The 7 Best Turkey Fryers for Elevating Your Thanksgiving Meal

When it comes to fryer cookware, know that they’re typically made of either aluminum or stainless steel. We recommend you go with the latter, since stainless steel is more durable and easier to clean. 

This commercial-grade kit from Bayou Classic includes the fryer pot, fryer basket, a vented lid, a perforated poultry rack, a grab hook, a thermometer, a marinade/seasoning injector, and a three-piece chicken skewer set.

With its 32-quart capacity, the pot is large enough to fry an 18-pound turkey, but will also come in handy for crawfish boils, steaming foods, simmering soups, preserving or canning, and home-brewing.

It’s worth mentioning, though, that this kit does not include a gas-burner stove. It’s typically cheaper to buy the stockpot and the stove separately, but you can also buy a bundle.

Related: 13 Best Carving Boards That Are Sturdy, Durable, and Look More Expensive Than They Actually Are

Also available at Walmart

Whether you live in a colder climate, don’t have a yard, or just would prefer to cook everything inside, the Masterbuilt Electric Turkey Fryer is the easiest, most convenient path to frying a delicious turkey. The appliance is quite versatile: It’s large enough to fry a 20-pound bird, but also works as a steamer and boiler.

Rather than relying on a propane tank, this fryer is all-electric. It still requires oil, though, and features a removable pot, chrome-wire basket, and drain clips for resting the food above the oil. We like that it has an oil-drain valve, removable lid, and dishwasher-safe parts to help ease the burden of cleanup.

We recommend pairing your pot with Bayou’s single burner stove, which gets up to 55,000 BTUs. It stands at 13 inches tall on four welded legs (other burners have just three), so you can ensure it’ll keep stable — even when you have a heavy pot of oil resting atop it. The 6-inch cast-iron double-ring fry burner spreads the flame nice and wide, meaning it should heat your oil up in under 30 minutes.

The 16-inch-by-16-inch cooking surface provides ample room for any stockpot, and the 36-inch stainless braided hose is plenty long enough to connect to a neighboring propane tank. Lastly, the stove comes with an adjustable 10 PSI regulator to regulate the flow of fuel.

As much as we love the taste of fried … well, anything, frying food can be a bit of a hassle, and can even be dangerous if you’re not careful. The Char-Broil Big Easy doesn’t rely on large vats of oil like traditional fryers. Instead, it uses infrared heat, so it’s safer and healthier. You can think of it as an oversized, outdoor air fryer.

Like other fryers, this one connects to a propane tank, so you still have to use it outdoors. However, you don’t have to worry about buying a stockpot or a bunch of fryer oil. Even better, you won't have to deal with splatters and spills, either. Another upside to no oil? The ability to add a dry rub for some added flavor!

Just place the bird (up to 16 pounds) within the cooking basket, lower it, and put on the lid: It’s as simple as that. The Big Easy takes about 3 hours to cook a 14-pound turkey. It comes with the cooker, cooking basket, basket-lifting tool, meat thermometer, cool-to-the-touch handles, rotary ignition, removable drip tray, and cooking guide. The basket is dishwasher-safe, and collapses for easy storage.

Read More: Our Full Review of the Char-Broil Big Easy

Trust us: Emptying a bulky and heavy stockpot filled with oil is not an easy task — especially if you only have one set of hands. This 30-quart aluminum stock pot from King Kooker is one of the few that features a spigot at its bottom for draining the oil after you finish frying your turkey.

Since the stockpot is made from aluminum, it’s light and quick to heat the oil. This kit also includes a lid, lifting hook, and rack. Our colleagues at Good Housekeeping said that the spigot makes cleanup a heck of a lot easier, too. Just make sure you let the oil cool completely before emptying it!

Also available at Walmart

The Bayou Classic 3025 30-Quart Aluminum Turkey Fryer is nearly identical to our best overall pick — the difference being the stockpot is made of aluminum instead of stainless steel. Not only that, it’s smaller by 2 quarts.

Although this kit isn’t as durable as the Bayou Classic 1118, it’s still an excellent choice, especially for folks who are looking to fry a turkey on a budget. It includes a vented lid, poultry rack, lift-hook, thermometer, and seasoning injector, but will save you at least $25. (We don’t know about you, but we’d use that money to buy more Thanksgiving sides!)

One more thing: Bayou Classic sells an even larger 42-quart aluminum turkey fryer that is designed to fry large turkeys of up to 25 pounds. However, we think this 30-quart model should suffice for most families — it’s big enough for an 18-pound turkey.

Related: The Best Thanksgiving Gifts For Your Favorite Holiday Host

This heavy-duty burner can burn up to 200,000 BTU, making it much more powerful than the Bayou Classic stove we previously mentioned — which has an output of 55,000 BTU. What does that mean for you? Faster times for heating your oil, and shorter cooking times, of course! Higher temperatures do come with an added risk of overcooking your bird, though, so make sure you consistently check temperatures.

The Concord burner features a sturdy three-legged stand that supports a 200-quart pot. The legs are even detachable, so it’s a little easier to store. This option is made from heavy-duty cast iron, features a weatherproof coating, and includes a 20 PSI regulator hose.