State Fair Mini Corn Dogs Cooking Instructions

*This post may contain affiliate links. Please see my disclosure to learn more.

The air fryer is one of our favorite cooking appliances for its simplicity and convenience.

It's not always the best answer but there are a lot of times it can be incredibly helpful for your cooking and it might even be healthier for some foods than if you fried in oil or something like that.

The oven is always good for some of these things but it doesn't crisp food up quite as much as frying.

With the oven, you also have to wait for pre-heating and cooking times. Using the air fryer might shorten your cooking time and give you that crispy effect you're probably looking for.

How do you cook mini corn dogs in the air fryer? The exact process could vary slightly depending on your air fryer but the basic instructions are to use a temperature around 350-380°F and cook your corndogs for probably 8-10 minutes. Remember that you may have to tweak slightly depending on your air fryer.

In this guide, we will share with you exactly how to cook mini corn dogs in the air fryer.

We will talk about how the air fryer works, cover a step-by-step process for cooking mini corn dogs, and discuss what you can expect for things like taste, texture, and more.

Stick with us to learn how to cook mini corn dogs in the air fryer and more!

How To Cook Mini Corn Dogs In The Air Fryer: The Process

Let's start with the basic question here. You most likely came here because you want to know how to cook those frozen mini corn dogs you're planning for dinner tonight.

You've got ball games and piano lessons and you have a very short window to feed the family so it's got to be quick and easy!

Or maybe you have another story or simply just really enjoy mini corn dogs. Whatever the reason, you need to know how to cook them and fast! We're here to help!

The one thing that we want to point out is that not every fryer is exactly the same.

Different brands and different types of air fryers do tend to cook a little differently so you may end up needing to adjust your temperature or your cooking time just slightly.

Here are the steps to cook mini cord dogs in the air fryer:

Pull the mini corn dogs out of their packaging. It's perfectly okay to place them in the air fryer frozen.
Place the mini corn dogs in your air fryer tray or basket. It's best if you can lay them out in a single layer and not have them stacked on top of each other.
Close up the air fryer and turn it on.
Set your temperature to somewhere between 350-380°F (this is where you may have to figure out what works best for your air fryer).
Start with 4 minutes of cooking time. After the initial 4 minutes, flip or turn the mini corn dogs over.
Cook for an additional 3-4 minutes.
Check the corn dogs. In most cases, they will be done but they might also need just another minute or two. Again, this is something that could vary depending on your air fryer, as well as the temperature you set.
Serve the corn dogs with your favorite dipping sauces and enjoy!

It's a super easy process and it moves pretty quickly. You can most likely have your corn dogs ready to serve in about 10 minutes using the air fryer!

For comparison purposes, if you cooked them in the oven, you would use 350°F and cook them for about 15 minutes.

Of course, what really adds to the oven cooking process is waiting for your oven to pre-heat before you start cooking. This adds another 10 minutes so it just makes it take longer overall.

Now – the oven is a perfectly good resource but if you want quick and convenient, the air fryer does a really great job. Let's talk about what you can expect from cooking corn dogs in the air fryer!

How Mini Corn Dogs Taste After Cooking in the Air Fryer

Mini corn dogs are just like corn dogs but instead of being a full-sized hot dog and placed on a stick, they are more like 2 or so bites each and made so you can eat them with a fork or your fingers.

When it comes to a mini corn dog, there is no stick involved in the process that you have to try to figure out how you're going to eat around! It's just a simple hot dog wrapped in that cornbread layer and it's totally delicious.

The mini corn dog is cool because it's just like a corn dog but smaller and easy to handle. Just pick it up, dip it, and take a quick bite to your satisfaction. Then you repeat the process until you've eaten your serving!

So when you cook mini corn dogs in the air fryer, you might expect that to affect your taste. The good news is that it really doesn't affect the taste.

In fact, some people think they taste much better cooked this way because it gets that cornbread exterior perfectly crisped and just slightly browned.

Then the hot dog in the middle is cooked and hot but not soggy or anything like that. They will taste just like what you expect a corndog to taste but in miniature form!

The nice thing about the air fryer is it cooks and crisps. The hot dog will be perfectly cooked and the outer cornbread layer will also be just slightly crisp but also still soft like bread should be.

When you bite into it, you get the perfect combination of cornbread and hot dog and it's so yummy!

