used many times now, and very happy with it.

I have wanted to make deep-fried turkey for years, but I was leery of the outdoor propane units. I happened to run across a video of this indoor, electric unit and decided to go for it. Technically, this is a commercial unit, but I had no problems with cooking with it in my home kitchen on the counter. Of course, with any devise of this type, it is wise to thoroughly read the directions before you attempt to set it up -- not complicated -- or before you attempt to use it. After all, this is a unit that has the capacity to hold a little more than two gallons of hot oil. It is not child's play. There are online videos available and I would recommend watching them if you have access. I prepared a 17 lb. turkey and I was a little short on my oil. I had 2 gallons and I should have had 2.5 gallons. The result was an excellently prepared, golden brown turkey, with the breast not quite as brown as I would have liked although it was thoroughly cooked. It would have been as crispy brown as the rest of the bird if I had used the correct amount of oil. I followed the directions of one of the video producers and allowed 4 mins. per pound of meat; thus, it took 68 mins. to cook the bird. That's 68 mins. of agony as you smell the absolutely wonderful fragrance wafting through the house. OMG. This unit has a tool that helps you to lower and lift the basket into/out of the hot oil. Very handy and a great safety precaution. Almost every part of this thing, except for the control unit, is washable and can even be put into the dishwasher. Once the oil has completely cooled, you can drain your oil back into the original jugs and reuse it about 5 more times. I marked my jugs to indicate that the oil had been used once. Great buy. Love it.

So, today is the day after Thanksgiving. We used the fryer for the first time yesterday. I just wanted to share some things that I learned on YouTube and to give you my honest reflections on the Butterball fryer. I started the dry brine process the evening before Thanksgiving. I let it sit in the refrigerator all night. The morning of Thanksgiving I got up early, and washed off all the salt. I thoroughly dried the turkey with paper towels. I then, seasoned the turkey with a variety of dry spices. I put it back in the fridge for several hours. It is important to give the spices time to absorb and stick to the skin otherwise, the spices will just float off into the oil. Four hours before dinner time, I took the bird out of the refrigerator and placed it on top of my stove so that it could come up to room temperature, using the heat of the operating oven underneath. After three hours the bottom of the turkey was still way too cold. If you don’t bring the turkey to room temperature before frying, it will cool the oil and the turkey will not crisp properly. At this point, I started to panic so I shut the oven off and put the turkey in the hot oven for about a half hour, just on the residual heat. This work great. The turkey came out wonderfully crisp and juicy and everyone was very happy. Now for the review: Keep in mind that this thing takes a lot of peanut oil. The peanut oil alone cost me 50 bucks. A lot of people complain about the shore power cord. I initially plugged the fryer into a GFI outlet that was convenient in my kitchen. Although I use this same outlet to power my house phone and our Google Dot, when I pluged the fryer into the same outlet the power light would not illuminate. At this point I had a mini heart attack. I was convinced that the fryer was defective and that because there was no time to put the turkey in the oven at this point, we were going to have Chinese food for Thanksgiving. I decided to try plugging it into a different outlet. This worked and I was able to power the machine. This thing must draw a lot of amperage. They claim that if you use an extension cord, the fryer will not power properly. I believe them. It is important to submerge the basket into the oil before you put the turkey in the basket so that the skin won’t stick. I bought a pair of barbecue gloves along with the fryer. It was really nice to have these. Slowly submerge the turkey into the oil. It’s not for the faint of heart. It will make a lot of noise and there was even some minor splattering outside the machine. I’m sure that the turkey was completely thawed. I gave the 13 pound turkey 4days in the refrigerator to thaw. I’m sure it was completely dry after all that time in the fridge and the time is spent in the oven. There was still a little splattering. I was really glad that I put down newspaper under the fryer and on the floor near the fryer. I suggest you do the same thing. I gave my 13 pound turkey 52 minutes to fry. After 52 minutes I took the temperature it was at 165 – perfect. I left it to drain for 10 minutes, and then I let it rest for 30 minutes. We will talk about the things I don’t like. As advertised, the fryer includes a timer. The timer is powered by an internal battery that is not accessible without opening the whole gadget. Not only will the battery be dead by next year, I really hope that the battery will not leak and ruin the device. This is a really stupid design. As you’ve probably read, the oil drain is a very nice feature but there is still a substantial amount of oil in the tank after the drain stops. This is a two person job from there on. One person to tilt the tank the other person to hold a funnel over the oil container. Oh yeah, make sure you have a large funnel and lots of paper towels. The oil will stay hot for about five hours. So I left it overnight to cool. I have to tell you that the cleaning process was not pleasant nor easy. I read that the turkey smells wonderful as it’s frying. Personally, I find the smell putrid. And the smell, lingered even the next morning. It was very difficult to clean the basket. I’m glad that I purchased some commercial, restaurant grade, fryer degreaser spray. The stuff worked great. It got into all the nooks and crannies, and all I had to do was scrub it gently with a sponge. I was also able to spray it carefully on the heating elements where the crust had built up. The entire body of the fryer also had this disgusting stench, so I put the whole thing in the sink and washed it down with dishwashing detergent. The fact that all the electrical components can be easily removed is a wonderful feature. Overall, it was kind of a pain in the neck, but I think the end result was really worth it. Keep in mind, that there are no drippings from which to make gravy. Although the white meat was really juicy and there was no need for gravy I did get some complaints from my kids who did nothing other than to come to the table to eat. I hope you found my review useful.

Easy to use! Turkey turned out perfect. Super crispy skin and the meat was nice and juicy.

I have used out door fryers and found this to be more convenient and easier to drain and clean.

Works very well. I used this with about 9 or 10qts of peanut oil and it cooked two chickens perfectly. My only worry is that the plug (not the wire) gets hot but so far I haven't had any issues with this.

Excellent fryer. Very large which makes it super when having company. Easy to clean. Love it !

I really like this fryer. I did a 19lb turkey for Thanksgiving, and it came out great! I love that we can fry a turkey indoors, especially since we live in Alaska. So I don’t have to brave the elements, or risk starting an oil fire and burning my house down with an outdoor propane turkey fryer. I’ve also done deep fried halibut/shrimp/mushrooms in half the time it took before, because you can put up to 2lbs of food into the fry basket (my other “deep fryer” was a 30-year-old Westinghouse electric wok). This fryer heats the oil to the temperature you set (I checked using a thermometer), and a green light comes on when the oil reaches the set temp. I like that feature for frying multiple batches of food, so I know when the oil is ready for the next batch.Clean up is also easy and convenient, because you can break down the unit into pieces. The lid detaches, the heating element assembly is removable, the large oil vat is removable, as is the stainless steel fry basket. There is also a valve on the oil vat with a detachable aluminum stem for relatively easy oil draining and clean up.However, for some there might be a couple things to consider before buying. First, this is a pretty large “small appliance”, so you’ll need to have storage space somewhere outside of your kitchen. I took a picture of the fryer above our standard-sized dishwasher and countertops, and below cabinets to give you an idea of the size. It also requires a lot of oil: 1.5 gallons is the manufacturer’s absolute MINIMUM, and you’ll need up to 2.75 gallons for a 20lb turkey. But even after taking these considerations into account, I still highly recommend this product. It’s just a great addition to any family’s appliance repertoire!