Baked Corn Dogs are a crispy thin layer of sweetened cornmeal crust surrounding a juicy hot dog that can be dipped in a little mustard or ketchup for a healthy take on a State Fair classic.
A Healthy Take on a Kids’ Favorite
It’s state fair time and all I can think about are corn dogs! We go to the state fair here in Texas every year for a big football game between our favorite team and one of our biggest rivals. Whether the game starts in the morning or evening, we are there several hours early to get our pre-game corn dog. It’s a tradition that we will continue as long as the corn dogs are being fried. They are some of the best corn dogs and we literally wait in line for hours to get one. The crispy cornmeal batter blows me away every time!
Watch Me Make Baked Corn Dogs
Step into the kitchen with me as I make these delicious Baked Corn Dogs!
A Mom on a Corn Dog Mission
As soon as I saw the signs pop up around town advertising the state fair, I started thinking about making my own corn dogs at home. It’s something I had never made before, so I was pretty excited and on a mission to make them amazing.
I wanted to be able to serve them to Baker for lunch or dinner without any guilt, so I went with a baked version that uses white whole wheat flour and lean beef hot dogs. After a few tries to master the baked technique, I nailed it! I mean nailed it!
These baked corn dogs are surprisingly amazing! A crispy thin layer of cornmeal dough surrounds a juicy hot dog that can be dipped in a little mustard or ketchup for a healthy take on a state fair classic.
What Do I Need to Make Baked Corn Dogs?
- White whole wheat flour
- Yellow cornmeal
- Baking powder
- Salt
- Ground mustard
- Butter
- Non-fat milk
- Honey
- Lean beef hot dog franks, cut in half
- Wooden sticks
- Mustard
- Ketchup
- Large baking sheet
- Parchment paper
The day I nailed these, Baker’s precious friend Audrey came over for a little lunch date and as you can see these two fell just as much in love with my baked corn dogs as they are with each other!
Every adult and kiddo at the table ate them right up! They’re perfect for mealtime, snack time, or just about anytime! Let me show you how very easy they are to bake!
How to Make Baked Corn Dogs
- Preheat oven to 400°F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, cornmeal, baking powder, salt and ground mustard. Cut in the butter with a pastry blender or two forks until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in the milk and honey with a wooden spoon or your hands until well combined.
- Place dough on a lightly floured piece of parchment paper. Sprinkle some more flour over the dough and top with another piece of parchment paper. Roll dough to 1/4-inch thickness.
- Push a wooden stick up the center of the cut end of each hot dog half. Place the dog on the dough and cut a square that is big enough to wrap around it.
- Form dough around each dog sealing both ends and any open areas.
- Place corn dogs on the prepared baking sheet and bake for 15-20 minutes or until they start to brown.
How to Serve and Store Baked Corn Dogs
Serve hot with a dish of mustard and ketchup (or your favorite sauces) for dipping.
Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge and reheat in the microwave. To freeze, place fully-cooled corn dogs in a freezer-safe container for up to three months.
If you do make these Baked Corn Dogs, be sure to snap a picture and share it with me or tag me on Instagram @thebakermama so I can see. 
I love seeing how inspired and creative y’all get with the recipes I share. Have fun and enjoy!
xoxo,
Baked Corn Dogs
- Prep Time: 30 mins
- Cook Time: 20 mins
- Total Time: 50 mins
- Yield: 14
- Category: Main
Description
A crispy thin layer of sweetened cornmeal crust surrounds a juicy hot dog that can be dipped in a little mustard or ketchup for a healthy take on a State Fair classic.
Ingredients
- 1 cup white whole wheat flour
- 1 cup yellow cornmeal
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon ground mustard
- 6 tablespoons butter
- 1/2 cup non-fat milk
- 1/4 cup honey
- 7 lean beef hot dog franks, cut in half
- 14 wooden sticks
- mustard & ketchup, for serving
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400°F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, cornmeal, baking powder, salt and ground mustard. Cut in the butter with a pastry blender or two forks until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in the milk and honey with a wooden spoon or your hands until well combined.
- Place dough on a lightly floured piece of parchment paper. Sprinkle some more flour over the dough and top with another piece of parchment paper. Roll dough to 1/4-inch thickness.
- Push a wooden stick up the center of the cut end of each hot dog half. Place the dog on the dough and cut a square that is big enough to wrap around it. Form dough around each dog sealing both ends and any open areas. Place corn dogs on the prepared baking sheet and bake for 15-20 minutes or until they start to brown. Serve with mustard and ketchup for dipping.
great recipe! the ingredient list is simple and my little ones really loved them. They are tasty and fun to eat. I like the focus on a healthier version of corn dogs. thanks for the great dinner recipe.
Hi, KTB! So happy your little ones enjoyed them!
