Tips for Frying Tortilla Strips
Recipe by Léne Whitfield
Our Recipe Books•Feb 7, 2025
The perfect garnish for soups, stews, and salads! Frying your own tortilla strips is easy and fun. The fresh taste is so much better than the ready made kind at the grocery store. Here are a few tips to help you get perfect crispy tortilla strips for garnishing soups, stews, and salads.
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Instructions
Cutting the strips.
There are a few different ways to cut your corn tortillas for frying. First, stack the tortillas about 8-10 deep. You can leave them whole and cut long strips or cut them in half and stack them again so that you have a half circle stack of 16-20 deep.
Cutting the strips very thin will give you crispy strips that cook very quickly. Thicker strips will have a pleasant crispy chewy texture. The thicker strips will also absorb the juices of your soup or stew. So think about the texture and flavor you're after when slicing them up.
Frying the strips.
You want your oil to be hot but not smoking. You can test the heat of the oil with a strip or two. If the oil is not hot enough, the strips will cook slowly and be greasy. When the oil is too hot, the strips will burn easily.
Use a medium, heavy bottom pot for frying. Fill about 1/2 to 2/3 full with frying oil of your choice. I usually use peanut or vegetable oil.
Overcrowding the oil with the tortilla strips will cool the oil too much and will likely give eyou greasy, tough tortilla strips.
Use a slotted spoon to remove cooked strips from the oil, allowing the excess oil to drain off well before putting them on paper towels. Not dousing the strips with oil each time you add freshly cooked ones to the pile will also help ensure you not have a pile of grease laden tortillas strips.
Storing the oil.
Once you are done frying your tortilla strips, allow the oil to cool and then use a funnel to pour the used oil into a mason jar. I like to keep a jar of oil that is just for frying tortilla strips. It will not be contaminated with other flavors that way., and you will always have oil for frying tortilla strips on hand. The oil can be used several times before needing to be replaced.
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