2025 MN State Fair Non-New Food Recap

Every year, the Minnesota State Fair has some really fabulous new foods and some really disappointing new foods. That's why it's important to always save time and space for your ol' reliables and unofficial new foods that might be new to the fair but not on the official list or foods that have been around forever but you've never tried. Here's my recap of all the non-new foods I ate this year.

I review fair foods using a three-point scale: SMASH, PASS, or SHRUG. Smash means it's delicious, Pass means it's bad, and SHRUG means it's nothing special or there are extenuating circumstances that keep it from being a full smash or pass.

New to me

Strawberry rhubarb malt from the Dairy Goodness bar inside the Dairy Building - SMASH

I'm usually a raspberry malt lady, but I decided to mix it up this year after a strong endorsement for strawberry rhubarb from my dad. It was lovely and the strawberry and rhubarb flavors were well-balanced. Some people will tell you there's better ice cream at the fair, but those people are wrong. If you want any sort of ice cream product, the Dairy Goodness bar inside the Dairy Building is the place to go.

Gluten free cheese curds from Auntie M's Gluten Free - SHRUG

These were fine, and would be excellent if you are gluten free. I was impressed by how crispy the curds were and they were nice and stretchy. My guess is they use a rice-based batter for the curds. As a gluten eater, I will still go for the gluten curds in the food building, but these are a great option for a non gluten eater. Their ranch left a lot to be desired, though.

Fried Twinkie from Deep Fried Batter Dipped Twinkies and Buckeyes - PASS

Simply too sweet. I knew I wasn't going to like it, but I was curious so I had one bite when my friends got one. I think it was well-executed, it was just absolutely not for me.

My classic picks

There are some foods I absolutely must get every year. Some are classic fair foods, like a Pronto Pup. Others are pretty unique to Minnesota's state fair, like the Union Hmong Kitchen galabao. I wrote a whole post about the foods I seek out every year here. These are the classic favorites I had this year: Chicken in a Waffle Cone, cider freeze, corn, Big Fat Bacon, Fresh French Fries, Pronto Pup, walleye cakes, duck bacon wontons, galabao, cheese curds, giant egg roll on a stick, and Bang Bang Chicken Tenders.

Newer favorites

Over the past few years, there have been some new (and new to me) foods that are becoming staples for me. Here are the newer favorites I ate this year: paella, pickle pizza, koshari, and the scotch egg.

Paella from Paella Depot

A real meal at the fair - and it even includes great fresh vegetables! Excellent flavor and really nice crispy rice on the bottom. Their bravas sauce is also lovely.

Koshari from Kosharina Egyptian Cuisine

This is another actual meal at the fair. It's probably the most nourishing fair food I've ever had. It has rice, noodles, and chickpeas with a savory tomato sauce and crispy onions on top. I love to add their hot sauce and garlic vinegar, too. They also serve it with either beef or chicken.

Scotch Egg from the Scotch Egg stand

A scotch egg looks and sounds nasty but it's one of my favorite breakfasts at the fair: a hard-boiled egg wrapped in sausage, breaded and deep fried. We always douse it in horseradish sauce. Oh, and it's served on a stick for extra fair points.

Pickle Pizza from Rick's Pizza

Believe the hype! It's so good. I love the NY-style crust, which is nice and stretchy and makes the pizza foldable. The dill sprinkled over the top of the pizza really makes it shine. And now that they have two locations, the lines are way shorter.

Other things I sometimes get and sometimes don't get

There are a lot of fair foods I love but which I don't get every single year. This year, I got the wild rice cheeseburger from Wild Rice Specialties in the food building and Reuben Bites from O'Gara's.

There are also a handful of items I didn't get this year because I didn't have time or because I was full. Some of the things I didn't make it to this year, which I will prioritize next year, include:

• Tater tot hot dish on a stick

• El Sol breakfast burrito or taco

• Soul Bowl crab boil wings

• Cotton candy from Spinning Wylde

• Produce Exchange grilled peach with goat cheese

• Mini donuts

• Fried pickles

There were also a few new foods I originally planned to try, but didn't end up getting them for various reasons.

• RC's BBQ Kalua Pork - enough people told me these were just so-so that I decided to skip them.

• Pimento cheese puffs from Shanghai Henri's - just didn't get around to it. They looked good!

• Oxtails from Irie Jamaican - also just didn't get around to it.

• Chicken fried bacon fries from Soul Bowl - I decided to skip these after finding out they were beef bacon rather than pork. They also got a few bad reviews. I'm not a big fan of beef and would rather prioritize the various fun burgers over beef bacon.

• Tasti Whip Cherry Limeade float - I chickened out because it seemed like it might be too sweet and I was worried about artificial cherry flavor tasting like medicine.

• Spinning Wylde Croffle Cloud - this got mixed reviews, so I decided that if I made it to Spinning Wylde I'd just stick with their regular cotton candy, which is delicious.

• Hot Honey Pizza Balls from Green Mill - just didn't get around to it, and hot honey isn't my favorite.

• Athena's whipped feta from Dino's and cannoli gelato nachos from Mancini's - neither seemed special enough to actively seek out.

• Bison meatball sub from the Minnesota Farmer's Union - I heard there was too much dry bread.

• Sweet squeakers from Blue Barn - didn't feel strongly enough about these to spend the money.