The Easiest Way to Clean and Reuse Frying Oil

Frying may require a lot of oil, but you can reuse it if you know how to clean it properly.

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[martinmartin]

Thanks! When I lived down south my neighbor/friend showed me this. when I moved away, I couldn't remember how to do this, asked everyone & no one had any idea. It's been 30yrs ive been looking 4 how to do this! Thank you!

[farhorizons]

Filtering just removes solid particles. What is not mentioned is that this technique "washes" the oil and will in addition remove any water-soluble compounds that filtering alone won't. These compounds may contribute to "off" tastes. So perhaps not a time saver, but you should get a cleaner product.

[rockys]

Sometimes I learn more from the comments in videos than the actual video themselves.

[Codiggity]

The strainer + coffee filter is way easier. Just set aside and go about your day. This technique is way more work because you have to be there.

[ChiKitty]

I didn't wait for my oil to cool entirely. It was still hot but not boiling (200 deg F) and added my slurry. It bubbled a bit and congealed within a couple minutes. I left it to cool before straining. Definitely a timesaver and effective!

[nlawson]

This works great.
All the folks dismissing it as taking too long are missing out and I seriously question their judgement on time and efficiency.
First, it doesn’t take long, it took me 5 minutes from when I turned on the burner on low.
Not even really.
Was even able to wash a few remaining utensils in the middle of it heating up.
I stirred it some and it still captured all the debris.
Then I pour it all threw a normal strainer, no coffee filter or anything like that, into a big tupperware, minus the glob with all the particles caught in it, obviously.
Brilliant.
So easy and the oil looks debris free.
Amazing.

[larrygreen]

When I was a Navy cook we put our used oil in a big pot and and added about half the amount in water and put a hand full of bay leaves in it. Then we would boil it for about 30 minuets . We would let the oil completely cool. That way all the water and gunk had settled to the bottom of the kettle . We drained off the water and what we had was clean odor free oil .

[NeonKue]

Using a coffee filter is fine for most but it also leaves behind the flavor of whatever you fried it in. The corn starch helps absorb food particles and lingering flavors so you can have a cleaner tasting oil after. Some people like the concentrated flavor of mystery oil.

[xysterr]

Tried this today..I needed to heat the oil over medium-medium low to get cornstarch to congeal, and pushed around intermittently. It took longer than 15 minutes, but got the oil cleaner than filtering alone

[benjaminpagaduan]

I threw plenty of used frying oil before, with this tips, I can now recycle my used frying oil. Thank you so much. Godbless.

[pakdiva]

One of the best ATK kitchen hacks so far! Peanut oil is expensive, love that this a way to "clean" the oil to reuse.

[jocelynmartinez]

Did this tonight and it worked like a charm !

Some questions I'll try to answer from ones I've seen in the comment section.

• I used Vegetable Oil
• Since I used about half a gallon of oil. There's 8 cups in half a gallon.
• My oil was at 99°F when I poured my mixture in.
• I put my gas stove on a 4-5 (Medium heat)
• Within 15 minutes it clumped up together and I was able to laddle it out.

• For every 1 cup of oil you need 1/4 cup of water and for every 1/4 cup of water you need 1 Tablespoon of Cornstarch.

1/4 cup water × 8 cups of oil used = 2 cups of water needed.

1 Tablespoon of cornstarch × 8 (1/4 cups in 2 cups of water) = 8 Tablespoons of cornstarch

My ratio of water to cornstarch was 2cups water : 8 Tbsp of cornstarch.


Hope this helps someone out 🤗

[maryp]

Tried this today and it worked great. I did use a cheese cloth with the strainer just to make sure nothing was in it.

[adrianemelvin]

This video is wonderful. It's not about straining the oil, but cleaning it so it can be reused.

[jameslayne]

Two notes: I just cleaned mine out. I used much less starch than this recommends. There's no way you need a tablespoon per cup of oil. My deep fryer has about 16 cups of oil in it! That's a lot of starch! I simply mixed a cup of water with 3 tablespoons of corn starch. Heated it a little longer, but it eventually solidified. That was enough to cover the bottom of my stock pot. I didn't see any leftover debris in the oil when I strained it. If you want to be extra careful, you could use even more cornstarch. But I don't think you need to use as much as this recommends. Second observation: Don't take it off the heat and strain it until it is really thick. I took mine off too early the first time I tried it, and the starch mixture actually went through the holes of the strainer. You'll know when it's ready.

[nksbba]

I’ll now finally be willing to deep fry at home. Best tip ever

[semco]

That sounds like a great idea and I will remember it when I am cooking again with cooking oil. I was throwing out oil after each use when I could have saved it and didn't know that it could have been used again. There is some fish shops which sell and cook fish on the premises and they use it for days before throwing it out and I have not went back to those places too. Thanks for sharing this information and you all have saved me some money.

[adambeltran]

I just did this and it worked perfectly! Thank you!

[dominicfong]

It is pure genius, never would have thought I can get away with heating a mixture of water and oil without any dangerous consequences.

[trublgrl]

Meanwhile, the place we buy fries and fried chicken has been using the same oil for eleven years.