The hubs loves his deep fryer so when Kita (Girl Carnivore) said hey, any interest in trying out the Char-broil The Big Easy Oil-less Turkey Fryer , I immediately said yes. He really became fascinated when I told him no oil, that it was all infrared. We both were curious to see if it would really “fry” our turkey.
Oh, yeah, we chose to do a turkey (we didn’t have to there are lots of other things you can do with it). Number one, because believe it or not I’ve never cooked a turkey! My ex-husband was not big on them and we went to The Herbfarm every year for dinner. Before that as a single person I wasn’t making a full on T-day meal, and now we go to my parents every year. I’ve made just about every side and dessert, but never the turkey.
Second, we wanted to try it out for my parents. My mom and dad come this year for Christmas. My mother drags her turkey roaster with her in the car. I wanted her not to have to do this.
Third, the dogs. Yes, the dogs. They like turkey. So we went simple. Hubs just rubbed a little peanut oil (you could do olive oil…it’s just what we had) on the outside of the bird and some salt and pepper. That was it.
So what did we think?
First off super easy to put together. We forced the teen to put it together. Easy, peasy. Look at how cruel we are forcing him to work for free. 😀
Second, it fries up in hardly any time! It will hold up to a 16 pound turkey, and we ended up getting a 15.7 pound turkey so we were almost at max. Ours took 2 hours and 45 minutes to make. No getting up early, we put ours in at 11am! And as you can see it came out beautiful!
As you can see below it really does make for a crispy skin and also clearly our turkey played basketball before meeting his fate #legsfordays. 🙂
It was super moist and juicy. That was with no brining, not stuffing it with anything, just plain! So I told my mom no worries about dragging the roaster this time that we will cook the turkey this year. She was pretty happy about that.
Of course, when I posted about it on FB the number one question is how easy was it to clean? Beyond easy. We emptied the tray (which had an aluminum tray that caught all the drippings for gravy). You continue to let it burn for about 15 minutes, and then turn it off. If there are any bits (we didn’t have any) you can use a grill brush after it cools. We cleaned the cooking grates which took like a minute. So yeah, we are in love with this. So much so that MDP wants the Big Easy Smoker and I went out and bought him the attachments for it that you can make ribs and kabobs with. We want to try a Prime Rib with it for NYE.
If you want learn more about The Big Easy Turkey Deep Fryer you can watch this little You Tube video. You are also going to get a chance to win one for yourself.
Since Char-Broil had quite a few of us bloggers all trying this out they decided our recipe didn’t have to be for turkey but something we would have at Thanksgiving. So pie. Not just any pie. Pumpkin Cookie Butter Pie. Pumpkin Pie that has a Pumpkin Cookie Butter Swirl. It’s so good. If you cannot find the Pumpkin Cookie Butter you can use plain Cookie Butter (both can be found at TJ’s). This is also an easy pie to make. I included the nice photo of the pie fresh out of the oven because mine did split after it was in the fridge for quite some time…which I had to do because it was sooo dark I wanted to wait for light. Never got it…thanks PNW.
Char-Broil did send me a Char-Broil The Big Easy TRU-Infrared Oil-less Turkey Fryer and gave me a gift card to cover expenses of making the turkey and pie. The opinions, bad grammar, and overuse of smiley faces are all mine. Thanks for supporting companies that support me.
Pumpkin Cookie Butter Pie
1 refrigerated pie crust
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
2 large eggs
1 can (15 oz.) 100% Pure Pumpkin
1 can (12 fl. oz.) Evaporated Milk
1/2 cup Pumpkin Cookie Butter, warmed (you can use regular Cookie Butter if you can’t find pumpkin)
Preheat oven to 425F.
Mix sugar, cinnamon, salt, ginger and cloves in small bowl.
Beat eggs in large bowl.
Stir in pumpkin and sugar-spice mixture.
Gradually whisk in evaporated milk.
Pour into pie shell.
Drop spoonfuls of warmed Pumpkin Cookie Butter onto pie, swirling gently with a knife. Do not swirl too much, just lightly.
Bake in preheated 425° F oven for 15 minutes.
Reduce temperature to 350° F; bake for 40 to 50 minutes or until knife inserted near center comes out clean.
Cool on wire rack for 2 hours. Serve immediately or refrigerate.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
/p>
Kristen Arland says
We had a deep fryer years ago, and got rid of it because the oil was so messy and such a pain to deal with. This seems like it would be awesome though! The smoker sounds pretty good too. The hubby loves cooking gadgets and I got him the Anova Sous Vide cooker for his birthday so maybe one of these would be good for Christmas…
Stephanie K. says
Oh man, I would love to try an air-fried turkey!
LeAnn says
A turkey….of course.
Mary Beth says
I would love to try this and use the leftovers for turkey enchiladas. Yum!
Erika says
Hubs and I decided to take a vacation for Thanksgiving this year rather than do the big family get-together. Trust me, we need it. But I would still fry the hell out of a turkey in one of these bad-boys. Well, actually probably a turkey breast since we are both lovers of the white meat.
Cassie says
I’d probably go for a turkey or a whole chicken first before launching into other possibilities =)
Kim says
It looks amazing!! I have never tired deep fried turkey, oil or otherwise, but I certainly here they are the way to go!
