The Best Baked Corn Dogs

Introduction

These baked corn dogs are the best corn dogs I have ever tasted. Bonus points because they are healthier than the conventional version and allergy-friendly! So you know I had to share the recipe here. 🙂

One of my biggest pregnancy cravings was corn dogs. Traditional corn dogs are certainly not considered healthy so I used to buy a healthier version at my local “crunchy” store chain. There were four corn dogs to a box, and they were not super cheap.

Fast forward five years and my family of four will not survive on four corn dogs alone, let alone corn dogs that contained one of our major allergens.

That’s when Google came to the rescue! I found a recipe from Baker Mama. Her baked corn dog recipe looked fabulous. It looked simple to make dairy free. It was already egg and nut free. I have now made these baked corn dogs a few times, and I adjusted the recipe slightly to fit our tastes, needs, and to also make it a little easier to handle (the dough is very wet).

The best baked corn dog recipe

Adapted from Baker Mama’s recipe (linked here)

Ingredients with notes:

• 1.25 cup whole wheat flour, plus some for dusting (changed from white whole wheat- we preferred the texture of whole wheat and prefer unbleached flour. All purpose gluten-free flour will work here. We also added some flour because we found the dough a bit wet and sticky, this might be because vegan butters are naturally wetter)
• 1.25 cup yellow cornmeal
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground mustard (can be omitted for allergies)
• 2 cracks/light pinch of black pepper (great for a more sophisticated taste, but we don’t do this when we want the classic corn dog taste)
• 6 tablespoons plant-based butter
• 1/2 cup plant-based milk
• 1 teaspoon of lemon juice (added to original recipe)
• 1/4 cup agave (we preferred the milder taste of agave over honey, but honey works, too. Agave also makes it vegan.)
• 8 whole hot dogs or 7 hot dogs sliced in half length-wise (with young kids, remember to use the sliced method). If using large links like Tofurkey sausages, you will make less.
• 14 wooden sticks (optional)
• mustard, BBQ sauce, or ketchup for serving (optional)

Steps to making baked corn dogs

1. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit (200 degrees celcius)
2. Mix the 1.25 cups of flour, 1.25 cup of cornmeal, tsp of baking powder, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp mustard, and pepper together in a bowl.
3. Combine the 1/2 cup milk with the teaspoon of lemon juice in a separate cup and let sit for at least one minute. We’re making vegan “buttermilk!”
4. Using a pastry cutter or fork incorporate the butter until the mixture is universally crumbly.
5. Add the milk/lemon juice mixture and 1/4 cup agave to the crumb mixture until it is entirely incorporated.
6. Pat the hot dogs dry if needed (don’t skip this step, the batter is very wet!) Insert the sticks into the hot dogs if you would like to serve your baked corn dogs on sticks.
7. Place parchment paper on a baking sheet. Dust the parchment paper with flour.
8. Now you have two options.

Option A. Roll the dough, then divide it: Place the dough on the dusted baking sheet and dust the top of the dough with ample flour. Place another piece of parchment paper on top. Roll it out to about 1/4 in or 2/3 cm thick. Cut into rectangles that are big enough to wrap around the hot dogs.

Option B. Divide the dough, then roll it: If making eight whole hot dogs, I found it easier to use an ice cream scoop to make eight scoops of dough. Then you roll out or flatten each ball to be big enough to wrap around the hot dogs with ample flour. Using option B made it easier to split the dough into equal pieces. Moreover, I didn’t end up with an awkward half-covered hot dog.

8. Wrap the hot dogs in the dough and seal off all the edges. The dough is wet and sticky so add as much flour as needed to help keep the dough from sticking.

9. Pop into the oven for about 20 minutes, checking at 15 minutes. They are done when the bottoms are browned. Enjoy!