When choosing equipment for your restaurant’s kitchen, you need to know which appliances are best, including your fryer. While you may think that all fryers do the same job so there can’t be a better one, you’d be mistaken. There is a big difference between pressure fryers and open fryers, and one does a better job depending on what you’re looking for. So, is a commercial pressure fryer better than an open fryer? Keep reading to find out.

Pressure Frying: Faster and Healthier

Due to the extra pressure in a pressure fryer, this device cooks food faster than an open fryer. This additional pressure, about 12 psi, also means that you can cook at a lower temperature and expose the food to less air. Lower temperature with less air helps oil last longer, so a pressure fryer is also more economical than an open fryer.

Not only is a pressure fryer faster than an open fryer, but it also creates a healthier product. The pressure means that you don’t need to use as much oil and with that reduced oil but increased pressure, you’ll help food retain its natural flavors. This makes pressure fried food healthy and tasty at the same time.

Open Frying: Crispier and Customizable

While pressure frying does produce fried food, an open fryer produces fried food with a much crisper shell. They especially excel at non-meat fried foods such as onion rings, fries and mozzarella sticks, creating the perfect texture on the outside. This ability to perfectly fry so many different foods makes it a versatile, customizable piece of kitchen equipment.

Another way that open fryers are customizable is through their multi-vat system. While many pressure fryers have one large vat for frying, a multi-vat open fryer allows you to cook multiple small orders at once, or clean one vat while frying in another.

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Pressure vs. Open

So which should you choose? The answer depends on what you’re looking for. If your kitchen needs quick equipment that will turn out healthier products, choose a pressure fryer. If your patrons prefer crispier products and you want to be able to customize the equipment, then go with an open fryer.

Is a commercial pressure fryer better than an open fryer? Neither is technically better than the other, and it just depends on what you’re looking to get out of the fryer. Both have pros and cons that you will need to weigh as you decide which appliance is best for your restaurant’s needs.