Corn Dogs - GLUTEN FREE Recipe

If you're like me, every once in a while you crave a little junk food and can't have it due to a gluten free diet. 

I adapted this corn dog recipe from one I found online, using my favorite ingredients, all of which are gluten free, preservative free, and nitrate free.  I hope you enjoy the crunch of the crust, the light fluffy slightly sweet dough, and the savory hotdog as I did!

Heat 2 Quarts of Oil in a Tall Pot:

I used an oil mixture of coconut oil and canola oil.  Reserve 1 Tablespoon for batter.

Start heating the oil right away over medium heat. 

You want it at 350° (use a thermometer if you can).

If you this step first, the oil will be ready by the time your batter is mixed.

Hot Dogs - I used Ball Park brand Park's Finest hotdogs.  They are nitrate free, all beef, gluten free, and delicious.  Open the packet, remove dogs, dry them with paper towels.  The dryer the dogs are, the better the batter will stick.  Skewer each dog down the full length of the dog, with a wooden skewer.  You can leave them at room temperature, sitting on paper towels while you are preparing the batter.

Option - I cut the dogs in half, so they would be shorter and I used metal skewers.  Then, after I dipped the dogs in my batter, I slowly slid them off the skewer, into the hot oil.

Mix Dry INGREDIENTS in Large Bowl:

1+1/4 Cups Corn Meal

1/4 Cup Corn Meal for Polenta (it's a bit larger, more granular)

1+1/4 Cup Gluten Free Flour (I used Cup4Cup)

1/4 Cup Sugar

1 T Baking Powder

1/4 t salt (I use pink Himalayan)

Mix Wet Ingredients in Small Bowl:

1 Egg

1+1/2 Cups Buttermilk (I used whole fat)

1 T Vegetable Oil (I used the same oil I was frying in.)

1 T Honey (If you do this after the oil, the honey won't stick to the spoon so much.)

Dry INGREDIENT in Shallow Dish:

1 Cup Corn Starch (for dredging)

Pour the Wet mixture into the large Dry Mixture bowl, blending until combined.  If the batter is too thick, add between 1/4-1/2 cup of water.  The batter should be thicker than pancake batter, but still pourable.  I had to add about 1/2 cup of water to my batter (it probably depends on the gluten free flour you choose).

Next, pour the batter into a nice tall cup or glass.  You want it to be deep enough to dip your skewered hot dog into!

NOTE: Before you go any farther, lightly dredge the hotdogs in flour.  LIGHTLY, I said.  Just rub a very light coating over the corn dogs. This step will help to keep the batter on the dogs.  If you use too much corn starch, the batter will fall off, so make it light.

Grab the wooden skewer of the dogs you dried earlier and dip the dog into the glass of batter, completely covering the dog.  When you pull it out, you might have to turn it a bit to keep it from dripping.

Immediately submerge the dog into your hot oil, holding onto the wood skewer for a few seconds, then turning the stick before releasing it into the oil.  Set your timer for 2-3 minutes.  Let the dough turn a nice dark, golden brown.  Don't put more than 2 dogs into the oil at one time, so your oil temperature remains high enough.

Remove after 2-3 minutes and place on a rack, lined with paper towels underneath.  Keep in warm oven and serve a whole pile of them at once for a group if you want.  Otherwise, serve immediately, with mustard.