14 Of The Wildest Texas State Fair Foods Of All Time

In the early 1900s, the State Fair of Texas started to evolve into the kind of local, annual event that you really shouldn't miss. There were football games, race tracks, and even speeches from sitting presidents. By the time the 1950s rolled around, the event was attracting more than 2 million people — most of whom were eager to see Big Tex in the flesh. For the uninitiated, Big Tex is that giant cowboy that stands at the entrance of the park, welcoming you in. Today, though, when you see Big Tex waving hello, you probably have one thing on your mind, and that's food. Well, fried food, specifically.

The State Fair of Texas has long offered its guests plenty of tasty things to eat (we'll come on to some of the longest-running options during the course of this list), but in recent decades, the event has become synonymous with over-the-top deep-fried concoctions. Every year, concessionnaires compete to create the most original and eye-catching dishes. In fact, if it can go in the fryer, it will. And if it can't, vendors will find a way to make it happen anyway.

There are many wild Texas state fair foods, but we've narrowed it down to a few of the most fascinating. For example, did you know that you can deep-fry popular beverages? And traditional Italian pastas? Let's dive in. We hope you're hungry.

At first, this one sounds like quite a head-scratcher. How does one deep-fry liquid? Surely, throwing it in a fryer is a one-way ticket to the emergency room? Well, according to Mark Zable, who debuted fried beer at the Texas State Fair in 2010, working out the recipe was pretty treacherous at first. In fact, it actually took the amateur chef two years to figure out a recipe that was safe, functional, and most importantly, tasted good.

The technique Zable landed on was this: Encase the beer in dough and then deep-fry the whole thing. The result is a small doughy pocket of beer — kind of like a crispy alcoholic ravioli. It was a bold move for Zable, a Texas State Fair connoisseur.

Previously, while running the Belgian waffle stand he inherited from his father, the most he had experimented with was chocolate-covered strawberry waffle balls and sweet jalapeño corndog shrimp. Branching out paid off, though; Zable ended up walking away with the Most Creative Big Tex Choice award for 2010.

In 2007, when Paula Deen showcased deep-fried butter balls on the Food Network for the first time, plenty were horrified. After all, butter is already a calorie bomb of saturated fat. Does it really need all of that extra oil? Yes, said some. In fact, add more.

In 2009, Abel Gonzales Jr. molded whipped butter into balls, froze them, and then dropped them in a deep fryer. He ended up selling 35,000 of his signature butter balls in plain, garlic, grape, and cherry varieties. And just like Mark Zable would the following year, he walked away with the Most Creative prize. This wasn't Gonzales' first rodeo, though. In previous years, he had won awards for creations like deep-fried peanut butter, jelly, and banana sandwiches, deep-fried cookie dough, and even deep-fried coke (which was basically Coca-Cola-flavored batter).

In fact, Gonzales is partly to blame for many deep-fried creations that would debut at the Texas State Fair throughout the 2010s and 2020s. Dubbed "fried Jesus," he was, arguably, a deep-fried pioneer who started a whole movement. And not just in Texas, either. In 2011, deep-fried butter on a stick appeared at the Iowa State Fair.

By the time 2011 rolled around, everyone was deep-frying everything for the Texas State Fair. Some were even throwing bubblegum in the fryers. It didn't work, though. According to Texas State Fair vendor Justin Martinez, after bubblegum has been deep-fried, it loses, well, its gumminess. You can't chew it, let alone blow any bubbles.

But Martinez loved the idea of deep-fried bubblegum, so he started thinking outside of the box. He created bubblegum-flavored marshmallows, covered them in bubblegum-flavored dough, and then fried them instead. To make them more candy-like, he covered the crispy balls of sweet batter in icing and powdered sugar. And, guess what? He walked away with the Most Creative prize.

But the 2011 Texas State Fair wasn't the end of deep-fried bubblegum. In what seems to be an emerging pattern, it appeared again at the Iowa State Fair. In 2024, vendor Grandfather's Barn sold a very similar treat, made with vanilla marshmallow, alongside bubblegum soda.

What's your favorite taco filling? Chorizo, fried fish, or maybe just classic beans? Okay, how about a cotton candy taco? In 2018, Texas State Fair vendors Justin and Rudy Martinez created it. But here's the catch: It's not actually a taco at all.

Tacos, by definition, are made with corn or wheat tortillas, which are folded around a mixture of seasoned ingredients (usually meat and cheese). The cotton candy taco was a waffle, folded around cotton candy, chocolate, and marshmallows. The taco part comes from the rounded shape of the waffle, and the fact that, well, it looks just like the Mexican classic.

