18 Tortilla Alternatives To Switch Up Your Wraps
Tortillas are undoubtedly the crown jewel of flatbreads. Not only can they be sliced up into small pieces and fried, but they can also be used as a vehicle for your favorite sandwich accompaniments, from mayo-based salads to salty deli meat and sliced cheese. Tortillas shine as a wrap because they don't distract from the fillings and instead act as a relatively neutral canvas just waiting to be painted with mustard or hummus. Plus, grabbing a bag of tortillas, which can come in flavors like basil and tomato and low-carb varieties, from the store couldn't be any easier.
But there are many other flatbreads, veggies, and unconventional substitutes that can be just as delicious (and effective) as a tortilla. We've compiled a list of some of the tastiest substitutes for tortillas. Some have a similar mouthfeel and texture to the classic flour wrap, while others are inspired by other cultures and may even offer a better eating experience than this timeless classic.
Pita bread
Pita bread is one of the most satisfying ways to enjoy a wrap. Although there are some variations of pita bread, including those with pockets for gently tucking fillings inside, Greek-style pita bread is made without a pocket. Although you can't say with astonishment, "Oh, and look, it has pockets!" when you flatter it to your lunchtime companions, it's still a perfectly pliable bread that is easy to wrap around an array of fillings.
The best thing about pita, besides its dry mouthfeel, is the fact that it lacks flavor. It's only made with traditional bread ingredients like flour, yeast, oil, water, sugar, and salt, so it has a bready taste similar to that of a flour tortilla. It can also readily hold your toppings, including heavy ones like meats, cheeses, and wet vegetables, without disintegrating. Grab yourself a bag from the store or make it yourself and see how great a tortilla replacement pita bread can be.
Cloud bread
Cloud bread takes "light and airy" to a new level. This bread was initially popularized on TikTok for the simplicity of its ingredients and its adherence to the keto diet. Although its name suggests that this faux bread is made with conventional ingredients — like yeast, flour, and water — cloud bread is anything but typical. Instead, it's essentially a glorified meringue made with eggs, cream of tartar, salt, and a binding agent like cream cheese.
If you're making cloud bread at home, it's easy to add flavor to your recipe before you pop the meringues in the oven to dry out. Add your favorite herbs and spices to complement your fillings, or sprinkle with sesame or flax seeds for a fibrous boost.
The one thing you need to be mindful of, though, is that the worst weather for making meringues is when it's rainy, wet, or humid outside. So, you're limited for when you can enjoy this keto substitute for tortillas. Plus, the meringues tend to get goopy when topped with wet ingredients, so you have to be careful with how you make your wraps.
Pancakes
Pancakes are one of many breakfast foods that, with a little creativity, you can eat at any time of day — including when you get sick of your lunchtime tortilla wrap. Although the two share a circular shape, pancakes are much thicker and fluffier than your standard tortilla, so they're bound to fill you up much faster. You'll also need to try and make sure your pancakes are flat and pliable since you'll need to carefully wrap them around your fillings to make sure that all of your meats, cheeses, and more stay tucked inside your pancake-turned-burrito.
While most people think of pancakes as a sweet breakfast food, especially when they're topped with sugary maple syrup and fruits, you can also make savory pancakes with herby additions like parsley, thyme, and cilantro. Or, add a bit of sourdough starter to your pancake batter to give it a distinct tang.
Flattened sandwich bread
If you've ever planned on making pinwheel sandwiches and quickly realized that you forgot the tortillas, know that there is a wonderful substitute when you're in such a predicament. There's no need to fear when you have a bag of sandwich bread and a rolling pin nearby, saving you a trip to the supermarket. You'll want to skip the albeit delicious grain and seed bread for this hack because they won't roll out into flattened sandwich bread as well. You may also want to hack those crusts off so that the texture of your bread is uniform and tortilla-like.
The one drawback of using flattened sandwich bread as a replacement for tortillas is its size. No matter how thinly you roll each slice, you'll inevitably find that it never gets thin enough to cover the same amount of space as a regular tortilla. So your wraps will be smaller — but not any less delicious.
Nori sheets
Nori are the seaweed sheets you often see wrapped around sushi, but why would you ever want to use them as a replacement for tortillas? For starters, these sheets are readily available in ethnic markets, specialty grocers, and most major grocery stores — and you don't have to worry about making them from scratch yourself. The sheets are also rather large, so you can use them as is or easily cut them to fit your desired size and shape.
Nori has a distinctly salty, straight-from-the-sea flavor, so you'll need to find fillings for your wrap that will be a good match with it. To start you off: It works well with sushi-adjacent fillings, like rice, avocado, and seafood such as shrimp, crab, and eel. But we could also see it as a delicious vehicle for a tuna salad, which has similar salty flavors.
