The inexpensive Presto DualDaddy electric deep fryer is essentially a heavy-duty, cast aluminum bucket that holds up to 8 cups of oil. You don’t get a mesh basket to hold your food – it simply cooks in the oil, and you use the included scoop to retrieve items. In our tests, it took 20 minutes for this 1,500-watt fryer to reach optimum temperature, and it took eight minutes to recover its temperature once we added food to the fryer. That is much slower than average on both counts.
You don’t get an adjustable thermostat because there is only one temperature setting. The DualDaddy cooks up to 4.2 pounds of food per batch, the most of any fryer we tested. Presto includes a divider so you can cook two types of food, say fish and chips, separately but at the same time. This model also comes with a snap-on lid, so once you finish frying and the bucket has cooled, you can cover and store it.
The Presto DualDaddy both benefits and suffers from its simple design. It lacks several of the features and accessories other deep fryers we reviewed include. For example, it doesn’t have an indicator light to tell you if the unit is on or if the oil has reached optimal cooking temperature. There also isn’t a timer, and the fryer doesn’t have a lid or screen to prevent oil from splattering while you cook.
In addition, the DualDaddy doesn’t have a filtration system, so you can’t filter and reuse cooking oil as with many of the other models we reviewed. However, compared with other fryers we evaluated, it was easier to add and remove oil to this Presto fryer.
When it's time to clean the fryer, you wait until the oil completely cools, pour it into an empty milk carton or other unrecyclable container, and either store or dispose of it. The DualDaddy is not dishwasher-safe, but you can hand-wash the bucket with hot, soapy water. The T-Fal Ultimate EZ Clean includes an oil-storage compartment of its own, so it’s easy to keep and reuse it.
The DualDaddy is among the least safe deep fryers we tested. While it has plastic handles on both sides of the bucket, we don't recommend moving it once it's plugged in since the exterior gets extremely hot. In our tests, the outside reached 228 degrees Fahrenheit – hot enough that brushing up against it could deliver a severe burn. However, this deep fryer has skid-resistant feet to keep it from sliding and a magnetic safety cord you can quickly remove to cut off power in case of an emergency. Presto offers a two-year warranty, which is longer than average.
