Honey-battered, hand-dipped Corn Dogs are a real treat. Watch the video tutorial and see how easy it is to make homemade corn dogs from scratch.
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We love hand-dipped corn dogs at fairs, carnivals, and of course Disney, but some of our favorite carnival foods like Churros, sweet Corn on the Cob and of course these corn dogs, are so easy to re-create at home. If you’re looking for fun, family-friendly recipes, these Corn Dogs are a must-try!
Corn Dog Video Tutorial:
Corn dogs are essentially cornbread batter + hot dogs. This homemade Corn Dog Recipe has the best honey batter. They are fried to perfection with a crisp exterior and a soft cornbread inside that keeps the sausage juicy.
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Why You will Love These Corn Dogs:
- Simple batter – no waiting for the batter to chill. You can use it right away.
- Make-ahead option – you can make the batter 1 to 2 days ahead if you want to. You can also store extra batter to fry something fresh the next day.
- Skip the corn starch – dipping the hot dogs in corn starch is an unnecessary step. Drying the corn dogs with paper towels is enough to make the batter stick.
- Freezer friendly – you can make these, cool to room temperature then freeze in a freezer-safe Ziploc bag.
- Reheats well – You can defrost in the refrigerator or for 30 seconds in the microwave then pop them in the air fryer or sautee on a skillet until crisp on the outside.
Ingredients for Homemade Corndogs:
Since this recipe doesn’t have many ingredients, so buy the best quality hot dogs (get your favorites).
- Hot Dogs – We highly recommend using simple hot dogs – either beef, chicken or turkey hot dogs will do. If using longer-sized hot dogs, keep in mind they will need to fit the diameter of your pot to fry once your stick is on. Also, very thick hot dogs won’t heat through as well.
- Corn Meal – get “finely ground”
- Flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt – pantry basics that help form the batter and make it fluffy.
- Buttermilk and oil – adds flavor and moisture to the batter
- Egg – helps batter hold together.
- Honey – adds sweetness to create a honey batter
How to Make Corn Dogs:
Making corn dogs is easier and takes less time than you think! Here is a visual reference for the process. Watch the video recipe above and you’ll have this recipe memorized in no time.
- Pat Dry Hot Dogs with paper towels to help the batter to stick better.
- Insert Sticks – skewer hot dogs make sure the length fits your pot)
- Dry Ingredients – whisk together cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.
- Wet Ingredients – whisk together buttermilk, egg, olive oil, and honey.
- Combine Batter – pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients and whisk until blended.
- Dip Hot Dogs and Fry – Batter the corn dogs to completely cover the hot dog, let excess drip off at the edge then Fry 2-3 at a time at 350˚F for 3 minutes until golden brown.
Pro Tip: Use a tall drinking glass and a funnel to keep things tidy while filling with batter. Fill it almost full, leaving enough room to dip the corn dog without overflowing the cup.
The Best Sticks for Corn Dogs:
You can use a variety of sticks (even popsicle sticks). The most important thing is to make sure the skewered corn dog will fit easily into your frying pot. Avoid sticks that have sharp points or are too long. You can use:
- Multi-Use Skewers 6.5″ (the ones we used, pictured in the center)
- Corn Dog Sticks 8″-8.75″ (pictured on the right)
- Candy Apple Sticks 5″ to 5.5″ (pictured on the left)
How to Keep Corn Dogs from Cracking:
Air bubbles cause corn dogs to crack and burst. The right technique is important. Dip straight down until hot dog is fully coated. Twirl in the glass and swirl as you pull up. If you see gaps in the dough or big bubbles then re-dip. Also, make sure to maintain the right oil temperature at 350˚F.
Common Questions:
Look for fine yellow corn meal. Avoid “coarse” or “medium” ground cornmeal as that will be too large of granules and won’t work. I have found that if the cornmeal packaging doesn’t say what texture it is, most often it is finely ground.
A deep fryer can be tricky because the corn dogs are more likely to stick to the fryer basket. Make sure you carefully hold the corn dog in the oil at an angle for 5-7 seconds to seal the exterior before dropping them into the basket. Watch the video to see this in action.
Nope. Coating in starch is an unnecessary and messy step. Patting the hot dogs thoroughly is enough to help the batter stick to the hot dogs.
