6 Best And 6 Worst Frozen Corn Dogs To Buy
It's safe to say that corn dogs are a popular treat. At the Texas State Fair, they're known as corny dogs. If you cross the border to the north, you'll find that Canadians call them pogos. And if you venture all the way to Australia, you'll likely them sold as pluto pups. Yet, no matter in what form it takes or country it's sold in, the corn dog is called delicious. Although it may be a state fair staple, these days access is even wider. You only have to go to the grocery store's freezer section to satiate your corn dog craving. But while all frozen corn dogs may carry the corn dog name, that doesn't mean they all deserve it. After taste testing 12 different frozen corn dogs, we can confidently inform you which dogs pass our personal corn dog taste test.
We fielded these dogs based on a variety of factors, including each one's batter-to-meat ratio, the quality of the meat, and the tastiness of the breading. We also closely examined how that breading held up after it was reheated and judged the batter-fried dog's overall size. From all-beef to mini franks, these are the frozen corn dogs that were star students, as well as the ones that need to be held back an extra year for reeducation.
Worst: Bryan Corn Dogs
Bryan, which specializes in beef products, is so proud of its southern heritage it uses the fact that the company was founded in Mississippi as one of its main selling points. Offering a host of southern-inspired recipes on its website and marketing itself as "the flavor of the South," Bryan would be quite frankly disrespecting its image if it didn't sell this southern favorite (583,000 hot dogs were purchased during the 2022 Texas State Fair, after all). However, we must report that the brand's cornmeal-battered dogs are some of the worst of the bunch.
Selling at $5.29 per package of six, the meat of Bryan's dog is composed of a combination of beef, turkey, and chicken. The resulting hybrid dog is not overly chewy or noticeably horrible but it's also not outstanding. All told, it's just tasty enough to get the job done. The batter also holds up very well and didn't turn soggy or crack after a turn in the microwave. Meanwhile, the breading has a light and honey-filled taste.
So, what was this corn dog's biggest problem? That would be the amount of meat versus the amount of batter covering it. This was already one of the smallest dogs length-wise, so the fact that the meat is drowning in the batter means you don't get a balance of both in any bite.
Best: Foster Farms Corn Dogs
Do you remember those funny, borderline horrifying, commercials where two people were dressed in giant chicken suits? Yeah, that was Foster Farms. Since its early (and kind of questionable) marketing days, the brand has become quite a lot more understated in its ad efforts. Even better, it's now fairly well known as an American Humane Association Certified company that treats its chickens like animals and not future food products. Foster Farms doesn't just make delicious chicken nuggets, either, as the company also has some delectable corn dogs.
Costing $7.24 for a package of 16, Foster Farms' chicken-based corn dogs are advertised as hormone and steroid-free. Even better, the meat in these corn dogs is truly, genuinely juicy. Offering a lot of meat and an equal amount of batter, these dogs strike the perfect dog-to-cornmeal balance and have one of the largest franks on the list. Aside from its high-quality meat, the batter of this corn dog holds up well after hitting the microwave and offers a sweet and subtle honey taste. Tasty, sizable, and not just a bunch of batter around a scrap of meat that's attempting to pass for a frank, these corn dogs have our stamp of approval.
Worst: Great Value Corn Dogs
At $3.98 for a six-pack, these dogs feature a chicken frank where the meat is about as low-quality as you can get. Frankly, this stuff is as tough as leather. While the corn dog is pretty balanced when it comes to the ratio of batter to meat, we must note that the batter doesn't have an outstanding taste. But that's the least of this brand of corn dog's problems.
Picture this: we were biting into our corn dog, assessing its general taste and texture. Then, about halfway through the meal, our teeth struck something hard. There, in the batter, was a piece of wood. As best as we could tell, it was the same type used to make the corn dog's stick. We were pretty shocked, but we're not alone in our experience. One reviewer on Walmart's website also reported they found a piece of wood in their dog when they bit into it in October 2022. So not only is this brand mediocre, but if you're not paying attention you're liable to get a splinter in your tongue. So you may want to consider chomping yourself far away from Great Value Corn Dogs.
