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My Personal Ranking of the Top 11 Best Tasting “State Fair of Texas” Foods in 2016

This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at TAMU chapter.

So every year my family ventures out to the Texas State Fair located in Dallas. (And by venture out I mean just deal with the traffic as I am from the Dallas area).  This year I thought it would be a good idea to talk myself into eating every good looking fried food possible, and give my personal, unsolicited opinion of the best grub. So, without further ado, here is your list of the top desserts and “meals” from the Texas State Fair!

Desserts:

1. Deep Fried Cheesecake

This one takes the {cheese}cake as my top choice for state fair desserts because of how amazingly bomb it is. It’s like having the rich and delicious creamy dream of cheesecake, fried to perfection, and covered in powdered sugar. Literal heaven in my mouth. Aka worth every single calorie.

2. Fried Jello (State Fair Best Tasting Award)

​So this one was voted the best tasting for 2016, but I obviously disagree with calling it the “best”. While it was (surprisingly) freaking good with its flavor, the texture was a bit strange (because hello its freaking jello that was fried in batter). But overall, it earned its spot at number 2 because I still don’t think anything can ever top fried cheesecake.

3. Fried Banana Supreme 

 

If there is one thing that I love, its bananas. I could eat them in any form all the time because I am obsessed. That being said, I was slightly disappointed that the Fried Banana Supreme didn’t live up to my extremely high expectations. BUT, it was a fried banana covered in chocolate and whipped cream and had nuts on top, so I was still in happiness heaven, which is why it earned its spot at number 3.

 

4. Friend Reeses and Crème

 

I had really high expectations for this one, seeing as how I am a huge lover of peanut butter and chocolate combined, but it just did not meet the expectations as much as I wanted it to. It was delicious nonetheless, but less satisfactory than hoped. Also, it was hella messy and that was just all bunches of fun, which is why it made the number 4 spot on my list.

 

5. Edible Candy Cup and Cotton Candy Soda 

 

So I cant lie to yall, my little actually tried this one for me (I’m not a fan of soda) . Though, from her detailed notes about the foods I made her eat (syd you are literally the best thing ever luv ya), this one seemed to be really interesting in flavor but not enough to top the desserts I had tried. Now, if my list was based on the most creative, this probably would have been number 1! But it isn’t, so… sorry soda you aren’t cool enough. *ps this one is included in desserts because of the soda flavor and because the cup was edible candy

 

6. Funnel Cake Fries 

 

Honestly this one only made the list at all because I thoroughly enjoy funnel cake and I feel like you can’t go to a fair without having this delicious dessert. Nonetheless, it couldn’t possibly top all of the extreme creations the Texas State fair has to offer, which is why it found itself at the bottom of the list.

 

Regular Food:

1. Barnyard Burger

 

So I may be a little bias on why I chose this as my number one regular food state fair item, instead of something fried, but this burger was quite literally one of the best burgers I have ever had. The ground beef patty was incredibly juicy, the fried chicken was hella tender, and there were condiments galore on it, including my personal favorite… bacon. All of those combined made this a bomb af burger which is why it made it to the number one spot on my list. Aka literally no other regular food item could stand up against this glorious burger.

 

2. Chicken Fried Bacon

 

Chicken….Fried….Bacon. Enough said. This delicious fried creation has been one of my favorites since it showed up at the state fair years ago. Because bacon was not perfect enough as it was, we had to go fry it like chicken and create something utterly mouthwatering. So besides the fact that bacon wins almost everything, this item made the number two spot on my list because of its amazingness overall.

 

3. Korn-A-Kopia

 

Shoutout again to my little for trying things for me when my stomach was getting too full to shove any more food down into.  Based on her phenomenal review of this pineapple filled with fried rice, shrimp, pineapple obvi, and perfection, it almost made it to the number one spot on my list. And it probably would have too if I hadn’t discovered the mouthwatering burger from above. Basically little bit said that this dinner was to die for and had the same reaction to this as I did to the burger. But there was no bacon in it which dropped it down to the number 3 spot on this list.

 

4. Fried Thanksgiving Dinner

 

So little bit did me one more favor and tried out the fried thanksgiving dinner. She RAVED about it and so, being my food obsessive and FOMO self, I had to go try it. When I took the first bite of the dinner that I had dipped in cranberry sauce, I was delighted but slighty disappointing. I don’t know if my thanksgiving dinners are just out of this world (I mean they really are though shout-out to you parents and grandparents for the bomb food) but I was expecting more from this fried ball of joy. Nevertheless it was still enticing and super creative which is why it made my list at all!

 

5. Fletchers Corn Dog

Because who needs an explanation as to why this made the list. You literally cannot go to the State Fair without getting a Fletchers corny dog!

So there you have it folks, my (now) annual rating of the Texas State Fairs best tasting foods! Hope you enjoyed and are as hungry reading this list as I was writing it. 

Nicole Ploetz is a Junior Communication and Political Science double major at Texas A&M University and is a writer for TAMU HerCampus! She has a passion for writing, reading, dancing, painting, traveling the world, and playing golf. She loves all things outdoors, is a shopaholic, and loves her sorority. She also loves giving back to the community and hopes to one day pursue her dreams as an Entertainment Lawyer, aka be the next Elle Woods. Nicole aspires to live in Los Angeles-California, New York-New York, or Nashville-Tennessee with her best friends and rule the city. She is obsessed with sushi and her future husband is Dylan O'Brien (he just doesn't know it yet).