This recipe is for people from New Jersey. If you’re not from New Jersey, keep scrolling.
For legal purposes, that’s a joke. In order to understand the joy and significance of a fried Oreo, you really just have to be a person who’s been to a theme park, a tailgate, a state fair, and/or had a childhood. My connection to them falls into the former two categories. It wasn’t until I was barely an adult that I first was handed three of these guys at a Jets tailgate in the parking lot of MetLife Stadium on a gray, bitingly cold day. The guy who handed them to me explained confidently that the proper serving size was three almost-too-hot Oreos in one go, and that I had to eat them now, fresh out the tiny fryer teetering on the edge of the pick-up truck in the middle of our set-up.
I hated that football game, but I loved those Oreos. And that guy! I married him, like, seven years later.
Every fried Oreo I’ve had since has been so good, no matter how big a batch or fryer it came from. If you’ve also received good and correct ones, you’ll have smelled them coming before you saw them. They’re reminiscent of funnel cake, with a chewy sweetness that is so familiar you’d recognize it anywhere. The powdered sugar is in every bite, but it coats that puffy golden shell so well you never know how much is actually on there.
And if you’re still sitting there intrigued (in a good or bad way!) by the idea that someone would fry Oreos, that’s by design. These things have been mainstays at places with fun stalls and delicious things since the aughts when a then-teenaged Charlie Boghosian threw a bunch of Oreos in a deep-fryer while he was working at the 2001 San Diego County Fair. Why? “To get customers’ attention,” he told Forbes back in 2018. (There are unconfirmed reports of people experimenting and technically “creating” Oreo-frying as early as 1995, but the popularity can firmly be traced back to Boghosian.)
The common thread of all fried Oreos, though, is that they feel like an outside-the-home experience. This made it an even more fun challenge for our team to develop this recipe! How could we capture that festive, fair-like energy (and taste and texture) at home? Our Birmingham test kitchen colleague Melissa Gray identified several variables crucial to this experiment: frying temperature, Oreo filling amount, Oreo temperature, batch size, and toppings. Then she tested—and we tasted—batch after batch after batch.
The first three variables go hand-in-hand. The higher the oil temp we tested, the crunchier the shell and less visible the Oreo filling—both in frozen and non-frozen versions—became. The lower the temp, the more unpleasantly melted and soggy the cookies and filling both became. The batter, of course, was also sometimes still raw. Frying Double Stuf Oreos at 375° for two minutes was the “sweet spot,” Melissa noted, yielding a golden-brown fried exterior, a crunchy cookie, and a lush, significant, intact layer of filling. You can find the full scope of her temperature and filling testing below.
As for toppings, hitting the cookies with both powdered sugar and salt immediately out of the fryer provides a balance the bites really needed. It also, of course, is crucial for fried Oreo-eating ambiance.
Finally, for consumption instructions, follow my former boyfriend’s rules: Eat them now. You can worry about proposing later.
On a 13- by 18-inch rimmed baking sheet, arrange cookies in even layer. Freeze, uncovered, until firm, about 30 minutes.
Fill a large Dutch oven with 2 inches oil. Heat over medium-high heat until a deep-fry or instant-read thermometer registers 375°F (190°C). Line another 13- by 18-inch rimmed baking sheet with a double layer of paper towels; set aside.
Meanwhile: In a large bowl, whisk eggs, milk, sugar, and vanilla to combine. Using a fine-mesh sieve, sift flour, baking powder, and salt over egg mixture; using a flexible spatula, fold flour mixture in until combined and smooth. Set aside until oil is ready.
Working 1 at a time, dip frozen cookie in batter, turning and using a spoon, if necessary, to ensure entire cookie is coated in batter. Working quickly, use fingers to lift cookie from batter and carefully lower battered cookie into oil, sliding them in from as close to the oil as possible to minimize splashing. Repeat process with 5 more cookies until 6 total battered cookies are in oil. Cook, turning halfway through, until golden brown, about 2 minutes per batch. Using a spider skimmer or slotted spoon, transfer fried cookies to prepared baking sheet. Season to taste with salt. Repeat with remaining cookies and batter, frying in batches of 6 and adjusting heat as needed to maintain an oil temperature of 375ºF (190ºC). Dust with powdered sugar and serve warm.
Special Equipment
Two 13- by 18-inch rimmed baking sheets, large Dutch oven, deep-fry or instant-read thermometer, spider skimmer or slotted spoon
Notes
Other flavors of Oreo or similar cookies will work here as well, assuming their filling recipe and consistency is relatively the same.
Make-Ahead and Storage
OK, fine, you can store that batter in the refrigerator for up to 2-to-3 days. You can also store leftover fried Oreos in an air-tight container in the refrigerator for up to three days and reheat them in an airfryer. But what did I tell you? Just eat them now.
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