A truly iconic Spanish dish, the tortilla de patatas is served as a tapa or a pincho (pintxo in the Basque Country) in bars or cooked at home as an easy-to-prepare meal. Except for a handful of techniques that I developed on my own, this is my husband Carlos’ recipe, which, in turn, was inspired by El Comidista’s.

When cooked correctly, the dish is rich, flavorful, and creamy - I actually thought it contained cheese the first time I tried it.

Ingredients & Tools (4 servings)

• 1kg potatoes
• 500g white onions
• 7 large chicken eggs
• Sunflower oil (or some other flavorless frying oil)
• Orange food coloring, in case the eggs used have a pale yellow yolk

Optional ingredients, for the topping:

• 6-7 cloves of garlic
• 170g sweet bell peppers (preserved, preferably roasted)
• Virgin olive oil

Tools:

• Large, non-stick frying pan (24cm), and a smaller one (20cm) for the optional topping
• Large metal bowl
• Silicone spatula
• Heat-resistant plastic colander
• Wooden spoon
• Balloon whisk with thick wires
• A large plate for flipping the tortilla over
• A serving plate that should be slightly bigger than the frying pan

Food Safety Tips

As always, food safety comes first.

This version of the tortilla recommends the eggs to be cooked partially in order to keep the dish juicy. As such, it is essential that the eggs are handled and prepared correctly.

The local government of Madrid has a comprehensive guide on how to keep tortillas safe for consumption, reflecting the importance of the dish in Spanish culture.

1. Choose the right eggs to use

• No matter where you get your eggs, it is important to select eggs that are not soiled and with the shell intact. Carefully examine the shell for any impurities, and only use those that do not have any dirt for this recipe.
• This reduces the risk of food poisoning from salmonella.
• Pasteurized eggs are also an option, but there are some drawbacks to using this type of egg.

2. Do not wash eggs

• The question on whether we should wash our eggs has been settled, and the short answer is a resounding no because doing so removes a natural coating on the shell.

3. Crack eggs properly

• It’s not as easy as it looks on TV, and the best way is to carefully crack the eggs on a flat surface.
• It is important not to get any part of the outer shell in contact with the raw egg.

4. Wash your hands frequently

• Wash your hands before and after handling any food or ingredients.

How To Make Spanish Tortilla

1. Prepare the following ingredients

• Tortilla:
  • Onions: peel and dice the onions.
  • Potatoes: peel them, then submerge them in a bowl of water to prevent oxidation; set aside for later.
• Optional topping:
  • Garlic: peel and chop each clove into slices of medium thickness.
  • Red bell peppers: remove any seeds and slice along the ridges so that they look like petals.

2. Heat some oil in a frying pan

• Tortilla:
  • In a large, non-stick frying pan, pour sunflower oil that’s enough to submerge the diced onions and the potatoes.
  • Set heat to medium-high.
• Optional topping:
  • In a smaller frying pan, pour virgin olive oil.
  • Set heat to medium.

3. Start frying the onions (and the topping)

• Tortilla:
  • Once the oil is hot enough (but not smoking), add the diced onions.
  • If the heat is set too high, lower it but keep the onions gently sizzling.
  • It is important to fry the onions slowly to extract the maximum amount of flavor and get the right amount of caramelization.
  • Add 1.25ml (¼ tsp) of salt.
  • Stir occasionally.
• Optional topping:
  • Add the garlic and the red bell pepper into the smaller pan.
  • If the oil starts bubbling, reduce heat to low-medium to maintain a very slow cook.
  • If the oil still doesn’t bubble, keep the heat on medium and only reduce it when it starts to bubble.
  • Stir occasionally.

4. Fry the potatoes

• Remove the potatoes from the water-filled bowl, and dry them with a fresh kitchen towel.
• Keep the heat on medium-high, do not be tempted to set it lower - otherwise, we risk merely boiling the potatoes, leaving the whole dish bland.
• Once the edges of the onions are toasted, slice the potatoes directly into the pan, as follows:
  • Take a small knife and hold it with your dominant hand.
  • With the sharp edge facing towards you, cut into the potato but do not slice it off completely.
  • Twist the knife towards you to break / chip off the piece, releasing the starch.
  • Let the potato chip fall into the frying pan (do not position your hands too high to avoid splashing oil around).
  • Stir occasionally in between potatoes.
• Once you’ve added half of all the potatoes into the frying pan, pause.
• Add another 1.25ml (¼ tsp) of salt.
• Check:
  • The smell - it should be a mixture of fried onions and french fries (fried potatoes), and it should not smell burnt.
  • The appearance - the potatoes should have started turning into a golden color, and it’s ok if some parts are more toasted than others.
• Adjust the heat as necessary:
  • If the potatoes start sticking to the bottom of the pan, very slightly reduce the heat.
  • If the potatoes haven’t caramelized, increase the heat slightly.
• Continue slice-chipping the rest of the potatoes over the frying pan.
• Once all the potatoes are added, continue frying until golden brown (without burning any), stirring occasionally and scraping the bottom of the frying pan using your wooden spoon.
• Taste - take bits and let them cool on a plate / your chopping board, the taste should be savory.