We heat the oil to 350˚F and use a clip-on thermometer to maintain a steady temperature. You want to keep the oil between 340˚-360˚ while frying.
Our favorite oil for frying is peanut oil. Canola oil is also a great option.
Serve as a main course or snack with the classic dipping sauces of ketchup and mustard.
Have Extra Batter Left Over?
Use the extra batter to dip mini sausages, little smokies or cocktail sausages to make mini corndogs. Use a toothpick to dip and fry then remove the toothpicks before serving.
Hand dipped corn dogs satisfy the craving for carnival food when you aren’t able to get to the carnival or state fair to enjoy it. They are also really fun to make!
More Kid-Friendly Recipes to try:
If you love this Corn Dog Recipe, then you won’t want to miss these family-friendly recipes.
- Pizza – try our pizza dough for any pizza
- Cheeseburger Sliders – easy and great for parties
- Chicken Sandwiches – crispy with the best sauce
- Chicken Nuggets – a copycat recipe
- Brownies – fudgy and decadent
Homemade Corn Dogs Recipe
Ingredients
For the Corn Dogs:
- 12 hot dogs, we used turkey hot dogs
- 12 sticks
- Peanut oil, canola oil, or vegetable oil for frying
- Ketchup and mustard to serve
Batter Ingredients:
- 1 1/2 cups fine yellow corn meal
- 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1 Tbsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 3/4 cups buttermilk
- 1 large egg
- 1 Tbsp olive oil or vegetable oil
- 1 Tbsp honey
Instructions
- Pour 2-3” of oil in a large pot or dutch oven and heat to 350˚F over medium heat.
- Pat dry with paper towels. Insert sticks into hot dogs.
- Whisk together dry ingredients (corn meal, flour, sugar, baking powder and salt). Whisk together wet ingredients (buttermilk, egg, 1 Tbsp oil and honey). Combine wet and dry ingredients and whisk to combine.
- Pour batter into a drinking glass almost to the top and dip hot dogs. Put corndog straight down into batter and give it a little twirl to fully coat the hot dogs then swirl as you lift up. Let excess drip off.
- Hold corn dog at an angle in the hot oil for 5-7 seconds to let it seal then drop into oil (this keeps them from sticking to the bottom of the pot).
- Fry 3 minutes or until golden brown. Fry up to 2-3 at a time (so you don’t drop the temperature), turning them as needed to brown evenly. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.
Notes
Nutrition Per Serving
Filed Under
Hi Natasha,
I’d like to make these for a party.
If I want to cut the hot dogs in half and skewer, do you think the coating will be a problem with the cut part of the hot dog because of moisture?
Thank you.
Hi Pat, I have only tried them whole, so I can’t advise. I haven’t tested that, but I think it could work. If you experiment, let me know how you liked the recipe!
Pat, I have made them with them cut in half with no issues. Just make sure they are dry with the paper towel. Love this recipe. Second time we made these with jalapeno olive oil and I added in my taco seasoning. So delicious!
Thank you so much for sharing that with us, Kim!
Hi Natasha ~ I tried this recipe last year and my family loved it! I’m trying to buy some cornmeal and was wondering if you have other options from Amazon that you can link. Thanks so much!
Hi H.K.! Yes, I have it linked in the recipe under the ingredients breakdown, but you can also find it HERE. I hope this is helpful!
So good, I did need to add a little more liquid than called for in the recipe.
Hi Kim! I’m glad you enjoyed it.
These were delicious! The batter clung to the hot dogs and cooked perfectly. It was so fun to watch the corn dogs sink in the oil, then float to the surface about 10 seconds later. And somehow they all turned over about halfway through to cook perfectly evenly on both sides.
I’m so glad it all worked out, Davey! Thank you so much for sharing that great feedback with us!
Alternative for cornmeal?
Can I use semolina instead?
We don’t get cornmeal here.
I haven’t tested that myself but it should work. One of my readers tried it and wrote this: “The recipe came out perfect and I was so happy to attempt this at home rather than buying it from the store. My little daughter asked for it and she was impressed. I didn’t have corn meal and instead used fine semolina and still came out great” I hope that helps!
If you can buy polenta – just get that and try to grind it finer (I used a coffee grinder for about 3 minutes per half cup). Did the trick.