Best: Bar S Beef
Bar S is known as one of the only value brands you can find in just about any U.S. grocery store. As a relatively younger company that got its start in 1981, Bar S's commitment to selling quality food at a low price point earned its hot dogs the title of the best-selling brand for 15 years straight. And its beef corn dogs are equally as worthy of being a best seller.
Coming out at $8.49 per eight dogs, it will soon become clear that you're paying for quality here. First of all, you get a large frank in every dog that is coated in the perfect amount of batter. What's more, both the meat and cornbread around it taste outstanding,
As for taste, the beef is juicy and of a high quality. The batter, which holds up beautifully in the microwave environment, offers every bit of the honey aftertaste the brand's packaging promises it has. All in all, we still think that nothing can beat a corn dog that's been fried up fresh at your local fair, but Bar S Beef Corn Dogs come pretty darn close.
Worst: Foster Farms Gluten Free Corn Dogs
Oh, Foster Farms. Weren't we just praising you? But the truth is that, while one of the corn dog brand's products is delicious, the rest simply did not meet our corn dog expectations. With that, we reluctantly introduce the second product from Foster Farms on this list: Foster Farms Gluten Free Corn Dogs.
At $8.30 for a package of 12 corn dogs, these have a high-quality chicken frank at their center. However, while the size is generous, there is far more batter surrounding the gluten-free corn dog's meat than what you'll find in the brand's original corn dog. This is a choice we can only guess Foster Farms made to highlight the corn dog's gluten-freeness. However, we feel strongly that this was the wrong call.
While the gluten-free batter does hold up well in the microwave, it's still far from a delicious treat. In fact, the batter that's suffocating this frank exhibits the three dread Ts: tough, terrible, and tasteless. And so, largely due to its surplus of awfully-flavored batter, Foster Farms Gluten Free Corn Dogs are simply some of the worst dogs you can find in the grocery store.
Best: State Fair Beef Corn Dogs
When it comes to qualifications for making an authentically good corn dog, State Fair has one shining accolade on its resume — it was founded in Texas, the same state known for barreling through thousands of hot dogs at its state fair.
At 4.99 for a five-pack, State Fair says that its beef dogs are made with authentic honey and authentic beef, and, trust us, you can taste the difference. The meat in this corn dog is juicy and high-quality. However, the taste of the batter surrounding it is where this corn dog truly shines. It holds up perfectly even after it hits the microwave, coming out so fluffy, sweet, and absolutely decadent that you might be tempted to peel the batter off this dog and enjoy it by itself. But don't go that far — by pairing its tasty batter with juicy meat, State Fair has created one delicious dog. So while the batter might overwhelm the meat and the corn dog's size is smaller than some of the others we tried, its sheer taste triumphs against all other odds.
Worst: MorningStar Farms Classic Corn Dogs
MorningStar Farms has been selling its plant-based protein products since the late '70s. Offering vegetarian burgers, sausage, and an "incogmeato" product line, 73% of people are familiar with this plant-based brand. Then again, only 45% of those plant-based foodies that know about it say they actually find MorningStar products to be tasty (via Statista). If this brand's other products have a similar taste to its corn dogs we agree that you may be better off opting for a copycat version of MorningStar products if you're trying out meatless Mondays.
Costing $ 4.48 for four corn dogs, MorningStar Farms tries to hide the disappointing quality of its meatless Veggie Corn Dogs in a surplus of batter. And while the batter is, to be fair, very good and has a honey aftertaste, it still can't make up for the lackluster hot dog at the center of all that corn. To add insult to injury, it's much smaller than most of the other corn dogs we tried. We have to give MorningStar Farm's Veggie Corn Dogs a big thumbs down.
Worst: Great Value Mini Dogs
When it comes to the mini version of corn dogs, Great Value had the chance to redeem itself. Yet after trying the product, we are sad to say that the cost-effective brand's mini version of this fair food classic also failed to make the flavor cut.
We don't know what it is about mini corn dogs, but it's hard to keep the batter from turning to mush in the microwave. After we popped a serving of the Great Value Mini Corn Dogs into ours, we found that the tiny pieces of the batter turned soggy fast. While the balance of dog and cornmeal was respectable and the batter itself didn't split after cooking, the breading was both unfavorably moist and as tasteless as Walmart's regular dogs on a stick. Oh, and the chicken-based mini meats were suspiciously chewy. Anyway, they're affordable, given that you'll spend $6.97 for 40 mini corn dogs. At least the Great Value Mini Corn Dogs didn't have sticks in their batter.
