Deep Fried Turkey
Deep Fried Turkey is a Southern Tradition. It gives you a crisp skin, wonderful flavor, and it keeps the meat moist. It also allows you to cook a turkey in a fraction of the time. The meat is not greasy – the fast action of the hot oil seals the skin and outside of the meat to keep the moisture in and the oil out. Deep frying turkey is first traced back to southern Louisiana in the early 1980’s and has grown from there.
Safety is a concern because some people have caused catastrophic fires by taking short cuts. With a few precautions, it is perfectly safe and fun to do.
I originally got these instructions from the Brian’s Belly website which has a wealth of further info. In recent years, I’ve quit brining the turkey and I’ll use a butter based injection. Meathead Goldwyn make a good point that turkey meat already contains plenty of moisture so we don’t need to add water, but adding butter adds flavor, moisture, and richness to the meat.
When the turkey is done and you are allowing it to rest, you can use the hot oil to make some sweet potato fries!
Deep Fried Turkey
Ingredients
- A turkey, 10-15# works the best
- A high temperature oil, (I like Peanut Oil) 3 gallons should be enough
- A butter based turkey injection
- 2 sticks butter
- 1-2 Tbsp peanut or olive oil
- 1 tsp chicken base or bouillon
- 1 tsp hot sauce
- 3 Tbsp lemon juice
- 3 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
- 1 clove garlic, lightly smashed or halved
- 1 quarter of an onion
Instructions
- Make sure the turkey is completely defrosted – this will take 3-4 days in the refrigerator.
- Remove everything from the cavity (giblets make good gravy) and any pop-up timers.
- Make the injection by melting the butter, adding the rest of the ingredients, and allowing to simmer 20-30 minutes.
- Inject the night before to allow the bird time to marinate. Inject by lifting up the skin and going directly into the meat. Massage the meat to distribute the injection evenly.
- Add the oil to the fryer pot – there should be line that shows how much you can safely add.
- Preheat the oil in your fryer to 375 degrees F, this will take about 25 minutes, be careful not to overheat the oil. Putting the bird in will drop the temperature down.
- Dry the bird thoroughly, rub with oil & season the outside of the bird
- Place the bird on the hook, with the drumsticks up and the breast down
- Lower the bird into the pot slowly, slowly, slowly a little at a time to prevent the oil from boiling over
- Adjust the burner to bring the oil temp back up to 350 degrees and hold at that temp.
- Fry the turkey for 3.5 minutes per pound: so, a 14# turkey will take 49 minutes.
- You can check the breast with a quick read digital thermometer, which should be ~165 degrees
- When the bird is done, lift the hook and allow the bird to drip over the pot.
- Place the bird on the cutting board and cover with foil for 15-20 minutes. This gives you time to fry some sweet potato fries!