Technicalities aside, the cotton candy tacos were a hit, and the creators walked away with the Most Creative award. Elsewhere in the country, people seemed to take major inspiration. In 2019, Jake's Unlimited in Mesa, Arizona started selling unicorn-themed cotton candy tacos. And in 2023, cotton candy tacos appeared again at the Pima County Fair in Tucson, Arizona.

To most people, the words funnel cake, bacon, queso, and burger sound like a strange combination. Not to Tom Grace. In 2017, the Texas State Fair vendor of nearly 30 years decided this unique-sounding merge of ingredients was exactly what the event was missing.

"[The ingredients] are all served right here in our booth," Grace told KBTX at the time. "I just started looking at them — and you know sweet and savory tastes good, so we thought we'd try it, and boom, there it was." Boom, indeed. The judges were impressed, and the burger took home not only the Most Creative award, but also the Best Taste – Savory award. It also scored the approval of Today host Scott Wolf, who called it a "bacon cheeseburger gone wild." After taking a bite, he declared he wanted to finish the entire thing.

Grace's burger was a huge success, but not actually entirely unique. A similar funnel cake bacon cheeseburger debuted at the Florida State Fair in 2015. In 2024, another version appeared at the Iowa State Fair.

Okay, so we know you can deep-fry beer, and we've also mentioned deep-fried coke, but it turns out there are plenty other liquids you can fry. In 2014, you could even try deep-fried sweet tea.

It's apt that this would make an appearance at the State Fair. Sweet tea is a regional staple. Usually, it's made with just tea bags, water, and sugar, but, needless to say, you can't just throw this concoction into a fryer and hope for the best. To reiterate: Throwing liquids, or anything wet, in a fryer is not a good idea. It could cause the oil to splutter, potentially leaving you with some nasty burns.

To make safe deep-fried sweet tea, the liquid first had to be thickened into a custard. It was then coated in a graham cracker crust, deep-fried, and covered in sweet tea syrup. It might sound sickly sweet to some, but it was clearly a hit, as it became a staple of the event, and has since made several appearances.

If you thought the funnel cake bacon queso burger was a wacky combination, then this creation, which debuted at the Texas State Fair in 2025, will knock your socks off: Wagyu patty with bacon, lots of cheese, and deviled eggs.

The unique concoction, created by concessionaire Kendall Williams, unsurprisingly took home the Most Creative award for 2025. Interestingly, there was no bun for the sliders. The panko-crusted deviled eggs actually took the place of bread, making sure that the Cajun-flavored Wagyu patty stayed neatly stacked with aged cheddar and applewood bacon.

Williams' decision to bring deviled egg sliders into her State Fair dish might sound slightly dated, but this 1960s classic is one of the dishes that's currently experiencing a revival. That same year, two entrepreneurs appeared on "Shark Tank" with their deviled egg business Deviled Egg Co. and left the show with $250,000 for 20% equity. Deviled eggs, it seems, are so back.

Let's be honest, despite what we're told as kids, playing with food is sometimes fun. Glen and Sherri Kusak understand this, which is why, in 2016, they decided to serve their deep-fried breaded balls of beef brisket with a pipette of BBQ sauce. Fairgoers could literally inject their own sauce inside the meaty balls. This was a great way to ensure that you get a boatload of smoky barbecue flavor in every bite.

These balls of BBQ ended up as a Big Tex finalist, but  they lost to fried Jell-O and cookie fries. The Kusaks were likely disappointed, but at least they had the comfort of a previous win to keep them warm at night. In 2008, they took home the Best Taste prize for their signature chicken fried bacon, which, to this day, is one of the most iconic foods to debut at the fair. In 2025, the Kusaks made the finalist list again with their brisket and beer cheese stuffed pretzels.

If you're a Texas State Fair regular, you'll know that amid all of the fun, wacky, deep-fried creations, you can always count on one classic: Fletcher's Corny Dogs. The vendor has sold its corn dogs at the fair since the 1940s, and they haven't changed much since. It's a beef-pork sausage, seasoned with custom spices, deep-fried until crunchy, and eaten on a stick. Incredibly simple, and always a crowd-pleaser.

Well, in 2024, Rousso Concessions decided to take on the annual mainstay with its own meat-on-a-stick creation. But, of course, this is the Texas State Fair, so it had to be slightly out-there. Enter: Cotton candy bacon on a stick. It's nothing complicated — it's literally cotton candy wrapped around glazed bacon on a stick — but just like the classic corndog, it somehow works. It won the Best Taste – Sweet category, and it returned for another stint in 2025. Could this be a new State Fair classic?

