Oil Less Deep Fried Turkey
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Our oil less deep fried turkey is wonderful and seriously delicious. Yes, there’s no oil and it’s a perfect whole turkey to cook on Thanksgiving. Our resource below is filled with tips and step by step photos on how to cook deep fried turkey without oil.
No-Oil Deep Fried Turkey Recipe
This is a game changer when it comes to cooking deep fried turkey. Is it even possible to cook whole turkey with deep fried texture without oil? The answer is absolutely yes! The Char Broil Big Easy propane oil-less deep fryer is powered by a propane tank and is an infrared fryer. Hot circulating air inside the chamber cooks the turkey super juicy and delicious for your next big dinner or Thanksgiving holiday dinner. We tested this oil less method on a 14-pound turkey several times and each time came out amazing. This large capacity oil less deep fryer hooks up to a propane tank outside and helps free up your oven during big feasts and dinners. The more intense heat is by the legs and lessens by the time it gets to the breasts, helping keep the breast meat from overcooking and becoming dry by the time the leg meat is perfect and juicy.
What is Oil-Less Deep Fried Turkey Fryer with Big Easy Fryer?
There’s many types of oil less turkey fryers. One way to cook whole oil less turkey using air fryers with convection technology that uses circulating hot air from a halogen infrared light. Here’s our full write up for the Big Boss air fryer and other similar air fryers. Today’s write up talks about another oil less method using the Big Easy Char Broil oil-less deep fryer. It tastes like it was deep fried with crispy turkey on the outside and super juicy on the inside. These oil less air fryers are great when you don’t have enough oven space for your turkey.
Electric or Propane Deep Fryers
We love how delicious and easy the Big Easy hooks up to a propane tank and cooks the turkey in the outdoors without odors filling up the house. Masterbuilt also makes an electric version which is very similar to the Char-Broil propane oil-less deep fryer. It looks awesome, we just haven’t had a chance to buy & test it yet.
Best Oil Less Air Fryers for Whole Turkey
Char-Broil Big Easy Oil-less Propane Turkey Fryer – For outside use only. This type of oil less air fryer is fueled by a propane tank. It cooks a great turkey and you can ready our write up about it here. 
Video: Easy Deep Fried Whole Turkey NO OIL
How to Cook Oil-Less Deep Fried Whole Turkey
Step-by-Step easy photos to guide you through the oil less fried turkey cooking process. For full recipe details, print out the recipe in the recipe box when you scroll down this write up.
Pros & Cons of Char-Broil Big Easy Oil Less Deep Fryer & Other Brands of Similar Style:
PROS:
- Energy Efficient and uses less power than traditional full sized oven.
- Frees up oven space if you need to cook lots of other oven foods or if you don’t have a lot of oven space.
- Cooks quicker than traditional oven and the skin is super crispy. Our tests on 14 pound fully thawed turkey took about 2.3 hours-3 hours
- No hassle with almost no oil and the most you would need is a light spray of oil to help crisp the food better. So it’s a healthier way of cooking crispy foods.
- Easy Clean up. The glass bowl is super easy to clean.
- Drip Pan. All the turkey juices drop into a dip pan for you to make delicious homemade gravy.
- Feeds more people. The large oil less deep fryer size allows you to cook larger portions of food for more people. It’s great to cook meals for 4 people or more.
- Crispy Skin. Wow, the skin is awesome.
CONS:
- Once assembled, it’s big and bulky. But it does pack into the box easily storing in your garage.
- Outdoor use only. It’s powered by a propane tank so you have to use it outside and weather is a factor.
- No Stuffing in the turkey. The manufacture suggests cooking the stuffing separately, not inside the turkey.
Here’s another oil less method using the Big Boss air fryer and other similar air fryers.