Naan
The best part about ordering Indian takeout is the garlic naan. It's covered in ghee, perfectly blistered, and ideal for swiping up the remnants of your chicken tikka masala. But besides being the blissful, pillowy accompaniment to your takeout feast, this flatbread also makes for a great substitute for tortillas.
Naan is one bread that you're better off buying than making yourself. It's different from other flatbreads like paratha because it's made with yogurt, flour, water, milk, and yeast. This gives the bread a very pliable texture and more enriched flavor compared to other non-enriched breads like pita. Besides giving this bread a more elastic texture, it also adds to its beautiful color.
Naan is relatively versatile and can be paired with everything from sliced turkey to avocados and chicken salad. Its buttery flavor, thanks to a brush of ghee after it's pulled from the tandoor, can be overwhelming when paired with rich condiments like mayonnaise and aioli, though.
Rice paper
Rice paper wrappers are often used to make Vietnamese spring rolls, also known as summer rolls. The wrappers are very thin and translucent, allowing the filling contents like sliced vegetables, shrimp, or tofu to be visible to the eater. Rice paper wrappers are sold dried, so they must be rehydrated in water before they can be used for assembling the fillings.
Working with rice paper wrappers for the first time can be tricky because of how sticky they are. You'll want to ensure that you are wrapping your fillings tightly in the wrap so that they do not break apart. If you haven't learned how to properly tuck and fold a burrito, you might want to practice on a more forgiving, flour-based flatbread before jumping to the rice papers. Like nori sheets, these spring rolls are best with light, fresh fillings — like you'd find in a veggie wrap.
Roti
If you ever want to try experimenting with flatbreads from scratch, roti are the first ones you'll want to try. It's easy to make super soft roti at home because they're made with only two ingredients: water and flour. You won't have to worry about finicky yeast or layering fats into your flour.
Not all rotis are alike. For example, there are differences between North and South Indian Roti. The main difference is flatbread hailing from the northern region of the country resembles more of the floury disc that we know as flatbread (with the addition of spices like turmeric and cumin), while South Indian roti is infused with spices, shredded vegetables, and chili peppers. Both are great options for your wrap and can easily integrate with whatever fillings you have on hand. We could easily see a South Indian flatbread adorned with curry chicken salad to complement the shredded carrots and spices in the dough.
Lettuce
When you think of a keto-friendly alternative to tortillas, one of the first low-carb options that likely comes to mind is a piece of lettuce. But you can't just grab any lettuce variety for your next batch of ground pork lettuce wraps.
The best type of lettuce to hold up a wrap and its fillings is undoubtedly Bibb. This member of the butter lettuce family is sold at the grocery store with the roots still attached to the base. Its texture is the reason for its success in the lettuce wrap world; the ribs are thick enough to hold the weight of even the heaviest of fillings, while the soft, pliable leaves make for a consistently delicate bite every time.
Lettuce is a great tortilla substitute when you're looking for something light or have a filling that deserves your undivided attention. It's minimalist, but it certainly does the trick.
Jicama tortillas
Before you ask, it's pronounced "hi-kuh-muh." This plant originates from Mexico, Central, and South America and has found its footing in the strongholds of keto communities, who have elevated it to the status of a potato replacement. That's big shoes to fill if you ask us.
Although jicama can be eaten as french fries or tossed into a salad, it really shines as a replacement for corn or flour tortillas. To tortilla-ify this vegetable, you'll first want to peel off the exterior, husk-like coating and slice it using a mandoline. You can make these wraps more pliable by tossing them into a frying pan with a little bit of oil and cooking them until they're slightly brown.
The flavor of jicama is difficult to describe, but it's like a cross between an apple and a turnip. It would be great for chicken salad, deli meat, or really any filling that can handle a little sweetness.
Egg wraps
Egg wraps are essentially tortilla-ified omelets. You've probably seen them in the produce or refrigerated section of your grocery store. They have the same shape as a standard wrap, but they're made with egg whites instead. Each offers a low-calorie, higher-protein option perfect for filling with any of your favorite breakfast or lunchtime ingredients. The wraps also come in different flavors like garden salsa and everything bagel. Wrap up chicken, bacon, and ranch dressing inside of one, or use one to take your ham sando to a new level.
If you want to save a few bucks, you can go the DIY route instead. You'll essentially want to whip your eggs (whites only or whole eggs, depending on your preference) and pour them into a hot, greased pan. These wraps only keep for a few days, so you'll want to make them fresh for when you need them.
Kale and collard greens
Some people like the taste of cruciferous vegetables, and if you fall into that camp, you'll love this tortilla replacement of kale and collard greens. You don't have to blanch your leaves before you add your favorite fillings, either. Just give each a good wash to remove any pesky critters or dirt, and pile everything in. The leaves tend to be a bit sturdier than lettuce leaves, so you can add heavier toppings like salads and wet condiments without worrying about them breaking.
