Easy Homemade Mini Corn Dogs
The best corn dogs you can make right at home – tastes just like the state fair. Sure to be a family favorite!
There’s nothing better than a crisp golden-brown corn dog during these hot summer days served at the state fair.
Except, now you can make this right at home with the easiest homemade batter, served with all the ketchup and mustard your heart desires.
My favorite part is of course the halved hot dogs – making these guys the most perfect miniature size.
They make it just so darn easy to share and devour in seconds.
Easy Homemade Mini Corn Dogs
The best corn dogs you can make right at home – tastes just like the state fair. Sure to be a family favorite!
Ingredients
- 1 cup vegetable oil
- 12 hot dogs, halved
- ¼ cup cornstarch
- ½ cup all-purpose flour
- ½ cup yellow cornmeal
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- ½ cup milk
- 1 large egg
Instructions
- Heat vegetable oil in a large Dutch oven or skillet over medium high heat.
- In a large bowl, combine hot dogs and cornstarch, tossing to coat.
- Thread hot dogs onto lollipop sticks; set aside.
- In a large bowl, combine flour, cornmeal, sugar and baking powder; season with salt and pepper, to taste.
- In a large glass measuring cup or another bowl, whisk together milk and egg. Pour mixture over dry ingredients and stir using a rubber spatula just until moist.
- Working in batches, dredge hot dogs in the batter until completely covered. Add to the skillet, about 4 or 5 at a time, and cook until evenly golden and crispy, about 2-3 minutes. Transfer to a paper towel-lined plate.
- Serve immediately.
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could i convection bake these instead of frying???
They came delish, but next time I won’t put as much milk as it cld for
Just made these for a Sunday football snack, my husband loved them! They’re soo good and turned out crispy and delicious. Great recipe!Â
I would use my favorite hot dog to make these. But I want to know how to reduce the recipe to make just enough for about 4 – 6 minis. How do I do that?
Do you agree in dredging the hot dog in cornstarch before dipping them in the batter?
 Also, do you think the hot dog would taste better if we grilled them first before dipping them in the corn meal batter?
The cornstarch dredge before batter, helps the batter adhere to the dog.
Im on a time frame so i was wandering if i could use the jiffy corn bread mix in the box
This was amazing–even though I’m’ lying on the couch like a beached whale because I ate too many. Sooooo good. Thanks for the awesome recipe!
Hi! Do you cook the hotdogs before dipping them in the batter? I don’t want to eat semi-raw hotdogs. This recipe sounds great!
Marcy, all hot dogs are already cooked, all you are doing is heating them up when you “cook” them.
HI, these look great! Could you make the batter in advance and refrigerate for a couple hours? I’d like to have everything prepped as mich as possible before people are at the house. Thanks!
If i’m heading to a tailgate, do you think these will keep for about an hour – two hours?
hi i love your recipes could you use buttermilk instead
Do you cook the dogs with the lollipop sticks already in them? Or put sticks in after they are cooked?
I know this is weird but i dont have milk. Its IMPOSSIBLe. There is no more MILK. SO CAN I USED THE MILK THATS IN LIKE A CAN
Great! I too have a family with dietary needs, our children are special needs children and as a family we decided to eat their way. No processed food. We get organic no preservatives hotdogs for treats, and we replace white flour with sprouted spelt flour that we grind ourselves, and raw sugar in place of regular sugar. Does great. It’s a favorite for everyone. Thanks.
I am trying to figure out how to make these for my allergy-ridden kids. I’m pretty sure I can just sub gluten-free flour since I have had success using it for frying crisp chicken, but could someone tell me what function the egg has? I can try different replacements based on whether its needed for puff, or binding. I’m hoping it’s more for binding because I can use a flax seed mix to replace, but it’s hard to replace egg when it’s important for “lift”. Is the baking powder enough to puff it up on it’s own? Or could I try my egg replacer and up the baking powder a tiny bit?
Ok, I thought I’d come back for an update, as I just finally made these tonight. I had bought this cute tiny fryer ages ago at a thrift store that held about 2 1/2C oil (I used avocado oil) in it that worked a charm. I fried them at 300 degrees and it took 1 1/2 min. total. Because I needed to spread a 16oz package of Trader Joes natural hot dogs pretty far, I cut these into smaller rounds, used a skewer to stick it into the batter and plopped in the fryer. Corn dog bites! They turned out awesome!
I did one batch conventionally with your recipe only subbing buttermilk for the regular milk because I happened to have it. I also used honey instead of sugar. I ended up adding extra sweetener since I didn’t know until I tasted the first one that I apparently like the sweetness in the batter of the store-bought ones.
