Can I Air Fry Frozen Mini Corn Dogs? Any Special Tips?

Welcome back to Air Fryer Bro and to another one of my bro meals! There are lots of things we have gotten used to cooking in regular ovens that we sometimes are not sure how to deal with in an air fryer. Today, we are tackling one of those things from the frozen food aisle. I can’t how many times I’ve heard people ask me ‘Can I air fry frozen mini corn dogs?’, so let’s put the record straight today!!

If you have ever wondered if frozen corn dogs can be cooked with the air fryer cooking method, please read on. And if you want to miss out on all my experimentation and jump to the instructions, simply scroll down to the recipe card at the bottom 🙂 Pull your favorite brand of corn dogs out of your freezer! Let’s get out air fry on!!

My Frozen Corn Dogs

Alongside the regular hot dog, the corn dog makes a great air fryer frozen appetizer or snack (just don’t think too much about the lack of nutrition!!). This is why the air fryer corn dog is so popular!

I always like to show you where I get my food from, especially as I don’t live in America at this moment in time. Luckily, we have a supermarket that sells products from Tesco’s (a supermarket in the UK) and, even more luckily, they have corn dogs on sale. I say this, as they are not exactly popular in this neck of the woods!

You may scoff that these are not true authentic corn dogs, but upon further inspection they seem pretty close to me. The only slight downside is the fact these are mini corn dogs (otherwise known as corn dog bites), not the full-sized variety.

The main thing with cooking in the air fryer is timing, as it differs from the main cooking instructions on the packet. Hopefully, after my experimentation, you will know exactly what to do 🙂

How Long to Air Fry Frozen Mini Corn Dogs? Cook Time Tips!

This is the million dollar question right now, what is the air fried cook time for these frozen corn dogs!! Air fryer recipes for frozen corn dogs aren’t exactly readily available! My usual approach is to take the same temperature from the oven cooking instructions (preferably for a fan oven) and then half the recommended cooking time from that.

As you can see above, Tesco’s recommended a fan oven temperature of 170 degrees Celsius or 338 Fahrenheit (or as close as your air fryer can get!), so this is the temperature I dialed into my air fryer 🙂 As the packet had also said 18-20 minutes I thought 10 minutes would be perfect.

After a ten-minute blast in my air fryer basket, I took a look, and all seemed to be good to go! The outside of the cornmeal batter was super crispy to the touch, so I dove right in and took a bite. At first I thought they were perfectly cooked through, but at one point I got a slight hint of cold sausage! Not good 🙂

So I whacked another batch in for 12 minutes to see if that was the perfect time, and it really was. Although it didn’t change much to the corn dogs still crisp outside, the inside was well and truly cooked through this time. Air fried corn dog heaven 🙂 And in less time than you would get in a conventional oven.

Anything Else to Consider?

When cooking frozen corn dogs in your air fryer, there really isn’t much more to it. As with all food that you cook in this appliance, make sure to give each corn dog enough space in between so the hot air can flow around and evenly cook your corn dogs! A single layer is always the best solution, if you can manage it!

As you can see above, I used my air fryer grill pan, but you could just as easily place the frozen mini corn dogs straight from the freezer into the air fryer basket. You could use a baking sheet or shallow dish too, but something with holes in it would be better to allow more airflow around the corn dog.

There was very little grease or mess that came out of the corn dogs, so I wouldn’t bother with placing parchment paper or anything like that (as you can see above).

My corn dogs (even being mini ones) were heavy enough to not fly all over my air fryer, so that was good.

As the corn dog already has something in the cornmeal batter to help them crisp up, there is no need to spritz/spray with oil spray or cooking spray. You would be wasting your time and adding more calories to something that is not exactly healthy in the first place 🙂

Finally, DO NOT PREHEAT your air fryer. There is a myth going around that air fryers should be preheated before use. This is total nonsense and is wasting precious electricity at the same time. Do you preheat your hair dryer? If your answer was yes, I am worried for you 🙂 Air fryers use instant heat similar to that of a hair dryer, so no need to preheat.

There you have it. As well as being able to cook frozen items such as french fries and mozzarella sticks in your air fryer, you now know that corn dogs are ‘a go’ too 🙂 Just try not to eat too many. My ones were 94 kcal for each one (and they were mini!!). Then add the calories from condiments such as ketchup and mustard, and things don’t look great from the nutrition side! Although by not using a deep fryer on your corn dogs, you are certainly making the best you can of an unhealthy meal 🙂 Air fryer frozen corn dogs are using much less oil than a traditional corn dog from the local state fair 🙂

Happy air frying! I’m off for a run to burn off all those calories!! And maybe even try to make some homemade corn dogs 🙂

Can I Cook Frozen Corn Dogs In Air Fryer? Any Special Tips?

Recipe by AirFryerBro

Cooking time

12

minutes

It turned out to be pretty simple to cook frozen corn dogs in the air fryer, just be sure to not stack them too much and let the air flow around for even cooking.

Simply choose the temperature from the packet of your frozen corn dogs and cook for just over half the given cooking time stated on there.

Ingredients

• One pack of frozen corn dogs

Directions

• Take your frozen corn dogs out of the packet
• Space them out in the cooking compartment of your air fryer
• Set your air fryer for the same temperature stated on the box of your frozen corn dogs.
• Cook for just over half the time stated on the box

Notes

• No need to add extra oil to your corn dogs, they will come out crispy with nothing on them, so why add extra calories 🙂