I’ve lived most of my life in the Northeastern United States, but there are always those moments when I am reminded that I really hail from the Midwest. Case in point: I still can’t get over the fact that there are adults in this country who have never eaten a corn dog. What’s more, many of the New Englanders I’ve known actually consider corn dogs to be carnival fare. I mean, really? What planet did you grow up on? Where I come from, deep frying is just another cooking technique, and corn dogs are just another main dish.
I firmly believe that eating at least one corn dog should be on everyone’s bucket list, and fortunately for you, these suckers are super easy to make. You’ll need some wooden skewers or sticks. A deep fryer will also make your life a bit easier, but it isn’t necessary, provided you have a deep, heavy-bottomed pot and a food thermometer and an equally deep, abiding love of third-degree burns.
If you’re ultra-committed, you can try your hand at making your own “hot dog” style seitan sausages … but since this is kind of goofy food anyway, you really shouldn’t feel bad about not making it entirely from scratch. I’m sure most of you are well-acquainted with the many varieties of veggie dogs out there, but since I am very much not stoked on LightLife, I’ll give a shout-out to Field Roast frankfurters, which I think come closer to being “real food” than any hot dog I’ve ever encountered, vegan or not.
Finally, I know someone’s going to ask, so I’ll tell you upfront that yes, I’m sure these would be just fine baked, too. Perusing the Web, it seems like the most popular way of making baked corn dogs is in mini muffin tins: place a dollop of the cornmeal batter in a greased muffin cup, drop a chunk of hot dog in the middle, cover it with more batter, and bake ’til golden. That said, a little deep-frying never killed anyone. If it did, they would’ve locked up my grandmother (who, last, I checked, had four deep fryers to her name) decades ago.
- oil for frying (try peanut, corn or canola, but not olive)
- 6-12 wooden skewers
- 6 vegan hot dogs
- ¾ c plus ¼ c flour, divided
- ¾ c cornmeal
- 3 Tbsp sugar
- 1 Tbsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp salt
- ¾ c plain, unsweetened plant milk
- a tall drinking glass
- ketchup and mustard for serving
- In a deep fryer (or a deep pot), heat several inches of oil to 375F.
- If needed, slice hot dogs in half (width-wise). You'll want to do this if your deep-fryer has a relatively narrow opening (and is relatively shallow), simply to ensure that you'll be able to fit the corn dogs. Remember, you'll be frying the length of a hot dog plus a couple of inches of wooden skewer, so plan accordingly!
- If needed, cut down your skewers to a comfortable length. You'll want each one to be a few inches longer than the length of a hot dog.
- Gripping a hot dog in one hand, carefully but firmly thread the skewer through the hot dog with your other hand, stopping about an inch from the end. Repeat until all hot dogs are skewered.
- Generously dust hot dogs with ¼ c flour until they're entirely coated. This will help the breading stick.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together cornmeal, ¾ c flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.
- Whisk in milk; the texture will be similar to pancake batter.
- Pour batter into drinking glass.
- Gripping a skewer, dunk a hot dog into the batter, spinning it as you pull it back out of the glass. The entire dog (ends included) should have a thick, even coat. If necessary, quickly touch it up with a spoon.
- Quickly drop battered hot dog, stick and all, into hot oil.
- Repeat as necessary and fry in batches of 3 (depending on the size of your frying apparatus) for about 3 minutes, rotating once half-way through, or until nicely browned.
- Serve hot, with ketchup and mustard for dipping!
Β
35 comments
S. says:
Sep 1, 2014
It looks so delicious! I’m not sure where to find vegan hot dogs in Portugal, but I have to try these!
Mihl says:
Sep 1, 2014
I am one of those people from that other planet. But I am ready to move. I’ll be ringing your bell soon!
Amanda C says:
Sep 1, 2014
Yum! Here in Quebec we call them by their brand name Pogo, and they are so tasty! Nice to see a vegan version.
Zsu Dever says:
Sep 1, 2014
Oh, yeah! Corn dogs! Well done.
Zsu @ Zsu’s Vegan Pantry
Nicole says:
Sep 2, 2014
We will have to give this a go! Corn dogs are one thing my kids miss terribly since going vegan.
Laura says:
Sep 2, 2014
I love corn dogs, but they’re so hard to get right vegan! Definitely going to try these. Ps: I saw this post yesterday in the MOFO feed, and today in one of my vegan facebook groups someone was asking about vegan corn dogs, and I posted this link there for them after going back and finding it π
claryn says:
Sep 3, 2014
How serendipitous! Let me know if these meet with your approval if you do end up trying them. π
Liane says:
Sep 3, 2014
I never had corndogs, not even before being vegan. But they look interesting π I think I have to try and make them.
MeShell says:
Sep 3, 2014
YES. I’ve never made them, and honestly, I don’t know if I ever will (perhaps I will tuck this in and save it for the next time I have a large pot of oil on the go), but you’ve brought me one step closer to actually doing it.
mmmm.
Things I Love Thursday – Vegan MoFo Edition 1 | meshell in your city. says:
Sep 4, 2014
[…] Vegan Corn Dogs from Hell Yeah it’s Vegan. I want to make these, I do, but I’ll probably have to wait until Hanukkah when I have a pot full of oil waiting for sufganiyot (aka donuts). First donuts, then corn dogs. Luckily Hell Yeah It’s Vegan also has a recipe for those too. […]
Sara says:
Sep 5, 2014
I have never eaten a (vegan) corn dog in my life. It’s not that weird though, living in Belgium and all.. It does spike my interest, I saved it on my Pinterest in the hope that one day I will make vegan corn dogs π
Bianca says:
Sep 5, 2014
My boyfriend would go crazy for these. I need to add this to our dinner list – thanks for sharing!!
xx Bianca
JennH says:
Oct 11, 2014
I made these for dinner tonight. They’re delicious! Thank you for the recipe!
claryn says:
Oct 12, 2014
Glad to hear you like them, Jenn! Thanks for stopping by π
Jill Kiesow says:
Nov 1, 2014
Delicious. Worked great, even without a deep fryer. This is fast becoming my go-to recipe site!
