How eco-friendly is frying a turkey?

By Ben Weiner
Chapter Communications Fellow

So let’s talk turkey. 

Thanksgiving is coming up quickly and a ton of turkey (actually 368,000 tons of turkey) [x] will be cooked for the holiday. A growing trend in turkey day culture is frying a turkey- allowing for crisp outsides with juicy moist insides.

The question I posit today is ‘How eco-friendly is frying a turkey?’

Most turkeys are cooked in a conduction oven- a traditional oven, either with an element for electric users or a traditional gas oven. These are historically energy inefficient- for example, of the 26 million turkeys cooked with electricity costs over 213 million kWh of electricity, roughly $25 million dollars worth. [x]

Modern convection ovens allow things to cook faster- the average convection cooking eliminates hot and cool spots for more even cooking. A turkey roasted in a convection oven, for example, will brown all over not just the top. These are going to be more energy efficient, cutting electricity use by about a third. [x]

So why not take the business outside to a fryer?

Frying creates that unique turkey I spoke about earlier, but its also fast, entertaining and most importantly, you have a lot more things to cook in the oven that day- the turkey doesn’t monopolize hours and hours in there. [x]

Most turkey fryers work on propane (which we’ve talked about before) [x] is not the most eco-friendly thing, but with how quickly you can cook the turkey, it can be efficient in perspective.

The downsides, however include the large amount of oil used, which can be as much as four or five gallons. This can get expensive and dangerous- with the used oil that needs to be disposed of properly. (Here’s some tips on that, by the way: [1][2]) Heating a large amount of oil over essentially an open flame burner is also dangerous- if you choose to fry, keep a fire extinguisher on hand for potential flare ups. (Also make sure your pets and kids are out of the way!)

To avoid that, you can also go for an ‘oilless fryer’, a contraption using infrared rays to simulate frying in what is essentially a specialized oven. [x] These use propane and can take much less time, but the overall energy savings will likely be minimal. They’re also a little bit healthier without all that oil in the middle!

So, consider frying next week, and try something new and slightly more efficient for your turkey. 

I just have one last question:

Did I fool you? Because the only turkey I’ll be roasting/frying for thanksgiving, and by far the most eco-friendly option, is this one from Quorn [x]. Which is not turkey at all but is actually made from mushroom proteins!

No matter what you're eating, have a great thanksgiving!

If you do want to fry this turkey day, than take a look at these recipes I found: 

[1], [2], [3]