and how hard it was to shape.

Confession – I did NOT use a tortilla press as I really dislike having kitchen equipment that doesn’t multi-task. If you use one you might find his recipe is perfect for you.

I didn’t try this but made a note for next time to refrigerate the batter and see if that makes it less sticky and easier to work with.

Round Two

The next ones I tried were ZenBelly’s Plantain Tortillas. This recipe adds a few more ingredients: eggs, coconut oil and lime but is still really simple. Just but everything into the blender.

One nice feature is that these are baked rather than pan fried so it’s easy if you’re cooking for a group and you want to get a bunch done at once.

The texture was great. The fussy part was that that batter is so thick it is a several-step process to flatten out the batter before putting them in the often. They don’t flatten out AT ALL by themselves – they will come out of the oven with the exact ridges and bumps they went in with.

The Winner Is:

In the end I came up with a combination that worked well for me. The thickness is somewhere between a tortilla and pancake. This recipe makes about half a dozen tortillas.

Plantain tortillas

1 large green plantain (cut into 3 pieces, boiled till fork-tender, then peeled)
1 egg
1 tsp arrowroot powder
1 tbsp melted coconut oil
1 tsp lime juce
salt and pepper
Water to thin to desired consistency

Step 1. Put all ingredients in a food processor and mix until the texture is smooth.

Step 2. Place parchment paper on a baking sheet and spoon the mixture onto the parchment paper (6 tortillas on each baking sheet) flattening with back of spoon.

Step 3. Cook at 350 degrees for 10-15 minutes until the edges start to turn golden brown.

Or flatten them and cook in a skillet, about 3 minutes each side. With the addition of a couple ingredients (baking soda and vanilla) and the deletion of one step (boiling), I

Plantain Pancakes

• 1 large green plantains (uncooked, about 1 cup pureed)
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 4 tsp coconut oil
• 1/8 tsp sea salt
• ¼ tsp baking soda
• coconut oil for frying

1. Peel plantains and place pieces in your blender with the eggs.  Blend to form a smooth batter.
2. Add the rest of the ingredients to the blender and process on high for 1-2 minutes.
3. Heat 1 tsp of coconut oil in a skillet over medium heat.  Pour batter into the pan until your pancake is the desired size.
4. Let cook 4-5 minutes on the first side, until the top looks fairly dry with little bubbles in it.
5. Flip and cook on the second side for 1½-2minutes.

Serve with fresh fruit or a juice-sweetened fruit preserve.

Enjoy!

Let us know how they turn out for you in the comments below.