8 Surprising Things You Can Make With a Tortilla Press (That Aren't Tortillas)

Stocking one-off kitchen tools can be tricky. Do you really need to take up valuable cookware space with the very niche apparatus that does just one thing? How often do you use an apple corer or a zucchini spiralizer instead of just a knife? Luckily, plenty of seemingly single-use kitchen gadgets can actually be used for multiple tasks across cuisines, creating shortcuts in innovative ways. Enter: The tortilla press.

What Is a Tortilla Press Exactly—and Why Is It Trending?

A tortilla press is a typically metal device used to press balls of dough into thin and pliable tortillas. Used for making flour tortillas and corn or masa tortillas in various sizes, the tortilla press is slim and efficient—and has many more uses beyond pressing flatbreads. In fact, the tortilla press has gone semi-viral as home cooks and chefs find new ways to use this old manual technology to make kitchen tasks easier, more efficient, and in many cases, more aesthetically appealing. Cookbook author and content creator Jesse Jenkins has a series dedicated to seeing what foods he can make in his tortilla press. 

Pressing Meat for Cutlets

Pounding chicken, beef, pork, and veal with a meat mallet can be therapeutic, but also messy and time-consuming. Putting raw meat on a tortilla press is a quick and easy way to get uniform, thin cutlets. Just press down until the meat is about a quarter of an inch thick, and then proceed to the breading station to make our chicken cutlets or pork scallopini.

Pressing Fish for Crudo

Thin fish is essential for a crudo that’s elegant to look at and enjoyable to eat, but slicing fish can take serious skill and patience. Instead, place a small piece of fish on the tortilla press and smash it down for a fun, thin cutlet-style crudo seen at trendy restaurants around the country. We have recipes for Fluke Crudo and Porgy Crudo With Pine Nuts. This technique can also work with shellfish, layering scallops, sliced octopus, or shrimp on top of each other to create a round sheet of raw seafood to dress up with herbs and sauce. 

Smashing Garlic

Press all your garlic in one go by pressing it in a tortilla press. From here, you can stir it directly into soup or sauce recipes that will be blended, or transfer the smashed garlic to a cutting board to mince and use as a paste. 

Crushing Nuts

Skip chopping your nuts and crush them with the tortilla press. Any nuts will work, but flatter nuts will yield better results. Gather nuts in a thin bag or fold them into a towel, and then use the tortilla press to crunch them. 

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Crushing Candy

Chopping up peppermints or other candies to use in cookies and other baked goods can be a pain. Just put them in a Ziploc bag, press out the air, and press the candies in the tortilla press to shatter them. Then make our Double Chocolate Peppermint Sandwiches or Crushed-Peppermint Cookies.

Cookie Crumbs 

Just like candies, cookies work well in a tortilla press if you want to make cookie crumbs to use in a recipe. Try pressing sandwich cookies, chocolate chip cookies, and more to get unevenly sized crumbs to use for decorating cakes, enjoying as an ice cream topping or mix-in, or to make a cookie crust with.

Smashing Cooked Potatoes 

If you’re a fan of twice-cooked crispy potatoes, a tortilla press may be the tool for you. The thinner the potato, the crispier it will cook up, and this technique works with all types of tubers. Steam, boil, or bake your potato until a fork can easily pierce through it. Allow to cool, then press the potato in a tortilla press to the desired thickness. Coat with olive oil and seasoning, then bake at 375 degrees Fahrenheit for 15 minutes.