Updated July 31st, 2026 | Originally Published March 14, 2024
Pressure Fryer vs Open Fryer
The difference between a pressure fryer and an open fryer is the lid. An open fryer cooks food in a vat of hot oil that stays open to the air, so the steam coming off your chicken escapes into the kitchen and takes moisture with it. A pressure fryer seals that steam inside the vessel instead, and the pressure it builds lets the chicken cook faster at a lower oil temperature. Faster cook, less moisture lost, less oil soaking into the coating.
That is why pressure frying became the standard for high-volume bone-in chicken. It is also where the Broaster® story starts, because the first commercial pressure fryer was built by one man who simply wanted his fried chicken quicker.
The Origins Of Broaster
Have you ever wondered what differentiates genuine Broaster® chicken from simple “fried” chicken? Although you may have never thought to make the distinction, Broaster® chicken is cooked in a pressure fryer and uses a signature round cooking well that’s designed to cook chicken faster, and more consistently, than traditional open fryers.
If all this sounds too good to be true, keep reading to find out what it means for chicken to be “genuine Broaster® chicken” and how Broaster® pressure fryers can benefit your foodservice production!
Genuine Broaster® Chicken is not a style of fried chicken. It is a trademarked food program, and serving it takes three things together: a Broaster pressure fryer, the Broaster marinade and coating system, and standing as an authorized Broaster operator. Pressure fry chicken without all three and you have made very good pressure-fried chicken. You just cannot put “Broasted®” on your menu board.
That distinction sounds like fine print until you look at what it does for a menu. “Broasted®” is a brand customers already recognize, and it has been on Canadian signs and menus for decades. So the real question for an operator is not what broasting tastes like. It is what you actually need to own before you can sell it.
Where the Broaster® trademark came from
The story starts in Beloit, Wisconsin, with a man named L.A.M. Phelan who wanted fried chicken faster than a skillet could deliver it. In 1953 he combined a pressure cooker with a deep fryer, and the Broaster® Company was formed the following year.
Here is the part most articles skip. Phelan did not stop at the machine. He developed his own marinade and coating to go with it, and from the beginning the food and the equipment were sold as one system. That is why the trademark covers both. You can look up the Broaster® and Broasted® registrations yourself in the Canadian Trademarks Database if you want to see the filings.
Every Broaster® is a pressure fryer, but not every pressure fryer is a Broaster®
Pressure frying is a cooking method, and several manufacturers build equipment for it. Seal the lid, let the steam coming off the chicken build pressure inside the vessel, and the chicken cooks faster at a lower oil temperature than it would in an open vat. Less time in the oil means less moisture lost and less oil absorbed. We walk through that process step by step in our guide to how broasting works.
What sets the Broaster® platform apart on the equipment side is the round cooking well. There are no corners for heat to sit unevenly, which is a big part of why batch-to-batch results hold steady across a long shift. If you are weighing the method itself against your current setup, we compared them directly in is a Broaster® better than a traditional deep fryer.
But equipment alone does not get you the name. That is the whole point of the program.
What the Broaster® program gives you that a fryer does not
Three things, and they are worth separating out.
A recognized menu asset. Customers who grew up on broasted chicken look for the word. It travels on signage, delivery apps, and takeout boxes in a way that “our crispy chicken” does not.
A spec you can hold your kitchen to. The marinades and coatings are formulated for the pressure environment specifically, because pressure drives seasoning deeper into the meat than open frying does. Same marinade, same coating, same cook cycle, same result on a Tuesday afternoon and a Saturday rush.
Equipment built for the volume the program assumes. The Broaster 2400 cooks up to 64 pieces of fresh bone-in chicken per load in under ten minutes. That is a number worth checking against your own peak-hour ticket counts before you decide on a model.
Is the program right for your kitchen?
If you are looking at running a Broaster® program, you should be aware of how your existing audience might respond.
The program earns its keep when fried chicken is a real part of your identity and your volume. Fried chicken shops, diners with a Sunday chicken dinner, caterers, golf clubs, convenience store hot cases, and quick-service operations running steady bone-in volume all fit. If chicken is one line item you sell forty orders of a week, a pressure fryer may still be the right buy for yield and consistency, but the trademark program probably is not what is holding you back.
Canadian demand is on your side either way. We looked at why operators here keep moving to the method in why pressure-fried chicken is winning over Canadian restaurants.
Getting it on a Canadian menu
This is where a lot of operators stall out, because the equipment, the food program, and the service coverage are three separate problems if you try to solve them one at a time.
We handle them as one. Kendale stocks Broaster units in Canada, so you are not waiting on a cross-border order or guessing at duty. Our service network covers operators nationwide, we support customers in English and French, and installation and training come with the purchase rather than showing up as a line item later. We will also sit down with your menu and work out where broasted product actually fits, which is usually a more useful conversation than a spec sheet.
Frequently asked questions
Technically it is fried, since it cooks in oil. The difference is that it fries inside a sealed, pressurized vessel rather than an open vat, which cuts cook time, holds more moisture in the meat, and reduces how much oil the coating takes on.
No. Broasted is a registered trademark. Using the term requires the Broaster equipment and the Broaster food program together, through an authorized operator agreement. Pressure-fried is the accurate term for everything else, and it is a perfectly good thing to put on a menu.
Broasted chicken absorbs less oil, because pressure sears the coating early in the cycle and limits how much oil works its way in. That is a real difference in fat content, though it is still fried chicken and we would not market it as a health item.
The volume of your fryer depends on the model. The 2400 is built for high-volume production at 64 pieces per load, while the compact E-Series units suit counter-service and ventless kitchens. Our full lineup of commercial pressure fryers lists capacity by model.
You need a Broaster pressure fryer, so if you are running another brand, yes. If you already own a Broaster and have never run the food program, that is a much shorter conversation.
Looking for more information about Broaster® chicken?
Talk it through with us
If you are weighing broasted chicken as a menu addition, or you already own a Broaster and want to know what the trademark program would add, get in touch with our team. We will look at your volume, your kitchen footprint, and your menu, and tell you plainly whether it is worth it.
While the Broaster® name has been around for decades, modern entrepreneurs and foodservice professionals can benefit from integrating a pressure fryer into their commercial kitchens. Manufactured for speed, volume and longevity, the Broaster® line of products will help you create inspired menu options for years to come. Whether you’re a new or an existing Broaster® user, you can contact Kendale to learn more about how you can benefit from a Broaster®.
