These mini corn dogs have half a cup of finely crumbled bacon folded into the cornmeal batter, which is the whole idea. Everything else about them is ordinary party food: cocktail wieners on toothpicks, a thick buttermilk batter, three minutes in hot oil, and a basket lined with paper.
What takes mini corn dogs from fine to worth making is a batter thick enough to cling and wieners dry enough to hold it. Both are easy and both are where most homemade versions fall apart, leaving half the coating in the pan and a bare sausage on a stick.
- Bacon crumbled into the batter, so the smoke is in the coating rather than wrapped around the outside
- Cocktail wieners on toothpicks, which means no skewers to buy and no trimming
- Twenty four of them from one bowl of batter in about forty minutes
- A thick buttermilk batter that actually stays on, which is the whole trick
- Fried in three minutes a batch, so a party platter goes out hot
- Batter and wieners can both be prepped a day ahead
Mini corn dogs live or die on two things, and neither of them is the recipe for the batter.
- What Makes These Mini Corn Dogs Different
- Ingredient Notes
- Why the Batter Slides Off, and How To Stop It
- How To Make Mini Corn Dogs
- Getting the Oil Temperature Right
- Make It Ahead
- Storing Mini Corn Dogs
- Baked and Air Fryer Versions
- Variations and Substitutions
- What to Serve with Mini Corn Dogs
- Mini Corn Dogs FAQ
What Makes These Mini Corn Dogs Different
The bacon is the obvious difference between these mini corn dogs and the version everybody else makes. Half a cup, cooked crisp and crumbled genuinely small, folded in at the end. Large pieces sink and tear the coating as it fries. Crumbs the size of peppercorns stay suspended and put a savory, smoky note into every bite.
The second difference is that the batter is thick. A lot of recipes give you something the consistency of pancake batter, which slides straight off a smooth sausage. This one is closer to a soft dough that just falls from a spoon. It coats in one dip and stays coated.
The third is the dusting. Twenty four cocktail wieners, patted dry and rolled in two tablespoons of flour before they go anywhere near the batter. It is the same principle as flouring a chicken thigh before it goes into an egg wash, and it is the single reason these mini corn dogs come out of the oil whole.
Everything else is standard. Cornmeal and flour in roughly equal parts, buttermilk for tenderness and tang, a spoon of honey, and enough chili powder and cayenne to notice.
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Ingredient Notes
Mini corn dogs take thirteen ingredients for the batter and four more for frying. Exact amounts are in the recipe card below.
- Cocktail wieners: twenty four of them, or six standard hot dogs cut into quarters. The cut hot dogs give you flat ends that batter clings to slightly better, so use those if you have a choice.
- Cornmeal: three quarters of a cup, fine grind. Coarse stone-ground cornmeal makes a gritty coating that does not soften in three minutes of frying.
- Buttermilk: a full cup. The acidity reacts with the baking soda and keeps the coating tender rather than tough. Whole milk with a tablespoon of lemon juice works if you have no buttermilk.
- Bacon: about five strips, cooked crisp and crumbled fine, which gives you half a cup. Any softer than crisp and it will not crumble small enough.
- Cayenne pepper: a quarter teaspoon, no more. The heat comes from capsaicin, the compound responsible for chili heat, and it concentrates in a thin coating far more than it would in a stew.
- Honey: one tablespoon, which browns the coating faster and rounds off the cornmeal.
- Frying oil: a quart of peanut or canola oil. Both hold up at 360F. Olive oil does not.
Why the Batter Slides Off, and How To Stop It
This is the complaint that homemade mini corn dogs generate more than any other, and it has three causes.
The sausage is wet. Cocktail wieners come packed in brine and the surface is slick. Drain them, spread them on paper towels and pat them properly dry. Batter cannot grip water.
There is nothing for the batter to key into. A dusting of flour gives the coating something to hold, and it takes thirty seconds. Shake off the excess so it is a film rather than a layer.
The batter is too thin. It should mound on a spoon and fall slowly. If it runs, add a tablespoon of cornmeal at a time until it does not.
There is a fourth cause worth knowing: dipping in a wide bowl. Pour the batter into a tall narrow glass instead and lower each wiener in vertically. It coats in one movement and you use far less batter.
Go straight from the batter into the oil. A battered wiener resting on a plate sheds its coating in under a minute.
How To Make Mini Corn Dogs
Set the draining rack up before you start. Mini corn dogs come out of the oil four at a time and there is no pause between batches.
- First, drain and dry the wieners, push a toothpick lengthways into each one, and toss them with the 2 tablespoons of flour until lightly coated.
- Next, whisk the cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, chili powder, cayenne and white pepper together, then stir in the buttermilk, egg and honey until smooth and fold in the bacon.
