How to Fry or Bake Corn-Tortilla Tostada Shells and Assemble Toppings

A tostada is a corn tortilla cooked until it is flat, rigid and crisp, then used as an edible plate for toppings such as beans, meat, cheese, vegetables and salsa. You can make the shells two ways. Frying in a skillet of hot oil takes under a minute per tortilla. Baking in the oven takes longer but needs only a light coating of oil and lets you cook several tortillas at once. Plain shells store well in an airtight container, so you can make them ahead and add toppings when you serve.

Choose one shell method

Each method below comes from a different cook, and each has its own temperature, setup and timing. Pick one and follow its numbers as a set. If you mix one cook's temperature with another cook's timing, the shells can come out pale and soft or overbrowned.

Method	Setup	Heat	Time	Done when
Skillet frying (Rick Bayless)	Deep skillet, oil about 1 inch deep, one tortilla at a time	360°F oil	About 30 seconds to 1 minute total, flipping regularly	Darker in color and rigid
Oven, rack over sheet (Everyday Latina)	4–6 tortillas, not overlapping, oiled on both sides, on a rack set over a baking sheet	400°F oven	15–20 minutes	Golden and crisp
Oven, sheet pan (Norah Pritchard)	6 tortillas brushed with 2 tbsp olive oil and salted	400°F oven	5–7 minutes per side	Golden and crisp
Oven, rack (Masienda)	10 tortillas, lightly oiled on both sides, not overlapping	350°F oven	About 25 minutes	Golden and crunchy

Prepare the toppings before you cook the shells

Have every topping ready before you start on the shells, because the shells should be topped close to serving time. Norah Pritchard's suggested toppings are beans, cooked meat, cheese, lettuce, tomato, avocado, cilantro, sour cream and salsa. Cook any hot components, such as beans or meat, and keep them hot. Chop the vegetables and keep them and the dairy toppings cold until you assemble.

Frying tostada shells on the stove

Rick Bayless fries 12 thin corn tortillas in a deep skillet. He chooses tortillas that are on the dry side but still flexible, and he prefers the drier style sold for making chips over moist table tortillas. The only other ingredients are oil and salt.

1. Pour oil into a deep skillet to a depth of about 1 inch and heat it to 360°F.
2. Add one tortilla to the oil.
3. Flip it regularly as it fries. In Bayless's method this takes about 30 seconds to 1 minute in total.
4. Remove the tortilla once it has darkened and turned rigid.
5. Drain it on paper towels and salt it right away while it is still hot.
6. Repeat with the remaining tortillas, one at a time.

If your tortillas are very moist, swap in drier chip-style tortillas. Bayless prefers them for this method over moist table tortillas.

Baking tostada shells in the oven

All three oven methods work the same basic way. You lightly oil the corn tortillas, spread them out so none overlap, and bake until golden and crisp. They differ in equipment and timing, so stay with one method from start to finish.

Everyday Latina: rack over a baking sheet at 400°F

1. Heat the oven to 400°F.
2. Set a rack over a baking sheet and lay 4–6 corn tortillas on it without overlapping.
3. Oil both sides of each tortilla.
4. Bake 15–20 minutes, until golden and crisp.
5. Watch closely toward the end of the bake.
6. No rack? Put the tortillas directly on the baking sheet and flip them halfway through.

Norah Pritchard: sheet pan at 400°F

1. Heat the oven to 400°F.
2. Brush 6 corn tortillas with 2 tablespoons of olive oil and sprinkle them with salt.
3. Bake 5–7 minutes, flip, and bake another 5–7 minutes, until golden and crisp.
4. Add the prepared toppings and serve right away.

Masienda: rack at 350°F

1. Heat the oven to 350°F.
2. Lightly oil both sides of 10 corn tortillas.
3. Lay them on the rack without overlapping. If they curl, set a second rack on top to keep them flat.
4. Bake about 25 minutes, until golden and crunchy.

How to tell when the shells are done

For fried shells, Bayless's sign of doneness is a tortilla that has turned darker and become rigid, not one that is still floppy. For baked shells, all three oven methods use the same signs: an even golden color and a shell that is crisp or crunchy. Baked tortillas can go from golden to overbrowned quickly near the end, so Everyday Latina recommends watching them closely in the last minutes. If you bake straight on a sheet pan, flip the tortillas partway through so both sides crisp.

Assembling the tostadas

Top each shell just before serving so it stays crisp. Here is one example of how to organize your toppings. First, put out your chosen shells. Then set out the toppings in separate groups: a cooked base of beans or meat, fresh vegetables, cheese, and a sauce such as salsa or sour cream.

Example layering order, using Norah Pritchard's topping choices:
1. Spread beans or cooked meat on the shell as the base.
2. Add lettuce and tomato.
3. Add cheese and avocado.
4. Finish with cilantro, sour cream and salsa.

Storing shells and handling toppings safely

Store plain shells separately from the toppings. Bayless recommends keeping untopped shells in an airtight container. Cooked perishable toppings need different handling. USDA guidance says to keep hot foods at 140°F or above and cold foods at 40°F or below while serving.

Refrigerate leftover toppings in shallow containers within 2 hours, or within 1 hour if the room or outdoor temperature is above 90°F.
Eat refrigerated leftovers within 3–4 days.
Reheat leftover cooked toppings to 165°F before serving.