Chipotle tortillas
Chipotle Mexican Grill has eliminated all additives and preservatives from its tortillas.

DENVER — Chipotle Mexican Grill has eliminated all additives and preservatives from its tortillas, allowing it to achieve its goal to serve food only made with ingredients that contain no added colors, flavors or preservatives.

Chipotle began working to eliminate additives and preservatives from its tortillas in April 2015, when the company announced it had achieved its goal of moving to only non-bioengineered ingredients to make all the food served in its U.S. restaurants.

The chain’s new corn and flour tortilla recipes contain between two and five ingredients:

Chipotle new tortilla recipes
  • Flour tortillas: flour, water, canola oil, salt and yeast.
  • Crispy corn tortillas: corn masa flour and water.
  • Soft corn tortillas: corn masa flour, water and a trace of lime.
  • Tortilla chips: Corn masa flour, water, sunflower oil, lime juice and kosher salt.

The new tortillas were tested in Chipotle restaurants around the country beginning in January and are now served in all the company’s U.S. restaurants. With the new tortilla introduction, Chipotle said it now uses only 51 real ingredients to prepare all its food.

Steve Ells, Chipotle
Steve Ells, founder, chairman and c.e.o. of Chipotle
“We have always used high quality ingredients and prepared them using classic cooking techniques,” said Steve Ells, founder, chairman and chief executive officer of Chipotle. “We never resorted to using added colors or flavors like many other fast-food companies do simply because these industrial additives often interfere with the taste of the food. However, commercially available tortillas, whether they are for us or someone else, use dough conditioners and preservatives. I’ve been on a quest for a better tasting tortilla for years, and we finally achieved a tortilla made the way you would make them at home, and they are simply delicious. Ultimately, all of the decisions we make about the ingredients we use are about making the very best tasting food we can.”