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Michael Sullivan is a writer covering kitchen equipment and tableware. He has broken more than a hundred drinking glasses to find the most durable. chicken nuttets production line
In this world of air fryers, it’s easy to forget the crunch of a crispy onion ring or the snap of a well deep-fried fry, but eat a couple and compare – the difference is stark.
There’s nothing wrong with an air fryer french fry when you don’t want the mess of oil or need a snack like right now (no judgment, we’ve all been there), but it simply can’t beat its deep fried counterpart.
For those times when only deep fried will do, we recommend a couple options: The Cuisinart CDF-200 is the best countertop deep fryer for people who fry food often. It’s easy to operate, and its heating element will keep oil at a set temperature better than most, producing crisp, golden brown foods.
For occasional stovetop frying, we recommend just using a Dutch oven with a thermometer. While a countertop fryer is a bit safer, a pot works just as well, takes up less space, and is much easier to clean.
This affordable fryer is easy to use, has a generous capacity, and does an excellent job maintaining the temperature of oil.
This versatile, heavy pot is great for stovetop frying as well as other preparations like soups and braises.
This easy-to-read probe thermometer quickly responds to oil temperature changes with unparalleled accuracy.
This affordable fryer is easy to use, has a generous capacity, and does an excellent job maintaining the temperature of oil.
The Cuisinart CDF-200 consistently produced perfectly crunchy, golden-brown food in our tests. It’s the best deep fryer for anyone who fries a lot of food or wants a standalone machine for parties. The Cuisinart’s reliable thermostat did a great job maintaining the set oil temperature, even after we added cold or frozen food.
This model also has a clearly labeled temperature-control dial that ranges between 175 °F and 375 °F and a wind-up 30-minute timer that dings when the time is up. The Cuisinart’s large frying basket provided plenty of space for tossing food and kept battered onion rings from clumping together in our tests.
This versatile, heavy pot is great for stovetop frying as well as other preparations like soups and braises.
This easy-to-read probe thermometer quickly responds to oil temperature changes with unparalleled accuracy.
If you don’t fry food often, you don’t need to get a dedicated deep fryer. Instead, we’d recommend using the Lodge Dutch Oven, which is more versatile, easier to store, and cooks food faster than a dedicated deep fryer. Frying with a pot of oil on the stovetop doesn’t need to be scary.
While it does take a bit more attention and finesse to keep track of the oil’s temperature, you can easily monitor it using a probe thermometer with a pot clip or an inexpensive clip-on deep-fry thermometer.
While any large pot will do for frying, we prefer the 6-quart Lodge because it’s heavy enough to help regulate the temperature of the oil and big enough to make two servings of fries at a time.
Also, its light interior enamel coating makes it easy to see the color of the food you’re frying and the quality of the oil. If you don’t already have a Dutch oven in your kitchen arsenal, it’s a worthwhile investment that can be used for preparing everything from soups and stews to braises and sauces.
As a staff writer at Wirecutter, I have written reviews for all kinds of kitchen equipment and tabletop items, including air fryers, toaster ovens, and wine glasses.
If you fry food weekly, or at parties and family gatherings, but you’re intimidated by stovetop frying or it sounds like a hassle, you should consider getting a deep fryer.
The main advantage to using a dedicated fryer (versus a pot of oil and a thermometer) is its control. Built-in thermostats monitor and adjust the oil temperature and will shut the fryer off automatically if the oil is heated to dangerous temperatures.
With stovetop frying, there’s nothing to prevent the fat from reaching its flash point and catching fire if you accidentally leave the heat on high. Monitoring oil on an electric stovetop can also be tricky compared with using a countertop fryer, since the burner is slower to respond to temperature adjustments.
Most people don’t need to own a deep fryer. It’s a single-use piece of equipment that’s just as messy and smelly as using a pot of oil on the stovetop.
All that said, most people don’t need to own a deep fryer. It’s a single-use piece of equipment that’s just as messy and smelly as using a pot of oil on the stovetop and a major space hog. There are bigger pieces —the oil container, heating element, fryer basket, and lid— that need storing and are cumbersome to clean.
The countertop models you can buy for home use don’t compare to those used in professional kitchens, either—they aren’t as powerful and can’t maintain the oil temperature as well. In fact, in our tests, the oil temperature dropped more when we added food to a deep fryer than when we used a pot of oil on the stovetop.
