8 Easy Tips on How to Deep Fry at Home Like a Pro

Whether it's a weekend or a tiring day at the office, everyone loves to enjoy crispy and crunchy fried food. Crispy fried chicken, fish, nuggets, or even doughnuts have been the comfort good for many Americans. We love to stick our teeth on crispy and crunchy fried food no matter what weather or occasion.

The crispy exterior and the moist interior make it quite difficult for people to resist. While deep frying, two things are quite important to pay attention to - crispy crust and juicy interior. However, it takes years to master the perfect technique of deep-frying at home.

Many people have tried making crispy fried wings, doughnuts, and nuggets. However, even after following some great recipes, their fried food did not taste close to the restaurant ones. Do you know why? Because they got the deep frying part wrong.

 Do you often head out whenever you crave crispy fried food? Well, you no longer have to. We have brought you a few easy tips and tricks from frying experts to help you serve quality fried food for your family and kids. So read on to master your deep-frying technique!

8 Easy tips on how to deep fry at home perfectly

Do you shy away from deep-frying at home? Well, you no longer have to. Here are a few easy tips and tricks to help you learn how to deep fry at home like professionals:

Tip #1: Choose your frying oil wisely

When you opt to make your favorite crispy fried chicken or nuggets, you will have to make an important decision. Besides deciding which recipe to follow, you will also need to decide which oil to use for deep frying.  

While many people have assumed extra virgin olive oil to be the best oil for deep frying at home, it is still not recommended. Do you want to know why? Because it has a low smoke point and a quite distinctive flavor. Instead, you should try frying in oils with a high smoke point (ideally above 375°F) and not-so overpowering flavor.

Oil plays quite a crucial role in getting the perfect deep-frying result. Therefore choose your deep-frying oil wisely. Here are some of the oils that will get you the best results:

• Refined canola oil
• Refined sunflower oil
• Soybean oil

 Moreover, if you are reusing oil, make sure to filter it first properly. Otherwise, it will give your fried food a burnt flavor. If your fried food tastes burnt but looks completely fine on the outside, then the real culprit is the oil. In that case, change your oil immediately.

Tip #2: Choose the right pan for deep frying

If you have ever been to a KFC or Chick-fil-A kitchen ( or seen one on TV), you might have seen large deep fryers there. They use it for deep frying large batches of fried chicken in one go. However, many home cooks have invested their money in deep fryers, too, as they are convenient and get the deep frying job done pretty well.

However, in order to perfectly deep fry your food at home, it is not necessary to have a deep fryer in your kitchen. Therefore, don't worry if you don't have one. A regular frying pan can help you get quality deep frying too.

 Here is a small checklist for a pan you choose for deep frying at home: 

• Make sure it is heat resistant
• Use a deep mouth frying pan; otherwise, the oil will splatter from the edges
• Choose a medium-sized pan
• Pan body should be able to maintain a high temperature

Tip #3: Manage oil quantity

Most home cooks have a bad habit of filling their pan with too much oil. It not only delivers bad frying results but also puts them at high risk of getting themselves burnt. Therefore, it is important to manage the oil quantity in the pan for the best frying results and your safety.

In order to manage the oil quantity, make sure not to do this:

• Oil should not overflow while frying
• Oil should not cover the entire body of the chicken, fish, or any other food you are frying.

It is the simplest way to manage the oil quantity while deep frying. People using 2 pounds of cooking oil to fry only a few chicken pieces are making a huge mistake. You need to manage the quantity of oil according to the food that needs to be fried.

Tip #4: Manage oil temperature

 

According to many frying experts, the key to getting deep frying right is to set the right temperature. Therefore, keeping an oil thermometer with you is better to check the oil temperature if you want to save yourself from the hassle of managing it yourself. It is quite a helpful tool for beginners at cooking to serve perfectly deep-fried food at their table.

However, if you don't have an oil thermometer, you can still manage the oil temperature with a few simple tricks:

• Cold oil indicator:Put a small piece of your food into the oil. If it sinks without resurfacing, it is a sure sign of oil being cold.
• Hot oil indicator:If the frying food floats on the oil, it means the oil is hot.

The best approach is to put a small piece of frying food first to get an idea of the oil temperature. If it turns dark in a few seconds, the oil is extremely hot. Therefore, you will have to turn the temperature down.

Frying in cold oil will result in soggy food, whereas frying in extremely hot oil will make the exterior dark instantly, while the inside will still be raw.

Tip #5: Make the perfect batter

Fried food should have a crispy exterior outside, and the best way to get one is to prepare the right batter for it. The right batter depends on the type of fried food you are opting for. If it is fried chicken or fish, you will need flour, baking soda, and a few seasonings to make a perfect crust for it.

However, do you often struggle to find the perfect balance between spices? Southern Fry Kings has a perfect solution for you - Kings Chicken Fry and Down by the Bayou Seafood Fry. These dry mixes will help you provide the perfect batter for your fried chicken or fish recipes.

For best results, make sure not to keep the dry mix for more than four hours, as it will get doughy. Therefore, always take the dry mix in small quantities and add more if required. By doing so, you will end up with a plate full of the crispiest fried chicken or fish without wasting tons of dry mix.

Tip #6: Do not overcrowd the food in the pan

One of the best deep-frying tricks is to fry in small batches. You may be tempted to put all the chicken or fish pieces in the pan to save your time. However, it still is not recommended. Dropping all the frying food at once in the pan can decrease the oil temperature significantly, affecting the overall food texture.

Therefore, to get the best deep-frying results, do not overcrowd the pan and fry the food in small batches. It may take a lot of your time and effort, but in the end, you will have crispy and crunchy fried food to munch on.

Tip #7: Avoid oil foam

What indicates that your fried food is ready to be removed from the oil? The perfect light brown color. However, most of the time, bubbles and foam make it difficult for people to see the fried food color. So if you want to take out the fried food from the oil right after it gets light golden brown, you have to prevent oil foam or bubbles from forming.

Not sure how to do that? Add a pinch of turmeric to the oil whenever foam or bubbles start forming.

Tip #8: Do not cover the fried food

Even after choosing the right oil, pan, and batter and following the best deep-frying technique, you can still have a plate full of soggy fried food. Do you want to know how? By covering the fried food or letting it sit on the paper towels.

After all the hard work, you definitely should not lose focus at the last moment. Therefore, make sure to avoid covering or letting it sit on paper towels. Instead, drain your fried chicken on a wire rack set over a baking sheet and hold it hot in a 250° F oven until you serve it to your guests.