Baked Spanish Tortilla

Tortilla de Patata, or Spanish Omelette, is one of the most well-known dishes in Spain. Served in many restaurants and bars, it's a delicious dish that most people love and miss when they leave Spain. Learn how to make your own Spanish tortilla with our baking method!

Luckily, we live in Spain, where we can easily get yummy tortilla de patatas when we go out for tapas. Not many tapas are vegetarian, but Spanish omelet is naturally vegetarian, and you may find vegan options if you go into a vegan restaurant.

We lived in Germany for more than three years, and we had to learn how to cook the perfect tortilla at home. We slightly changed my mum's recipe to make it a bit healthier, using less oil but keeping the taste still the same.

I do love a Spanish Tortilla cooked with the classic recipe by deep-frying the potatoes, but I don't like using that much oil when cooking our tortilla, so baking your potatoes is a great way to cook this Spanish staple in a much healthier way!

Spanish omelette or tortilla de patata is made with a few simple ingredients. Olive oil, potatoes, eggs, onion (optional) and salt. With these five simple ingredients, you can make at home the perfect Spanish tortilla.

This recipe is a great dish to bring to parties or to prepare a delicious Tapa's night. The best part? You will be able to find all the ingredients easily and make a delicious Spaniard dish at home.

What Other Readers Think of This Recipe

• Patricia: I am basque and this is a recipe we make at least once a week for dinner. For a bit more taste, and if you like ,add green peppers to it also. Served with homemade French bread my family eat it up almost before I get it on the table.
• Jason: We just returned from Barcelona and wanted to try making a Spanish omelette for ourselves at home. Very happy with the results, but next time I’ll use a no-stick pan. I like that the recipe calls for pre-baking the potatoes. Looking forward to refining my technique! Thanks for sharing this!
• Suja: This was delicious! We really enjoyed both making and eating it!

What is tortilla de patata?

Tortilla de patata, also known as Spanish Omelette or Spanish Frittata, is a national dish from Spain made with potatoes (papas) and eggs (huevos). It's a simple but delicious recipe normally enjoyed for dinner or lunch but served as well as a snack in a baguette (bocadillo de tortilla) or as a side dish or tapa.

About our Recipe

Each family has their own recipe when it comes to the traditional Tortilla de Patata. At home, we cook our Baked Spanish Tortilla quite simply and without making a mess but keeping the taste amazing. We try making it healthier than the traditional recipe which would suggest deep frying the potatoes.

This is a simple recipe that everyone should be able to execute and have a delicious meal ready in 50 minutes.

• With or without onion. You could divide Spain into two groups: People who love their Tortilla with onion and people who hate it. We are in the first group so our recipe is made with onion. This ingredient gives our baked Spanish tortilla a lovely, sweet touch.
• Fried or baked potatoes. The traditional tortilla de patata is made by slowly deep-frying the potatoes. There are different reasons why we prefer to cook our tortilla by baking the potatoes, but the number one is because is healthier. If you give me two well-cooked tortillas one with deep-fried potatoes and the other one with baked potatoes, I won't probably be able to tell you the difference, so why not make it healthier?
• Tortilla consistency. Another big topic when it comes to making a tortilla is how cooked the egg should be. Some people will serve their tortilla with the centre quite gooey and other people prefers the egg completely cooked. You can adapt this part to your taste. We like our egg mostly cooked but keeping the omelette moist.
• Potato shape. Some recipes call for thinly sliced potatoes and others for bigger chunks. We kept it the way I've always seen my mum doing it at home. Once the potato is peeled, we cut them into long wedges and then slice them into small pieces. The shape will be then similar to a triangle.

How to make Baked Spanish Tortilla

Ingredients

Potatoes. For tortilla de patata, you can use Yukon Gold potatoes which are quite similar to the potato normally used in Spain called Monalisa. If you want to speed up the process, you can buy already cut frozen potatoes.

Onion. White onion is commonly used for this recipe. Shallots or red onions can be as well used for Spanish omelette.

Eggs

Sea salt. You can as well use regular table salt.

Olive oil. Virgin olive oil or extra virgin olive oil. Other vegetable oils can be used as well such as rapeseed oil or sunflower oil.

Cooking method

If you already have it at home, a frittata pan will make your life easier when cooking a Spanish Omelette. Some people call this meal Spanish Frittata. It makes it easier to flip and cook the omelette.

Peel and cut the potatoes. Once the potato is peeled, we cut them into long wedges and then slice them into small pieces. The shape will then be similar to a triangle. You can always use a mandolin to cut the potatoes, as it will save you time. If you want to prepare this step ahead of time, leave the peeled and cut potatoes in water until you are ready to use them.

Finely slice the onion and add the onion and cut potatoes onto a baking tray. Drizzle some olive oil on the top, cover with tin foil paper,r and bake for about 30 minutes. We place a silicone baking mat on our tray before so the potatoes don’t stick to the bottom, and the tray doesn’t get dirty. It's important to cover the baking tray as you don't want the potatoes to be crispy. The potatoes will be ready when they soften and you can easily cut them with the side of a fork.