I love the taste. However, I don’t seem to be able to get them crispy, even using the thermometer to maintain oil temperature. Suggestions?
Hi Cindy, I haven’t had that experience, I recommend retracing your steps to ensure there were no substitutions to your process or ingredients. I wish I could be more helpful!
Absolutely delicious! I found the dog to batter ratio a bit off though! Any tips for how to thicken up the end result of the batter?
Hi Jess, it could be a difference in how it’s measured. Also, make sure to use a finely ground corn meal. The course ground one will mess up the batter.
They are delicious I made they for dinner last night thank you for Sharing your recipe
You’re very welcome, John!
I was able to do 15 polish sausages and 8 regular hotdogs with 1 batch of this recipe! It is SOOOO TASTY. I will do it again for sure. Change nothing!
Polish sausages sound amazing! Thank you for sharing, Amy. I’m so glad you enjoyed this recipe.
I looked at my local grocery store for frozen corn dogs and they were $4.99 for 6 on sale. I bought a 24 pack of hot dogs at Sam’s and made my own corn dogs from your recipe. They are delicious. My son likes them better than the frozen. 🙂 Thank you for the recipe!
You’re welcome and I’m happy to hear that!
These corn dogs are very good, but it’s only my wife and I.
Can I freeze leftover dough to use another time?
Glad you love it, Mark. You can make these, cool them to room temperature then freeze them in a freezer-safe Ziploc bag. You can defrost in the refrigerator or for 30 seconds in the microwave then pop them in the air fryer or sautee them on a skillet until crisp on the outside. As for the batter, you can make the batter 1 to 2 days ahead if you want to. You can also store extra batter to fry something fresh the next day.
Hi Natasha. My corn meal doesn’t say what grind it is looks fine but not like corn flour. Could I substitute corn flour for cornmeal?
Thanks
Dan
Hi Dan, for this recipe to work correctly, it needs to be a finely ground corn meal like I have shown in the recipe ingredients photo.
Best corn dogs ever! Thank you for the recipe. Can I just put a lid over the oil in my dutch oven and use it to fry donuts in the morning? I used grapeseed/sunflower oil.
You’re welcome! I’m so happy you enjoyed it, Shannon! I bet that could work! That sounds like an excellent way to repurpose the oil.
Hello,
I followed your recipe.It was so nice, I was a very proud “chef”. I did not have buttermilk so I just added a tiny spoon of water and it turned out nice. Thank you
I’m so glad it worked out, B! Thank you so much for sharing that with me!
You can add 1 tablespoon of lemon juice or vinegar to 1 cup milk to make buttermilk. Let it sit for 10 minutes before using.
turned out great….but i think i would slightly pre cook the dogs first. tasted a little undone when i bit into them.
I Scott, Thank you so much for sharing that with me! I recommend ensuring your oil is not too hot to cook through. I hope you give it another try soon!
These are absolutely gorgeous, had no honey so I added a splash of Maple Syrup plus a big spoon of chopped up pickled Jalapenos (I love them in pretty much everything) and they got devoured before I got a second.
I had some left over batter spare so I decided to try something a bit out there, I grabbed a bar of dairy/milk chocolate, broke it into pieces, battered and deep fried. They went faster than the corn dogs 😀
Hi Carl, wow, that is quite different! Thank you for sharing. So glad you enjoyed this recipe.
They came out perfect. It was my first time making them. I loved your tip about using a drinking glass for dipping. You didn’t include the sugar in the ingredients, so I did 4 tbsp granulated. It seemed to work. Thank you!
Glad that worked out great, Erin! Thanks for your review and feedback.
what if i dont have the sticks? can i still do this another way?
Hi Scott, I haven’t tried it without the stick, I imagine it may work though, If you experiment, let me know how you liked the recipe.
way too much baking powder, should use 1 Tsp not 1Tbsp. Mine puffed up like pancakes, so I remade with less baking powder and then came out perfect. Maybe its a typo?
Hi Gary, the recipe is accurate and you need more because it is a very dense batter. Did you possibly use baking soda by mistake? Soda is 4x stronger than baking powder and does not substitute straight across.
I fixed this for my husband and I for supper. It was easy to fix and tasted wonderful! Thank you, Natasha 🥰
You’re very welcome, Victoria!