Hi. I just wanted to say that I just made these. i am giving ⁴/5 stars because even ththough they turned out good,, the dough took some work to come together, and stuck terribly to my parchment. I did end up picking it off and shapef and formed it around the hot dog, similar to working with play doh.
I think I’ll make them again!
Hi Nicolette! Thanks for sharing your experience with the recipe. I’m so glad to hear you were able to make it work and enjoyed the baked corn dogs. Did you flour the parchment paper and the dough before rolling it out? It sounds like your dough was too sticky. The flour should have helped. Or maybe you rolled the dough out too thin? I hope this helps and that you have great success next time you make them. Enjoy!
I tried it once. Never again. I will stick to regular corn dogs.
Hi Roni! I’m sorry to hear this just isn’t the recipe for you. I hope you find a recipe that meets your corn dog enjoyment expectations.
I just made these last night and my husband and I thought they were delicious! We’ll definitely make them again
Hi Lindsay! That is so great to hear! I hope y’all continue to enjoy!
Can the corn dog dough be frozen?
Hi Amy! Yes, the dough can be frozen. Just form the dough around each hot dog and then wrap each one tightly in plastic wrap before placing in a freezer-safe container or baggie to freeze for up to two months. When ready to enjoy, you can just bake them from frozen increasing the baking time by about 5 minutes. I would recommend just going ahead and placing them in the oven as the oven preheats to jump-start the defrosting process. They also freeze great after baked…just let them cool completely and then wrap individually in plastic wrap before placing in a freezer-safe baggie or container. They reheat great in the microwave or oven. Hope this helps! Enjoy!
Hi,
Would this recipe work if I used a boxed corn muffin mix? Don’t have the whole wheat flour or the corn meal.
Hi Cynthia! I haven’t tested the recipe with a boxed mix so I couldn’t say for sure. If I did try them with a boxed mix, I would replace the flour, cornmeal, baking powder and salt with the boxed mix. Hope this helps and that they turn out just as great. Enjoy!
My dough came out like batter and was unusable. I don’t know what I did wrong!! I followed the instructions to the T 🙁
Hi Cassie! I’m so sorry to hear this. Which brands of yellow cornmeal and whole wheat flour did you use? Are you sure you measured everything correctly? Did you cut in the butter? It should definitely been a thick batter that you can roll out.
This was delicious and such a fun way to enjoy fair food without frying! Unfortunately, the dough was wet and stuck to the parchment papers even after thoroughly flouring both. Could that be because I used regular white flour instead of whole grain? Or perhaps I needed more flour? In the end I hand shaped each one.
Hi i want to try this recipe but how do you do a tablespoon of butter? Is it heaped? Flat? Is there a weight alternative?
Hi Amy! 6 tablespoons of butter is 85 grams. Hope this helps. Enjoy!
can i use almond meel with corn meel?
Hi Marie! Yes, you can substitute some of the cornmeal for almond meal, but I wouldn’t recommend substituting all of the cornmeal as the flavor and texture is key to a good corn dog. Enjoy!
I made these yesterday and feel like I’m missing something here. I have to admit, I’ve never had a corndog in my life, so I don’t have anything to compare to, nor have I used cornmeal before. So, these guys looked nice and brown and smelled delicious, but they were crunchy. Like, I bite and there’s crunchy cornmeal in the dough. Did I do something wrong? I feel maybe it needed more milk or time to soak or something?
Hi Diana! It sounds like they turned out perfect from the way you described them. A great corndog has a thin crispy coating of cornmeal cooked batter around it. Tastes like a crunchy cornbread wrapped hot dog. Hope you enjoyed!
These are delicious! I will say I had to make a few changes due to allergy and lack of ingredients. I used 2 cups of hodgkins mills gluten free cornbread mix in place of the flour and cornmeal, added a squirt of yellow mustard since my mustard powder was really old, and used almond milk with a splash of lemon juice (to make a dairy free “buttermilk”) in place of the milk.
The reviewers that said they were too dry may want to place the dogs on a greased and preheated baking pan as I did, and spray the tops with spray oil to help them have the familiar “greasy crunch” without the deep fried grossness/deliciousness (depending who you are ha ha–I love deep fried food, but I’ve never had success with deep fried corndogs. The batter always falls off as they fry, or is very lopsided.)
Did you cook the hotdogs before you rolled them into the corndog crust or let them cook while in the crust because your recipe didn’t mention that.
Hi Josilin! No need to cook the hot dogs first, they have plenty of time to heat as the corndogs bake. Enjoy!
I made these with Tofurkey Gormet Sausages – and the results were amazing! Thanks for the recipe
Just to add (I used agave syrup, and rice milk) as I’m experimenting with vegan meals to keep my teenagers happy.
Yay! Thanks for sharing!
