Best Turkey Fryers

Turkey fryers are propane-powered or electric cooking stoves used for deep frying turkeys. They are an excellent alternative to the oven--especially among people who love deep-fried meat.

For this year’s Thanksgiving, surprise your family and guests with juicy pieces of perfectly deep-fried turkey. And once the holiday is over, clean up your fryer and use it for other weekend deep-frying experiments.

Truth be told, turkey fryers can be challenging to use and a little dangerous if you don't follow proper precautions. But they are also exciting and allow you to experiment with all of your deep-frying recipes. What's more, they cook turkeys in less than 45 minutes—a fraction of the three hours it takes to roast meat!

Electric Fryers

Electric fryers are easy to use and fry food incredibly fast, but you can only use them indoors. Electric fryers are best for cooking small or medium quantities of meat. They are safer than propane apparatuses and also tend to be lighter.

Propane Fryers

These are the best fryers for cooking large amounts of food. Because they depend on portable gas cylinders, they are also perfect for outdoor cooking. Most of them tend to be heavy, for better durability and safety reasons. Still, propane cylinders are the riskiest fryers when it comes to safety.

Infrared Fryers

They are lightweight and small in size, mostly because they are designed for frying small amounts of meat. But infrared fryers are your best bet for minimizing your calorie intake. They don’t require oil for cooking, meaning you also save money in the process.

Some people argue over their safety, but infrared fryers don’t produce the level of infrared energy that could be considered unsafe.

There is no shortage of reasons to buy a turkey fryer. First off, Thanksgiving is just around the corner. So, if you have guests you want to impress, buy a turkey fryer and practice using it by frying chicken breasts, fillet and lobsters. Once the family holiday arrives, you’ll be ready to showcase your turkey frying skills perfectly.

As we mentioned above, turkey isn’t the only thing you can fry in a deep fryer. You can use it to fry soft crabs, Thai shrimps, potato croquettes or samosas. You can also use your fryer to boil corn and a wide range of veggies.

What Should You Look For When Buying a Turkey Fryer?

Turkey Capacity

Find a turkey fryer that can accommodate the amount of turkey you intend to prepare. If you plan to feed your entire extended family, find a large fryer. For deep frying a leg or two, you'll probably be okay with a smaller deep fryer. Of course, choose an apparatus that can hold your turkey and still have some room to spare.

Safety Features

Safety is a vital feature of any turkey fryer.A few searches on YouTube will show you how easy it is to light up your house when you use unsafe propane or electric turkey fryers. The emphasis here is on the word unsafe--meaning that you should be okay if you use a safe appliance.

Look out safety features like temperature gauges, magnetic pipes, vents to let steam out as you cook, wind guards, shut-off features, and a strong stand that can handle your turkey for the entire cooking time.  

Propane vs. Electric

Propane fryers give you the convenience to use them either indoors or outdoors. You can also transport them to a camping site. But you must refill them once in a while. They also involve dealing with gas pipes that could be dangerous.

Electric turkey fryers are the preferred options these days, but you can't use them away from an electrical source. They are easy to use and cost a tad lower than their propane counterparts.

Accessories

Look out for useful accessories like fryer baskets, thermometers, and a turkey lifter for getting your turkey in and out of the fryer. However, don’t buy an overpriced fryer because it comes with a handful of accessories. Consider accessories as added benefits for an affordable, top-quality apparatus.

What are the Features of the Best Turkey Fryers?

Besides the conventional features, the best turkey deep fryers offer these crucial benefits:

Oil Savings

While you must use three or more gallons of oil with some fryers, the best appliances use no more than two liters--or even no oil at all! Oil-less fryers are a bit controversial. But they ensure you savor your turkey legs with no added calories from cooking oil.

Time-Savings

The whole gist of turkey fryers is that they prepare meat in a fraction of the time that ovens do. So, pick devices that use the least amount of time to deep fry turkeys. Typically, a good fryer will cook turkey within 60 minutes.

Multiple Accessories

In addition to receiving a top-class apparatus, sellers of top turkey fryers online also give you important accessories like a thermometer, a frying basket, a hanger, and a cooking pot. These accessories are customized for your new fryer, which makes them all the more useful.

Butterball 23010115 8L Electric Fryer

Butterball's 8-liter electric fryer holds up to 14 pounds of turkey. That's ample capacity to deep-fry a turkey for 6-8 people and still have leftovers. This small machine heats up oil to a maximum of 5,630 BTU and does it quickly. It lacks a venting lid but nonetheless has plenty of safety features. It’s also easy to clean, thanks to its oil draining valve and removable basket.

Masterbuilt Butterball XL 1650W Electric Turkey Fryer

With a capacity large enough to hold 20 pounds of turkey, you can deep fry enough meat to feed a dozen or more people at a time. It also comes with an aluminum frying basket that could come in handy when cooking chicken wings. For your safety, the fryer features thermostat controls and a drain valve for removing the used oil. Additionally, it has a magnetic cord you can quickly detach from the fryer in case of a scare.

Char-Broil Big Easy Oil-less Turkey Fryer

An oil-less turkey fryer—you read that right. You don’t need two gallons of oil to prepare your turkey this Thanksgiving, or any time of the year for that matter. With Char-Broil’s propane powered fryer, you dip your meat inside the apparatus, and it fries your turkey for you using infrared technology.

Char-broil's device is one of the best infra-red turkey fryers out there. It's big enough to accommodate up to 30 pounds of meat and comes with an avalanche of helpful accessories like a lifter, thermometer and a basket.

Cooper & Co Backyard Pro Deluxe 30-Quart Turkey Fryer

Cooper & Co brings you the entire set of everything you’ll need to deep fry turkey in your backyard. It even includes a cooking pot, a syringe, a lifter, thermometers, and two frying baskets. This propane-powered fryer is designed to hold 30 quarts of oil and cook up to 20 pounds of turkey.

Being a heavy-duty fryer, the apparatus heats up oil up to 33,000 BTU, ensuring you can cook a full turkey within an hour. It's also solidly durable with its cast-iron construction and comes with a stand equally robust for industrial-size cooking.

King Kooker Propane Outdoor Deep Frying/ Boiling Package (Model No. 1265BF3)

The King Kooker is yet another heavy-duty turkey fryer designed for cooking large turkeys at home or even in a diner. It uses propane and comes with an assortment of accessories like a turkey hanger, two baskets and two aluminum pots for holding your cooked meat. It’s a well-built apparatus with important safety features to keep you and your family safe.

Final Verdict

Turkey fryers are cylinder-like apparatuses used for frying turkey. They come in different sizes and shapes. Some use propane for cooking, while others use electricity. Your choice depends on whether you want a device you could use outdoors or not. Additionally, use the tips we shared in this guide to help you find an excellent turkey fryer.