Corn Dogs Recipe (For Air Fryer & Deep Fryer)

You don’t have to wait until the next State Fair to enjoy a corn dog with this easy corn dogs recipe. In just 15 minutes you’ll be enjoying hot dogs wrapped in delicious cornbread batter and fried until golden. 

Bite taken out of a corn dog in a basket of corn dogs.

Do corn dogs bring back nostalgic memories for anyone else? They’re definitely one of the most popular foods at State Fairs, county fairs, and carnivals. But for good reason, as who can resist a savory hot dog fried in a delicious cornmeal-based batter?

I don’t know about you, but in my house corn dogs are actually one of those things that my kids don’t realize you can even make at home. Luckily, this makes it easy for you to win coolness points as a parent by making them using this easy corn dogs recipe. And let’s face it, we all secretly live for those moments when our kids give us that, “wow, you’re actually kind of cool” look.

Trust me, when I say easy, I mean it. You’re going to pop those sticks into your hot dogs and dredge them in flour. Then you’re going to mix together your corn dog batter, which will take just a couple of minutes. Its ingredients include a combination of yellow cornmeal for that color, flour, egg, salt, milk, baking soda, baking powder, and sugar. The sugar adds just a touch of sweetness.

Pop your corn dogs in the batter and then fry them until golden brown, which only takes about 5 minutes. They’ll be ready to enjoy in just 15 minutes. Then all you have to do is serve your homemade corn dogs with the favorite condiments of your choice. 

I just know your kids will love you bringing the fair home with this easy corn dogs recipe!

Ingredients for corn dogs recipe.

Recipe Ingredients

  • Baking powder
  • Baking soda
  • Flour
  • Milk
  • Plain cornmeal
  • Egg
  • Sugar
  • Beef hotdogs/weenies, plus some sticks, skewers, or popsicle sticks to go in them.

How to Make My Corn Dogs Recipe

First, fill the deep fryer with vegetable oil and heat to 375 degrees.

Dump plain flour into bowl and skewer each weenie.

Dump your plain flour into a shallow bowl.

Stick wooden skewers or sticks into each weenie and lay them on a paper towel-lined plate.

Roll each weenie in the flour.

Roll each hot dog in flour and shake off the excess.

This will help our corn dog batter stick to the hot dogs. Take it from me, we really need this step because once I forgot to do it and my batter kept sliding off in spots. By dipping them in flour first, it sticks perfectly.

Add flour to mixing bowl.

 Now we assemble our corn dog batter ingredients.

 In a large bowl, place the dry ingredients, including flour…

Add cornmeal to mixing bowl.

Plain yellow cornmeal…

Add sugar to mixing bowl.

Sugar…

Add salt to mixing bowl.

Salt…

Add baking soda to mixing bowl.

Baking soda…

Add baking powder to mixing bowl.

And baking powder.

Stir ingredients together.

 Stir that up well.

Add milk to mixing bowl.

Next, pour in the milk.

Add egg to mixing bowl.

Finally, add the egg.

Stir ingredients together.

Stir all of that up really well until it’s all smooth and well combined.

Add batter to glass and drench entire corn dog in batter.

NOW is our trick…

Spoon your batter into a tall drinking glass and dip each hot dog into the glass until covered.

As your batter in the glass gets lower, spoon more in.

Place corn dogs in deep fryer.

 VOILA! C’est Corn Dog! Or in my native Alabamian, “Well looky thar! It’s a corn dawg!”

Immediately place these in the deep fryer basket and drop them into the hot oil.

Fry corn dogs until golden brown.

Fry until golden brown. They’ll take about five minutes or so to cook and you can cook more than one at a time. However, take care not to overcrowd your deep fryer.

Basket of corn dogs.

Drain your corn dogs on a paper towel-lined plate and then serve with your favorite dipping sauce.

Dip corn dogs in mustard.

 Personally, I like mine with lots of mustard!

Close-up of corn dog with mustard (with basket of corn dogs in background).

How about you?

Pretend you are at the carnival or county fair and have some funnel cakes too.

Enjoy!

Storage

  • Place cooled corn dogs in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days. Quickly reheat in the air fryer before serving.
  • To make homemade frozen corn dogs, place the fully cooked corn dogs on wax paper-lined baking sheets and place them in the freezer until frozen hard (a few hours). Remove and place them in zipper seal bags before returning to the freezer. Reheat in the oven or air fryer.

Recipe Notes

  • You can use any type of hot dogs, such as beef, chicken, or turkey hot dogs. You can also use mini hot dogs to make bite-sized corn dogs. They’ll just be quicker to cook (about 3 minutes), so keep an eye on your mini corn dogs.
  • For extra sweetness, add 1 tablespoon of honey to the cornbread batter when you add the other wet ingredients.
  • On the other hand, if you’d prefer a little bit more heat, add 1/4 teaspoon of ground cayenne pepper to the dry ingredients.
  • You can use any milk for this recipe, including buttermilk or non-dairy milk like almond milk.

