The best deep fryers you can buy

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The best deep fryers you can buy

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best deep fryer

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  • The best deep fryers make it simple to fry French fries, chicken, donuts, fish, and other food from scratch. They are also easy to clean, safe to use, and packed full of features.
  • The Presto Dual Basket Pro Fry Deep Fryer has all of these characteristics, is affordable, and can fry large batches of food.

Americans are in love with fried foods. From fast food to fine dining, menus are packed full of deep-fried offerings. Whether you are an adventurous cook who likes to recreate or tweak meals you have tried elsewhere or you want to save a few bucks (and calories) by making your family's favorite foods at home, a deep fryer is a terrific addition to kitchens with extra counter space.

There are several aspects to choosing a deep fryer that you should take into consideration. Since your deep fryer will likely live on your kitchen counter, pay special attention to the dimensions of the models you are interested in to ensure they will fit. Also, some units feature filtration systems and dishwasher-safe parts that will make cleanup easier. If this is important to you, make sure you choose a fryer with these options.

Since hot oil can burn you severely, look for fryers with plenty of safety features, including splatter guards and magnetic power cords that will come unplugged when tugged, rather than yanking the entire machine and its scalding contents off the counter.

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To put together this comprehensive buying guide of the top deep fryers, we poured over the reviews of users and experts to find which models are affordable, reliable, and versatile.

Here are the best deep fryers you can buy:

Updated on 12/19/2018 by Malarie Gokey: Updated prices and formatting. Added our guide to the best air fryers.

Read on in the slides below to check out our top picks.

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The best deep fryer overall

The best deep fryer overall
Why you'll love it: When you are in a hurry to make dinner, the Presto Dual Basket Pro Fry Deep Fryer can cook a meal for the entire family in one batch at an affordable price.

The Presto Dual Basket Pro Fry relies on a 1800-watt immersion element that you can remove for easy cleaning. The fryer features an adjustable thermostat and a signal light that lets you know when it’s fry time. The baskets are made of lightweight metal and are shaped to fit large pieces of chicken and fish. The device comes with a one-year limited warranty.

The Pro Fry is versatile enough that you can steam vegetables with it, too. You basically just fill the fryer with water instead of oil, turn up the heat, and put the cover on. It’s also helpful to keep the cover on when frying with oil to avoid splattering. When done, you can store the oil in the fryer and reuse it until your food starts to come out too greasy.

Crispy & Golden, a deep fryer niche site, ranks the Presto Pro Fry among the top five best deep fryers because of its many features, affordable price, and quality design. Ratingle put the Pro Fry at number three on its list of the top 10 deep fryers because of its versatility and how easy it is to use. The reviewers also liked that they could make up to twelve cups of fried foods in one batch, which makes it ideal for entertaining. Fryer Guide, another industry site, also liked the reasonable price tag, the quality of the food produced, and ease of use, but pointed out that this model lacks features commonly found in more expensive units.

Some 88% of reviewers on Amazon gave the Pro Fry a positive review. Buyers have had excellent experiences cooking chicken and French fries in the fryer. One verified purchaser commented that they found beef tallow works well in this model. There are a few complaints. With the large size of the unit, you need a minimum of 100 ounces of oil to use it. The oil takes about fifteen minutes to heat. And, the fryer overall appears to be made of a thin metal, but we didn’t find any complaints about the Pro Fry’s durability.

Pros: Cooks up to 12 cups or five pounds of food at once, affordable

Cons: Requires a lot of oil, which takes a while to heat up

Buy the Presto 05466 Stainless Steel Dual Basket Pro Fry Immersion Element Deep Fryer on Amazon for $59.90 (originally $99.99)

The best deep fryer on a budget

The best deep fryer on a budget
Why you'll love it: The Presto DualDaddy Electric Deep Fryer is the most cost-effective model on our list, and it’s easy to use out of the box.

The 1500-watt Presto DualDaddy Electric Deep Fryer is great for what it is: an inexpensive beginner deep fryer. There are no controls to watch or set, and it automatically keeps the oil at the optimum temperature for cooking. The DualDaddy comes with a snap-on storage lid, magnetic safety cord, and slotted scoop. The divider that separates the compartments is removable so you can have just one big, durable cast aluminum bucket of oil for frying up a whole chicken. The unit comes with a one-year warranty.

The DualDaddy is what I use for my personal, “day-to-day” frying. I purchased mine about two-and-a-half years ago and have not had any issues with it. It heats the oil at a reasonable speed and produces delicious donuts, fries, beer-battered bacon, onion rings, and more. The slotted spoon it comes with has proven to be a terrific all-purpose utensil that I use for a variety of different tasks besides deep frying.

The Presto Dual Daddy was reviewed by Deep Fryer Reviews. The site's reviewer called it “one of the best electric deep fryers available," and recommend it because it is reliable and so simple and straightforward that anyone can figure out how to use it. Appliances Reviewed gave it 4.7 stars due to its design, quality, and value. However, the reviewer found the utensils it came with were not very useful.

Around 79% of the reviewers on Amazon gave the Presto DualDaddy five stars. Buyers liked that it heated up quickly in about ten minutes, was easy to use, cleans up effortlessly, and can hold larger food items. There were some safety concerns since the unit doesn’t have much insulation, and the plastic lid isn’t designed to be a splatter guard.

Pros: Inexpensive, easy to use, heats quickly

Cons: Doesn’t have a splatter guard

Buy the Presto 05450 DualDaddy Electric Deep Fryer on Amazon for $35.24 (originally $59.99)
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The best deep fryer without oil

The best deep fryer without oil
Why you'll love it: If you would like the flavor of fried meats without the guilt, the Char-Broil The Big Easy TRU-Infrared Oil-Less Turkey Fryer is the way to go.

