Our Test Kitchen's Tips for Making the Viral 2-Ingredient Toaster Tortilla Pockets
Prepare to meet your new favorite afternoon snack. 🧀 But before you try this at home, study up on our safety tips to reduce the risk of a fire.
Brie Passano
From the time I started eating solid foods until age eight or so, the vast majority of my meals included cheese in some capacity. Grilled cheese, mac and cheese, cheese pizza—as long as it was beige and ooey-gooey, it felt safe and got a big thumbs up.
Since then, I've grown to celebrate and swoon over flavorful global cuisines and rainbow-hued mixing bowl-sized salads full of fresh produce, but there’s still a spot in my heart for those childhood foods. (At age 36, that blue box of mac still reminds me of a comforting summer break lunch!)
One evening, during a break between work and dinner prep, I found myself scrolling through social media (as one does) and found a creation posted by food writer and recipe developer Grace Elkus (@graceelkus) that had me ready to revise my cooking plans.
The recipe currently has more than 1 million likes on Instagram and 16 million views and counting on TikTok, so it’s clear that my inner child wasn’t the only one captivated by it.
How to Make 2-Ingredient Toaster Tortilla Pockets
“Here’s a little hack that once you know about it, I think you'll use it often,” Elkus said in the video, speaking directly to my soul as she introduced her toaster tortilla hack. It's like a cheese quesadilla, but since no skillet or griddle required, clean-up is as easy as brushing crumbs off your counter.
On an 8-inch tortilla, make two piles of shredded cheese near the center, one above the other, leaving a bit of a space between them to allow for a fold. Tuck in the left and right sides, overlapping them slightly to reduce the risk of overflow, then fold the tortilla in half so you have a pocket with two wells full of cheese and an open top.
With the open-side up, place the tortilla in a toaster and “toast for the same amount of time you would a bagel or piece of toast,” Elkus instructed, recommending to rotate the pocket halfway through the cooking time if our toasters only cook on one side.
I hustled to prepare a chopped salad (Mexican Chopped Chicken Salad with Jalapeño Dressing, if you’d like to follow along) with my aforementioned produce, then followed Elkus’ lead for a speedy side. Along with a bowl of salsa, my inner child and current self both felt thrilled.
Related: Stop Ruining Your Cheese by Avoiding These 5 Storage Mistakes
Test Kitchen Tips for Making The Viral Toaster Tortilla Pockets
As I enjoyed my dinner, I scrolled through the comments and was surprised to see that some folks chimed in with feedback like “this could go so wrong,” and “when a little cheese drips into your toaster it'll be ruined because it's a fire hazard now.” Some even referenced experiencing actual toaster fires.
Considering that cooking was the leading cause of home fires from 2017 to 2021, according to the National Fire Protection Agency (NFPA), I wanted to take those warnings seriously. The next day, I went to chat with Sarah Brekke, M.S., Better Homes & Gardens Test Kitchen brand manager, to get her expert opinion.
“I hadn’t seen this hack, but I am in love with the concept,” Brekke says. “I can imagine some really fun flavor combos, and this could be a really fun way for kids to help in the kitchen.”
In terms of the potential fire hazard, Brekke has some pro tips for you to keep in mind before you ~toast~ to this viral recipe trend.
Take a test run. “Watch your pocket creations the first few times you ever try this to ensure there are no issues that arise and so that you can optimize your toaster settings to get the best results,” Brekke suggests. If your toaster tortilla pocket happens to get stuck in the slot, unplug the appliance and use a non-metallic tool, such as a wooden spoon handle, to help remove the pocket safely.
Select your wrappers with care. To avoid any potential cracking or tearing along the folds, which could lead to leakage, Brekke recommends seeking out tortillas that are very soft and bendable. Soft flour tortillas are a reliable choice.
Allow for breathing room. As you place the pocket in the toaster, make sure only the tortilla is only touching the “basket” part of the slots—and that neither the tortilla or the filling is touching any part of the heating element, she says.
Call in reinforcements. For the best results and your safest strategy, “we’d recommend slipping the tortilla pocket into a toaster bag first to make sure that nothing leaks or starts to burn during the cooking process,” Brekke says. These are available online and at some supermarkets and large retailers, such as Walmart, often for less than $1 each. A worthy investment, if you ask me…plus you can use them for a speedy grilled cheese that will leave you with zero dishes to clean up after.
Related: The 8 Best Toaster Ovens of 2024, Tested and Reviewed
Toaster Tortilla Pockets Variations
Now that you're well-equipped to toast safely and smoothly, it's time to explore the wide world of options for how to stuff your pockets. Elkus and Brekke teamed up to compile a to-try list.
Instead of two piles of shredded cheese, consider two equal portions of:
Sliced cheese
Nut butter and banana slices
Nutella and banana slices
Ham and Swiss
Turkey and cheddar
Pepperoni, shredded mozzarella, and a small spoonful of tomato sauce
Scrambled eggs, shredded cheddar, and cooked bacon strips (sliced in half)
Garden vegetable cream cheese, thin tomato slice, baby spinach
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