You just need to add your favorite dipping sauce. Here are a few popular options:

Cheese sauce
Ketchup
Mustard
Ranch
Honey mustard
BBQ sauce
Yum Yum sauce
Butter garlic sauce

Really, you can use any sauce or even dressing that you like to change it up. Some people even like to have more than one sauce and just mix and match so it's really up to you!

The Texture Of Mini Corn Dogs Cooked In The Air Fryer

You know how when you microwave things, especially frozen foods, they can sometimes have a bit of a soggy texture?

We've had this happen in the oven too when it comes to breaded items. Although, we must say that the oven typically works better than the microwave for that sort of thing.

You have that breaded shrimp or breaded fish or these breaded mini corndogs. They are all different types of breading usually but the idea is the same. The breading should be crisp but still soft.

What we often get is a soft breading that doesn't crisp up at all or sometimes just feels and tastes soggy when you eat it.

Well, when you cook mini corn dogs in the air fryer, this is never an issue. The air fryer will cook but it will also get crispy as we mentioned before.

It has a similar effect to frying foods but it does it without using oils or hot skillets and deep fryers.

In fact, many frozen foods have even started putting air fryer instructions on the packaging because it's a great cooking option for these types of food.

What you can expect from the texture is absolutely no sogginess, paired with the perfect amount of crisping.

How Does The Air Fryer Compare To Other Cooking Methods?

We did make a few small comparisons as we went through the processes above but let's dig a little deeper to compare how the air fryer cooks mini corn dogs compared to how other appliances might cook them.

The Oven

Let's look at the oven first. This has long been the chosen method for cooking frozen foods like this. Honestly, your results in cooking mini corn dogs in the air fryer as opposed to the oven are going to be fairly similar.

In this particular scenario, the oven will crisp up the breading and maybe even brown it slightly. The oven will also cook the hot dog inside of the breading just fine.

So, what's the difference?

When it comes to comparing the oven to the air fryer for mini corn dogs, the biggest difference you are going to notice is the time it takes.

You can see in the instructions we provided for cooking mini corn dogs in the air fryer that it takes 10 minutes or less from start to finish. That's almost not even enough time to prepare a side to go with them!

When you cook mini corn dogs in the oven, it simply takes a little bit longer. With the oven, you have to wait for pre-heating to commence before you cook.

Pre-heating to 350°F will take anywhere from 5-10 minutes depending on your oven. Then the cooking time for oven baking is 15 minutes if the corn dogs are still frozen.

So from start to finish in the oven, you're looking at more like 25-30 minutes rather than about 10. So it's really more than double the timeframe for cooking.

As far as taste, one is not necessarily better but the cooking time shows a major difference.

The Microwave

The microwave is the other popular method for cooking frozen foods like this. People typically use the microwave because it's fast and convenient.

Some people also simply don't have an oven so the microwave is their only available cooking appliance.

As far as time goes, the microwave is even faster than the air fryer for quick cooking.

The air fryer will take you about 10 minutes from start to finish but the microwave is only going to take about 1-2 minutes total for cooking frozen mini corn dogs.

Here's the thing, when you use the microwave, you are definitely sacrificing quality. The microwave heats or cooks but it's pretty limited beyond simply cooking the food. The microwave won't crisp the food.

So when you compare flavor and texture of mini corn dogs in the air fryer as opposed to the microwave, they taste and look much better from the air fryer. Remember that the air fryer will cook and crisp the food.

When you cook them in the microwave they will cook through but they may have a slightly soggy or soft texture rather than that little bit of crisping that you get in the air fryer.

What To Serve With Mini Corn Dogs

So what do you serve with those mini corn dogs that you cooked in 10 minutes in the air fryer?

Some people just eat the corn dogs on their own and that works just fine. Other people prefer to have a side and you can really pair them with just about anything you want.

For starters, don't forget your favorite dipping sauces!

Otherwise, here are some great ideas you might consider:

French fries or tater tots
Mac and cheese
Vegetables
Fruits
Chips
Corn on the cob
Baked beans
Potato salad
Salad with dressing
Chili

Well, you get the picture. Mini corn dogs are pretty versatile so it's easy to find something to go with them.

These are just a few ideas but you can certainly try other things out as well if none of these appeals to you or you don't have them on hand at the time.

There you have it! The air fryer is super easy and incredibly convenient for this type of cooking and we're quite sure you won't be disappointed with your corn dogs.

Now, you can get to cooking and have those delicious air-fried corn dogs in no time!