Deep Fried Turkey
4365 min · serves 20
Ingredients
- 10–18-pound whole turkey
- 4 gallons peanut oil
Steps
- If frozen, thaw turkey in the fridge for several days. Remove giblets bag from cavity.
- Place turkey on its stand and set it in the dedicated turkey-frying pot.
- Pour water into pot until turkey is covered completely and water level is 2 inches above the turkey.
- Remove turkey from water, and mark the level of water in pot.
- Pour out water and discard. Dry the pot thoroughly and fill to line with peanut oil.
- Heat oil in pot over propane burner to 400°F in area at least 20 feet from any building or other flammable structure.
- Slowly lower completely thawed, completely drained turkey (on its stand) into oil using the hook with an oven mitt. The temperature of the oil will decrease to 350°F.
- Fry turkey for 3 minutes per pound. Be careful not to over-cook it—if it floats, it's over-done! Maintain a temperature of 350°F—monitor it the whole time the turkey is cooking, and don't let it drop below 345°F or go over 355°F.
- Remove turkey using hook with oven mitt.
- Check temperature using meat thermometer in deep part of meat—it should be at least 160°F.
- Turn off fire and allow the oil to cool completely before even considering moving it.
- Rest turkey on a tray, breasts down, for 20–30 minutes before carving.
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Adapted from “Deep Fried Turkey” in the Wikibooks Cookbook by its contributors, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Reformatted for this site; this page's recipe text is shared under the same license.