The Big Easy Oil-Less Turkey Fryer from Char-Broil is unlike any other deep fryer on this list. Instead of putting your food in a vat of oil, you put it in a large chamber that holds turkeys that weigh up to sixteen pounds. The food is then cooked using infrared technology, which eliminates hot and cold spots, prevents flare-ups, and produces flavorful results. To operate this model, you need to have a propane tank, and it is only for outdoor use.

The Spruce likes that the Big Easy Oil-Less Fryer makes frying turkeys easier, safer, and cheaper. The site also gives it high marks for quick heating. Epicurious tested out this model using a 14-pound turkey, six 2-pound Cornish hens, and a 5-pound ham. In the end, the reviewers found that the fryer was better for homes with plenty of space for operating and storing the device, but they were impressed with the results. The Healthy Kitchen Shop gave this Char-Broil fryer 4.7 stars because of its excellent cooking results, versatility, and quality construction.

The Big Easy Oil-Less Fryer has more than 1,000 five-star reviews on Amazon. Users have had good experiences frying chicken, turkey, duck, and prime rib. The most common comments are that it cooks food quickly and the results are delicious. There were a couple negatives, though. One buyer didn’t like that the included basket is unhinged, which causes the rub and crispy skin to come off when removing a turkey. Another reviewer found that putting the fryer together was too time-intensive. It took them an hour to assemble the unit.

Pros: Cooks fast, moist, healthier meals

Cons: Requires propane, only for outdoor use

Buy the Char-Broil Big Easy TRU-Infrared Oil-Less Turkey Fryer at Walmart for $148.03

The best deep fryer for easy cleanup

The best deep fryer for easy cleanup
Why you'll love it: If you have been hesitant to try out deep frying because you are concerned about the mess, give the T-fal Ultimate EZ Clean Deep Fryer a try.

The T-fal FR8000 Oil Filtration EZ Clean Deep Fryer features a powerful 1700-watt heating element. It can cook over two-and-a-half pounds of food and fits up to 3.5 liters of oil. This model comes with a two-position basket for when you are cooking and draining the excess oil from the food. And, the lid of the unit has a little window so you can keep tabs on how your meal is progressing without fear of splatter.

What sets this deep fryer apart is its oil filtration system. On the front of the machine, there is a dial that you turn to initiate the automatic oil filtration. The filtered oil empties into a plastic compartment in the base of the unit, and you can store it there until you are ready to fry again.

Your Better Kitchen gave the T-fal FR8000 EZ Clean high marks because of its quality, price, features, size, and the oil filtration and drainage systems. The reviewer recommends it for families because it can handle large loads. Home Kitchen Land had positive comments about this model because it may be a healthier option when cooking with oil since it makes filtering the oil effortless. Deep Fryer Reviews gave the unit five stars because the heating element heats up quickly and keeps the oil at a constant temperature.

More than 1,500 people who reviewed the T-fal FR8000 on Amazon gave it a positive review. The most common comment about this unit is how easy it is to clean. Everything except for the heating element and cord is dishwasher safe. Buyers have had success cooking frozen foods, doughnuts, chicken, French fries, taco shells, and more. The only complaint we could find was that buyers wished the fryer was a bit deeper.

Pros: Easy to clean, oil filtration system

Cons: T-fal doesn’t offer replacement parts for this product

Buy the T-fal FR8000 Oil Filtration Ultimate EZ Clean Stainless Steel Immersion Deep Fryer on Amazon for $85.99
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The best deep fryer for precise cooking

The best deep fryer for precise cooking
Why you'll love it: When you are cooking up culinary creations that require precise temperatures, the Cuisinart Deep Fryer is an excellent choice.

The Cuisinart Deep Fryer comes with an 1800-watt immersion-style heating element that heats up quickly and stays at your desired temperature. The stainless steel mesh basket can fit up to 2.3 pounds of food. The oil sits in a one-gallon removable container that features a pouring spout for effortless filtration and cleaning.

Bestsmokerz.com ranked the Cuisinart CDF-200 Deep Fryer among its top five deep fryers. The reviewer liked that you could set it to specific temperatures and that it had a powerful heating element. Heavy put this model in its top ten because of the sturdy stainless steel mesh basket with a cool-touch handle as well as the large four-quart capacity. Perfect Deep Fry found it was well worth the cost for people who want to prepare high-volume batches of food, but the reviewer didn’t like how much space the unit takes up.

Around 84% of the reviews of the Cuisinart CDF-200 on Amazon are for four or five stars. Users like that this model can heat to higher temperatures and stay at those temperatures. There were a few minor negative comments, though. The controls are at the back of the unit, which may require you to reach over a fairly hot area to adjust times and temperatures. Also, the power cord is fairly short so you will need to have the device near an outlet.

Pros: High, accurate temperatures, lid window for monitoring progress

Cons: Takes up a lot of space, controls are on the back of the unit

Buy the Cuisinart CDF-200 Deep Fryer, 4 quart, Stainless Steel on Amazon for $63.43 (originally $66.98)

Check out our guide to the best air fryers

Check out our guide to the best air fryers
The best air fryers you can buy

The best air fryers can fry, grill, roast, and bake an array of foods in a short time. They are also durable, have an intuitive user interface, and a large capacity.

Our guide to the top air fryers is based on thorough research into the ratings and experiences of countless experts and users. Based on our analysis, the following models meet the highest standards of reliability, functionality, and value.

Here are the best air fryers you can buy:
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