Propane burner / Turkey fryer

I'm wanting to buy a propane burner for camping purposes. Thought I might as well buy a turkey fryer and cook the turkey that way this year for Thanksgiving.

It seems like everything is about the same... I can't find a "oh, this is clearly the best one to buy" option. Am I missing something?

What burner / fryer should I be looking at?

Thanks

What are you wanting to cook in addition to turkeys? Those burners tend to be oriented for big pots and put out a lot of heat I believe.

Pretty much any propane burner will do, though I would recommend something that is close to the ground vs something taller. The question is really what size pot do you need? Turkey pots are much skinnier than say a smaller crawfish pot which helps on grease quantity. Turkey pots will also typically have something to pull the bird out with, crawfish pots have a basket to pull out and tend to be wider, meaning more grease is needed.

Your first time, you REALLY want to monitor your grease temp, particularly on startup. You can burn the crap out of the grease before you fry a thing, same goes for after dropping the bird in. My first turkey fry, I ran my burner like I was boiling crawfish, NOT the way to do it.

Charlie

Low to the ground a must. You can get away with a 10 PSI regulator for turkey. If you ever think you'll do crawfish in a bigger pot, go 20 PSI.

Be prepared to choke when you go to buy the peanut oil. It's gotten expensive.

Academy has a burner / pot combo on sale for $49.95 in a Houston Chronicle ad in the Sunday paper.

I'll yet again recommend The Big Easy by Charbroil. Oiless "fryer" that gives great results. Big enough for a good sized bird but there are also different accessories available for doing roasts and other stuff. No expensive oil to buy, store, or risk spilling. Only two settings. Off and On. Super easy. I usually inject the bird with Tony's garlic butter, quick wipe-down with peanut oil (it comes in small bottles) and a dusting with Tony's "More Spice." Super tasty, juicy, bird. Not as quick as the deep fry method, you'll need to keep an eye on the internal temp, but also doesn't need constant monitoring as there's no huge pot of scalding oil to tip over. I deep fried turkeys for about 30 years before I went to this about 8 years ago or so and won't ever go back.

That was the reason for my question to the OP. Those are awesome machines. Plus you can do other things in addition to turkeys.

I have the oil less fry by charbroil as well. Used it once. It is NOT the same as a peanut oil fryer.
Been deep frying turkeys for over 30 years and do not waste your money, it is just a high temp gas oven.

If anyone in the DFW area wants mine you can have it, seriously used once.

Not propane but the electric Butterball turkey fryer is the easiest and safest oil fryer you can find. Only drawback is it only takes smaller birds. 3 min per lb and you don't have to worry about catching fire!

Thanks all. The real reason I want to buy something is to be able to quickly boil medium quantities of water while camping. But, having a fish (etc.) fryer would be nice.

Are BTU's that important?

I like the oilless fryer option, but I do not think it would work for my primary intended purpose (boiling / cooking while camping).

That’s an amazing offer. Someone should jump on that.

Yes, Best outdoor cooking thing I own. Really. Perfect turkey, so easy. We do ribs, chicken etc...Uses very little propane.

Already gone, my brother is going to pick it up tonight.

My high pressure burner is way too much heat for anything other than stuff like crawfish or turkey.

I have tried several times to cook big pots of stew, chili, and beans (not together) on it. There is no way to get it low enough to simmer a big pot. The stew and beans both burned on the bottom. The chili pretty much cooked at a rolling boil the entire time.

Try putting a needle valve on it. It should help.

We don’t save used oil and since it’s so expensive I usually fry 3 turkeys. Tell people you are gonna deep fry a turkey and someone will ask you to fry theirs.

Fry a pork loin when you do it. Those are good.

I haven't fried a turkey in years. Been doing them on the BGE now.

go buy a fried turkey, much less work and mess.

Get the below adjustable regulator:
https://www.amazon.com/GasOne-2120-Propane-Regulator-Pressure/dp/B07GRFTR4S?dchild=1

That is truth right there.

I've been meaning to pick one of these up and just hadn't yet. Happened into Academy today for some shotgun shells, and they've got the Big Easy on sale for 89 bucks. Cheapest I've seen it, so I went ahead and got one. I think I spent a healthy portion of that on oil last year.

Check out videos on other things to cook. Makes great chicken wings with the wing holders. Can also do amazing ribs and other things.

Planning on it. I've heard a prime rib is amazing out of one. Would definitely use it for wings if they're good.

Thanks all

I would advise a "King Cooker", can buy from Academy or other retail stores. Inexpensive. Short legs, good burner & regulator for what it is. You can also turn it way down (with proper wind breaks) to make a roux or simmer a chili or carne guisada for hours in a big pot. You wanna fry a turkey, no problem. It'll bring the heat. Just grab your turkey pot.

Don't buy a jet burner for turkeys, gumbos etc.....jet burners are for boils. It's too easy to get your temp up and then you can't bring it down soon enough.

IMO there is no comparison between meat properly fried in peanut oil, and any air fryer. Just not the same at all.

I've fried a lot of turkeys and used the same burners to make gumbo & chili outside. Mentioned my store bought recommendation, the big "King Cooker" burners work well.

Just keep your burner out of the weather and you will get MANY more years of use. Or, do like my BIL does every time I loan him one of my burners and he forgets and leaves it outside to rust.....then at the next get together I am wire brushing/torch clip cleaning every hole instead of cooking and playing corn hole or horse shoes.

Also, always make sure your propane tank/hose/regulator is UPWIND when you fire it up and pay attention to wind shifts. I have two burners in my garage right now that need new hoses & connections because they melted off

Skinner - thank you! That is really helpful

Sorry, didn't mean to be long wended. One of my faults.

Your standard Academy turkey pot can be a universal tool. Fry a turkey one day, make a gumbo in the same pot another day, chili, boil crabs/shrimp whatever. Don't need to spend a lot of money, unless you loan your stuff out.

A cast iron pan or Dutch Oven is always a great tool to have around, as well.

Get after it.

Labeling matters in fryer vs boiler. A fryer now is required to have a temp regulator and a shutoff timer. The shutoff timer is not adjustable, and you will have to re-light every 10 or 15 minutes.

Every single year a couple hundred idiots around the country burn their houses down trying to fry turkeys, so we have to make up rules to protect stupid from itself.

For me, I have a big boiler with as high of a BTU count as I can get. The high heat and wide pot is needed for a shrimp boil, or to make a euro mount. I also fry turkeys, but I have a narrow pot, and keep a close eye on the temps. You can also get a cast iron ring to use as a heat diverter on a jet burner. It helps, but you still have to keep an eye on it.

And for pete's sake, make sure you bird is fully thawed before you drop it in hot oil!

When I seasoned my Big Easy I stacked three chickens on the rack I used to fry turkeys on. I just set it down in the basket and fired that mother up. They were delicious.