Mini Corn Dog Muffins Recipe (Easy Family-Friendly Snack Idea)
This mini corn dog muffins recipe makes perfectly poppable bite-sized snacks!
These mini corn dog muffins are full of sweet & savory flavors!
If you enjoy corn dogs, then you’re going to love this recipe for mini corn dog muffins! These little corn dog bites are a mini replica of the full-size corn dog but without the burden of having to eat around that pesky wooden skewer.
This easy recipe comes together quickly and it’s a total crowd-pleaser (especially with the kiddos). They make a great party appetizer or game-day snack for hungry grown-ups, too!
Mini Corn Dog Muffins
yield: 12 SERVINGS
prep time: 20 MINUTES
cook time: 8 MINUTES
total time: 28 MINUTES
Mini corn dog bites made in a muffin tin as a fun and delicious snack!
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup melted butter (or 1/4 cup butter + 1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce)
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 cup cornmeal
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 8-10 all-beef hot dogs, cut into 1″ bites (pictured are Open Nature brand nitrate free all beef hot dogs)
Directions
1
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Whisk together butter and sugar.
2
Add eggs and stir well.
3
Add buttermilk and continue to whisk together.
4
In a separate bowl, combine baking soda, cornmeal, flour, and salt, and stir to combine. Whisk into wet ingredients in two batches.
5
Spray your muffin tin with cooking oil, spoon about 1 tablespoon of batter into each mini muffin cup, and place one hot dog bite into the middle of each muffin cup.
6
Bake for 8-12 minutes at 375 degrees or until the cornbread is golden brown.
7
Cool in mini muffin tin for 5 minutes before serving. Makes around 36 mini corn dog muffins.
Additional Notes
Adapted from Iowa Girl Eats
Hip tips for making this Mini Corn Dog Muffins recipe:
- Any mini muffin tin will work for this recipe, but a flexible silicone mini muffin pan makes it super easy to pop your muffins out when they’re done.
- If you’re using a metal pan, don’t skip the cooking spray! If you don’t spray, you’ll likely have a hard time getting your muffins out of the tin without butchering them. They’ll still be yummy, but not nearly as cute!
- We really enjoyed eating these as-is after cooling a bit straight from the oven, but they would also be good served with ketchup and mustard for dipping.
- If you have any leftovers (doubtful, but just in case…), these mini corn dog muffins reheat really well and are delicious the next day!
They’re both a kid and adult-favorite snack!
My kids were seriously impressed with these fun little snacks. In fact, I heard “This is the best thing ever, Mom.” 😊 If you have any corn dog enthusiasts in your house, I think they’ll love them, too. This is the kind of thing I know my kids will be requesting over and over again!
One warning, though: without the wooden stick found in traditional corn dogs to slow you down, it’s a little too easy to eat a large quantity of these poppable treats in one sitting! These bite-sized corn dog muffin snacks are the perfect mouthful of sweet and savory bliss, and you seriously won’t be able to eat just one. Enjoy!
Make the easiest bagels ever with our 2-Ingredient air fryer bagel recipe!
Yummy again! When I said I was hoping the recipe section would be expanded I didn’t expect such a quick response!
These look yummy and SO cute!! Thanks!
These are great! We make them all the time and use them in lunches as an alternative to the every day sandwich;)
What a great idea! I have been looking for alternatives to the “boring” sandwiches.
That’s a great idea!
Never heard of applesauce in corn muffins. Interesting.
Sounds like an awesome easy meal.
I learned about subbing applesauce a while back to make stuff healthier. You can sub it for eggs if you try to make cornbread and realize you’re out, too! Cornbread is the perfect thing to stub applesauce into 😉
My sister uses applesauce when she makes cornbread & I’m not a fan of cornbread but hers I will always eat
I love this idea! You could cheat & use a package of sweet corn bread mix right??
Yes! Same idea just stick in the hot dog bite. 🙂
Sarah – is Jiffy the brand you would use? Is there a better tasting cornbread mix out there?
Marie Callendars(sp?) is amazing corn bread
Awesome I have seen it at Dollar Tree 🙂
I use Pioneer sweet yellow cornbread mix. I’m not sure if that’s a local brand or not though.
I tried marie callenders corn bread. Sprayed the muffin tin heavy. They broke apart and a lot of crumbling when taking them out of the tin. Seemed to have a bitter after faste, need to be sweeter. Not happy with it.
kruzteaz brand is good too!
I’ve also done these using precooked sausage links. Great for breakfast with syrup.
Oh wow! Could you do that with pancake mix?
That’s sounds amazing! We’re huge breakfast fans here. Will definitely try both this and the original recipe.