Becky T says
I am not even sure how I found this blog but so glad I did. I wonder how a ham would do in this contraction?
Peabody says
@Becky T- someone tried it. http://www.lifesatomato.com/2014/11/06/spiral-ham-char-broil-big-easy/
Karen says
I would love to make this!
Korrie@RedHenHome says
The turkey for sure! I might have to do one turkey in the fryer and one on the Traeger this year… Mmm!
Angel says
I would make a turkey.
Joy says
I would definitely pick a turkey breast for Jim because I have no idea how to cook them for him
Katie Rose says
Probably a turkey, because I’ve always wanted to try it!
Diane says
I’d make a chicken first, because I’ve never cooked a turkey and am terrified to ruin something so big. But then I’d definitely try out the turkey, and kebobs. Mmm kebobs sound delicious.
Amy Mason says
Not a huge fan of turkey, so I’d do a chicken. I would like to see if it can beat the Costco rotisserie chicken, we have those about once a week…
Becca M says
I would love to try frying a turkey for Thanksgiving, and doing it the easy way makes it all the more appealing:-)!
Jodi says
After getting the indoor rotisserie turkey fryer the other year… and still managing NOT to get crispy skin, I’d love an option that doesn’t involve gallons of oil 🙂
Kelly says
this would be so nice for thanksgiving!
Patti T. says
This sounds downright amazing! I would love to cook a turkey for Thanksgiving this way!
Kat V says
A coworker has one of these and loves it. I’d probably try to do a prime rib, since i have a few in the freezer and I love Prime Rib.
KB says
I think I’d have to abandon my other turkey recipe (well, recipes…) that I’ve saved and try a turkey in this thing right away. That crispy skin looks amazing.
Leigh Ann says
I’m curious about how a pork shoulder would turn out–your turkey looks fantastic!
Lisa S says
First I would make one of my brother’s home raised chickens that were huge last year and the size of small turkeys.
Amanda Joy says
My dad would think this is pretty awesome… And it would be a great alternative from peanut oil, for my niece with a nut allergy!
Katy says
Would love to try a turkey!
Megan P. says
My brother-in-law swears by his turkey fryer, but this seems like such a safer and easier option. The pie looks awesome too… and I have a 27-pound Cinderella pumpkin I need to hack up and roast, so this could be a possibility.
Sarah C. says
I am hosting Thanksgiving for the first time ever and am a little nervous about doing the turkey; this would totally put me at ease! I love how you don’t have to get up early to cook it!
Rebeka says
I’d like to try some kind of pork roast!
Bari says
This looks sooooo great! I had a deep turkey fryer, which made a great turkey, but the oil was so disgusting to deal with later and such a mess! This would be so easy! I could certainly use it this thanksgiving, but would have to cook another turkey or ham because there will be 25 here. Here is a fun thing to do: Have everyone put in a dollar and guess how much the turkey weighs — whoever is closer wins the pot! My family has done this as far back as I can remember – So much fun! Happy Thanksgiving Peabody —
Ginny says
Turkey–mostly to see if this would mean my dad would still tell me I made it wrong. 🙂
Ginny says
Turkey
Alice says
I would definitely try the turkey!
Kathy says
Peabody, like you I also have NEVER cooked a turkey! So, needless to say, that’s what I would try first 🙂
Erin M. says
I’ve never cooked a turkey before…in any regard. So, I would definitely try a turkey! This pie looks like something I might have to make for Thanksgiving this year!!
Betty Jo says
I’ve never had deep-fried turkey before. I like this new “fryer” because it doesn’t use any oil!
nancy says
looks yummy
Carrie M. says
It would be a turkey.
delia says
I would make a turkey.
stephanie says
Turducken! 😉
Kristen Young says
I would DEFINITELY make a big turkey!!!
Heather says
What strange magic is this? So cool!
Denise says
Wow. A turkey definitely.
Deborah says
Wow. I am so curious about this thing. I’d love to make Thanksgiving turkey with this thing.
Dana says
I’d make a turkey, most likely. There’s never enough oven space during the holidays, so it would be nice if we could free it up while also making a delicious turkey.
I had a deep fryer once. We did not get along. So much so that I now have a standing prescription for burn cream…
Melissa C. says
This oil less fryer is so cool! That turkey looks fabulous.
Felice says
Definitely a turkey. I am so over trying to juggle everything around, and keeping food hot.
Dana C says
I would obviously make a turkey. It beats having all the prep and mess of using the oil deep fryer we would normally use.
Dana C says
Also this pie looks amazing. The swirls and the deep colors, I am definitely giving kit a try as long as I can find the cookie butter around here.
Christina Larsen says
The pie looks delicious ! I enjoy cookie butter in most everything – it is fabulous in icing too. We have a turkey fryer and use it now and then. I would like to have an oil-free turkey fryer, It would be easier to use, less messy and much less dangerous. We use our fryer for turkey, fish, chicken, potatoes, etc. Thanks for the opportunity to win. Chris
Caldwell Price says
Love this idea, easy and looks amazing! Thank you for the chance to win one.
Shelby says
I would totally do a turkey first. I LOVE fried turkey. MY husbands family introduced me to it and it’s the bomb.
Karen D says
Currently have an electric turkey fryer, use it every year for Thanksgiving! Would love to try Oil less one that would be healthier for my family 🙂