How many turkeys can you fry with a 20 lb propane tank?
A full 20 lb tank holds about 431,377 Btu. A burner rated 55,000 Btu/h running at full flame empties it in about 7.8 hours, which is roughly 9 twelve pound turkeys after heating the oil once. A lower flame stretches that. This page shows the arithmetic, so you can swap in your own burner rating.
Turkeys per tank
Each cell is whole turkeys fried one after another at 4 minutes per pound, after one 30 minute preheat at full flame. The first number assumes the burner runs at its full rating the whole time. The second assumes it averages half of that. The burner ratings are examples. Your fryer's rating plate or manual has the real figure.
| Burner | Tank lasts at full flame | 10 lb turkeys: full / half flame | 12 lb turkeys: full / half flame | 15 lb turkeys: full / half flame |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 30,000 Btu/h | 14.4 h | 20 / 41 | 17 / 34 | 13 / 27 |
| 55,000 Btu/h | 7.8 h | 11 / 22 | 9 / 18 | 7 / 14 |
| 100,000 Btu/h | 4.3 h | 5 / 11 | 4 / 9 | 3 / 7 |
The USDA advice for frying is a bird no larger than 12 pounds. The 15 lb column is only arithmetic for a bigger pot, so check your fryer's manual for its weight limit.
The arithmetic
20 lb ÷ 4.24 lb per gal = 4.72 gal
4.720 gal × 91,452 Btu per gal = 431,377 Btu
Preheat, 55,000 Btu/h × 30 min = 27,500 Btu
One 12 lb bird, 55,000 Btu/h × 48 min = 44,000 Btu
(431,377 − 27,500) ÷ 44,000 = 9.18 → 9 birds
The 91,452 Btu per gallon is the EIA figure the rest of this site uses, and 4.24 pounds per gallon is the "Lb. per. gal." row of the Engineering Toolbox LPG table. The same sums are on the 20 lb tank page, where you can read hours for a grill or heater.
Fry time and where it comes from
- The ThompsonGas FAQ says "the necessary timing is usually 3-4 minutes per pound", and works out about 80 minutes for a 20 pound turkey and 40 minutes for a 10 pound one. This page uses 4 minutes per pound, the top of that range.
- The USDA's frying advice, as printed by University of Wisconsin-Madison Extension, says "Allow approximately 3 to 5 minutes of cook time per pound".
- Neither page gives a time for heating the oil. The 30 minutes at full flame is my assumption, and cold weather or wind could make it longer.
The minutes per pound move the answer. For a 12 lb bird on a 55,000 Btu/h burner at full flame:
- 3 min per lb is 36 minutes a bird, and 12 birds per tank.
- 4 min per lb is 48 minutes a bird, and 9 birds per tank.
- 5 min per lb is 60 minutes a bird, and 7 birds per tank.
Why not 18 to 20 turkeys
The ThompsonGas FAQ says "A typical 20-pound propane tank has about 18-20 hours of continuous burn time", and that with 15 pound turkeys "one 20-pound propane tank may be able to cook as many as 18 to 20 turkeys". Spread 431,377 Btu over 18 to 20 hours and the burner averages 21,569 to 23,965 Btu/h. Eighteen to twenty 15 lb birds at 3.5 minutes per pound (the middle of their 3 to 4) is 15.8 to 17.5 hours of frying, which needs an average of 24,650 to 27,389 Btu/h with no preheat.
So the claim holds for a burner that averages about 25,000 to 27,000 Btu/h and needs no time to heat the oil. At full flame, a 30,000 Btu/h burner gets 13 birds of 15 lb from a tank in the table above, and a 55,000 Btu/h one gets 7. If your burner is rated higher than that average, plan with the table. The FAQ also says to have "a backup tank" if possible, which fits the arithmetic.
What this page does not cover
This page counts fuel. How to set up and run a fryer safely is in the manufacturer's instructions and the USDA's frying advice linked above. Wind, cold and a pot that is not fully lit all change real fuel use, and a partly full tank holds proportionally less: a tank at half has about half the Btu.
Related pages
Planning the rest of the meal around a fried bird? The Thanksgiving timeline with a fried turkey has fry times by weight and a schedule that leaves the oven for the sides. For another appliance on a 20 lb tank, see how long a generator runs. A tank with a gauge is on the propane tank percentage chart.