These weren’t great. I made them tonight and they never got visibly brown, which may have contributed to how plain they were, but when I had them with my brother they didn’t taste like anything but flour packed around a hotdog. I made a double batch and wrapped 15 full size hotdogs in them, but even then we had to peel off the shell just to get to something that tasted good. They had no flavor, and were too dense, if they had that usual corn dog flavor to them they would have been good.
That’s too bad to hear, Jared. I wonder if you left an ingredient out unintentionally? The honey and hint of mustard always comes through in the flavor of the cornmeal crust when I make them. Sorry they didn’t turn out for you.
Used your method with polish sausage, all beef, pork breakfast sausages, … all good.
Those all sound so great, Paul! Thanks for sharing!
I just tried making them and they taste amazing! The only problem I had was that I think the dough was a bit wet and as they baked, there were cracks and a little misshapen. Should I have added a little more flour? How do you get the shape to be more cylinder like?
Hi Sunny! It sounds like you needed more flour as you were rolling out the dough. Did you roll it out between parchment paper? And maybe you rolled it out too thin? Try adding more flour when rolling it out next time for sure. Hope this helps.
They are great at the State Fair of Texas. Especially after another Sooner victory.
BOOMER SOONER!!!
Is there any flour alternative? Does it need to be brand specific? Can you use milk with fat in it or does it have to be non fat? I’ve heard reviews on other baked corn dogs and everyone said they were dry and gross. Thanks
Hi Kathy! You can use any flour you wish. Could be white whole wheat, whole wheat or all-purpose. And yes, you can use whole milk, if desired. These baked corn dogs are the best! You won’t be dissapointed. Enjoy!
Hi. Any suggestions for using non-dairy alternatives to milk/butter?
Hi Dan! You could try using oil in place of the butter such as coconut oil or canola oil. And for the milk, you could try almond milk, coconut milk or soy milk. Hope this helps!
[…] Baked Corn Dogs from The Baker […]
Are the mustard and honey necessary? I would like to try this, but I cannot use mustard or honey. Will the dough be the same if I left it out?
Hi Rebekah! You could definitely leave the ground mustard out, but the honey does contribute to the texture of the dough. You could try leaving it out or replacing it with maple syrup. Sorry I can’t say for sure since I haven’t tested the recipe without it.
Followed the recipe but our corn dogs turned out very dry and crumbly. What happened?
Hi Adam! If you followed the exact ingredients and instructions, they shouldn’t be dry or crumbly. Was the dough easy to wrap around the hot dogs?
Thank you so much for this recipe! My picky toddler who won’t eat anything that doesn’t look like bread actually ate these! I was looking for a recipe that had a thicker dough instead of a batter because I was trying to make little bite-sized pieces instead of full corn dogs, and this worked great!
That’s so great to hear, Allison! Love the idea of making them bite-sized. I’ll have to try that next time for my crew. Thanks for sharing! 🙂
Hello, thank you for this recipe. I was looking for years for a corndog recipe that isn’t drowned in fat. I will definitely try them but I’m still curious if the taste will be similar to the original or if these corndogs have a ‘unique’ taste ’cause while I was looking someone told me I should give up the search because there just can’t be a recipe for corndogs without deepfrying… I really hate the smell and taste of deepfried goods so I have to admit I never ate an ‘original’ corndog.
Petra
Hi Petra! I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised by how great these baked corn dogs taste. The crust is crispy without being greasy yet still has that classic cornmeal taste with a hint of sweetness. I hope you love them as much as we do! 🙂
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Can you tell me if these freeze well and if you have reheated the best way to refreeze I would flash freeze to maintain shape and then bag
Hi Joyce! I’ve only frozen them after baking them and they reheat great. I just froze them in a freezer-safe baggie and then placed them on a baking sheet and reheated at 375°F for 10-15 minutes. Hope this helps. Enjoy!
How can I use part regular whole wheat flour and part white flour to make these? I have a lot of whole wheat flour I’d like to use up. Thanks!
Hi Diane! You could use 1/2 cup whole wheat flour and 1/2 cup all-purpose flour or you could use all whole wheat flour if you’d like. The cornmeal already adds a dense texture to the batter so using all whole wheat flour will bake up just fine. Hope this helps! Enjoy!
I made these as a Gluten free and lactose free recipe. They were amaz-balls. Gf flour, sub Earth Balance for the butter (cuts out 5g of fat for every tablespoon you use) and almond milk for regular milk. I also used grass fed/ finished OTCO Bratwurst. These were hella-good.
These are the best! These have become a staple in my house. In order to make this recipe gluten free we substituted the wheat flour with Pamelas gluten free bread mix and they turned out great!
Meant to say Nutrimill grinder and grind corn into cornmeal and wheat berries into flour.
Susan
I am definetly making these. I have Nutimill grinder and grind my own flour and corneal. My girls will love these.
Susan
I am DEFINITELY giving these a try, they look incredible; even better than state fair dogs 🙂