Homemade Corn Dogs
Corn dogs are a classic fair treat, and now you can make them at home! Mix together a quick cornmeal batter, dip the hot dogs, and fry!
It’s amazing how much of a role nostalgia plays with food, isn’t it?
When I make these homemade corn dogs, all I think about is how much I have always loved gnawing the extra little bit of cornbread batter off the bottom of the stick. Because corn dogs are really about the cornbread batter, don’t you think?
The cornbread batter is very simple and takes less than 5 minutes to put together.
Mix the dry ingredients, which includes cornmeal, flour, leavening, sugar, salt, and a little nutmeg:
Always give the dry ingredients a little whisk to combine and evenly distribute the ingredients:
Mix the dry ingredients with buttermilk and eggs, and be sure to leave some lumps so you don’t overmix:
Skewer your hot dogs on wooden sticks and roll the hot dogs in flour. Shake off any excess:
Transfer the cornbread batter to a tall glass and dip the floured hot dogs into the batter, coating it all over.
Fry the corn dogs at 350 degrees F for 3 minutes and serve alongside ketchup or mustard!
Enjoy!
Homemade Corn Dogs Recipe
Ingredients:
- 3/4 cup yellow cornmeal
- 3/4 cup all purpose flour
- 1.5 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp sugar
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/8 tsp nutmeg
- 3/4 cup buttermilk
- 2 eggs
- 4 hot dogs
- all purpose flour, for rolling
- vegetable or peanut oil, for frying
Directions:
- Preheat the fryer to 350 degrees F.
- To make the batter, whisk to combine the cornmeal, flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, salt, and nutmeg. In another small bowl, whisk to combine the buttermilk and eggs, and mix this into the dry ingredients until there are no more streaks of flour, but be sure to leave lumps in the batter (do not stir those out, as you may overmix). Transfer the batter to a tall glass.
- Skewer the hot dogs onto wooden sticks and roll the hot dogs in enough flour to coat, then shake the excess off. Dip the floured hot dogs into the tall cup of batter and put them straight into the fryer for about 3 minutes, but be sure not to overcrowd your fryer. Depending on size, you might need to make two or three batches. The corn dogs are ready when the exterior is golden brown.
- Serve the corn dogs with ketchup and mustard if desired, and enjoy!
Recipe very slightly adapted from August/September 2012 Issue of Cook’s Country. I thought nutmeg went better with the batter than cayenne, and I halved the recipe since 8 hot dogs was too much, using a slightly higher proportion of buttermilk.
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I really like the idea of adding nutmeg. Too many times someone tries to SPICE it up and the results end up disastrous. I have never been a fan of sweet cornbread for instance, but a good corn dog must have a mildly sweet taste. Also, I raise peppers from mild to melt your hot. I like hot stuff, but with the beautifully simple corn dog, adding anything but maybe a touch of nutmeg, cloves, allspice, or maybe even anise, would be sacrilege. A tip to keep the batter from touching the sides or bottom of your frying implement is to dip the corn dog in the oil and slowly spin the skewer for about 20 seconds then hold it down with a pot or fryer id until it is done. Another unique way is to use a cordless drill on low speed like a hand mixer. Sure you can usually do one at a time, but it is so much more fun.
I have a thought on cooking corn dogs and will try it myself. Last night I cooked a lobster tail in my asparagus pan (tall and narrow) might try it with the dogs. Mine is 10/18 stainless steel.