Let’s be honest with ourselves. Fried food is amazing. There’s nothing that satiates those deep cravings other than food that’s pulled straight from hot fry oil. As much as I love fried food, I never want to make it. Why? Oil is just such a hassle. Who wants to use and throw out quarts of oil just for one recipe? Not me! And I’m sure you don’t like the idea either. But since my love of fried foods outweighs my hesitations, I wanted to know, just how many times can you reuse fry oil?
Well, the answer isn’t straightforward, many factors impact the quality of frying oil. Frying your food can alter not just the quality but the flavor of the oil.
Essentially more water in your food and breading shortens the lifespan of fry oil. Water and oil don’t mix. As the oil comes into contact with more water-ladened foods, the oil will become less and less hydrophobic (a fancy word that means water repellent). The result? The oil will enter the fried food, creating a greasy texture.
Debris can also worsen the quality of the oil. Things without a coating — like potato chips or un-flour dusted doughnuts — will break oil down after seven to eight uses. However, dredged foods like onion rings, fried chicken, or crispy vegetables will like fine particles in the frying oil, degrading it after three to four uses.
Foods like vegetables impart very little taste to the oil. Yet foods like meats, which have their fat, will affect the oil more. As the meat deep-fries, the fat renders down, dissolving into the oil, altering the quality and taste. The more fat something has, the more it will degrade the oil.
What temperature you fry your foods also causes damage to the oil. If you fry at a low temperature, the food sits in the oil longer, allowing for the food particles to break off and fall into the oil. A temperature that’s too high will break down the oil itself, rendering it unusable very fast.
Use a thermometer to get the proper frying temperature.
After frying foods, use a strainer to remove the food particles.
Don’t use the same oil for savory and sweet food, the fat from the meat will transfer to your desserts.
And while there are no exact numbers, oil-frying breaded foods (coated desserts and breaded proteins) will last three to four times, and oil-frying bare, un-breaded foods like french fries, chips, and vegetables will last around seven to eight times.