Educational · 7 min read
How Much Does a Deep Fryer Cost to Run? (2026 Energy Data)
A typical 1,700-watt countertop deep fryer used once a week costs about $4.70 a year at the April 2026 US average rate of 18.05¢/kWh. Daily frying costs $33 a year. Per session, the math lands at roughly 9 cents. Buying ice or oil costs more than the electricity does.
Cost per session
A countertop deep fryer pulls 1,200 to 1,800 watts, with most home models in the 1,700-watt range. The element is on at full power during the 10-minute preheat, then cycles at roughly 50 percent to hold oil temperature during the cook. A typical 25-minute session uses about half a kilowatt-hour and costs 9 cents at the 2026 US average rate.
The math: 1,700 watts × 10 minutes preheat plus 1,700 watts × 15 minutes cooking at 50% duty = 283 Wh + 213 Wh = 496 Wh, rounded to 0.5 kWh. At $0.1805 per kWh, that's $0.09. The smaller 1,200-watt FryDaddy-style units land at about 6 cents per session. The biggest 1,800-watt Cuisinart and Presto ProFry machines round to 10 cents.
The RunWatts deep fryer calculator runs the same math at your state's rate. Wattage tiers and spec-sheet sources for T-fal, Presto, and Cuisinart live on that page.
Cost by frequency
The annual number depends entirely on how often you fry. Most home cooks fall in the once-a-week range. Heavy users fry two or three times a week. A few people fry daily, and even that lands well below most kitchen appliances.
Weekly (52 sessions a year): 26 kWh, $4.69 a year, about 39 cents a month. Twice a week (104 sessions): 52 kWh, $9.39 a year, 78 cents a month. Daily (365 sessions): 182.5 kWh, $32.94 a year, $2.75 a month.
The same daily-frying household running a compact 1,200-watt unit uses 128 kWh and pays $23 a year. The 1,800-watt models push daily frying to $35. The wattage range only swings the annual number by about $12.
Tip
A deep fryer is not an expensive appliance to run
Deep fryer vs air fryer vs electric oven
The three appliances that cook fried-style food at home draw very different amounts of electricity per session, mostly because the cooking time and duty cycle vary, not because the wattage labels differ.
A typical 1,500-watt air fryer needs no preheat and cycles at about 75 percent duty for a 20-minute cook. That works out to 0.375 kWh per session, or 7 cents at the US average. A deep fryer's 25-minute session lands at 9 cents. A full electric oven (2,500 watts, 10-minute preheat at full power plus 30 minutes at 50 percent duty) runs about 1.04 kWh per session, or 19 cents. Over a year of daily use, that gap compounds: air fryer $25, deep fryer $33, electric oven $69.
The air fryer wins on electricity because the cook time is short and the chamber is small. The deep fryer wins on capacity and oil temperature stability. The oven wins on volume cooking. For a single family meal, the running-cost difference is a few cents either way.
The same fryer in different states
State rates spread the annual number more than wattage does. A household frying daily on a 1,700-watt unit uses 182.5 kWh a year:
Louisiana (12.44¢/kWh): $22.70. Texas (14.80¢/kWh): $27.01. US average (18.05¢/kWh): $32.94. New York (24.40¢/kWh): $44.53. California (31.01¢/kWh): $56.59. Hawaii (39.79¢/kWh): $72.62.
Hawaii pays about 3.2 times what Louisiana pays for the same fryer and the same usage. The state rates guide has the full 2026 breakdown. For weekly use, the same spread collapses to a $3 to $10 range across all 50 states. The fryer is a low-runtime appliance, so the rate sensitivity matters less than it does for a refrigerator or water heater.
What actually moves the number
1. Oil temperature, not wattage.Setting the fryer to 375°F instead of 350°F adds about 8 percent to the energy per session. The element has to work harder to hold the higher temperature against ambient losses. Stick to the recipe temperature. Higher isn't faster, and at 400°F most oils start to break down.
2. Batch size and recovery time.Dumping cold food into hot oil drops the temperature 30 to 50 degrees instantly. The element kicks back to full power to recover. Frying two big batches in one session uses less energy than four small ones because the preheat fixed cost only happens once. If you're frying for a family, do it all at once.
3. Lid on between batches. Most home fryers come with a lid for a reason. Keeping it closed during preheat cuts preheat time by about 20 percent, and keeping it on between batches reduces the recovery work the element has to do. That alone saves 10 to 15 percent of session energy on a multi-batch fry.
4. Gas vs electric range frying.Frying on the stovetop in a deep pot over a gas burner uses no electricity. Frying on an electric range coil pulls 1,500 to 2,500 watts at higher duty than a dedicated fryer because the pan has no thermostat. A countertop deep fryer's built-in temperature control is what makes it cheaper to run than improvising on the range. The appliance wattage chart shows where every kitchen device lands on the running-cost spectrum.
The bigger cost in deep frying is the oil, not the electricity. Three to four pounds of fresh oil at $8 to $14 per session, used three to four times before the flavor degrades, runs $2 to $5 a session in consumables. The electricity is 9 cents. If you cook more like a food processor or blender household, with most sessions under 5 minutes, the energy story for a deep fryer is the same: tiny. State rate data in this piece is from the EIA Electric Power Monthly, April 2026 release.