How To Deep Fry A Turkey Using A Propane Powered Deep Fryer & Peanut Oil

How To Deep Fry A Turkey
Pictures From Our First Time Deep Frying A Turkey With A Propane Powered Deep Fryer

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Thermometer

Peanut Oil Heating Up

NexGrill Deep Fryer

My brother and I had both heard about deep frying turkeys and how delicious they are supposed to be, so for Thanksgiving 2005 we bought a NexGrill outdoor deep fryer.

The NexGrill had a 32qt or 30 liter capacity, a 52,000 BTU cast iron burner, and could handle up to a 25lb turkey.

It also came with accessories for frying fish, poultry (chicken wings! ), or boiling lobster, crabs, clams, or vegetables.

(Yeah right, like a vegetable eating vegetarian is going to go outside and fire up a 52,000 btu propane powered outdoor fryer.)

I can see my friends and I using the fryer in the future for making Hooters style fried chicken wings, but not for boiling or frying any seafood.

Oven Baked Potatoes

Turkey In Brine Solution

The first step after you buy an outdoor turkey deep fryer is to purchase at least 4 gallons of peanut oil as that is the healthiest oil to use for deep frying a turkey. Then you need to prepare a brine solution to soak defrosted (not frozen) turkey in overnight. You can find a variety of different brine recipes online. The one we found had salt, sugar, and a bunch of different spices in it. We later learned that the sugar was a bad idea for a fried turkey since it burnt on to the turkey's skin.

After we got the peanut oil up to 350 degrees Fahrenheit, my brother used the hook included with the fryer to pull the turkey out of the brine solution. Don't toss the old brine solution on your grass because that amount of salt water will kill any vegetation. Then my bro gently lowered the turkey into the peanut oil. We weren't smart enough to turn off the flame and I got a bit nervous when some oil dribbled over the side of the pot. We put patio chairs around the turkey fryer to keep the wind from blowing the flame too much. Our pool screen had been blown away recently so we set up the fryer at the far end of the patio. It's a good idea to set up your fryer as far away from your house, garage, or car as possible.

Turkey Immersed In Oil

In the first two pictures in this row you can see our juicy Butterball turkey frying up. It takes about 3-4 minutes per pound to fully fry a turkey depending on the oil's temperature.

Tasty Deep Fried Turkey

So as you can see, our turkey didn't exactly look too attractive, but hey are you going to kiss it or eat it?

I'm not expecting to have a show on the Food Network anytime soon. The skin was crispy and delicious while the meat was juicy and tender. We had the usual side dishes or "fixings" including cranberry sauce (from the can), stove top stuffing, corn bread, gravy, green bean casserole, roasted potatoes, and mashed potatoes. We decided that for Christmas we'd want to try the deep frying turkey process again. To see pictures of our XMas 2005 deep fried turkey click here.

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