Best Outdoor Deep Fryers of 2023

Frying makes everything taste better, from little potatoes up to 20-pound turkeys. Fish fries are a summer classic, and you can get creative and fry squash blossoms, cinnamon rolls, and even Twinkies. It all tastes even better when fried outdoors. Frying is a method definitely best suited to outdoor cooking. Set up an outdoor cooking station, and you won’t heat up the kitchen or fill the house with oil smells…and if you do spill oil, better to do it outdoors than in. Here’s a rundown of the best outdoor deep fryers and how to choose.

Best Turkey Fryer: Backyard Pro Deluxe 30-quart fryer

Best Fish Fryer: Bayou Classic 4-gallon fryer

Best Electric Turkey Fryer: Cuisinart Extra-Large Rotisserie Fryer

Best Air Fryer: Masterbuilt 6-in-1 Outdoor Air Fryer

Best Budget: Bass Pro 6.5 Quart Fish Fryer

The Best Outdoor Deep Fryers: Reviews & Recommendations

Best Turkey Fryer: Backyard Pro Deluxe 30-quart fryer

A sturdy base helps keep this fryer upright, and it’s big enough to hold an even larger pot if you decide to upsize. The outdoor deep fryer comes with everything you need: a turkey hanger, thermometer, injector, a 30-quart turkey fryer pot and basket, and a smaller pot and basket for clam bakes.

Best Fish Fryer: Bayou Classic 4-gallon fryer

The Bayou Classic 4-gallon fryer feeds 25-30 people an hour. This outdoor deep fryer heats up quickly and maintains the temperature well. The V-bottom design prevents burning and keeps the oil cleaner.

Best Electric Turkey Fryer: Cuisinart Extra-Large Rotisserie Fryer

This electric turkey fryer with a rotisserie design lets you cook using very little oil as the bird rotates in and out of the hot oil. You can use this fryer on a countertop, or take it outside and set it up on a table near an outlet. It features a magnetically attached breakaway cord for safety.

Best Air Fryer: Masterbuilt 6-in-1 Outdoor Air Fryer

This versatile air fryer air-fries, bakes, roasts, and dries food, and it even features a tray for adding wood chips to give your food added flavor. It will cook turkeys up to 20 pounds, and comes with four stacking baskets for dehydrating or cooking lots of smaller items.

Best Budget: Bass Pro 6.5 Quart Fish Fryer

Despite its low price tag, this outdoor deep fryer has useful features like a built-in thermometer and a rubber handle on the frying basket to keep it cool. A 58,000 BTU burner heats oil quickly. Made to use with a 20-gallon propane tank, this 8 1⁄2-pound unit is easy to pack along on any weekend adventure.

What To Consider When Choosing an Outdoor Deep Fryer

Choose the best outdoor deep fryer for you by first considering what you want to fry. If you want to fry turkeys, you’ll need a big, deep fryer that’s shaped to hold a bird. Following the rule of thumb that you need a gallon of oil for every ten quarts of fryer capacity, a fryer big enough to hold a 22-pound turkey might require three gallons of oil.  A fryer that size is perfect for a crawfish or Low Country Boil, too, but much larger than you need to cook up a family meal. A 1.5-quart fryer can cook for a small family of three, while a 3-quart fryer is big enough for most families even after the kid’s appetites have grown.

You can also choose between electric and propane fryers. Although most people prefer propane deep fryers because they heat up quickly, electric fryers can be used indoors and out, making them a good choice if you want to be able to fry in any weather. 

Look at safety features like break-away cords on electric fryers, too. Spilling hot oil is dangerous, and a cord that pulls out of the fryer when someone trips on it or pulls it can prevent a fryer full of oil from toppling.  

Oil less turkey fryers, also known as air fryers, don’t truly fry food. However, they will cook a turkey so it’s crispy on the outside and moist inside, just as a fryer will, but with many fewer calories since it uses no oil. Essentially it’s a convection oven, but it does give healthy, fryer-like results.

Will you be frying a turkey?

Fried turkeys are delicious: crisp on the outside and juicy inside. Once you’ve tried fried turkey, you may very well want to buy a fryer of your own. A turkey fryer is also great for boiling crawfish, Low Country Boils, and sweet corn. You can also use it for home-brewing beer. As a rule of thumb, a 24-quart fryer pot will be able to hold a 14-pound turkey, a 26-quart can hold a 16-pound bird, and a 30-quart fryer pot can hold turkeys up to 20 pounds. Fryers are also great for boiling up crawfish, making low country boils, or cooking enough sweet corn for a party.

Will you be frying fish?

Fish fries, whether at home, church, or social gatherings, are a longstanding American tradition. The right fryer makes the job easier. The best fish fryer heats quickly and maintains temperature well to ensure batch after batch consistency. If you’re only frying one thing, you only need one basket, but if you want to make fish and hushpuppies or fries, a two-basket setup lets you do that with ease. How big a fryer do you need? A fryer will cook 1.5 to 2 times its weight in oil in an hour. A gallon of oil weighs about 7 ½ pounds, so a two-gallon fryer can cook 20-30 pounds of food an hour.

Do you want an indoor/outdoor fryer?

If you want a fryer you can use indoors as well as for outdoor cooking, it should be electric. Cooking with propane inside risks carbon monoxide build-ups, and there’s always a danger from the open flame of the burner. Electric fryers take longer to heat than propane, but they are safe indoors, and an easily portable one can be used to cook outside as well.

Are you looking for something healthier?

If you’re trying to reduce your intake of fats, an air fryer is your best choice. It performs many of the functions of a fryer, but without oil. Instead, it circulates hot air, achieving the same crispy-on-the-outside, juicy-on-the-inside finish we love in fried food. For maximum crispness, you still need to brush oil on whatever you’re cooking. While you can’t use an air-fryer to cook battered foods, you can bake, roast, broil, and dehydrate food.

Are you on a budget?

If you don’t use a deep fryer often, or if you want a smaller fryer that’s easy to take with you on car camping trips or weekends at the lake, a budget fryer might be all you need. It won’t come with any extras, and you may have to eventually replace a lightweight pot that’s not as durable as more expensive ones, but you can start frying delicious food for very little money.

FAQs

Best Outdoor Deep Fryers: Final Thoughts

Best Turkey Fryer: Backyard Pro Deluxe 30-Quart Fryer

Best Fish Fryer: Bayou Classic 4-Gallon Fryer

Best Electric Turkey Fryer: Cuisinart Extra-Large Rotisserie Fryer

Best Air Fryer: Masterbuilt 6-in-1 Outdoor Air Fryer

Best Budget: Bass Pro 6.5 Quart Fish Fryer

Choosing the best outdoor fryer for you always means thinking about what you’d like to cook, and how much of it. A fryer that’s too big for your needs will use too much oil, while one that’s too small only leaves you frustrated. A small deep fryer might be perfect for a small family that wants to enjoy fries with a meal, while a 30-quart turkey fryer will cook a Thanksgiving bird. 

Why Trust Us

For more than 125 years, Field & Stream has been providing readers with honest and authentic coverage of outdoor gear. Our writers and editors eat, sleep, and breathe the outdoors, and that passion comes through in our product reviews. You can count on F&S to keep you up to date on the best new gear. And when we write about a product—whether it’s a bass lure or a backpack—we cover the good and the bad, so you know exactly what to expect before you decide to make a purchase.

The post Best Outdoor Deep Fryers of 2023 appeared first on Field & Stream.

Articles may contain affiliate links which enable us to share in the revenue of any purchases made.