The Carrot Trick You Should Try For Cleaner Frying Oil

If any of your favorite home-cooked recipes involve frying, there's a surprising hack that could transform your experience — one that can save you from accidental burning and the bitter flavor that comes with it, and spare you from using copious amounts of oil. The carrot trick, which is as simple as adding pieces of raw, trimmed carrot to your frying oil, could prevent whatever you're frying and the oil itself from burning.

When your frying oil doesn't burn away quickly, you won't have to keep adding more to the pan. The oil will also be clean enough to use again for your next batch, whether you're making latkes, crispy chicken, or fried green tomatoes. This simple trick has been making the rounds on social media, and home chefs swear by it. Trying it out for yourself is as simple as picking up a whole carrot or two the next time you're ready to do some frying.

Perhaps the best thing about this hack is how easy it is to incorporate into your frying process. It works for just about anything you'd want to fry at home, including dumplings, fish, or pickles, and doesn't require any prep beyond trimming a whole carrot into a piece that's small enough to fit inside your pan. Once the frying oil is sizzling, add the carrot along with whatever it is you're frying. Then sit back and watch as the carrot works like a magnet, attracting the tiny burnt particles that you don't want on your main dish. Meanwhile, your oil stays clean and your fried concoction tastes delicious.

You can reuse the same carrot for multiple batches. Depending on how long you're frying and how hot your oil is, you may need to replace the carrot several times. You'll know it's time for a new one when the carrot starts to look shriveled and burnt.

It's hard to pinpoint for sure why this method works for so many home chefs. Carrots have a high concentration of water – their water content ranges from 86% to 95% — and foods with a high water content tend to cook faster. Therefore, one theory for why this trick works so well is that the carrot is able to absorb a lot of heat while preventing the other food in your pan from burning. It seems that the carrot works almost like a protective shield, bearing the brunt of the burning while your latkes or chicken shimmer in the clean oil.

Whatever the exact science behind the carrot trick is, cooks all over the internet are singing its praises. Given how simple it is to try, why not test it out yourself and see if it works for you? You have nothing to lose but a carrot or two, and you might just find that you use less oil, fry your main dish to perfection, and don't have to worry about burnt particles clinging to your food and ruining its flavor.