Each year, thousands flock to south Dallas for the annual State Fair Of Texas. Sprawling across Fair Park are thrilling rides, fun-but-vitually-unwinnable games, and (most importantly!) fried food galore. While the rides have been in the park for decades (and may be of rather questionable safety), the food options are always guaranteed to be inventive and tasty.
Some booths — think Fletcher’s Corn Dogs and Fernies Funnel Cakes — are longtime favorites of fairgoers. But the pressure to get creative each year is always high. At this year’s fair, which is running until October 22, nearly 100 small business vendors are offering selections from their menu, along with deep-fried remixes of their more traditional food options. You know the old saying: ‘Everything is bigger and fried-er in Texas!”
With one week left in this year’s iteration of the fair, we’ve put together a ranking to the best deep-fried dishes we tried this year. On any given day at the State Fair, you’re going to break the bank and stand in line, but you can rest assured that these foods will give you your money’s worth.
5. Ranchero Deep Fried Love – Deep-Fried Divine Chocolate Tres Leches Cake
Expected Price: 16 tickets ($16)
Where To Find: Hall of State
Why It’s Essential:
If your TikTok algorithm is configured to find content surrounding all things Texas, you’ve probably seen that deep-fried cheesecake on a stick from Drizzle Cheesecake. But over next door at Ranchero Deep Fried Love is the indulgent Deep-Fried Divine Chocolate Tres Leches cheesecake.
Coated with a crispy butterscotch batter exterior, this cake is soft to the touch — with chocolate slowly oozing as you stick your fork into the pastry. Garnished with strawberries and peaches and whipped cream, a dessert this good is not to be missed. According to Ranchero owner Denise Garza De La Cruz, the idea came from one of her nephew’s school assignments many years ago and has more than earned its place on the fair menu.
4. Fletcher’s Original Corny Dogs – The Jalapeño & Cheese Corny Dog
Expected Price: 8 tickets ($8)
Where To Find: Directly across from the Big Tex statue (and six other booths throughout the fairgrounds)
Why It’s Essential:
Founded by brothers Neil and Carl Fletcher in 1942, Fletcher’s Corny Dogs has been a Texas staple for more than 80 years. Over eight decades, the Fletcher family has perfected the corn dog recipe, while adding their own Texas spin.
The Jalapeño & Cheese corny dogs come with a spicy sausage, covered in a gooey cheese sauce, and coated with a crispy battered layer. Sure, the concept sounds simple, but with the Fletcher family’s attention to detail and the dog’s potent flavors intermixed in every bite, you might not ever find a better corndog than this.
3. Chef Cassy’s Creations – Fried Collard Greens
Expected Price: 18-20 tickets ($18-20)
Where To Find: Near the tail end of the midway, close to the haunted house ride.
Why It’s Essential:
There is no eating healthy at the State Fair. But Chef Cassy’s creations are here to help create the illusion that there might be. While the copious amounts of junk food on hand is one of the State Fair’s selling points, the fried collard greens are both vegetable based and damn good.
Served in three small egg roll wrappers, the fried collard greens originally came to chef Cassy Jones as an idea one day when she was thinking about making egg rolls, and decided to use collard greens instead of cabbage in them. According to Jones, some fairgoers wait “upwards of two hours” in line to get a bite of these collard greens.
“Other vendors have asked me if I’ve put a little crack in them,” Jones says, laughing, “because they’re so addictive and the lines are so long.”
TIP: A small pour-over of Louisiana Hot Sauce atop the fried collard greens gives them a magical southern touch that feels very Lone Star State.
2. Eat Crispies – Deep Fried Pho
Expected Price: 24 tickets ($24)
Where To Find: In the Midway, adjacent to the Texas Star ferris wheel.
Why It’s Essential:
Even before this year’s fair opened, the deep-fried pho was one of the buzziest food options.
Inspired by a family pho recipe, chef Michelle Le takes noodles, beef, and traditional pho spices, wraps the ingredients in a large tortilla, and deep fries the combination, creating a crispy, portable phoritto. The deep-fried pho is served with a side of beef pho broth, making for a deconstructed version of the Vietnamese sauces. Hoisin sauce, Sriracha, limes, and sliced jalapeños available on the side help give the deep-fried pho additional flavor.
The deep-fried pho has proven so popular that the Eat Crispies booth has four separate lines, including one specifically for fairgoers who are only purchasing this dish. But we can say with certainty that this dish lives up to the hype and is worth the wait in line (as well as the 24-ticket price tag).
Dickel’s Smokehouse – Deep Fried Surf And Turf Empanada
Expected Price: 18 tickets ($18)
Where To Find: Outside of the Cotton Bowl, near the aquarium
Why It’s Essential:
If the above Deep Fried Pho is the star of this year’s State Fair, the Deep Fried Surf And Turf Empanada is the hidden gem. Stuffed with chorizo, lobster, and crab, this empanada is a tribute to chef Tino Sosa’s Puerto Rican upbringing and makes for a snack fit for State Fair royalty.
“A lot of times, when I go to a nice steakhouse, I see ‘Surf and Turf’ on the menu, which usually means steak and lobster,” says Sosa. “Plus, I know anything deep fried at the State Fair is going to sell.”
Soft and warm to the touch, this empanada keeps all of its ingredients spicy, flavorful, and (thanks to its clever construction) intact.