Best: State Fair Classic Corn Dogs
And so we return to the Texas-born corn dog brand to discuss what is surely another Texan-approved favorite. Costing $10.38 for a package of 16, State Fair Classic Corn Dogs features a frank made of chicken, turkey, and beef. As in its other products, the meat here is still delicious and is byproduct-free. Also, there is more meat in this State Fair Corn dog than the beef one — probably because the frank in the OG is cheaper to make but, hey, we're not complaining because the amount of meat here creates a good balance of dog to cornmeal.
The batter in the original State Fair corn dog is just as high-quality as the one used in State Fair's beefed-up counterpart. Light and tasty, the breading held its own in the microwave and the real honey used in the batter makes it a delicious treat, especially when combined with the frank. While this corn dog's meat is not as high-quality as its beef counterpart and it's smaller in size than other corn dogs we tasted, we can't get enough of the tasty corn dogs State Fair is dishing out.
Worst: Foster Farms Mini Corn Dogs
The story of Foster Farms Mini Corn Dogs is one of wasted potential, in large part because the meat in these dogs is as outstanding as the meat in all of the Foster Farms corn dog products. But although the tiny franks themselves are delectable, the batter around these little hot dogs is simply not up to snuff.
Coming in a $7.24 for a container of 40 mini dogs, when we put these babies in the microwave, their corn coating split. Then, when we bit into the tiny dogs, we discovered the breading had turned terribly soggy. But the worst part is even if the breading hadn't been moist, it still would have tasted bad. This batter doesn't have a wonderfully sweet honey taste. In fact, it doesn't have a taste at all. It's undeniably, unforgivably bland. So while the batter and meat in these tiny corn dogs balance each other out, the breading is just not near as good as the frank that its covering deserves. What, we ask, is a corn dog without its corn(meal)?
Best: Bar S Classic Corn Dogs
Much like State Fair, after tasting two of its corn dog offerings, we realized that Bar S just understands what goes into the basic structure of a good corn dog. The classic Bar S honey-dipped corn dogs may have a frank that's made of turkey, chicken, and beef, which may lead you to question the quality. Yet, it was seriously tasty. Selling at $7.32 for a 16-count package, Bar S's classic dogs are also of very good size compared to the batter, so you get a lot of product for your buck.
Aside from having a good-sized frank, Bar S's classic Corn Dogs are also dipped in a delectable batter. While it's still not as tasty as what you might find in a State Fair box, the Bar S treat is good stuff that doesn't go moist in the microwave and has a wonderful real honey taste that complements the savory dog inside. We did find that these Bar S corn dogs were heavier on the batter than the meat, compared to their beef counterparts. We can't help but wonder if that's because the brand is worried that the OG dog's meat flavor needs to be hidden behind a bunch of tasty fried cornmeal. We think Bar S needs to have a little more faith in itself, as this corn dog is greasily delicious.
Best: Kid Cuisine Mini Corn Dogs
A microwavable meal that's composed of mini corn dogs, fries, corn, and a brownie, the Kid Cuisine Mini Corn Dogs and French Fries Frozen Meal was this list's dark horse. That's because, when we went into this Kid Cuisine, we thought that we were going to be eating corn dogs from, well, a notoriously low-quality Kid Cuisine. Also, there's quite the song and dance that goes into heating this meal. You have to zap it in the microwave without the mini corn dogs for 30 seconds before reuniting the mini dogs with their meal compatriots to finish the reheating process. The corn dogs' batter didn't make it through that process without splitting. However, one type of corn dog had to be rated the best mini dogs in town. And so, we bestow Kid Cuisine with this title.
Yes, the corn dogs' batter split in the microwave, but it was full of flavor and the breading-to-meat ratio was up to snuff. Perhaps most shocking of all, the meat didn't taste like low-quality rubber. In fact, it was delicious. For $2.48 per box, Kid Cuisine doesn't sell its mini corn dogs by the bag like the competition, but we think they should. We don't know why or how, but its take on the baby dogs blows Foster Farms' and Great Value's corn dogs out of the water.