We think most people will be better off just using equipment they already own: namely a pot, a thermometer, and a spider or large slotted spoon for removing fried food from the oil.
A deep fryer is not a complicated appliance. It’s essentially a large tub for oil with a heating element submerged in it, which is regulated by an adjustable thermostat. So in choosing which models to test, we were only looking for a few straightforward requirements:
Generous capacity: We preferred fryers with a 4-quart oil capacity, which allows you to fry about two or three servings of food at once rather than having to cook several small batches.
We also learned in our testing that the shape of a fryer is just as important as its capacity. A fryer that is wider versus taller means the oil level will be lower, and often too shallow to fully cover the food when frying.
Large frying baskets: Most 4-quart models come with an option of either one or three (one large and two small) frying baskets. Two small baskets allow you to keep different foods separate while frying at the same time, but we don’t think that’s necessary. If one item finishes cooking before the other, you can use tongs to remove it.
The smaller baskets we tried were too cramped, especially for battered onion rings, which clumped together in our tests. The extra baskets also increase the total price of the machine and take up space in a cupboard.
Accurate thermostat: A good deep fryer will have a thermostat adjustable from 300 °F to 375 °F, which is the temperature range you’ll fry at most often. How quickly the oil heats up depends on the capacity of the unit and the temperature of the oil, but in our tests, it took an average of 13 minutes for 4 quarts of room-temperature oil to reach 375 °F.
We looked for fryers that could consistently reach at least the set temperature, and ideally go a little bit past it, since the temperature drops when you add food to the oil. But many of the models we tested were incapable of reaching 375 °F, even when set to that temperature. As chef Joseph Simon explained, you’ll get better results if the oil stays hot: “Deep-frying really isn’t that unhealthy. But if the temperature is below what it should be, depending on what you’re cooking, the product can soak in more oil.”
Since it’s normal for the temperature to dip when adding food to the oil, we wanted to find models that had a quick recovery time. However, we found that the temperature of the oil in most models dropped between 50 and 125 degrees after adding frozen french fries, and kept dropping for the next three minutes or so before slowly working its way back up to the preheated temperature. Spoiler alert: A pot of oil on the stove had the quickest recovery time than any of the fryers we tested.
Simple controls: Most deep fryers have a simple dial control to adjust the temperature, while others have digital controls. Some fryers also feature an old-school wind-up 30- or 60-minute timer that dings pleasantly when the time is up (digital models usually have beeping timers). A timer is a nice addition, but it’s not really necessary since most people use visual clues (mainly browning) to know when their food is sufficiently fried.
Nearly all deep fryers have a light to indicate that the unit is on. The best models will also have a light that illuminates when the oil has reached a set temperature. Without this feature, you can’t be sure the oil has reached the desired temperature unless you use a thermometer.
Durable materials: We looked for deep fryers that have a stainless steel container to hold the oil. A few models we tested,had containers with an enamel or a nonstick coating, but we don’t see the advantage of these materials, which will scratch easily.
Detachable safety cords: All fryers come equipped with a short, detachable magnetic safety cord. If something (or someone) becomes entangled in the cord, the plug will immediately detach rather than risk yanking the whole fryer full of hot oil off the counter.
We looked for models that could disconnect easily but stay attached to the unit while frying.
I tested deep fryers by cooking batches and batches of food.
After purchasing a mountain of bagged frozen french fries (which earned me several concerned glances from the grocery store cashier), I cooked them in each model and tasted them to see if they were crispy and not soggy.
Then I made homemade beer-battered onion rings in each fryer to see if the oil stayed hot enough to produce perfectly golden-brown results that weren’t greasy. I was also looking to see if the frying baskets provided enough space to prevent the onion rings from clumping together into an unappetizing glob.
To see how each model cooked raw meat, I used them to fry frozen breaded chicken fingers (not the pre-cooked kind). This test showed me whether the fryers could cook the chicken all the way through without overbrowning the exterior breading.
A good deep fryer should preheat relatively quickly, so I timed how long it took the oil in each fryer to reach 375 °F. I also took the temperature of the oil using a probe thermometer to check the accuracy of the thermostats. After adding the food to the fryers, I monitored the temperature using the thermometer to see how much the oil temperature dipped.
