You do not need to travel to Madrid or Galicia to try the best tortilla in Spain. The country’s 2026 champion comes from Elche.
Celia Clara Correia, from La Teulada restaurant, took first place in the national Campeonato de Tortilla de Patatas (Spanish Omelette Championship) on Sunday at Alicante Gastronómica.
She beat 20 other cooks from across Spain in a closely fought final at IFA-Fira Alacant, bringing the national title back to Elche.
What makes Spain’s best tortilla?
Correia puts the victory down to months of work, careful cooking and, above all, the quality of the ingredients.
Her winning tortilla uses Galician potatoes and gourmet eggs, with the cooking carefully judged to keep the centre juicy and creamy while remaining firm enough for each slice to hold its shape.
The recipe has evolved during the past year as the team searched for the right balance between potato and egg.
One significant change involved switching from a previous recipe based on egg yolk to using whole egg. Correia said this helped achieve the proportion needed for the finished tortilla.
Elche beats last year’s champion
Second place went to Alejandro Oliveira of La Falda de Chamberí in Madrid, who won the competition in 2025.
Carlos Boado, from El Caserío de Tión in Coirós, A Coruña, finished third.
The judges had a particularly difficult job further down the rankings, with three competitors tying for fourth place.
They were Ramón Rodríguez of O Cabo in A Coruña, Dana Rotaru of Nou Pinet in Alicante and Carlos Olabuenaga of Tizona in Logroño.
All six automatically qualify for the 2027 competition.
Alicante province had three contenders
Elche was not the only local name among the 21 finalists.
Dana Rotaru represented Nou Pinet in Alicante and ultimately shared fourth place, while Pedro Juan Sánchez competed for La Muralla on Tabarca.
They faced tortilla specialists from Madrid, Galicia, the Basque Country, Cantabria, Castilla y León, Extremadura and other parts of Spain.
The judging panel included pastry chef Paco Torreblanca alongside Kiko Moya, Fran Martínez, Pedro Morán, José Gómez ‘Joselito’, Pepa Fernández and jury president Rafael García Santos.
García Santos described this year’s contest as one of the closest finals in recent years.
Another food title for Elche
Winning the national competition puts La Teulada at the top of a field featuring restaurants with established reputations for one of Spain’s simplest-looking but notoriously tricky dishes.
Potatoes, eggs and careful cooking may sound straightforward. Getting the balance good enough to beat 20 other tortilla specialists is another matter entirely.
And for anyone on the Costa Blanca wondering where they can try the 2026 champion, this particular national food title is pleasingly close to home.
Bridging the Gap’s recap
- Celia Clara Correia of La Teulada in Elche has won Spain’s 2026 tortilla championship.
- The final took place on Sunday at Alicante Gastronómica.
- Twenty-one cooks from across Spain competed.
- The winning tortilla uses Galician potatoes and gourmet eggs.
- Correia and her team spent months refining the recipe.
- Defending 2025 champion Alejandro Oliveira finished second.
- Carlos Boado of El Caserío de Tión in A Coruña took third place.
- Alicante’s Dana Rotaru shared fourth place and also qualifies automatically for the 2027 competition.
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