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This mini corn dog recipe is the perfect answer to a kid-friendly lunch! The crispy, sweet homemade corndog batter is perfect surrounding your favorite hot dogs. Dip in ketchup or mustard for an easy meal.
These mini corndogs are the perfect kid-friendly meal!
Karly’s Notes
What’s the best part of going to the county fair? The corndogs. And okay, maybe the fried Oreos too.
I don’t eat a ton of hot dogs (unless they’re topped with my hot dog chili and then it’s game on), but I can absolutely demolish a pile of these mini corn dogs.
That sweet, crispy batter dipped in mustard is my favorite. It’s the best way to eat a hot dog if you ask me!
These are made in a pot of hot oil, so it’s not something I make every day of the week, but they make an excellent treat every now and then. Give them a try and let me know what you think!
What Readers are Saying!
“These had great flavor just like at the amusement park. This will be my go to recipe…” – Ryan
Ingredient Notes:
Hot Dogs – I’m definitely a fan of 100% beef corn dogs! Hebrew National are my personal fav, but you do you.
Batter – The corn dog batter is made from a mix of cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, salt, garlic powder, onion powder, and milk. You probably have everything on hand.
Oil – I’m using vegetable oil to fry these mini corn dogs, but peanut oil or canola oil are also great.
How to Make Mini Corn Dogs:
Batter: Stir together the flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, salt, garlic powder, and onion powder in a bowl and then stir in your milk.
That’s all it takes to make corn dog batter.
Hot Dogs: Start by cutting your hot dogs into thirds. Of course, if you wanted full sized corn dogs, you could leave them whole, but what fun is that?!
Coat: Roll your hot dog piece in flour and then use a fork to dip it into the wet corn dog batter to fully coat the piece.
Fry: I carefully use a toothpick to push the battered hot dog pieces off the fork and into the hot oil! They should take about 3 to 4 minutes, flipping halfway through, until they are golden brown and crispy!
FRYING TipS!
For perfectly fried mini corn dogs…
- Canola, vegetable, peanut, and avocado oil all work well for frying. Use whatever you prefer.
- The hot dog should be fully covered in batter and as evenly coated as possible. This will help ensure even frying.
- Don’t overcrowd the pan as it will cool the oil or cause the corn dogs to stick together. It is best to cook these in batches.
- Rotate the dogs halfway through the cooking. They will want to flip themselves back over, so use tongs and hold them in place for a few seconds.
Storage & Reheating:
Store these in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days.
To reheat, we recommend the air fryer. Reheat at 380 degrees for about 5 minutes, shaking the basket gently halfway through cooking.
If you don’t have a microwave, these will also reheat nicely in a hot oven. We don’t recommend microwaving them.
More Fried Food Favorites:
Corn Dog Bites
Ingredients
- 1 cup flour, divided
- 1/4 cup cornmeal
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 cup milk
- 8 hot dogs, cut into thirds
- vegetable oil, for frying
Instructions
- Preheat about 3 inches of oil to 350 degrees over medium heat.
- Combine 2/3 cup of flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, salt, garlic powder and onion powder in a large mixing bowl. Stir in the milk.
- In a pie plate or other shallow dish, add the remaining flour.
- Dredge each hot dog piece in the flour and then dip it into the cornmeal batter. Shake off any excess batter, but be sure that the hot dog is fully covered in batter.
- Drop into the hot oil and fry for 3-4 minutes, turning halfway through, until golden brown and crispy.
- Fry in batches, being careful not to over crowd the pan.
- Drain on a paper towel lined plate and keep warm in a 200 degree oven until all of the hot dogs are fried.
- Serve immediately with ketchup and mustard, if desired.
Tips & Notes:
Nutrition Information:
This post was originally published in June 2012. It was updated in March 2020 with new photos.
OrlyK says
Hi,
Can the milk be substituted with something else? Soy milk? Some other liquid that is non dairy?
Thanks 🙂
Karly says
@OrlyK,
Haven’t tried it, but I think beer would be a fab solution! Beer battered corn dogs. Yes, please! Someone else left a comment saying she uses root beer. 🙂
Bryn says
Quick question. What type of cornmeal did you use? Coarse, regular, or finely ground? My daughter would love these!
Karly says
@Bryn,
Um, I had no idea there were so many types of cornmeal! I just used Quaker Yellow Cornmeal. http://www.amazon.com/Quaker-Yellow-Cornmeal-1-8-lb/dp/B0002IMTEK/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1340078377&sr=8-4&keywords=corn+meal
Hope that helps! 🙂
Bryn says
Thanks so much! I had no idea there were so many varieties either until I ran out while making cornbread and sent my husband to the store. He got confused and brought home all 3!
Debra says
A&W in Canada (at least where I live in Canada) doesn’t have hot dog nuggets. Do y’all have a different menu down there??? Interesting… Maybe theirs are made with rats! Look what refusing to put on a bra got you!!