Continuing with the savory meets sweet theme, we have fried chicken in a waffle cone. We know there's not much that's unique about chicken and waffles. But hear us out. This isn't just fried chicken simply wrapped in a waffle. Introduced in 2014 by the Stiffler Brothers concession stand, it actually looks more like an ice cream, due to the generous slathering of sausage gravy over the top. At the bottom of the cone, there's also a sweet ball of malted milk. Why not? This is the Texas State Fair.

Not everyone enjoyed the fried chicken in a waffle cone, but the dish clearly has plenty of fans. In 2023, Melba Wilson proved its enduring popularity when she made fried chicken in a waffle cone on a daytime program. There's even a whole fast food chain based around the concept, called Chick-n-Cone (also founded in 2014). The appeal, arguably, is how easy it is to eat. Knife and fork, begone.

One of the first mentions of jelly beans in the U.S. dates back to the Civil War. In fact, in the 19th century, Boston confectioner William Schrafft encouraged people to send the candy to Union soldiers for a sugary pick-me-up. Back then, he probably couldn't have imagined a future where the war was over, and people were throwing those jelly beans in deep-fryers and serving them in batter at state fairs. And yet, here we are.

In 2008, deep-fried jelly beans debuted at the Texas State Fair alongside chicken fried bacon and fried banana splits. If you're wondering how you deep-fry a jelly bean, it seems it's actually pretty simple: You cover the candy in funnel cake batter and then dip it in the fryer. 10 years later, deep-fried jelly beans returned. This time, it was fairgoers at the Big E in Springfield, Massachusetts that got the privilege of sampling this sweet creation.

Traditional Roman carbonara sauce is made with just four ingredients: eggs, Pecorino Romano, black pepper, and guanciale, all combined with a thin pasta, like spaghetti. It's creamy, elegant, and refined. But, of course, recipes are always changing. In America, carbonara is often made with heavy cream and bacon. And sometimes, the whole dish is dropped in a deep fryer.

In 2025, Eataly had a concession stand at the Texas State Fair for the third time. It had to continue impressing fairgoers by making a splash — a large one, with lots of oil. So, the team behind the chain created deep-fried carbonara. Before you start picturing loose bits of spaghetti floating around in a vat of oil, things were a little more compact than that. The carbonara was breaded into bite sized chunks, before being fried until golden brown.

Funnily enough, before the fryer came into play, the recipe was actually pretty traditional. Eataly opted to make the deep-fried carbonara with classic guanciale, Pecorino Romano, and Pasta di Gragnano IGP.

In the very same year that gave us the funnel cake bacon queso burger, deep-fried chicken noodle soup on a stick debuted. Try saying that five times after a few portions of deep-fried beer.

Created by concessionaires Sherry and Chris Howard, this particular state fair treat raises eyebrows, and brings us right back to the liquid combined with deep fryer dilemma. But don't worry, the Howards weren't boiling pots of soup and pouring them into the fryer. Instead, they encased the chicken noodle soup in batter before deep-frying them. Each ball had a small indent for extra broth, and it was served (on a stick) with crackers and brothy sauce on the side.

The unique creation was in the running for Best Taste – Savory alongside inventive dishes like surfin' turfin' tator boats, Texas fajita fries, and tamale donuts. But, as you already know, none could compete with that iconic funnel cake bacon queso burger combination.

Most know that, when they walk through the gates of the Texas State Fair, they're in for a fried food feast. But not everything at the event comes out of a deep fryer. In 2017, the Parish family debuted pinot noir popcorn, which was every bit as sophisticated as it sounds.

The Parish family has served the Texas State Fair for generations, and they were one of the first Black families to have a concession stand at the event. One of the first foods they served in 1985 was popcorn, together with nachos and beer. Over the years, they branched out with more innovative creations like fried red velvet cupcakes and deep-fried spaghetti and meatballs.

For 2017, they went back to their roots, but with a modern twist. To make the popcorn, the Parish family blended Santa Monica Kettle Corn with pinot noir powder. Once popped, they served it up to fairgoers with cheddar flavors. Because, of course, there isn't much that complements wine better than cheese. The popcorn was a finalist in the Best Taste – Sweet category, but lost out to a fish bowl made with Nerds candy. It's not all bad news, though. In 2021, the family scooped the Best Taste – Savory and Most Creative awards for their fried gumbo balls.