The second batch I did was for my allergy kids. Using the flax seed/water mix to sub for the egg worked great. I also used rice milk for the milk. Gluten-free flour worked as well. The only difference I really noticed was that the allergy friendly ones seemed to be crunchier from the cornmeal than the regular batch. No idea why.
I have never fried anything before and whooped for joy when the first batch came out perfectly and deliciously. Thanks for the recipe!
Rosie, thanks so much for the deep fryer info. I am my $7 Kohls clearance find that has been sitting for a couple of years. I will update soon as I finish frying these.
Too bad I didn’t see the sugar info sooner. I opened every packet I could find and ended up adding a little powdered sugar. Hope it works!
I’ve heard that barley bread bakes like corn bread. Do you think that barley meal/ flour would work as a sub for someone sensitive to corn? What type of flour did you use? We cant have wheat either.
Thanks.
I would caution against the use of toothpicks for bite size corndogs. Every year people are severely injured by accidentally swallowing toothpicks. Foods of this type, often eaten where socializing or alcohol can distract one, require special attention. Perhaps the lollipop sticks, even if cut in half, would be preferable.
If you use wood sticks soak them in water for a few minutes this help with them not burning and keeps the oil out.
I cut mine in 4 pieces and use tooth picks for bite size snacks
These are going to be terrific since they can be made ahead & frozen. Was thinking about adding jalapeno to some of the batter for some “kick”. 🙂
Where would I be able to find the lollipop sticks? Would skewers work?
walmart has them in their backing isle with all the pans and candy coating and icing and stuff also, in all different sizes.
Riquisimo !!!! gracias por tus recetas me encantan porque son ricas y muy sencillas
Love a good corn dog. Mmmm…
I love that your dogs name is butters. Thats my cats name and everyone thinks im nuts.
Would I be able to use jiffy cornbread mix instead?
Coat hot dogs with sight dusting of cornstarch, Yes CORNSTARCH!!!, before breading them
..the breading will stick better..also
..try frying the dogs and THEN putting the sticks in after draining
Easy-peasy and you can fry more at a time…
FYI – update – I made these on Friday for a party on Saturday. I heated them in the oven, and they were a HUGE hit. My husband loved them, corndogs are about his favorite food 😉 I also recommend pouring the batter into a tall cup to get the best dip for the dog. I also used a deep fryer vs. skillet.
I’d like to try these for a Bunco night & will need to make them ahead of time too. How long and at what temp did you bake them at to reheat them?
I have boys – and my house has teens in it all the time – if I made a big batch do you think they’d keep well if I froze extras to re-heat in the oven later for a snack?
I’ve been wanting to try homemade corn dogs forever. These look seriously delish!
I love making corn dogs ! A little tip I found is to pour the batter into a quart jar then dip your dogs . Also if you roll the hotdogs in corn starch or flour before dipping the batter adheres better . Thanks for another Great recipe !
My family would go crazy for these! So awesome!
For a ‘make-ahead’ kind of potluck contribution, do you think they could be friend and then tossed in the oven for a few minutes to heat back up?
Thanks, love following your blog!
Wow AWESOME homemade corn dogs! In Quebec we call it “Pogo”.
I love your homemade version 😉
Great recipe, thanks very much. I guess I could also use regular hot dogs, as I do not think I can buy the other ones here. Thank you.
Corn dogs are one of my absolute weaknesses/guilty pleasures! These look just perfect!
If I were to make these ahead of time for a party, do you think they could be reheated in the oven and placed in a container with foil to keep warm post reheat?
My husband loves corndogs and I’d love to make these for a party we’re throwing on Saturday, but I’d want to make them Friday when I prepare everything else! 🙂
Thank you!
I pre make mine all the time. 350-375 for about ten min depending on how big you make the corn dogs (i cut mine into thirds).
Any way to make more of a baked variety?
You can do this with muffing pans to achieve the baked type. And they don’t have to have the sticks. Make the corn muffin batter, pour in muffin pan. Place a half hot dog in each muffin. Bake per muffin recipe time. Voila!
Corn dogs are not a diet food. Only way to make these is to fry them. Otherwise the batter will be all over the bottom of whatever pan you try to bake them in.
What a lovely treat! Great when having friends at home and I can imagine how kids would also love that! I loved this cornbread batter 🙂
I have never had corn dogs before, can you believe it? Perhaps time to change that…and perhaps even homemade ones at that! 😀 x
So good! I’d eat 12 of these too! The thing that speaks to me especially is quick and easy! With the bonus that these are sure to impress! Your pup is adorbs! : )
Butters scored the JACKPOT didn’t he?! He had to have been in hot doggie heaven 🙂
These are the perfect Labor Day BBQ food!