Ashley says:
Dec 21, 2014
I just made these on a whim in less than 15 minutes as a “midnight snack” for me & my meat-eater boyfriend. I have never seen him that surprised: “where the -expletive- did THESE come from??”
This recipe is simple and amazing! However- I did use a mix of 25% olive oil and 75% sunflower oil in a shallow pan. I just dipped them in slowly to make sure the bottom cooked before it touched the bottom and rolled them during the process. Is there a specific reason why I shouldn’t have used olive oil? I just have a gigantic bottle of this oil blend from costco so it’s all I use.
I also added a little pepper to the mix (because things taste like nothing to me if they aren’t spicy.) I’m glad I came across your site! It’s super cool, creative, and easy to navigate. I’ve made almost every recipe on the ppk, and I’m pretty impressed by your style π
Alexa says:
Apr 15, 2015
I need it. Oh, it’s such a relief that even my vegan-unfrendly country (no vegan cream cheese! no single damn brand… and most of this kind substitutes are imported, so damn expensive) we have actually good and not too pricy vegan hotdogs. Do you think corndog would taste better with chilli hotdogs, or with smoked ones? Plain are not my favourite, so I’ll stick to flavoured ones.
claryn says:
May 25, 2015
Hahaha. Personally, I’d go with smoked, but that’s just because I’m a fiend for all things smoked. I bet either would be good. Let me know how it works out!
βegan βampire says:
May 3, 2015
This recipe is fucking awesome!
Thank you! π
claryn says:
May 25, 2015
Hahaha! You’re very welcome π
Elisa Hernandez says:
Jun 17, 2015
These corn dogs look amazing! Thank you so much for sharing this recipe with us:)
castromtnbiker says:
Jul 30, 2015
Hey Claryn,
I made the corn dogs according to your recipe and they turned out FIERCE !!
Everyone loved them and best of all they are bursting with Flavor Crystals and so easy to make. My other half loved them. Im gonna use your batter recipe add fresh corn, jalapenos, red peppers and scallions and make fritters as a side dish. thanks for sharing
claryn says:
Jul 30, 2015
Hahaha! Aw, I’m glad y’all liked them, and thank you for the kind remarks. Those sound like some epic fritters!
Rosie says:
Aug 18, 2015
Help, my corn dogs burnt on the outside but the batter wasn’t cooked all the way through. What can I do to solve this?
claryn says:
Aug 18, 2015
What a pain! Sounds like your oil was too hot. You didn’t specify whether you used a deep-fryer or a pot with a thermometer in it, but either way, I would test the accuracy of your thermometer. You can try these tips for starters.
Jasmine says:
Sep 11, 2016
I made these for dinner tonight and they turned out FABULOUS! I added a bit of nutritional yeast to the batter to sneak in some nutrition. It’s great because you can’t even taste it π I made the batter hours earlier and then took it out an hour before usage to reach back to room temp. The batter tightened up so a little bit more milk mixed in did the trick. I had extra batter left over so I just plopped the batter right in the fryer and made cute little hush puppies. You could even mix the extra batter with some diced hot dog (or whatever you want, really) and create bite size hot dog hush puppies. Thanks for the recipe!! This vegan is very happy π
Sue says:
Nov 5, 2016
Made these tonight for my boyfriend who has not had a corn dog since going vegan several years ago, and who missed them terribly. He polished off about 3 of them, and when I asked how they were, compared to the corn dogs he used to eat, his response was that they turned out “exactly how they are supposed to taste.” Perfect. Thank you for this recipe. π
Beth Ann Senderak says:
Jan 28, 2017
Could these be made in an air fryer? Looks great, lovery corn dogs!
things i love thursday #58 | Ship With No Sails says:
Feb 9, 2017
[…] this delicious vegan corn dog recipe (corn dogs are one of my most loved guilty pleasures) by hell yeah its vegan […]
Lee says:
Mar 13, 2017
After seeing that Field Roast began selling frozen corn dog bites, I was really craving corn dogs. I probably haven’t eaten a corn dog in a decade, but these turned out so well. The crust was crispy and slightly sweet, like I remember corn dogs and the inside was still soft. 100% would recommend! I am going to try battered jalapeno poppers with the batter recipe next!
Jill says:
May 10, 2017
I made these for my kids and we love them! Thanks for a well tested recipe. They even put them in their lunch box and eat them cold!
donna says:
May 14, 2017
These were amazing instead of bakeing or frying I used my snak on a stick machine with both Linda McCartney sausages and redwood hotdog sausages . Turned out really well.thank you
Amanda says:
Jul 7, 2017
Tasty results, though I laugh every time I see the dip in a tall glass filled with the batter instruction. The batter is so thick it has to be spread on manually, but it works fabulously. I just made a triple batter to go on 4 packs of jumbo smart dogs. Yum!
KimcheeMomma says:
Aug 20, 2017
My daughter needs a vegan batter so tried this and it was a HUGE success! It’s her first corndog and she’s hooked. I had a lot of left over batter so I added the rest of the flour used to coat the hot dogs plus a little more and added corn to make fritters. Those were equally amazing! Thank you for an easy recipe!
Jill says:
Nov 15, 2018
I make these all the time! Itβs my go-to-recipe. The kids love them and will eat them cold in their lunchbox too.