Taste the rainbow: Korean corn dogs are the unlikely mashup you should hate but probably won't

Fruity Pebbles on a corn dog? Is this a fever dream? What. Is. Happening. Here?

Korean corn dogs are what's happening. What is a Korean corn dog, you ask? Pretty much a corn dog that has gone fully rogue.

It's meat or cheese on a stick dipped in batter. But that batter isn't cornmeal like a traditional corn dog. The ingredients usually are a mix of wheat and rice flour. We should ditch the “corn dog” name, but “wheat and rice dog” doesn't have the same ring to it. And, to be fair, they are called “hot dogs” in Korea.

The batter serves as a canvas for toppings that range from french fries to hot Cheetos dust to ramen noodles to the definitely not trademark-infringing “crunchy, fruity rice puffs.” Most of them also are topped with a sprinkling of sugar. Because, of course they are.

The end result is sweet. It's salty. And surprisingly, it's not at all terrible.

Korean corn dogs were a hot new thing in 2021, showing up all over TikTok and Instagram. Now restaurants selling them are popping up around the suburbs.

Kong Dog has locations in Schaumburg, Rosemont, Glenview, Park Ridge, Rolling Meadows and several in Chicago. There's also Tiger Chicken in Hanover Park, Oh K-Dog in Niles, and various other spots that have them on their menu to one extent or another.

Rocio Hernandez of Schaumburg said her go-to is the “original” Kong Dog with the beef hot dog. It looks like a regular corn dog with the outside coated in a panko and sugary mix.

“It's like an entree and dessert in each bite,” she said. “There aren't a lot of things like it, which I like.”

Most places offer some version of a hot dog, be it beef, chicken or plant-based, or a mozzarella cheese stick as the filling. Some also do half meat and half cheese.

Seven-year-old Braden Anderson of Roselle was seeing how far he could stretch the cheese in his bite of a mozzarella version that featured marinara sauce and a sprinkling of parmesan cheese.

“I think he likes to play with it as much as he likes to eat it,” his mom, Courtney, said.

Sometimes two great tastes taste great together, as the Reese's Peanut Butter Cup people used to say. But a not-really-a-corn dog coated in breakfast cereal seemed like a culinary marriage headed for divorce.

Since one shouldn't write about something one doesn't understand, one had to eat said corn dogs.

I ordered corn dogs from two different restaurants, sampling an original style, one coated with french fries, a mozzarella version topped with hot Cheetos dust and spicy mayo, and, of course, the rainbow fruity cereal monstrosity.

The verdict? Pleasantly surprised and not even a little grossed out.

To start, the texture of the batter is less grainy than a traditional corn dog. That's not a good or bad thing, especially since a traditional corn dog is awesome. It's just different. Be forewarned, corn dogs from both places I sampled had the sticks running throughout the dog, so take your first bites carefully.

The original with the sugary, panko-y coating is like a churro with a hot dog in it. Not bad, and not very sweet.

The hot Cheetos mozzarella version was like a ramped-up cheese stick. And, let's face it, fried cheese sticks are pretty boring. Covering them with spicy Cheetos and mayo is an automatic improvement.

The french fry dog was the biggest disappointment. It was just too much, and none of the ingredients provided enough contrast to make it interesting. Plus, it was covered in ketchup, and that's just bad form around these parts.

That brings us to the rainbow dog, as it's called. I really wanted to hate it and write about hating it and then hate on it some more.

I cannot. It's delightful. The crunch it provides hearkens back to what makes a freshly made corn dog so great. It's chewy and salty inside, crunchy and a little sweet on the outside. It all comes together in the most unlikely way.

I probably wouldn't recommend making a habit of ordering one, nor would most cardiologists. But don't be afraid. Give it a shot, and be ready to, at the very least, be surprised. I sure was.