My husband LOVES corn dogs from the store. This looks like a healthier option!
I dice my hot dogs and whisk them into the batter. We seem to like it this way more…more hot dog in each bite. 🙂
Love this idea! My boys always want corn dogs and this is a great way of doing them!
Made them both ways. The diced did have more hot dog in each bite but bread crumbled around the pieces.
I make something very similar with a package of Jiffy Cornbread Muffin mix and hot dogs! I add ground flax seed and baby spinach (that I’ve chopped up in my food processor) into the cornbread muffin mix to sneak in some healthy stuff. Kids have no idea! I’m loving seeing all the recipes on Hip2Save!
Love the idea of adding the healthy stuff. How much flax do you add and do you adjust the liquid amount to balance the recipe. Thanks Sandra
OMG! These look soo yummy!!!! I’m starving, really need to go to lunch!
All the ideas mentioned in the comments are great ideas! Thank for sharing Hipsters (is that the right name?)!
Hmmmm… Minnesota has already called school on Monday due to “extreme cold” so this would be a great lunch that is fun for the kids!
What?! When did they make the announcement? I’m in Fargo, where are you?
The Governor has not announced this.. I believe it’s currently up to the Schools / districts as of right now 😉 cancelled – Rochester and Winona
Okay, thanks.
The Governor has not closed the schools, yet?! Still up to the districts/ schools… Districts closed as of now are Rochester and Winona.
They sound good but look wrong if you know what I mean. Lol
They don’t look wrong unless your mind is in the gutter or maybe if you’re a teen boy.
Lol I agree Andrea
Has anyone does these in regular size muffin tins, or the jumbo size? If so, would you share how long you bake them, please? Got jumbo size tins for Christmas to make dh muffins, which he absolutely loves. So I really should play with the tins! Thanks for any ideas.
Great minds think alike! I had hubs pick up Hebrew national last night so I could submit these to a recipe contest, lol. I think they are perfect for Super Bowl. I do regular size muffins with both jiffy and homemade. We do egg and milk free
These look fun. I bought a bunch of Jiffy corn mix on clearance for a quarter and have some cheap turkey dogs, too. Perfect!
Do you cook the hotdogs first?
No.
I think I will serve these for the Super Bowl too
Thank you so much!!! My mom gets seriously sick when she eats anything with the chicken/beef/pork mixture that is in most corn dogs and hotdogs. These will be great for her
Always read labels, and if it has chicken IN the product, you can almost bet it is mechanically separated chicken. Was told this by a sweet co-worker whose husband was a USDA meat inspector, and she went on to explain exactly what/how such ingredient is allowed.
She said what you are eating is not what you would consider chicken. They take the parts of the chicken that are left over from processing, even parts you would not normally eat; this all gets forced/pressed against a sieve-type piece, and out comes the mechanically separated chicken. He said, “Do not ever buy it, and tell your friends as well. Read your labels, and know what you are eating.”
Didn’t want to gross anyone out, and I hope I didn’t offend anyone. Of course we all all free to choose what we buy…now you know. 🙂
Eww! That’s good to know, thanks for the tip!
Really really cute idea!! Thanks bunches Lina- you ROCK!
Thanks Vi that’s sweet 🙂
Lina this is such a good idea, I think I’ll make these for the super bowl!! I think you are just awesome, love your recipes!!
Aw thanks Barb!
Really great idea. I’ll use soy hot dogs for my veggie husband. Thanks so much.
Thanks Lina! I started cooking more “natural” and “from scratch” a couple years ago. I am always looking for homemade versions of popular frozen/processed items! This one definitely went in the Hip List.
You’re welcome and me too!
Hi DP! Visit Heavenly Homemakers blog. She has a lot of scratch recipes for common ly packaged things. Plus, she is funny! And no, I am not affiliated with her at all.
sorry…don’t know why “commonly” separated?!
Thank you for the inspiration!
I use White Lily self rising cornmeal so I am assuming I would omit the soda & salt?
Love this idea. I’m going to try it soon.
I made these this weekend but — I used Hebrew National All Beef Hot Dogs and a box of Jiffy Corn Bread… super yummy
We make these and then put them in the freezer for easy go to lunches for DS’ lunch box. We just take a few out and they are thawed out by lunch. He loves cold food. (Our are dairy/egg free)
We use the jiffy mix with applesauce instead of egg. Just in case anyone needs an alternative!
Such a great idea! Do you know how they reheat right out of the freezer?
Second on the freezer question! Assuming so, since hot dogs and bread freeze well?
Thanks for this tip! I was wondering if you could freeze them. Seems like they would be perfect for lunches.
could you mix shredded cheese into the batter mix to give it that cheese taste?
