With Thanksgiving approaching, you may be pondering the cooking method you will use to create the most delicious entree possible. Traditionally, people have roasted turkeys in the oven, but many brave souls are choosing to deep-fry their turkeys using a propane turkey fryer.

What’s so brave about deep frying a turkey, you may ask? If cooked improperly, you could burn down your house and severely injure yourself. At DiSanto Propane, we take propane safety seriously, which is why we adhere to the strict regulations of our industry.

Thanksgiving is a joyous time of year, and you want to keep your friends and family members as safe as possible while cooking your bird. If you’ve never deep-fried a turkey before, it’s imperative for you to follow safety guidelines for outdoor fryers.

Do NOT Use an Outdoor Fryer Indoors!

Never ever use an outdoor fryer indoors.  If your bird happens to catch fire, you could burn your entire house down. Simply put, it’s not safe at all.

Keep Children and Pets Indoors

Keep your pets and children’s safely away from the turkey fryer. Your pets could smell the turkey and be curious and severely injure themselves approaching the fryer. Since turkey fryers are filled with extremely hot oil, you don’t want your kids anywhere near them.

Read The Fryer Instructions

Look, we’re all guilty of buying some type of appliance and immediately throwing the instruction manual away. However, you’ll want to be completely familiar with your turkey fryer before using it to follow proper safety precautions.

Prepare to Spend A Few Hours Outside

If you’re going to deep fry a turkey, you need to commit; we highly recommend that you refrain from leaving the turkey unattended. Make sure to wear long sleeves, pants and heat-proof gloves to protect yourself.

Your Turkey Should Be 14 Pounds or Smaller

If you fry a turkey whole, it should not be bigger than 14 pounds. For a larger turkey, you will need to separate the legs from the breast and fry them separately.

Completely Defrost Your Turkey

Not only do you need to remove any giblets, you also want to make sure that your turkey is completely defrosted. If you don’t defrost your turkey, the ice will turn into steam, which reacts with the oil and causes it to spill over the fryer and immediately starts a huge fire.

Do Not Use A Fryer on a Wooden Deck

Make sure to fry your turkey outdoors a safe distance from your home and away from any trees. Outdoor areas such as wooden decks and garages are off limits when frying your bird.

Cook Stuffing Separately

Unlike roasting a turkey, you do not want to stuff it before deep-frying.

Slowly Lower the Turkey Into the Fryer

The safest way to fry your bird is to slowly lower it into the fryer. You don’t want to scald yourself with hot oil or start a fire by quickly dropping the turkey into the oil.

By following these instructions, you should be able to safely fry your turkey outdoors. Since we’re such safety nerds, we suggest that you conduct further research on the topic to cook fry your turkey as safely as possible.

Since you’ll be cooking your side dishes indoors on your propane appliances, you’ll need to ensure that you never run out of propane. Sign up for our automatic propane delivery and other home propane services in upstate New York today.