Using a big mixing bowl, add the eggs. Add the eggs to a big mixing bowl. Whisk until they are perfectly combined. Then add the cooked potatoes, onion, and salt to the egg mixture and mix all the ingredients using a big wooden spoon or spatula.

Heat some oil in a frying pan to medium heat and pour the egg and potato mixture. Make sure the mixture is evenly spread out. Leave cooking for a couple of minutes, and when the bottom part starts to brown, get ready for the most challenging part! First, make sure the egg is not sticking to the pan by running a spatula along the outer edge of the tortilla.

Flip your tortilla. Here comes the fun part of making Spanish tortilla. Using a big plate (it needs to be bigger than the pan surface), place the plate facing down on the top of the pan. Hold the plate with one hand firmly and flip the pan using the other hand. Slowly bring the tortilla into the pan again to cook the other side. Leave cooking for a few more minutes, and when ready, repeat the flip using the serving plate. If using a frittata pan, simply flip the pans so the omelette will cook on the other side.

Baked Spanish Tortilla

Delicious and simple Spanish Tortilla de Patata recipe

4.76 from 50 votes

Print Pin Rate

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: spanish

Keyword: Baked Spanish Omelette, Baked Spanish Tortilla

Prep Time: 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 40 minutes minutes

Servings: 4 people

Calories: 295kcal

Ingredients

• ▢ 4-5 medium size potatoes
• ▢ ½ medium size onion
• ▢ 6 eggs
• ▢ 1 teaspoon salt
• ▢ 1 tablespoon Olive oil

US Customary - Metric

Cook ModePrevent your screen from going dark

Instructions

• Peel and cut the potatoes. Once the potato is peeled, cut them into long wedges and then slice them into small pieces. The shape will be then similar to a triangle. You can always use a mandolin to cut the potatoes as it will save you time.
  4-5 medium size potatoes
• Finely slice the onion and add the onion and cut potatoes onto a baking tray. Drizzle some olive oil on the top, cover with tin foil paper and bake for about 30 minutes at 200C.
  ½ medium size onion
• Using a big mixing bowl, whisk the eggs until they are combined. When the potatoes and onion are baked, add them into the egg mixture and mix all the ingredients using a big wooden spoon or spatula. Add salt and mix one last time.
  6 eggs, 1 teaspoon salt
• Heat the oil in a frying pan to medium heat and pour in the egg and potato mixture. Make sure the mixture is evenly spread out. Leave cooking for a couple of minutes and when the edges are set (it should take around 5-7 minutes), get ready for the most challenging part! First, make sure the egg is not sticking to the pan running a spatula along the outer edge of the tortilla.
  1 tablespoon Olive oil
• Using a big plate (it needs to be bigger than the pan surface), place the plate facing down on the top of the pan. Hold the plate with one hand firmly and flip the pan using the other hand. Slowly, slide the tortilla into the pan again, to cook the other side. Leave cooking for a few more minutes and when ready, repeat the flip using the serving plate.

Newsletter

Join our Community of Foodies. Exclusive plant-based recipes, meal plans, and pro cooking tips directly to your inbox. Join Now!

Nutrition

Calories: 295kcal | Carbohydrates: 39g | Protein: 13g | Fat: 10g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 246mg | Sodium: 688mg | Potassium: 1008mg | Fiber: 5g | Sugar: 2g | Vitamin A: 361IU | Vitamin C: 43mg | Calcium: 66mg | Iron: 3mg

Serving Suggestions

Tortilla de patata or Spanish omelette is normally served as a tapa in most restaurants or cafés. When making it at home, it's normally served as a main dish with a lighter side dish such as asparagus, a green leafy salad, or chopped tomatoes and bread. Leftovers can be served the next day in some bread to make a yummy breakfast sandwich called bocadillo de tortilla.

We prepare tapas night at home when we have people over, or we are in Ireland visiting the family. The centerpiece of the tapa's night is our Baked Spanish Tortilla and a lovely Vegetarian Paella. We prepare garlic and white wine mushrooms, homemade gazpacho, romesco sauce, and patatas bravas with our rich bravas sauce as well. All this delicious food served with marinated olives, bread, a fresh salad or even grilled vegetables makes for a perfect dinner.

This dish can be served warm or at room temperature. You can keep it in the fridge for 3-4, but in my opinion, any leftovers should be eaten the next day.

We do not recommend freezing Tortilla de Patata as the consistency of the potatoes will change and make the dish not as enjoyable.

FAQ and Tips

Other Spanish Recipes:

• Vegetarian Paella
• Sun-dried Tomato Pate or Vegan Sobrasada
• Bravas Sauce
• Vegan Croquettes
• Carrot and Lentil Soup