- Then heat the oil to 360F in a deep pot, no more than a third full, and pour the batter into a tall glass.
- After that, dip each wiener to the base of the toothpick, let the excess run off for a second and lower it into the oil. Fry 4 at a time for 2 to 3 minutes, turning once, until deep golden.
- Finally, lift them onto a rack set over paper towels, salt them while they are still glistening, and let the oil come back to temperature before the next batch.
Getting the Oil Temperature Right
Three hundred and sixty degrees is the number for mini corn dogs, and a clip-on thermometer is worth more here than any other piece of equipment.
Below 340F the coating drinks oil. The batter sets too slowly, oil gets in before the crust forms, and you get something heavy and pale that tastes of the pan.
Above 375F the outside browns before the inside cooks. The coating is dark in ninety seconds while the batter underneath is still raw and pasty.
The temperature drops when food goes in. Four small wieners will pull a quart of oil down by fifteen to twenty degrees, which is why the batches are small and why you wait between them.
Nudge the heat up a notch just before each batch and back down once they are in. It sounds fussy and it takes one turn of the dial.
The wieners are already cooked, so you are only cooking the coating. That is why two to three minutes is enough, and why frying longer makes them worse rather than safer.
Make It Ahead
Almost all of the work behind mini corn dogs can be done in advance. Frying is the only part that has to happen at the last minute, and even that can be split.
Cook and crumble the bacon up to three days ahead and keep it refrigerated in a sealed container.
Skewer and dry the wieners the day before. Toothpick them, spread them on a paper-lined tray, cover loosely and refrigerate. The surface dries out overnight, which is helpful rather than harmful.
Mix the dry ingredients whenever you like and keep them in a jar. Only combine them with the buttermilk, egg and honey when the oil is heating, because the baking powder starts working immediately.
Fry them an hour ahead if you must, keep them on a rack at room temperature, and crisp them for five minutes in a 400F oven just before serving. Do not hold them in a warm oven for longer than that or the coating goes leathery.
The one thing that does not work is battering ahead. Coated wieners left standing shed the batter and it cannot be put back.
Storing Mini Corn Dogs
- Refrigerated: mini corn dogs keep 3 days in an airtight container once completely cool.
- Frozen: 2 months. Freeze them in a single layer on a tray first, then bag them.
- Reheating, oven: 400F for 8 minutes from cold, or 12 from frozen, on a rack so the underside crisps.
- Reheating, air fryer: 380F for 5 minutes, which is the best result of the three.
- Never the microwave. It steams the coating off the sausage and leaves it wet.
Baked and Air Fryer Versions
Neither one gives you the same thing as fried mini corn dogs, and it is worth knowing what you are trading away before you commit.
Baked in a mini muffin tin is the reliable alternative. Spoon a tablespoon of batter into each greased cup, press a wiener in halfway and bake at 400F for 12 to 14 minutes. The result is a corn muffin with a sausage in it, which is good, but it is not a corn dog.
Air fried from raw does not work. A wet batter drips through the basket before it sets. Every method that claims otherwise is either using a thick dough or starting from frozen commercial pieces.
Air frying to reheat works very well, and it is what the machine is genuinely good for here.
Shallow frying is a fair compromise. An inch of oil in a skillet, turned halfway, gets you close for a fraction of the oil. The seam where they sit is paler, which nobody minds.
If deep frying is the sticking point, the muffin tin route is the honest answer rather than a compromised fry.
Variations and Substitutions
The cornmeal, the buttermilk and the leavening are structural. Everything else can move.
- No bacon: leave it out and add half a teaspoon of smoked paprika to keep the smokiness.
- Cheddar: a quarter cup of finely grated sharp cheddar folded in with the bacon, which browns beautifully.
- Jalapeno: one, seeded and minced very fine, in place of the cayenne.
- Sweeter, state fair style: double the sugar to two tablespoons and drop the chili powder.
- Full size: the same batter coats six standard hot dogs on wooden skewers, fried 4 to 5 minutes at 350F.
- Vegetarian: plant-based cocktail sausages behave identically in the fryer, and the bacon becomes smoked paprika.
- Gluten-free: swap the flour for a cup-for-cup blend. The cornmeal is already doing most of the structural work.
What to Serve with Mini Corn Dogs
Mini corn dogs want other party food around them, and they want something sharp to cut through the frying.
- Yellow mustard and ketchup, in small pots, because that is what people reach for.
- Honey mustard made with two parts mustard to one part honey, which suits the honey already in the batter.
- A quick chipotle mayonnaise for the adults.
- Cold beer or lemonade, and nothing that needs a fork.
- Alongside chicken bacon ranch sliders if you want two things off the same tray.