I also took into account the shape and size of each fryer to see how much counter space they hogged. Finally, I washed all of the fryer parts by hand several times and can confirm that none of them are a joy to clean.
It took some serious scrubbing to get every nook and cranny free of oil. Not to mention, the rough fryer baskets shredded several sponges to pieces in my attempt to get them clean. By the end, I smelled like a french fry and glistened like one, too.
This affordable fryer is easy to use, has a generous capacity, and does an excellent job maintaining the temperature of oil.
Batch after batch, the Cuisinart CDF-200 consistently produced perfectly golden brown food in our tests. Its superior performance is due in part to its reliable thermostat, which maintained the oil temperature better than most other models we tried.
The fryer runs a little hot, which is a good thing. We’d prefer the oil to be slightly higher than what’s indicated on the dial, as the temperature will drop when you add food. When we set the Cuisinart’s temperature dial to 375 degrees Fahrenheit, the actual oil temperature reached about 388 °F.
The oil temperature is more consistent than other models. Impressively, the oil’s temperature dipped only about 60 degrees when we added frozen chicken fingers to the Cuisinart. In other models we tested, the temperature fell nearly 90 degrees.
Since the Cuisinart maintains the oil temperature so well, all of the french fries and onion rings we prepared were crispy and cooked to perfection. Frozen chicken fingers were evenly browned, tender, and juicy on the inside.
The control panel is very straightforward. Its temperature-control dial has 11 clearly labeled settings ranging between 175 °F and 375 °F (though you’ll likely only set it between 300 °F and 375 °F for most frying tasks).
It took about 12 minutes, 24 seconds for the oil to reach 375 °F, which was about 45 seconds faster than the average time it took most models (even ones with smaller capacities) to preheat in our tests.
A red light on the control panel indicates that the fryer is on, and another turns green when the oil reaches the preset temperature.
The Cuisinart also has a 30-minute timer. The timer dings to alert you when the set time is up, which is somewhat helpful when following a recipe, though generally we think it’s better to judge doneness by golden brown color. Note, however, that the timer won’t turn the machine off.
The large frying basket provides ample space for tossing food. We also liked the detachable handle on the basket, which makes the fryer more compact for storage.
The handle is secure and comfortable to hold when attached. Some other fryers had wobbly basket handles that were awkward to use––not ideal when tossing scalding fried food.
The Cuisinart comes with a three-year warranty, which covers defects in materials and workmanship under normal household use. However, If you have issues with your fryer under warranty, you’ll still have to pay for shipping costs to and from a repair center, which is unfortunate.
This versatile, heavy pot is great for stovetop frying as well as other preparations like soups and braises.
This easy-to-read probe thermometer quickly responds to oil temperature changes with unparalleled accuracy.
Most people don’t need a deep fryer in their kitchen and would be better off using a large pot, like the Lodge Dutch Oven. The Lodge maintained the oil temperature better than any of the fryers we tested, and it was far easier to clean.
The cast-iron Lodge is heavy enough to help regulate the temperature of the oil. A thinner pot, like one made of stainless steel or tri-ply, will heat up faster, but also lose heat more easily, and be more prone to hot spots.
The same is true for a countertop deep fryer. Though it took the Lodge a couple of minutes longer to preheat the oil than the Cuisinart deep fryer we recommend, it did a far better job maintaining the desired temperature throughout the cooking process (though overall, the final results from both the Lodge and Cuisinart were largely the same).
It does take more attention and finesse to track and adjust the oil’s temperature, though. But you can easily monitor it using a probe thermometer with a pot clip, or an inexpensive clip-on deep-fry thermometer.
We recommend the ThermoWorks Dot probe thermometer because it was the fastest to read temperatures accurately in our tests of probe thermometers. The large digital screen makes it easy to monitor the oil temperature, even from across the kitchen. And you can also set an alarm to go off when it hits a specific temperature..
The 6-quart capacity is an ideal size. The Lodge is wide and deep enough for most home frying tasks, and offers plenty of room for frying two servings of french fries at a time.
Obviously, there’s no max fill line on the side of the pot like on the Cuisinart deep fryer, but a good rule of thumb is to never fill the pot more than halfway with oil (otherwise it could overflow when you add food).
