You Can Deep Fry Frozen Foods If You Follow This One Rule

The thought of deep frying frozen food may have you a little nervous, especially if you're familiar with stories of people accidentally causing fires when they try to deep fry frozen turkeys. However, many frozen foods are perfectly suited for this cooking method — think mozzarella sticks and French fries. Some products, like breaded chicken tenders, even have cooking instructions which say you can deep fry them directly from the freezer. You just have to be careful about water.

While your food shouldn't be wet coming out of the freezer, it may have ice crystals on the surface. That's what you need to look out for. The possibility of hot oil coming into contact with too much water is what makes the process dangerous. So to be safe you should scrape or brush off any visible ice on your food before it goes in the fryer. You can also pat it dry with a paper towel if any moisture has accumulated before you begin cooking. Do that, frozen onion rings, steaks, fish, and more should all do fine in the hot frying oil.

What makes water on your fried food dangerous? It actually has to do with evaporation. This is part of what makes fried food crispy: The water inside of it gets driven out, causing the exterior to dry and harden. However, if you leave moisture (or ice crystals in the case of frozen items) sitting on the outside of food that you're putting in a hot fryer, the water instantly vaporizes and turns to steam. This can cause oil to sputter and splash, potentially resulting in burn injuries or fires. You see a safer version of evaporation when a smaller amount of water forms bubbles near the top of the oil. That's why you can fry a frozen chicken tender but not a whole icy turkey: The bigger bird contains too much water, and evaporation happens farther below the surface.

Beyond ice on the exterior, you'll want to be safe by making sure you cook food a little longer from frozen. While some products will have instructions for time, if you don't have specific guidance know that it usually takes about 50% longer for something to cook from frozen. This isn't as much of an issue with precooked frozen food, but it's a good benchmark for raw meats. You may also want to lower the temperature of the fry oil so the outside doesn't burn before the inside is cooked. With these few small adjustments your deep fried frozen food will be crispy, safe, and delicious.