What Can I Cook in a Turkey Fryer?

Recipes remixed

Long a staple of Southern American cuisine, turkey fryers have become popular all across the United States; they produce tender, succulent turkey in a fraction of the time of traditional oven roasting. A turkey fryer is an apparatus for deep-frying a turkey. It consists of a burner, a large, metal pot, a spit or cage to hold the bird and, in some cases, a thermometer to indicate the temperature of the oil. Burners use propane as a fuel source and the unit must only be operated outside because of the intense heat it creates.

Tips for terrific turkey

The most popular item to cook in such a fryer is, of course, a turkey. The oil of choice for frying turkeys is peanut oil. Peanut oil will not smoke at high temperature, as other oils can. To fill the minimum size pot (28 quarts) requires about five gallons of oil. Many kinds of seasoning can be employed to give a new twist to this traditional favorite, from Cajun to curry.

Sky's the limit

Unfortunately, outdoor turkey fryers have often been left to languish in garages and attics until Thanksgiving. Aside from stellar turkey, turkey fryers can be used to cook almost any kind of food, from poultry to seafood to meat. Any type of bird can be seasoned with a rub or injected with spices using a cooking syringe: chicken, duck, hen, or goose. Red meats and poultry as well come out bursting with flavor. Any entree or side dish that involves breading or would normally be fried– chicken, fish, French fries, onion rings, potato chips, or egg rolls–can be prepared in these units.

Whole cookbooks feature hundreds of recipes using turkey fryers, but consider of few of the following novel suggestions:

Squash Fritters -a fried bread or fritter with onion, cheese, summer squash and cornmeal.

Fried Ham Bites-chunks of ham are fried, then served as an appetizer, with sweet and sour sauce, hot mustard, and sesame seeds.

Chicken Croquettes -pastry dough filled with chicken, minced onions and parsley.

Fried Okra -breaded with cornmeal

French Fried Tomatoes -made with salt, sugar, eggs, milk and breadcrumbs.

Fried Eggplant -made with a whole eggplant, flour, egg and breadcrumbs.

Chiles Rellenos -with Monterey Jack cheese, stuffed and deep-fried.

Apple Fritters -served with confectioner’s sugar and syrup.

Buffalo Wings -coated with hot sauce and served with blue cheese dip.

Fried Vegetables in Beer Batter -Parmesan beer batter-coated cauliflower, broccoli, mushrooms, peppers, artichoke hearts, or other vegetables.

Jalapeno Poppers -peppers are stuffed with a cream cheese mixture then battered and deep-fried.

Funnel Cakes - made by pouring batter through a funnel into hot oil.

More information on turkey fryers