Though you can use only about 3 quarts of oil in the pot at a time (as opposed to 4 quarts in the Cuisinart), there’s no heating element or fryer basket to take up space in the Lodge, giving you plenty of frying capacity. The curved edges of the pot also make it convenient for scooping out fried food using a spider or a large slotted spoon.
It’s versatile. While a countertop deep fryer is a one-trick pony, the Lodge Dutch oven can be used for a all kinds of preparations, including soups, stews, braises, and sauces. It’s also safe in the oven up to 500 °F.
The enamel coating makes it easy to use. Any cast-iron pot works well for deep-frying (and you can even use a 12-inch cast-iron skillet for shallow frying tasks), but the porcelain enamel coating on the Lodge Dutch oven is easier to care for and maintain because it doesn’t need to be seasoned like a cast-iron skillet.
We also prefer the Lodge’s light interior coating over bare cast iron because it’s easier to see the color of the food you’re frying and the quality of the oil.
At first, we were intrigued by the drain spout on the DeLonghi Livenza Deep Fryer, but a disastrous spill due to an open drain spout soured us on it fast. The panel that covers the spout makes it too easy to forget you’ve let the spout open, and spilling 4.5 quarts of oil all over your kitchen floor is not worth the ease of draining without lifting a basin. The basket was also too narrow and high, making it difficult to maneuver onion rings and chicken tenders.
We liked the compact size and deep frying basket of the Breville BDF500XL Smart Fryer, but only one out of three models we tried worked. The first model was dead on arrival, and the second model died after turning on twice. Neither could be resuscitated, even after hitting the reset button on the back of the control panel.
The basket doesn’t sit flat inside the T-fal FR3900 because the handle hits the edge of the bin. Because of this design flaw, the fries we prepared weren’t completely submerged, so we had to toss them more frequently and cook them longer.
The expensive T-fal FR8000, which has a mesh-covered drain on the bottom of the oil bin that filters used oil into a plastic storage container below the fryer, looks great on paper, but unfortunately wasn’t as effective as we’d hoped. The filter leaked some oil on the counter, and this model also didn’t maintain the oil temperature as well as our top pick, leading to food that was noticeably greasier.
The Hamilton Beach 35034 did well in most of our tests, but we worry that the thin enamel coating on the oil bin will eventually flake off.
The Secura Deep Fryer took several minutes longer to preheat than the Cuisinart. This model also comes with three frying baskets, which takes up more space in a cupboard.
The Presto 05420 FryDaddy Electric Deep Fryer is different from the other models we’ve tested because it’s essentially just a small pot that heats oil without any temperature controls. Its 1-quart capacity is so small you can only fry a handful of french fries at a time. For small-batch frying like that, you’re much better off using a pot you already have in your kitchen, which will allow you to control the temperature more easily.
Like the FryDaddy, the Presto 05411 GranPappy Electric Deep Fryer lacks a control to adjust the temperature. Unless you use a thermometer, there’s no way to know the temperature of the oil. In our tests, the oil measured around 375 °F, which is great for french fries and onion rings, but far too hot for chicken tenders. The breading was burned on the chicken fingers we fried, while the center remained completely raw. And while the GranPappy is half a quart larger than the FryDaddy, it’s still too small for most frying tasks: We could only fit one serving of french fries.
Deep Fat Frying and Food Safety, USDA, June 27, 2013
Cooking Safety in the Home, NFPA
Mark Bittman, Deep Fried and Good for You, The New York Times, October 21, 2013
J. Kenji López-Alt, Ask the Food Lab: How Many Times Can I Reuse My Fry Oil?, Serious Eats
Commercial Deep Fryer Terms, KaTom Restaurant Supply
Joseph Simon, chef at Gracie Mansion, phone interview, July 17, 2018
Jolie Kerr, host of the podcast Ask a Clean Person, email interview, July 13, 2018
Michael Sullivan has been a staff writer on the kitchen team at Wirecutter since 2016. Previously, he was an editor at the International Culinary Center in New York. He has worked in various facets of the food and restaurant industry for over a decade.
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deepfryer Wirecutter is the product recommendation service from The New York Times. Our journalists combine independent research with (occasionally) over-the-top testing so you can make quick and confident buying decisions. Whether it’s finding great products or discovering helpful advice, we’ll help you get it right (the first time).