How to microwave flour tortilla without making it wet

Question

I sometimes make homemade burritos, with a mix of fillings wrapped in a flour tortilla, and I reheat the leftovers in my microwave for later meals. By the time the fillings are near the temperature I want, the section of the tortilla on the bottom, specifically the portion in contact with the plate, is soggy and far too hot.

I've had the soggy part actually break open at least once, and touching it for long is painfully hot. Moving it reveals visible water on the plate underneath. The rest of the tortilla stays dry, with the edges sometimes even getting a bit crispy, and is comfortably warm.

Why does this happen, and how can I prevent or mitigate it?

Answer 1

I can't get into the physics of it, but here's how it works for me.

Place the burritos evenly (not on top of each other) with space around them and don't use max power. I use about half my microwave's power when reheating.

Heat them for about a minute and let them sit for almost as long. Turn them over and repeat.

My experience is that smaller portions are heated more evenly. And that turning the food items helps distribute the heat better.

Alternately, you can leave some of the fillings in a container overnight and heat the tortillas and the fillings separately the next day. I prefer this method to get a great result.

Answer 2

If the burritos are reheated, pause the cooking about ⅔ through the reheating time to turn the burritos over and restart the microwave for the remainder of the cooking time.

Turning the burrito over will allow some of the hot juices to be more evenly redistributed thoughout the burrito's contents instead of gathering at the bottom where it absorbs and holds all the heat.

Good luck. Bon appetite.

Answer 3

I make my own burritos with home-made tortillas, and reheat them from room temperature, from the fridge, and from frozen. There are two keys:

• wrap the burrito in a paper towel. This absorbs any stray moisture instead of your tortilla doing that
• use less than 100% power. This gives the heat a chance to even out throughout the burrito.

I will occasionally get a cold spot this way, so I need to do it a little longer, but I don't get hot spots, splits, or soggy tortillas.

Answer 4

Place a paper towel on a plate, lay the (empty) tortillas evenly spread in a single layer, and then cover them with more paper towel. As the microwave creates steam, it will be held by the paper towel, and thus the tortillas will be evenly heated, and neither dry nor soggy.