Recipe FAQs

How do you make air fryer corn dogs?

Follow the instructions above to make corn dogs in the air fryer. But instead of placing them in the deep fryer, you’ll want to do this:

  • Lightly grease your air fryer basket with non-stick cooking spray.
  • Cook at 375 degrees for 8 to 10 minutes, flipping halfway to ensure they’re golden brown and crispy on both sides.

It’s also helpful soaking the wooden skewers in water for at least 20 minutes before using the air fryer, as this prevents them from burning.

Where can I buy corn dog skewers?

I got these sticks on the kid’s craft aisle at Walmart.

How do you make a gluten-free corn dogs recipe?

It’s simple! Just swap the all-purpose flour for almond flour and you have yourself gluten-free corn dogs.

You want to choose an oil with a higher smoke point for deep frying, so canola oil, vegetable oil, and peanut oil are all good options.

How do you serve corn dogs?

Simply serve your homemade corn dogs with your favorite condiments, like ketchup, yellow mustard, sriracha, or barbecue sauce.

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Basket of corn dogs with mustard.

Corn Dogs

You don't have to wait until the next State Fair to enjoy a corn dog with this easy corn dogs recipe. In just 15 minutes you'll be enjoying hot dogs wrapped in delicious batter and fried until golden. 
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 5 minutes
Total Time: 15 minutes
Course: Appetizer, Game Day, Snack
Cuisine: American
Keyword: corn, hotdog
Servings: 8 corn dogs

Ingredients

  • 1.5 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 cup plain cornmeal
  • 2 tbsp sugar
  • 1.5 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 egg
  • 1 1/3 cup milk
  • 8 weenies

Instructions

  • Fill the deep fryer with vegetable oil and heat to 375 degrees.
  • In a large bowl, add 1 cup of flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt, and mix until well combined.
    1.5 cups all-purpose flour, 1 cup plain cornmeal, 2 tbsp sugar, 1.5 tsp baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon baking soda, 1 tsp salt
  • Add in the wet ingredients (milk, egg, and optional honey) and stir well until smooth and well blended. Set aside.
    1 1/3 cup milk, 1 egg
  • Place 1/2 cup of flour in a shallow dish or pie plate. Skewer each weenie on a wooden stick, then roll in flour, gently shaking off the excess.
    1.5 cups all-purpose flour, 8 weenies
  • Fill a tall drinking glass with the corn dog batter.
  • Dip each weenie into the glass of batter while holding the stick until completely submerged. Slowly pull it out of the batter and carefully lower it into the hot oil.
  • Fry until golden brown (about 5 minutes).
  • Drain on paper towels.

Video

Tried this recipe?Mention @southernplate or tag #southernplate!

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118 Comments

  1. Your posts just make me laugh! I love the “sticking your tongue out” bit. Of course, my wee one would be a wee bit upset when she tried to lick the bowl and it tastes like, well, not cake batter… Keep ’em comin’! Love it!

      1. Love all your posts. Have been with you for years and love you dearly! Please print OR read us these darling books, if possible!! What fun! Go Karo!!! We knew you when…

  2. My daughter is in 1st grade and I sure wish they did that at her school. She would love it! And your corn dogs look yummy! My son loves them so I will have to give it a try! Thank you so much for all your wonderful stories and recipes you share with us. You are a great person!

      1. CHRISTY, I GREW UP IN HUNTSVILLE AND AS KIDS WE ATE AT THE ZESTO IN THE 5 POPINTS AREA. THEY WERE FAMOUS FOR THEIR
        “DIPPED DOGS”. THE RESTAURANT IS GONE NOW. LATER, WHEN I MADE THESE FOR MY LITTLE BOYS, I DIPPED MY DOGS IN A TALL GLASS, TOO. WOULD YOU BELIEVE MY LITTLE BOYS TURNS 37 AND 40 THIS YEAR? TIME SURE DOES FLY!

        1. Oh my goodness, time sure does fly!! I grew up on Zesto’s, too! Nothing like it. You know the big to-do was that whenever Brooks and Dunn came through Huntsville they’d make a beeline with their tour bus to Zestos. I miss the Zesto burger (thinking about doing a tutorial on it).

          1. I had Zesto dip dogs the day I got my driver’s license….way back in the “day”!

        2. Pamela, we ate at Zeato’s, too! We know the owners and still love them even though they disposed of one of Huntsville’s favorite eating spots. I made corn dogs for my boys, now 42 & 36, in a tall drinking glass, too. Guess it’s time to do the same for my grandchildren.

  3. I am a retired high school librarian and LOVE this activity. What a wonderful way to encourage kids. Katy will always remember writing these books. On another note, I have no belly button, so I loved this story!

    1. Oh and they just keep on encouraging each other, too! It’s brilliant, seriously! lol Katy’s first book was short but she came home and said “Mama, I have GOT to write a chapter book because all of my friends are writing chapter books!” and it keeps growing from there!
      No belly button! WHEW! Don’t wanna mess with you! lol 😉

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