What can I use instead of flour tortillas for large wrapper rolled around a wet filling?

Lavash or markook sheets (1 large sheet per 10-inch tortilla). Thinner and easier to roll tight, with no chew of its own. It dries into a cracker within minutes out of the bag, so fill it immediately. Pocketless Greek pita or lafa (1 per tortilla). Thicker and chewier, so it folds around a filling rather than rolling into a tube. Holds a much wetter filling without leaking. Cassava flour tortillas (Match one for one, warmed 30 seconds a side). Pliable while warm and brittle once cool, and they taste faintly sweet. They tear at the seam under a heavy burrito, so build them lighter. Blanched collard or cabbage leaves (2 large leaves per tortilla, blanched 45 seconds and dried). Wraps surprisingly tight and adds a green, brassica flavour. No starch to absorb juices, so the seam gets wet and it has to be eaten straight away.

What can I use instead of flour tortillas for warm base for a taco, fajita or quesadilla?

Corn tortillas (2 small per large flour tortilla, 30 seconds a side on a dry comal). Far more corn flavour and a softer, more fragile fold. Doubling them up is standard for anything juicy. Small pita rounds (1 per tortilla, warmed 20 seconds a side). Thicker and breadier, so the filling ratio has to go up or the whole thing tastes of bread. Holds up to a fork. Naan, halved (1 naan per 2 tortillas). Rich, chewy and much heavier. It browns hard in a dry pan because of the sugar in the dough, so keep it moving. Butter lettuce or romaine leaves (2 leaves per tortilla). Cold, crunchy and wet against a hot filling, and there is no starch to soak up the juices. It suits grilled meat far more than anything saucy.

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What to use instead of flour tortillas

It depends entirely on what it's doing in the dish. Here's the job, what else does it, and what to skip.

Large wrapper rolled around a wet filling

Wheat gluten plus the fat worked into the dough gives a sheet that stretches around a load and stays folded, and warmth is what makes it pliable.

Lavash or markook sheetsRan out

1 large sheet per 10-inch tortilla

Thinner and easier to roll tight, with no chew of its own. It dries into a cracker within minutes out of the bag, so fill it immediately.

Where to buy it →

Pocketless Greek pita or lafaRan out

1 per tortilla

Thicker and chewier, so it folds around a filling rather than rolling into a tube. Holds a much wetter filling without leaking.

Where to buy it →

Cassava flour tortillasGluten-free

Match one for one, warmed 30 seconds a side

Pliable while warm and brittle once cool, and they taste faintly sweet. They tear at the seam under a heavy burrito, so build them lighter.

Where to buy it →

Blanched collard or cabbage leavesGluten-free

2 large leaves per tortilla, blanched 45 seconds and dried

Wraps surprisingly tight and adds a green, brassica flavour. No starch to absorb juices, so the seam gets wet and it has to be eaten straight away.

What doesn't work: Corn tortillas. With no gluten there is nothing to stretch, so they crack across the fold as soon as the filling has any weight or moisture. They are right for a taco and wrong for anything rolled.

Warm base for a taco, fajita or quesadilla

It only has to fold once and take direct griddle heat, so pliability matters far less than flavour and how it handles a hot pan.

Corn tortillasGluten-free

2 small per large flour tortilla, 30 seconds a side on a dry comal

Far more corn flavour and a softer, more fragile fold. Doubling them up is standard for anything juicy.

Where to buy it →

Small pita roundsRan out

1 per tortilla, warmed 20 seconds a side

Thicker and breadier, so the filling ratio has to go up or the whole thing tastes of bread. Holds up to a fork.

Where to buy it →

Naan, halvedRan out

1 naan per 2 tortillas

Rich, chewy and much heavier. It browns hard in a dry pan because of the sugar in the dough, so keep it moving.

Where to buy it →

Butter lettuce or romaine leavesGluten-free

2 leaves per tortilla

Cold, crunchy and wet against a hot filling, and there is no starch to soak up the juices. It suits grilled meat far more than anything saucy.

What doesn't work: Hard taco shells for a saucy fajita filling. They shatter along the fold the moment they take on moisture and the filling ends up on the plate. A hard shell needs a dry filling and a soft one absorbs sauce.