Korean corn dogs—the name is just enough to make your movie nights spicy and savoury, right? This incredibly delicious and cheesy snack is as popular as k- pop BTS that you can get easily indulged in.
What’s more—its juicy fillings and satisfying cheese pull is a can’t-miss treat for your taste buds.
So, what are you waiting for? Let’s take a closer look at this Korean street food-making process and some other interesting facts.
What Are Korean Corn Dogs?
Korean corn dogs, aka Gamja hot dogs recipe, are made from mozzarella cheese, sausage, hot dogs, or rice cakes—a popular Korean street food. They are wrapped with—yeasted batter or sometimes rice flour batter and coated with toppings.
Panko breadcrumbs, instant ramen noodles, french fries, or cornflakes—are the toppings, usually used before they deep-fry to golden brown and crunchy.
After frying, cooks serve it with dusted sugar and condiment of your choice like mayonnaise, ketchup, or mustard—makes it sweet and spicy fried dog outside and chewy inside.
1. Korean Corn Dogs vs American Corn Dogs?
Classic corn dog recipes famous in the US are coated with cornbread batter, deep-fried, and can be served plain—that’s it.
But this is not the case with Korean corn dogs—it holds some specialty from their making process to their serving.
The Breading
Well, the first thing is, don’t get confused with its name. Korean corn dogs—are not battered in cornmeal; instead, Koreans use sweet non-cornmeal batters like yeast dough or rice flour batter.
The Fillings
You don’t need to use hot dogs all the time as the fillings are diverse when it’s Korean corn dogs. From mozzarella sticks to fish cakes to squid, there are plenty of varieties to make your Korean corn dog a greedy food for the evenings.
The Serving
In American-style hot dogs—you can have it plain or sometimes drizzled with honey mustard or ketchup. But the serving of Korean corn dog is incomplete with a layer of sugar and the spicy touch of yellow mustard, mayo, or ketchup.
2. Different Types Of Korean Corn Dogs?
The crispy, chewy Korean corn dog recipe comes in so many varieties that you will find in South Korea.
Gamja Hot Dog
Gamja means potato in Korean and is the most famous recipe among the other hot dogs. Instead of the usual coatings, they use crunchy french fries, along with hot dogs or mozzarella cheese.
Mozzarella Dog
You will get the flavour of thick mozzarella sticks inside your hot dogs. Or, if you get confused between cheese and hot dog, you can use half cheese and half sausage for the filling.
Cornflakes Dog
What can be better than using some crispy and crushed-up cornflakes to coat the sausage instead of panko—yes, this corny-flavoured Korean sausage is just perfect to pair with a cup of coffee.
Ramen Dogs And Crispy Rice
If you are in ramen vibes, roll your corn dog with some crushed-up ramen noodles and make Korea’s favourite Ramen corn dog. Or you can also use rice puffs as a coating to make crispy rice Korean hot dogs.
Vegan Corn Dog
Use vegan cheese or vegan sausage for filling. And for the batter rather than eggs, use chia or flax seeds. You can use plant-based milk like—oat milk or soya milk and the yeasted batter for your delicious vegan Korean corn dogs.
3. Nutritional Value Of A Corn Dog
According to USDA 1, corn dog (about 76 g serving) contains,
- Energy: 220 kcal
- Carbohydrate: 25 g
- Protein: 5 g
- Fat: 11 g
- Saturated fat: 3.5 g
- Trans fat: 0 g
- Sugar: 7 g
- Sodium: 430 mg
- Calcium: 19.8 mg
- Cholesterol: 19.8 mg
4. How Can I Prepare Korean Corn Dogs?
The Korean corn dogs are juicy, chewy, and fun-to-eat snacks to make your evenings spicy and salty. And you can easily prepare the recipe by following some simple steps.
Ingredients
For filling:
- 4 to 6 hot dogs
- Fresh mozzarella cheese or, you can use a stick instead
- Skewers or use disposable wooden chopsticks.
For batter
- Use 1 1/4 cups of all-purpose flour
- 2 tbsp granulated sugar and some extra for serving
- 2 tbsp baking powder
- 1/2 tbsp salt
- 3/4 cup cold milk
- 1 large egg
For toppings
- 2 cups panko breadcrumbs
- 1 cup french fries
- Ketchup, mustard, mayo, or other hot dog condiments
Preparation Method
- First, cut the cheese and hot dogs into pieces and arrange them onto skewers.
- Now refrigerate them for cooling.
- You can prepare a mozzarella dog just using cheese, not sausage.
- For preparing the batter, take a large bowl add flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt into it, and blend the mixture properly.
- Now incorporate egg and milk and whisk the mixture well. You have to prepare a thick batter so that it clings easily to the sausage when you roll it.
- You can also use active dry yeast. But don’t make it too dry or too watery.