Any suggestions on side dishes to serve with these?
Well it’s nothing fancy but we are doing homemade fries and a salad!!
Thks for the recipe
What about drizzling a little honey across the top before you bake? Maybe a sweet top?
They are too sweet for us…. disappointment
Do these have to be stored in the fridge if eating the next day?
I thought I would let you know that I made these today for a child’s birthday party. They were a HUGE hit with the adults and kids! The birthday boy was two and he mast have eaten 7 or 8 of these. There were no left overs and everyone wanted the recipe!
Thank you so much for the recipe, it is a keeper and I have pinned it on Pinterest.
Thanks for sharing Elaine! Great news 🙂
I used Jiffy mix and did a plain, a mild cheddar cheese and a jalapeño version. I added about 2 teaspoons of sugar to the mix, before adding the jalapeño/cheese.
The plain one was great with mustard. The cheese one, I couldn’t taste cheese in it and I was generous with the amount of cheese I put in the mix. The jalapeño one was a huge hit with my husband.
Also, I had put too much corn mix in some which created a big muffin top…big mistake. When I tried to get them out of the muffin pan, I tore off the muffin tops. My other mistake was I over-baked. I put it in for 12 minutes at 400 degrees. Hmm, maybe I should have followed the original recipe. LOL
FYI, I’m taking it ot to s Super Bowl potluck, once I perfect it. Anyway, thanks Hip Team.
So I made this as one of the items on the menu for my daughter’s birthday party. They were quick to whip up. I did not have a mini muffin pan so I used cupcake liners and put them in a regular cupcake pan. Using a 1/4 cup as a scoop I was able to get 18 cupcakes from this batter. I used brown sugar as is available in the Caribbean which has very big crystals so I think with that type of sugar I ended up with a sweet cornbread with a hotdog in the middle. Despite that these were gone in minutes, everyone loved them and I do too. These could be a great make ahead breakfast item.
Just made these with my nieces. They tasted great and were easy to make!! Curious how adding cheese and/or something spicy would be. But love the idea and will definitely be making these again for potlucks!!!
I used regular muffin tin and they must have been too big. The corn bread fell apart. They tasted good but I would never serve them to anyone like this.
Made these yesterday and flew off the tray. Kids and adults loved them. For me though , when I added a tablespoon the batter rose and covered the hot dog. So next batch I usedlike a half tablespoon and they were perfect.
I love this cup cake very healthy and delicious too. Kids will love this. You can also put some cheese.
Hi! These look great! Can you freeze them? 🙂
Yes, they freeze great!
Good to know they freeze great! How would you go about taking them from freezer to having your kids take for lunch? Quick microwave in the morning and putting in thermos? Or what would work best?
How about using Little Smokies sausage instead of weiners? I think the size would be right for a regular sized corn muffin.
Can’t wait to try it. Would go great with a bowl of chili or homemade soup also.
Thanks.
Virginia Brown
Houston, Tx.
Oh that sounds yummy! Thanks for stopping by Virginia 😀
Do these freeze well? I’m always looking for ideas to freeze and put n my daughter’s lunch box. Let me know if you know or have suggestions about these.
Is it possible to sub the all-purpose flour for cornmeal? I need to make these gluten-free. If not, is there another type of flour you would suggest to get the same results?
I used GF flour and it worked well.
Love it I did this.and I give this a ten
Question: could the corneal batter be made the day before and just kept refrigerated until ready to cook the next day or does that affect the flavour?
I actually make these in bulk (for my kids lunches) and freeze them. Then you can just reheat them in the microwave or oven when you are ready to eat/serve them.
If you leave the sugar out would it make the batter fall apart? Sweet cornbread just doesn’t go over well at our house.
Yummy! We substituted the corn meal with almond meal and they are great! Thanks for the recipe!
It looks delicious! I am actually making them right now. How do they taste when they are cold?
My girls pack them in their lunches – they love them cold!
Can you make these say a day ahead of time do you think? Planning a 30th surprise party for my fiance and need good food ideas that I can make some of them ahead! 🙂 TIA!!!
If you decided to try Jiffy cornbread mix, how would you substitute it into the recipe? I am not sure what to leave out and keep in.
You would probably just use hot dogs and the mix. Plus the ingredients for the mix listed on box which I believe is milk and eggs? You can still use a mini muffin pan and results would be similar.
Tina, I’ve used the Jiffy cornbread mix for these and the batter is so sticky after the hotdog cooks in it, half the muffin comes off in the pan or paper. I’ve tried Crisco and cooking spray. Nothing works! They’re delicious, though. I’m hoping this recipe is better.