Butterball Oil-Free Electric Turkey Fryer

Since deep frying a turkey in hot oil has developed a reputation for being dangerous (and delicious) a few people have been thinking of ways of doing it with out the oil. The solution is to create an enclosed chamber, heated from the outside, to roast a turkey at high temperatures. This is one of these cookers. This "fryer" is basically a small, electric oven that cooks a turkey at around 10 minutes a pound (two hours for a 12 pound turkey). While it can do that, it really can't reproduce the flavor of a real deep fried turkey. You can add wood chips to get a little smoke flavor however.

Three years ago Char-Broil introduced the The Big Easy Oil-less Infrared Turkey Fryer. A year later Masterbuilt introduced this smaller, electric version of the same idea, basically a small electrically powered roasting oven. Calling it a fryer is a stretch since no oil is involved.

One important item I would like to point out about this unit. The box says it can take a turkey of up to 18 pounds, or a good sized bird. However, in the instructions it recommends a turkey closer to 12 pounds. This is because an 18 pound bird literally has to be stuffed into the unit and this can cause it to burn around the outside before the center gets completely cooked. A 12 pound turkey is much more manageable. If you want to be able to cook a large turkey, this is probably not the unit for you. If you only need a smaller bird then this does an okay job.

The Butterball Oil-Free Electric Turkey Fryer can be used to cook other things. Most obviously it is good for chickens and other poultry. The removable "fry" basket can be used to hold a number of foods and the instruction manual includes recipes for things like "fish on Rosemary" and "roasted peach sundaes". Of course the instructions for the fish is to pan fry it in oil first, then finish it off in the "fryer". Personally I am not in favor of switching cooking methods in the middle because it is a hassle. As for the peaches (and tomatoes in another recipe) you are really broiling them in a roaster unit and might find it just as easy to do it under the broiler in your oven or on the grill (preferably). The only real advantage I find that this unit has over your oven or grill is that it is small and portable. As long as you can plug it in, you can take it anywhere.

As around $120USD this unit is not all that less expensive than the Char-Broil Big Easy (around $160USD), which is propane powered, much larger, and to be honest, more versatile. If I had to make this purchase I would probably go with the Char-Broil.