My House Smells Like Deep Fryer! (We Have a Few Fixes)

Aariellynn Viera
by Aariellynn Viera

It’s an open secret that Americans love fried food. So if there’s an upcoming celebration, there will certainly be lots of frying to do in your kitchen. Nonetheless, this doesn’t mean that the odor of all those fried delicacies should linger in your house for days on end. On the contrary, the scent can be a source of great embarrassment, especially if you have guests in the house.

If there’s a lingering deep fryer odor in your house, it means you fry food over too high heat. This makes the oil emit unpleasant odors that linger in the kitchen longer than normal. Also, using unrefined cooking oil leaves a strong odor in your kitchen because it contains more impurities than refined cooking oil.

The lingering smell of fried food may leave you wondering whether those tasty fries are worth it in the first place. For many people, giving up fried foods isn’t an option, but there’s a lot you can do to combat the nauseating deep fryer odor. After frying food, you’ll undoubtedly want to get rid of the ensuing scent and leave your house smelling clean and fresh.

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How to Prevent, Reduce, and Eliminate Deep Fryer Odor

Fried food is tasty, but the lingering odor in your house after that can be unsettling. Therefore, it’s best to learn how to prevent and reduce deep-frying smells. By implementing measures for preventing friendly odor smells, you’ll be doing enough to reduce or eliminate them even before you start frying food in your kitchen. Thus, learning how to prevent the odor is a long-term strategy, especially if you fry food regularly.

Reducing deep fryer odors doesn’t aim at eliminating the odors but lessening them significantly. On the other hand, odor elimination is all about getting rid of the deep fryer smell from your house. Therefore, it’s best to remember that both the prevention and reduction strategies aim at vanquishing deep fryer odors. That said, here are some tips for getting rid of deep fryer smells from your house.

Ventilate Your Kitchen

Any form of ventilation will go a long way in reducing deep-frying odors from the kitchen and the entire house. Every time you fry food, open all the windows in the kitchen to allow in some fresh air. Also, turn on the fan to direct air outwards.

If you have an AC unit in the kitchen, crank it up to enhance air circulation. The same applies to stovetop ventilation, since it helps in eliminating the fryer odor from the room. Keep the windows open and the AC and stove ventilation on as you cook. This way, there will be no lingering odor when you’re done.

Use a Deep Fryer With a Filter

Regardless of the preventive measures you take, there will still be a lingering deep-frying odor in your kitchen. The best you can do is limit its spread and the amount of time the odor lingers in the air. An easy way to do so is by choosing a deep fryer that comes with an in-built filter. The odor-eliminating feature helps to eliminate the odor significantly.

Isolate the Cooking Area

We’ve all stepped into a house with a deep-frying odor. Often, this happened because the kitchen wasn’t isolated when frying, which allowed the smell to seep into the other rooms in the house. Closing the kitchen door and the doors to other rooms in your house goes a long way in preventing the spread of the deep frying odor.

When frying in summer, closing the kitchen door will undoubtedly make the space a little stuffy. However, it’s better to be in a stuffy kitchen for a couple of minutes than to allow the deep frying odor to take over the entire house for several days.

Always remember that the odor lingers in houses because it permeates closets, furniture, and even your house. Keeping all the doors closed while you’re cooking means even closing the wardrobe doors. Even if some smell escapes from the kitchen, it won’t spread to other rooms extensively or even get absorbed by furniture and your fabrics.

Getting rid of the odor once it spreads extensively is challenging, hence the need to prevent it from spreading in the first place. There’s no better way to do so than containing the odor in your kitchen. If the odor is contained in a well-ventilated kitchen, it will be easier for you to get rid of it on the same day you prepare the fried delicacies.

Clean the Kitchen Immediately

It’s tempting to start digging into your fried delicacies once you finish preparing them. However, this isn’t advisable since it allows the deep fryer odor to spread in your house. It’s best to avoid succumbing to the temptation of tucking into the food immediately. Instead, clean up the kitchen area first.

Indeed, no one wants to be told to clean up right after frying some greasy chicken ribs. Nevertheless, this will save you from the nauseating deep fryer odor in the long run. So, start by cleaning up those greasy and oily pots and frying pans as soon as you’re done using them.

Also, use a kitchen degreaser to wipe down the marble countertops, nearby walls, the stovetop, and other kitchen appliances. This chore may take some time, so consider turning up the music while at it. In the end, you’ll not only have a clean kitchen, but the deep-frying odor will also be less noticeable in the kitchen and the entire house. After that, you can get down to your fries.

Light a Scented Candle

You can get rid of the deep frying odor by lighting a scented candle (or a couple). However, it’s best to keep in mind that this won’t help when cooking. It only helps once you’re done frying. Normal candles can’t help you get rid of the deep fryer scent, but scented ones will do an excellent job.

Scented candles give a pleasant fragrance that masks the nauseating odor. In this regard, consider buying vegetable wax candles. They not only neutralize bad scents but are also less dangerous than paraffin wax candles.

Although one candle may not be effective, don’t use too many since they may produce an overpowering odor, which can make your space even more uncomfortable. There are different scent options to consider, including pumpkin spice, cinnamon, and spice. Choose a scent that you’re most comfortable with and one that can mask the deep fryer scent completely.

Boil Vinegar in Water

If you’re looking for a natural solution to the deep fryer odor in your house, consider boiling a solution of water and vinegar. Pour a cup of water into a small saucepan, then add a tablespoon of vinegar. Allow the mixture to simmer for a couple of minutes so that its odor permeates the kitchen.

To make the solution even more effective, you can throw in a few bay leaves, vanilla extract, lemon peels or halves, fresh rosemary, or even cinnamon sticks. These will add a more pleasant natural odor to the vinegar and water solution.

Just as it’s the case with scented candles, boiling the water and vinegar solution in your kitchen only provides a short-term solution to the deep fryer odor. The method won’t work effectively if there’s an odor throughout the house. It only helps manage the deep fryer odor in the kitchen and not the other rooms in your house.

Use an Air Freshener

When you walk into your house, and there’s a lingering deep fryer odor, the first thing that will cross your mind is to grab the air freshener. Indeed, this is a tried-and-tested method of dealing with unpleasant odors around the house. Aerosol sprays deliver scented pressurized liquids into the air, thus replacing the bad odor with stronger and better-smelling scents.

Diffusers can also help you deal with the oily odor by diffusing cool mist throughout your house. Some diffusers also improve humidity, thus helping you get rid of unpleasant odors. If the scent lingers for long, and you don’t have the time to keep spraying your living space to eliminate it, consider using plugins and solid air fresheners.

Plugins are small devices that constantly deliver a stream of scented air into your living space via heat induction. This negates the need for you to spray the room manually. On the other hand, solid air fresheners come with a lid, which needs to be lifted every time you need some scented air in your living space.

When choosing an air freshener to mask the fryer odor in your house, it’s best to consider asthmatic family members and those who may be allergic to some scents. In addition, some products can cause mild side effects, including sneezing and nasal congestion, and headaches. Therefore, be wary of what you use to freshen up your space.

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Final Words

Everyone loves fried delicacies, but few like the odor that lingers after preparing these foods. However, there’s so much you can do to prevent your house from smelling like the inside of a deep fryer. By keeping the tips mentioned above in mind, you’ll enjoy your favorite fried delicacies without worrying about the nauseating deep fryer odor.

Aariellynn Viera
Aariellynn Viera

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