Costco's Korean-Style Corn Dogs Have Customers Scouring The Shelves
There are more than a couple of interesting things you can find at Costco, should you look around hard enough. You can find anything from sushi, rotisserie chicken, sheet cakes, peanut butter-filled pretzels, and all sorts of other delicious and sometimes outrageously unique foods. It wouldn't be too much of a surprise, then, to hear Costco would sell corn dogs — you know, those hot dogs that are dipped in cornbread batter, fried, and then skewed onto a stick. But what would be surprising is that these aren't your average pre-made and frozen corn dogs that you could find pretty much anywhere frozen food is sold, it's that these corn dogs are actually Korean in nature.
What exactly makes a Korean corn dog? It's very similar to the American version of the corn dog, being soaked in a sweet or savory batter and then deep-fried, but with a little emphasis on toppings and fillings. For example, you could purchase a Korean corn dog that is half of a hot dog, half mozzarella, dunked in a rice batter, and then fried with breadcrumbs and sugar. If you want something with a little more seafood, you can also order a "squid ink corn dog" in certain parts of the country. The appearance of Korean corn dogs here in the United States has been credited to the popularity of Korean movies and television series by way of streaming services.
But where, if possible, can you find these Korean snack foods at your local Costco?
You can find these corn dogs at very select Costcos
TikTok user Laura Ullock of Vancouver Finds uploaded a video in which she tries a "new item" at her local Costco. This new item is something called "Crispy Potato Corn Dogs" — which resemble traditional potato Korean corn dogs. Ullock notes that the corn dogs are available at $15.99 for a bag of eight, with each corn dog coming individually wrapped inside the bag. Ullock then fries a corn dog in her air fryer for around 10 minutes before pulling the corn dog apart to reveal the cheese-filled interior. Before you go running to your local Costco to see if they have any of these potato-and-cheese corn dogs to try, however, several comments indicate that these corn dogs are available at very select Costcos on the West Coast and parts of Canada.
"Is only in Canada for now," wrote one viewer, but others have noted you can find them in parts of the States.
"I know they're all over Canada and have been seen in CA and Vegas," said Ullock. Her statement was supported by several other TikTok videos, which seemed to imply that these corn dogs can be found in Costcos all across Toronto and Vancouver. While this is good news for readers who live in Canada (and perhaps parts of California and Las Vegas), others may have to wait for these Korean-style corn dogs to make their way to their local stores. But are these Korean potato corn dogs even worth waiting for, to begin with?
Many people like the meat-free corn dogs
As you may have just read, these corn dogs actually don't contain any meat at all. Instead, they're more or less deep-fried sticks of mozzarella, and potatoes on a stick. Would this affect whether the "corn dogs" are any good?
TikTok user Coupon Cutie Canada reviewed the corn dogs, walking the viewer through how to prepare them in the air fryer. Like Ullock, she fries the corn dogs at 355 degrees for 10 minutes as per the directions, noting that this was "just the right amount of time." She reports that the potatoes came out crispy, the cheesy was "really good," and the dough had a sweet flavor. When served alongside siracha sauce, she gave the corn dogs a review of 8.5 out of 10. While many viewers were interested in trying them for themselves, others seemed perplexed by the rather steep cost of the corn dogs.
"$16 for mozzarella sticks...on a schtiiiiiiick," joked one viewer.
"That is too expensive," said another viewer. "Hmart has them for $6."
The "HMart" in question refers to a chain of American supermarket stores that mainly specialize in Asian foods and ingredients, hinting that other types of Korean corn dogs can be found elsewhere in the United States. Others online, such as Reddit, have discussed other restaurants where one can find Korean corn dogs for sale. In the end, it seemed like most people were interested in trying them, but some were put off by the price or the product's unavailability.