Oil-Less Fried Whole Turkey
Ingredients
- 14 lb. (6.35 kg) raw Whole Turkey
- 6 Tablespoons (90 g) butter , cut into slices
- 4 cloves (4 cloves) garlic , sliced thin
- 1 Tablespoon (15 ml) kosher salt , or to taste
- black pepper , to taste
Equipment
Instructions
- Remove and giblets and neck bones from the turkey cavity (many times the giblet pack will be tucked under the skin by the neck). Pat the turkey dry.
- Tuck the butter slices and garlic in-between the skin and the turkey breasts. Season the turkey with salt and pepper.
- Oil the basket to help prevent any sticking. Place the turkey legs down in the basket. Insert the meat thermometer into the breast so that the tip doesn't touch bone and the dial is easily read when the basket is in the cooker. Place the basket in the Oil-Less Deep Fryer.
- Turn on the cooker to medium-high cooking and cook for about 10 minutes per pound (14lbs.= approx. 140 minutes or 2 hrs 20 minutes). (Cover with the wire mesh lid during the last 15 minutes for the crispiest skin, it reflects heat back intowards the turkey. But if used the whole cook time, this heat can burn food before it is fully cooked.)
- Occasionally spray the turkey with oil for a great crispy skin. For the final 20 minutes start checking the turkey and keep an eye on the temperature to determine when the turkey is done. Our recommeneded internal temperature is 165°-170°F.
- Remove the basket from the cooker and let rest for about 15-20 minutes. Remove the turkey from the basket, carve and serve.
Video
Nutrition Information
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13 Comments on “Oil Less Deep Fried Turkey”
What a great way to cook turkey. It’s my favorite way and now I’m going to try two roast chickens.
Been looking for a large air fryer like this to cook without oil. Our turkey came out fantastic and way better than the oven. This is a game changer for sure.
Seriously the best and most deliciously healthy whole turkey recipe I could find! Love your amazing step bye step photos. They’re incredibly helpful.
Great whole turkey recipe and we cooked a 15 pounder and it was amazing! Just in time for Thanksgiving!
I’m so glad to find this recipe just in time for Thanksgiving. Did a test run and it was amazing. I’ll never cook my turkey in deep fried oil ever again. This method was just as juicy but way easier to manage and clean. Your video was pretty awesome and super helpful. Thanks Guys.
I use fresh turkeys, Does brining the turkey make a difference?
Hi Don,
Great question. Brining does 2 main things: the salt and any other additions flavor the meat deeper, and the salt in the brine changes the muscle tissues so it can be juicier and more tender.
We like to dry brine (easier & less messy than wet brining) but it is totally optional. If you have a really good turkey, then you probably don’t need the help the flavor with a brine as it will already be nice & flavorful. And when we cooked the turkey without pre-brining in the Big Easy, just salt & peppered right before cooking, it was juicier than any brined and regular oven roasted turkey we’ve ever cooked or had. Brining might make it even more so, but it was really good without due to the nature of how it cooks in the Big Easy. More heat towards the bottom where the legs are at and gently decreasing by the time the heat gets to the breasts. Leg and breast meat were both great. Hope that helps. Happy cooking!
We have been cooking our Turkey’s in this cooker for the last 4 years. 2 and sometimes 3 a year. Love it, only thing is cook at least 15 min a pound.
Hi John.
This is the main way we’ll all cook our turkeys at home now too. Interesting that your cook time/lb. is longer. In the dozen + turkeys we’ve cooked, it has always been almost exactly 10 min/lb. timing to reach the correct internal temperature of the turkeys. Perhaps you are at a higher elevation or cooking in colder outside temperatures. Great to know of the variance and it shows how much we all need to use the internal temperature gauge to know when the turkey will be done.
Happy cooking!
My husband is now hooked and impressed. The turkey was juicy and wonderful without taking up space in our oven. There’s no way we’ll ever cook a whole turkey in the regular oven again.
Loved that we don’t need any oil at all and it thoroughly cooks the turkey. Great recipe.
Followed all your instructions and it came out perfectly. Thanks so much for the recipe.
I remember doing this last year and it came out so good. I can’t wait to do this again this Thanksgiving.