Scary Video Shows What Happens If You Deep Fry Turkey Incorrectly

Art of Manliness / YouTube

Authorities all around the country are warning families about the dangers of deep-frying a Thanksgiving turkey and giving out safety tips to make sure you don’t burn the house down.

While Minnesota is the nation’s leading turkey producer, the Minnesota State Fire Marshal actually shared a video on how easily deep-frying a turkey can go wrong and erupt into flames.

“Planning on deep frying your turkey this Thanksgiving? Using extreme caution and doing it outside could prevent a devastating fire. Watch how easily frying a turkey can go terribly wrong,” Minnesota State Fire Marshal wrote on Facebook.

The video showed the fire department lowering a turkey into scalding hot oil, which instantly started to steam, boil over, and send red-hot flames several feet into the air.

According to the St. Paul Fire Department, the number one thing to do first is to make sure the bird is thawed and dried thoroughly before dropping it into the oil. Deep-frying frozen turkey is extremely dangerous.

In addition to that, the Deer Park Fire Department added that you need to make sure you lower the turkey into the hot oil very slowly.

“When you do it, you want to do it slowly. You do not want to just drop the bird in. You want to slowly lower the bird in, it will bubble, will hear it sizzle. Just keep it going at a slow rate,” Chief Robert Macaluso said, accoring to Long Island News 12.

Officials also recommend you never to fry it inside, near pets, or close to any low-hanging trees or awnings. The best thing to do is deep-fry it outside and away from wood or other types of combustible surfaces.

The last thing officials say to do is when you are done cooking the turkey, never pour the oil down the drain or your toilet, even if the oil is cooled off.

The reason for this is because oil is still a flammable substance and if it came in contact with a flame it could blow up your toilet or sink plumbing.

The Art of Manliness shared a video on YouTube saying that 4,300 people per year burn their house down due to deep-frying a turkey and he’ll show you how to do it correctly.

How to Deep Fry a Turkey Video Below

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