For a bigger spread there is my buttermilk fried chicken tenders, which uses the same pot of oil, plus bacon potato salad and a sloppy joe cornbread casserole to make it a proper meal.
Here is what readers ask most often.
Mini Corn Dogs FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I use pancake mix or cornbread mix instead?
Cornbread mix works at a push, thinned with buttermilk until it mounds on a spoon rather than pours. Pancake mix does not, because it has no cornmeal in it, and what you end up with is a battered sausage rather than a corn dog. If you go the boxed route, add a quarter teaspoon each of chili powder and cayenne, since mixes are seasoned for sweetness alone.
How many mini corn dogs does this make?
Twenty four, which is one bowl of batter and roughly six batches of four. There is usually a little batter left over, and it fries into good hush puppies dropped in by the spoonful. If you need forty eight, double everything but fry in the same size batches, because crowding the pot is what drops the oil temperature.
Do the toothpicks burn in the oil?
No. They are submerged, so they cannot catch, and two to three minutes is nowhere near long enough to char them. Use plain round wooden toothpicks rather than the flat ones, which split, and push them in far enough that the wiener will not spin when you dip it.
More Questions About Frying and Batter
Frequently Asked Questions
What oil should I use?
Peanut oil is the best choice and canola is the cheap one that works. Both stay stable at 360F, which is the temperature these need. Avoid olive oil and butter entirely. A quart in a deep pot is enough for mini corn dogs and the oil can be strained through a coffee filter once cool and used twice more.
Can I reuse the frying oil?
Yes, two or three times. Let it cool completely, strain out the crumbs of batter and bacon, and store it in a sealed jar somewhere dark. Throw it out when it smells sharp, foams at the edges or darkens noticeably. Bacon in the batter shortens its life a little, so expect one fewer use than a plain batter would give.
Why did mine come out greasy?
The oil was not hot enough. Below about 340F the batter takes too long to set, so oil soaks in before the crust seals. Use a thermometer rather than guessing, let the oil recover between batches, and drain on a wire rack instead of directly on paper, which traps steam underneath and softens the base.
Are these safe to serve to children?
Yes, with the toothpicks pulled out first for anyone small. The wieners are fully cooked before they are battered, so there is no undercooking risk, and a quarter teaspoon of cayenne across twenty four pieces reads as warmth rather than heat. Leave the cayenne out altogether if you would rather.
Mini corn dogs are among the few party foods that are genuinely better made than bought, and the bacon in the batter is what earns the effort. If you are frying anyway, my buttermilk fried chicken tenders use the same pot and the same buttermilk.
Mini Corn Dogs with Bacon in the Batter
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Ingredients
The Bacon Cornmeal Batter
- 3/4 cup fine yellow cornmeal fine grind, not stone-ground
- 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 3/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1 large egg
- 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
- 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper leave it out for children
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper
- 1/2 cup finely crumbled cooked bacon about 5 strips, crisp
To Fry and Serve
- 24 cocktail wieners or 6 hot dogs cut into quarters
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour for dusting the wieners
- 24 wooden toothpicks round rather than flat
- 1 quart peanut or canola oil for frying
Equipment
- Medium Pot
- Mixing bowl
- Whisk
- Paper towels
Instructions
Dry and Skewer the Wieners
- Drain the cocktail wieners, spread them on paper towels and pat them thoroughly dry. Brine left on the surface is the main reason batter slides off in the oil.
- Push a wooden toothpick lengthways into each one, leaving enough to hold, then toss them with the 2 tablespoons of flour until they carry a thin film. Shake off anything more than that.
Mix the Batter
- Whisk the cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, chili powder, cayenne and white pepper together in a bowl.
- Stir in the buttermilk, egg and honey and whisk until no lumps remain, then fold in the crumbled bacon. The batter should mound on a spoon and fall slowly; if it runs, add cornmeal a tablespoon at a time. Pour it into a tall narrow glass.
Fry in Small Batches
- Heat the oil in a deep pot no more than a third full to 360F, and set a wire rack over paper towels beside the stove.
- Lower a wiener into the glass of batter up to the base of the toothpick, let the excess run off for a second and slide it into the oil. Do 4 at a time and go straight from the batter to the pot.
- Fry 2 to 3 minutes, turning once, until deep golden. The sausages are already cooked, so you are only cooking the coating and longer does not help.
Drain and Serve
- Lift them onto the rack and salt them lightly while the surface is still glistening. Let the oil climb back to 360F before the next batch, since 4 wieners drop it by 15 to 20 degrees.
- Serve hot with mustard and ketchup. If they have to wait, hold them on the rack at room temperature and crisp them for 5 minutes in a 400F oven rather than keeping them warm, which turns the coating leathery.