Karly says
@Debra,
Hmm, I dunno! Our A&W is attached to a Long John Silvers, so maybe the menu is a bit different! The corn dog nuggets are on the A&W menu though, so that’s weird you don’t have them!
Maggie says
After the last time I deep-fried something, I swore I would never do it again because it felt like so much work and I didn’t know what to do with the oil afterwards but my god, you have changed my mind. I straight-up LOVE mini corndogs. Love them! These are happening at my house this week for sure!
Karly says
@Maggie,
I don’t fry often, because I hate the clean up, but yeah. These are totally worth the hassle! You can pour the used grease into an empty coffee container or back into the oil container (if it’s empty). Then just stick it in your garbage can on garbage day. 🙂
Maggie says
I made them on Friday night and they were awesome! Thanks for the awesome recipe!
Maggie says
haha just reread my comment and saw I used awesome twice. They were that good!
Karly says
@Maggie,
Yay! Glad they were awesome awesome! 🙂
Lisa @ The Cooking Bride says
Hey, thanks for featuring my recipe! These look great and your pictures are wonderful!
Michelle says
Karly,
Love the story! I am not a hot dog eater (I know, gasp) but they tend to repeat all day BUT I do love hot links and have no problem with them (weird, I know) so I will be trying this delicious sounding recipe with hot links! Can’t wait to try it.
Thanks for sharing 🙂
Karly says
@Michelle,
I’m not much of a hot dog person either and I never ever eat them unless I buy them (too scared of the rat meat hot dogs ;)), but I loved these! I bet they’d be great with hot links too! Let me know how it works out for you!
Michelle says
Karly,
The hot links turned out great! Such an easy and yummy recipe. I posted the recipe today with a shout out to you and your wonderful blog 🙂 Stop by if you get a minute and take a peek. Have a wonderful day.
Michelle
sally @ sallys baking addiction says
OMG Karly these are the CUTEST little things I’ve ever seen! My inner child is DYING to come out and eat an entire basket of these! Can’t believe how EASY they are to make!!
Karly says
@sally @ sallys baking addiction,
Come on over. I’ll fry you a big ol’ plateful of them. 🙂
Lydia says
Do you think I could bake these little suckers in a min muffin tin instead of frying them? My litlte mini munchkins dont handle grease well which means I dont like changing 50 dirty diapers or cleaning up poop skids in undies! (sorry for the graphics)
Anyways do yo think the batter would do alright in a min muffin tin?
Karly says
@Lydia,
Hmm, you know I don’t know. There is an awful lot of milk in these and no eggs, so I’m not sure it would bake properly. You could try halving the recipe and giving it a go, but if you don’t want to risk it, try just mixing up a Jiffy box mix and using that. That’d work for sure! 🙂
Lissa says
These look yum. I mean, YUMMMMM. However, it’s Monday and I’m feeling lazy. Kinda like every day that ends in -y. So my version of these would be made with a box of corn muffin mix. More power to you for doing the from scratch thing, though!
Karly says
@Lissa,
Corn muffin mix would work just fine, but um…this really wasn’t anything elaborate. Flour and some spices, dude. I’m lazy too, but I can handle that. 😉
northern cottage says
YUM! this is like SUMMER all wrapped up in a little brown crunchy ball – well done! Hope you enjoyed your not going out day!! xo
The Witch's Kitchen says
These look FABULOUS! I love mini corn dogs & must try these.
And btw….Bra on or off has always been my indicator of whether or not I’m leaving the house again TOO!!
Karly says
@The Witch’s Kitchen,
It’s like, why do people even bother ASKING. If my bra is off, just don’t bother. You’d think they’d have all learned this by now, right?
Cookbook Queen says
Glad to know that I’m not the only one who’s child is sometimes exposed to….casual attire.
I want you to cook ME lunch. If I whine a lot, will you? PLEASE?? PLEASE??????
Karly says
@Cookbook Queen,
Heh. My kids are generally all “Are we going somewhere today?” when they see real pants on my person. Casual attire, by which I mean pajamas, is pretty standard around this house.
And I will totally cook you lunch. Have you thought about coming to the St. Louis Food Media Forum? You should be there. I will bring you corn dogs.
DessertForTwo says
Hah! I like hot dogs made of beef not rats too. Wait, doesn’t everybody?
Secretly, corn dogs are one of my top 4 favorite foods. I will be making these for sure!
Karly says
@DessertForTwo,
If you already love corn dogs, I think you will probably die when you taste these. Seriously, so delicious!
shelly (cookies and cups) says
Putting a bra on and rat eating are also not on my list of favorite things…I know, shocker.
BUT these little nuggets might just be one of my new favorite things.
Karly says
@shelly (cookies and cups),
Huh. I totally mistook you for the rat eating type. Glad to know I was mistaken! 😉
Sally @ Spontaneous Hausfrau says
These look so crispy and insanely delicious that my head is spinning. I must try these!
Karly says
@Sally @ Spontaneous Hausfrau,
Seriously. You must.