For the 4th of July, my wife and I always make some form of quintessential American food. The first thing that comes to mind is generally burgers or barbecue. But this year we got a little different and made a full southern menu of sauteed greens, red beans and rice, and fried chicken.

There was a time when deep frying food scared me. I always walked away with speckle burns on my wrists and the backs of my hands. And even besides that, I usually ended up with some overly greasy, under- or overcooked food that never quite hit the spot. For a while I tried baking my food instead of frying it. I figured the at-times subpar flavor was better than turning myself into the Phantom of the Opera.

But lately, I finally learned how to fry to restaurant quality or above. Here is a collection of nine tips that helped me handle the heat of cooking oil and enjoy my time in the kitchen more.

Use the Right Oil

Some oils start smoking at somewhat low temperatures and eventually catch on fire. I once nearly burned down my kitchen because I was trying to make french fries in olive oil. Never again.

If you’re deep frying, most people recommend plant-based oils like canola oil, vegetable oil, grapeseed oil, and peanut oil. If you’ve read my articles about America’s worst ingredients, you’ll know why I prefer beef tallow.

High-Walled Pan

When you’re frying foods, they tend to spit and pop. This throws oil everywhere, which can burn you and makes a huge mess. To avoid this, just get a high-sided pan. Nothing crazy, it’s just ideal if your cooking oil doesn’t go more than a third of the way up the pan. That way all the popping stays in the pan and keeps you and your kitchen safe.

No Water

Water and hot oil are a recipe for disaster. This is because it is not possible for water to get hotter than 212, but oil can get much, much hotter. Thus, when you combine water and superhot oil, the water goes through a violently reactive state where it rapidly expands into a gas state, and escapes the oil. This flings oil out with it, which will burn you if it hits you.

I had a friend who didn’t understand this concept and tried to clean out a pan full of oil by pouring water straight into it. The thing practically exploded in his hand, leaving him with second-degree burns up past his wrists.

Even if you know not to drop water bombs into your hot oil, there’s still one bit of advice that can help you a lot: just make sure your food is dry. Fully dry off your chicken before battering it. The less water there is, the less steaming, hissing and popping you’ll get.

Here’s another tip: make sure your hands are dry! An error I’ve seen is chef’s with dripping wet fingers lowering food into the oil, then the water drips off their hand, the oil pops, and they get burned.

Thermometers Thermometers Thermometers

Check it off your bingo cards, we’re talking about thermometers again! Go get one. Get two, get three!

This time instead of talking about all the many reasons to have a thermometer, let’s just focus on this thought: when frying food, you don’t want the temperature of your oil to drop below 250. If it does, the food will oversaturate and become greasy and gross. On top of that, it’ll cook unevenly and somehow be dry despite all that grease. Drop a probe into your oil, get your heat up to at least 325, then keep an eye on it as you add bits of food to cook. If the oil drops into the 250 or 260 range, let it heat back up before adding more.

Don’t Overcrowd the Pan

You want enough space in the pan for everything in there to freely move around. Here are the consequences of an overcrowded pan:

• Food sticking together


• Breading / batter tearing off


• Uneven cooking


• Temperature swings


• Difficulty removing the food


• Oil spills


• Baby seals swearing vengeance


• Losing your invite to the party


• All around disgruntlement

All things being said, just make sure there’s enough oil around everything in your pan that it can all “breathe.” You want to see a good amount of space between everything in the pan. In the pan I usually cook with, that usually means only two chicken thighs or onion bhajis at a time.

Don’t Be Scared

Let’s pretend you’re frying chicken.

Let’s pretend you’re afraid of getting burned.

You with me? Okay, I present to you three options. Do you A) Drop the chicken in and hope for the best? B) Throw the chicken in from across the room so that the splash can’t hit you no matter what? or C) gently lower it into the oil and hope it doesn’t splash you.

This is actually a trick question because all three options are wrong. But C is the closest.

Here’s the true answer: use proper technique to carefully lower the food in. There’s no “hope” involved at all. Just do the technique right and you’ll be fine.

Be cautious with the oil, but get close to it. Yes, it’ll burn the crap out of you if you’re careless, but if you respect the oil and treat it properly, you’ll be perfectly fine!

Get your fingers really close. Like within an inch of the oil before you drop the food in. Because guess what… the closer you are, the less of a splash there will be. Less splash, less burning and less cleanup. Get in there! Obviously, you don’t want to touch the oil. Stay focused. Kick your kids out of the kitchen, just to be safe.

Away From You, Not Toward You

This actually belongs under the “don’t be scared” header, but I wanted to highlight this one because it’s an extra-nice tip.

You have a chicken thigh. You’re about to drop it into the oil. Instead of dropping it, you follow these steps:

1. Dangle the thigh between your fingers.


2. Slowly lower the thigh until one end is submerged in the oil.


3. Release the thigh angled away from yourself.

Following this method, the food will fall away from you instead of toward you, and consequently if the oil splashes, it will splash away from you instead of toward you.

Keep a Lid Nearby

Okay, you’ve done everything right but you still somehow light an enormous oil fire in the middle of your kitchen. I hope you have good insurance.

Alternatively, I hope you kept a lid nearby. Just grab the lid and put it down tight over that flaming pan. It’ll suffocate and extinguish very quickly for lack of oxygen. Go you!

In no case should you use water to put that fire out! Remember, this is how you get full on explosions!

Paper Towels Are Nice, But…

A super common tip is to put your fried food onto some paper towels to help rain away any running off grease. Here’s the problem: all that grease gets stuck in the towel the food is sitting on. So now the bottom of that fried chicken is going to become soft, gummy and greasy. Yuck!

I’ll do you one better: place the food on top of a cooling rack. This way the extra grease will drip off the food, and leave you with some nice, crispy chicken that hasn’t been oversaturated by cooking grease.