diff --git a/spec/context-menu-manager-spec.coffee b/spec/context-menu-manager-spec.coffee
index ddced8452..b336361f8 100644
--- a/spec/context-menu-manager-spec.coffee
+++ b/spec/context-menu-manager-spec.coffee
@@ -156,3 +156,28 @@ describe "ContextMenuManager", ->
       catch error
         addError = error
       expect(addError.message).toContain('<>')
+
+    it "calls `created` hooks for submenu items", ->
+      item = {
+        label: 'A',
+        command: 'B',
+        submenu: [
+          {
+            label: 'C',
+            created: (event) -> @label = 'D',
+          }
+        ]
+      }
+      contextMenu.add('.grandchild': [item])
+
+      dispatchedEvent = {target: grandchild}
+      expect(contextMenu.templateForEvent(dispatchedEvent)).toEqual(
+        [
+          label: 'A',
+          command: 'B',
+          submenu: [
+            {
+              label: 'D',
+            }
+          ]
+        ])
diff --git a/src/context-menu-manager.coffee b/src/context-menu-manager.coffee
index 869076beb..1d80dec09 100644
--- a/src/context-menu-manager.coffee
+++ b/src/context-menu-manager.coffee
@@ -136,12 +136,9 @@ class ContextMenuManager
 
       for itemSet in matchingItemSets
         for item in itemSet.items
-          continue if item.devMode and not @devMode
-          item = Object.create(item)
-          if typeof item.shouldDisplay is 'function'
-            continue unless item.shouldDisplay(event)
-          item.created?(event)
-          MenuHelpers.merge(currentTargetItems, item, itemSet.specificity)
+          itemForEvent = @cloneItemForEvent(item, event)
+          if itemForEvent
+            MenuHelpers.merge(currentTargetItems, itemForEvent, itemSet.specificity)
 
       for item in currentTargetItems
         MenuHelpers.merge(template, item, false)
@@ -150,6 +147,19 @@ class ContextMenuManager
 
     template
 
+  # Returns an object compatible with `::add()` or `null`.
+  cloneItemForEvent: (item, event) ->
+    return null if item.devMode and not @devMode
+    item = Object.create(item)
+    if typeof item.shouldDisplay is 'function'
+      return null unless item.shouldDisplay(event)
+    item.created?(event)
+    if Array.isArray(item.submenu)
+      item.submenu = item.submenu
+        .map((submenuItem) => @cloneItemForEvent(submenuItem, event))
+        .filter((submenuItem) -> submenuItem isnt null)
+    return item
+
   convertLegacyItemsBySelector: (legacyItemsBySelector, devMode) ->
     itemsBySelector = {}