- Now pour the batter into a tall cup and refrigerate it.
- Take a wide pot and heat the oil to medium heat. Check the oil temperature, and dip the hot dogs into the batter—make sure it coats the roll properly.
- Now pour the panko into a baking tray and wrap the coated hot dogs in panko breadcrumbs or french fries.
- Use your hand to gently press all of the breadcrumbs so that it stays on the roll.
- Deep fry the coated corn dogs for 4 to 5 minutes until crispy and golden brown.
- Now place them on a wire rack and leave it to cool.
- Now serve these juicy and crunchy Korean corn dogs dusted with sugar and some hot dog condiments.
5. Tips To Remember While Preparing Korean Corn Dog Recipe
Skewers
Don’t use skewers that are too skinny as they can’t hold up the Korean corn dogs properly. Use wooden skewers or disposable wooden chopsticks with pointed tips.
The Mozzarella
If you want to get that satisfying cheese-pulling—using low-moisture block mozzarella will be the right choice. Or use string cheese. But they are thinner and would not be as melty and stretchy as the mozzarella ones.
Use Frozen Hot Dogs, Cold Cheese, and Batter
Make sure you are using frozen Korean corn dogs and refrigerated batter and cheese. Otherwise, you will end up with some leaky cheese while frying your Korean hot dogs.
It is necessary to keep the cheese sticks, dogs, and batter cold for at least 30 minutes before using them.
One or Two Skewers at a Time
If you are preparing it for the first time, fry one or two hot dogs at a time. It will give you enough time for your batter and cheese to be chilled.
You Can Store Them
Corn dogs taste delicious when they are warm and freshly fried. But you can also save them for later and freeze them for about one month. Before eating the corn dogs, take them out and reheat them in the oven.
Or use the air fryer or microwave to get back that crunchiness.
Don’t Forget To Use Sugar
If you want to get the actual taste of fried hot dogs, you can’t skip that sugar-coating part. Because the sweet and salty combo makes THE KOREAN CORN DOG.
6. Where Can I Find Korean Corn dogs?
Don’t have the mood to make corn dogs? Don’t worry. Find Korean grocery stores—to buy some frozen corn dogs or go with H-Mart.
Simply place the hot dogs in the air fryer to cook, and you are all set for this sweet and chewy Korean hot.
Or try some popular corn dog chains like,
7. What Can I Eat With Korean Corn dogs
You don’t need anything with your Korean corn dogs. These insanely delicious and fun-to-eat corn dogs—can be a meal on their own with some french fries.
But if you want to expand that hot dog world, you can do that with other popular Korean recipes.
- Nothing can beat the combination of Korean fried chicken and corn dogs—a delightful food for your mouth.
- You can have a healthy recipe with Korean corn cheese and corn dogs—oh yes, match that cheesy pull.
- Last but not least, warm up your evenings with spicy and comforting Korean tofu stew and your favourite Korean corn dogs.
8. Why Korean Corn Dogs Are So Popular
The corn dogs recipe started to gain popularity as street food in the 1980s. But nowadays, they are not just hot dogs wrapped in batter.
You can have varieties of hot dog recipes first invented by Myungrang Hot Dogs—a Korean corn dog chain started in 2016, near Busan.
And within three years, they launched 650 stores in Korea and were as famous as K-pop BTS. In early 2021 it became so popular in the US that there was a spike in the Google search engine for Korean corn dogs.
Moreover, some other companies are also taking advantage of this—like Two hands—a hot dog franchise that opened in May 2021 in New York City, and within a few months, they build massive success.
9. Is Eating Corn Dog Healthy?
There is no doubt corn dogs are delicious and mouthwatering food across the world. But are they healthy? Well, no, they are not. Especially the recipes that we eat from groceries and restaurants.
Although, corn dogs are not as bad as other junk food like burgers, doughnuts, or fries. But still, especially the packaged ones contain processed meats, which are linked to diseases like heart problems or diabetes.
Furthermore, corn dogs are deeply fried in processed vegetable oils—not that healthy. So, eating in moderation or making them at home will be the right choice for you.
Frequently Asked Questions:
- Do you know the origin of the Korean corn dog? It’s originally from South Korea’s night market scene. Street food [in Asia] is just big—lots of fun, creative foods.
- Sugar. One of the things that set Korean corn dogs into different types of corn dogs is sugar. Koreans roll or sprinkle sugar on their con dog to add a bit of sweetness and crunchiness. If you think about it, these ingredients don’t seem to work together, but they do!
- For some reason, the most common type of corn in South Korea is glutinous corn (Zea mays var. ceratina), which is called chal-oksusu (찰옥수수) in Korean. Its main characteristic is that it is “glutinous”, which means it is somewhat sticky and has a denser, almost chewy consistency compared to “regular corn”.
Also, read—Social Distancing: Here’s Everything You Need to Know.
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