But, the major downside to kale and collard green leaves is that the flavor is quite forward and hits your nostrils with a sulfurous punch. While collard greens are milder in flavor than kale, they both require toppings that can hold their weight on the flavor end of things. Mustards, hummus, and shredded root vegetables are all great fillings for these veggie-forward wraps.
Bao buns
Bao buns probably don't come to mind when you think of a tortilla replacement. These soft, steamed bao buns are pillowy, thanks to the wheat starch used. The dough is also slightly sweet, but it can be filled with both sweet and savory accompaniments, including pork, vegetables, and sweet hoisin sauce.
You can swap tortillas for bao buns for next-level birria tacos or use them as a base for your next wrap. They can be found in the frozen aisle of Asian supermarkets if you don't want to make them from scratch. The buns are much more bulbous than the typical flatbread, so you should expect the bite to be just as (if not more) focused on the bun as the fillings. With that in mind, we recommend keeping your toppings simple and fresh; a vegetable bun with a peanut sauce drizzle will work, while copious amounts of sauerkraut and spicy mustard won't.
Lavash
Lavash is a unique flatbread commonly found in the Caucasus Mountain region. This unleavened bread is a staple of Armenian cuisine and is often eaten as a wrap during snack time. The flatbread is cooked in an underground tonir oven, lined against the walls of it. While it can be baked until crisp and cracker-like, many people only cook lavash to the point that it is still pliable, which only takes less than a minute. Then, it can be easily tucked and wrapped with an array of fillings.
Lavash is historically eaten with grilled meats and kebabs, which is a testament to its durability, strength, and ability to soak up the meats' juices. You can also use it for veggie-based wraps; tuck it with baba ganoush or hummus, freshly sliced and pickled vegetables, and cheese for a delectably light lunch. The bread's flavor is rather basic, so you can customize it to your liking.
Pizza crust
If you're making a homemade pizza or two for dinner, you might find yourself with leftover pre-made pizza dough or an entire par-baked shell that is just begging to be used for something. Pizza dough is a great alternative to tortillas because it's very, very pliable and easy to use.
First, roll out your pizza dough balls on a floured surface until they're about as thin as a tortilla. Then, cook them like tortillas by plopping them on a hot skillet and cooking both sides. When they start to puff, you'll know it's time to remove them from the heat.
Pizza crust can take a joke, so you shouldn't be afraid to pile your "tortillas" with wet toppings, sauces, and whatever your heart desires. A buffalo chicken wrap with bacon sounds just as heavenly as one made with a burger patty, melted cheese, lettuce, and onion.
Cheese wraps
People on a keto diet are really on to something when it comes to cheese wraps. Since cheese is a common filling for wraps, this unique type of "tortilla" seems like an ideal choice for stuffing with your favorite deli meat, mustard, and pickles.
While you can buy pre-made cheese wraps at the store, making it at home isn't as difficult as it seems. You can grab four squares of cheese that melt well, like cheddar, Colby, or American, and pop them on a lined baking tray and into your oven. You should remove it when the cheese is molten, and all of the edges have stuck together into one big mass.
Molten cheese is indeed hot, so you'll want to wait at least a few minutes for it to cool before you handle it. As long as you properly lined the sheet pan, you should be able to easily pick it up, add your toppings, and roll it.
Cauliflower pizza crust
If given the choice between a cauliflower pizza crust and a conventional one — we're going with the classic Neapolitan all the way. But cauliflower crust does have its uses. You can easily transform your leftover cauliflower pizza crust into a wrap or opt to purchase cauliflower-based wraps from your store instead.
For the DIY route, you'll want to gather your ingredients — riced cauliflower, seasoning, eggs (as a binder), and cheese — and bake it in the oven until it's sturdy enough to support your toppings but not burnt to a crisp. You shouldn't expect this crust to have the same flexibility and malleability as a wheat-based dough, but it will suffice as an alternative to wheat tortillas. Low-moisture mozzarella is a great addition to this crust because it's melty, but you could also swap it with other cheeses to complement your wrap fillings.
Scallion pancakes
No trip to an Asian restaurant is complete without a side of scallion pancakes. These street food staples have a hint of spicy allicin from the green onions, but they are otherwise pairing for fillings like chicken, chickpea salad, or tuna salad — where the onion flavor doesn't feel out of place.
Scallion pancakes are slightly thicker than tortillas, at about ¼ of an inch. But because the flavor is rather inconspicuous, you can pile it high with your fillings. Another important consideration when making scallion pancakes is that they just aren't as satisfying on the second day because they can become very oil-logged and greasy. They're also best served hot, which can conflict with your otherwise chilled fillings.
Static Media owns and operates Tasting Table, The Daily Meal, and Food Republic.