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.
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!
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 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 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.
Now we assemble our corn dog batter ingredients.
In a large bowl, place the , including flour…
Plain yellow cornmeal…
Sugar…
Salt…
Baking soda…
And baking powder.
Stir that up well.
Next, pour in the milk.
Finally, add the egg.
Stir all of that up really well until it’s all smooth and well combined.
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.
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 .
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.
Drain your corn dogs on a paper towel-lined plate and then serve with your favorite dipping sauce.
Personally, I like mine with lots of mustard!
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.
How do you get batter to stick to a hot dog?
What is the best oil for deep frying 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.
You may also like these fun fair recipes:
Deep Fried Ice Cream Milkshakes
Fresh Fried Corn (Shucking, Silking, Cooking, and Freezing)
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
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Corn dog success! I tried a Sandra Lee recipe several years ago that was a disaster because the batter didn’t stay on the dog when I dipped it into the fryer. The mess was so bothersome I never tried to make them again. Until now. Rolling the dogs in flour first is apparently the key to dog dippin’ success. We had a stand-up dinner at the kitchen counter as I pulled these yummies out of the fryer. My husband moaned in appreciation as he munched and the kids giggled at the silliness of not sitting down to dinner as usual. We just never made it to the table. These were so much awesomeness they had to be consumed right away. Cheap, easy and home-cooked: does it get any better than that? Next time, we’re trying jalapeno dogs! Thank you, Christy 🙂
How fun!!! I love it!!! Thank you for giving my recipe a try after your first disaster, and I am so glad to hear they were a hit!!
Christy, LOVE your great Southern recipes, & your positive, kind attitude. About these corn dogs on sticks — is it just me? I cannot figure out what in the world do you do with those blooming wooden sticks in the hot grease? Do they just float around & get cooked with the dogs? Do you find some way to stick them down in a very tall pot of hot grease? Obviously I’m not supposed to use a large flat skillet to cook them. Sorry, but this old lady needs a more “greasy” explanation. (Living in the North too long must have ruined my Southern roots & cooking instincts!!) Thanks, Christy.
So since hotdogs are on sale 10/$10 at Kroger this week, my son is asking for these. I’m assuming they’ll freeze well. We’re thinking about making a plethora of them. Does self rising cornmeal work? That’s what I have.
They do freeze well Jennifer!! I have never tried it with the self-rising cornmeal but it should be ok, let me know if you try it.
This looks so yummy. We are going to try out the recipe for our 4th of July block party and with cooking that many corn dogs I don’t want to get stuck tinkering with the temp. What temp did you set your deep fryer to?
I made these as a special treat for the kids tonight. They were amazing. I don’t think I can ever buy pre-made corndogs again.
I am so glad to hear that you liked them Kristin!!
These seem really great and i cant wait to make them 🙂 My husband and I have been looking for a corn dog recipe for quite a while, so im happy you posted this and I found it, on pinterest actually. I really like your website! Great job 🙂
I really love your tricks of the trade for dipping the weenies in a tall glass! I have made corn dogs in the past to my daughters delight (all three of them) But it was a painstaking job when it came to battering them up. So now I’ am eager to to want to make them, with out my girls begging me to. 🙂