5. Prepare the eggs

• Put the raw eggs in the large bowl.
• Sprinkle food coloring to your liking.
• Add 1.25ml (¼ tsp) of salt.
• Whisk the eggs to mix it all together.

6. Strain the fried potato-onion mix

• Once the potatoes and onions are cooked, turn off the heat on the larger frying pan.
• While very carefully holding the colander, scoop the fried potato-onion mix from the pan and strain off the oil into a heat-resistant jar.
• Carefully pour the fried potato-onion mix into the bowl with eggs.
• Once all of it is in the bowl, scrape off any food from the bottom of the frying pan with the wooden spoon (never use a metal utensil to do this).

7. Properly mix the eggs and the fried onions and potatoes

• Using your whisk to mix them all together and crush any pale, raw potato bits (Important: do not mash all of the potatoes as we want some texture).
• Take a metal spoon and dip it in the mixture to taste the salt level; sprinkle small amounts of salt at a time, if needed.

8. Heat some oil in the frying pan

• Set the heat to medium-high.
• Pour some of the oil used to fry the onions & potatoes into the frying pan.
• Hover your hand over the frying pan to check the heat, it should not be smoking.
• Take the frying pan and rotate it to evenly grease the bottom and the sides.

9. Fry the tortilla

• The next steps are critical as they will determine the integrity of the tortilla’s form.
• Prepare the large plate to be used for flipping the tortilla.
• Once the greased frying pan is hot enough, do these at the same time:
  • Take the handle of the frying pan and turn it to 9 o’clock (direction), then vigorously wiggle it by turning the handle from 9 o’clock to 6 o’clock repeatedly without lifting it off the stove.
  • While wiggling the frying pan, pour in the mixture - keep wiggling it vigorously and still without lifting it:
    • If successful, the tortilla will slide with every wiggle.
    • If unsuccessful, carefully slide your silicone spatula under the tortilla to unstick it from the pan bit by bit; keep wiggling to see if the whole tortilla has come unstuck.
• Be careful, do not take too long in doing all of this; otherwise, the tortilla can get burnt.

10. Flip the tortilla

• Take the large plate for flipping the tortilla and use it to cover the frying pan.
• While firmly pushing the plate on top of the frying pan, swiftly flip them upside-down so that the tortilla falls on the plate.
• Remove the frying pan; if some bits of tortilla are still stuck to the bottom, use your silicone spatula to scrape them off and reattach them to the part of the tortilla with missing bits.
• Pour oil into the pan again, and repeat the process in Step 9, this time carefully pouring the already half-cooked, circular tortilla by guiding it using your silicone spatula.
• Based on my experience, the chances of the tortilla sticking to the bottom of the pan is low this time around, but you still need to keep wiggling the frying pan.
• Once again, be careful not to take too long, as the tortilla can get burnt.

11. Flip the tortilla again

• Repeat Step 10 to check that both sides of the tortilla are now cooked.
• If you want your tortilla juicy, do not cook for much longer and transfer it to the serving plate; otherwise, proceed to the next step.

12. Continue cooking the tortilla (I do not do this)

• Some people prefer their tortilla fully cooked.
• In order to do this, turn down the heat and keep it on the stove depending on how cooked you want it to be, repeating Steps 9 & 10.

13. Prepare the topping

• Remove the frying pan with the garlic and bell peppers from the stove.
• Arrange the bell peppers the way you want (I arrange them to look like a flower or the sun).
• Add the fried garlic.
• Pour some of the oil used to fry them on the tortilla to add some more flavor.

14. Say grace and serve

A Cooking Demo by El Comidista

You can also watch El Comidista’s cooking demo, but bear in mind he uses additional ingredients and slightly different techniques.