The 2025 new foods have been announced! Will it be a strong year?

They were actually announced last week, but if I’m being honest it’s taking me a little while to spin up the State Fair mentality this summer with everything else going on. But the silver lining of that is that instead of the quick reaction, I’ve had time to let them marinate a bit in my brain before I render my judgements.

Welcome to one of the happiest days of the Fair-lover’s year - the official new foods list has been released! 33 new items and 8 new vendors appear this year. Here’s the PDF version.

For consistency, we’ll use the same ranking tiers as last year. Let’s get started!

Fran’s 2025 New Food Rankings

Can’t Miss

Caprese Curds - Fried mozzarella, bruschetta toppings, and balsamic? That’s a slam dunk, folks.
Croffle Cloud - They had me at “croissant pressed in a waffle iron”, but I think the sweet cream and fruit puree are going to be delightful, especially the yuzu flavor. The cotton candy is a gimmick for sure, but the right kind of gimmick for the Fair.
Hula Kalua Pork - I expect the item to be good - RC’s reliably executes solid BBQ, and I’m having a Kalua moment this summer. What I’m worried about here is the portion size/price after last year’s debacle with the Sweet Heat Bacon Crunch portion size.
Patisserie Sweets in Two Varieties - Farmer’s Union + Patisserie 46 + pull-apart donut dough + Minnesota Honeycrisps? This needs no further promoting. And I haven’t even touched on the other flavor yet (Banana S’mores).
Smashadilla - I’m excited for this. It’s like a taco but guaranteed to be better than the many meh Fair tacos I’ve had! Pumped for the burger sauce.
Sweet Squeakers - I almost didn’t put these here, but every time I read the description I get more excited about fresh lemon whipped cream paired with berry sauce and funnel cake batter.

There’s your 6 can’t-miss items for this year!

Has Potential

Last year we had 6 can’t-miss items so we’re right there again this year, but here’s where I think this year is going to prove to be better than last year - we have a LOT of items with the potential to be a home run. I don’t know which of these are going to hit, but I expect enough of them to be winners to surpass last year for new food goodness.

Athena’s Whipped Feta - This has the potential to really pop and be a refreshing snack - if the whipped feta is nice and light and the shugg tasts fresh without too much heat. I’m not sure about the crunchy toasted wild rice, but points for taking the risk.
Bison Meatball Sub - Expectations are automatically upgraded as this is a Farmer’s Union item. It’s so midwest I almost can’t stand it - bison meatballs, gravy, sour cream, wild rice bun.
Cannoli Gelato Nachos - People have feelings about cannolis, so this could go either way. This is almost a “long shot” for me, but I like that (by Fair standards) this is a fairly restrained sundae offering. Might be a nice walking snack.
Cinna-Sugar Crust Tidbits - Getting to eat extra pie crust is always a guilty pleasure! If anything makes this miss, it’ll be the whiskey caramel dipping sauce, but I’m trying to be open minded about it.
Deep-Fried Tofuego Bites - I’m a tofu fan, and I’m also a fan of vegetarian food that isn’t trying to be meat. This is pretty straightforward, but if the sauce is good, I know I’m going to really like this served on top of pineapple slaw.
Grandma Doreen’s Dessert Dog - I think that vanilla ice cream, coffee cake, and strawberry rhubarb jam is the core of what might make this great. I’m worried that there’s too much else going on - we’ve got cinnamon toast crisps, whipped cream, and sprinkles, all on a stick - can we just skip all of those?
Hot Honey Pizza Ballzz - I’ve been real slow to warm up to the hot honey trend, but this could work. I don’t trust Green Mill that much, though, so we’ll see.
Land of 10,000 Cakes - I’ll say right off the bat this is ridiculously too much for a sundae. But Bridgeman’s specialty sundaes have, as Katie would say, slapped in recent years. I’m giving them the benefit of the doubt (especially intrigued by the pistachio Nadia cupcake), but would not be surprised if this just ends up being overwhelming.
Pot of Gold Potato Dumplings - I suspect this is going to be one of the more controversial ratings. It reads like a lead sinker and O’Gara’s is most definitely not to be trusted with food innovation. But hear me out - we’ve got Saturday Dumpling Co. at work here, and deep-fried garlic mashed potatoes is sort of like an elevated french fry in a way, right? Maybe this works! One worrying thing: “vegetarian without the chive onion dip”. What am I missing about that dip??
Tandoori Chicken Quesaratha - This is all going to depend on the flavor of the tandoori chicken, but of all of the Has Potentials, I think this one is probably the favorite to end up being a winner.

Feels Like a Long Shot

Afro Bean Pops - Sounds dry.
Cherry Bigfoot Limeade Float - It’s probably ok, but just too much sweet and sour.
Chicken-Fried Bacon Fries - I was actually fairly positive on these until I noticed “beef bacon”. Not excited about it any more.
Fawaffle - I suspect if I eat this, all I could think about was “I wish this was an actual waffle instead”. Sounds dense/dry.
Green Apple Sucker Ice Cream - Green apples were good when the only alternative was red delicious. Now, not so much.
Pimento Cheese Puffs - This is one of those that is just weird enough that it might actually work. Pimento cheese is most definitely a risk (because who ever said “cheddar cheese would be better if we mixed in some mayo??) but I dunno, fry it up, hot pepper jelly? Could work.
Pizza Cheese Curd Tacos - The Buffalo Cheese Curd tacos from these folks last year where meh, and I have no reason to believe these will be any different.
Shrimp & Pork Toast On-A-Stick - Here we go again with seafood at the fair. I know it’s Union Hmong, and I can totally see how this might taste good as a mixture on toast, but then deep-frying the whole thing? Feels like a gimmick. Pass.
Somali Street Fries - I’m just not excited about beef and veggies with my fries. It could be fine, but I’d rather have it on rice.

Run Away!

Birthday Cake Cookie Dough On-A-Stick - I’ve never been into the cookie dough thing, and cake batter cookie dough is especially weird. Then a crunchy cake confetti shell? Nah.
Dill Pickle Iced Tea - Enough with the dill pickle already. Athletes sometimes drink pickle juice to prevent cramping in heat. If I cramp up, I’ll chug one of these, otherwise, not happening.
Flauta Dippers - I’ve never met a flauta that didn’t disappoint me. They should be good, but they never are.
Freaky Fryday - “Chicken-fried vegan bacon served with vegan fried chicken strips infused with bacon flavor.” What are you even trying to say? I get the Freaky Friday pun (chicken-fried vegan <-> vegan-fried chicken) but vegan fried chicken MAKES NO SENSE. Plus they are ALL over the place with the sauces. This is too confusing, I’ve got better things to do.
Hot Honey Jalapeno Popper Donut - “Spicy donut” is a solution waiting for a problem. This doesn’t need to exist.
Timber Twists - Giggle’s misses more than it hits, and I think this is a miss. When you are highlighting that you’re piping meat into a tube, you’re not winning me over. And “wrapped in bacon” is code for “soggy undercooked bacon”.
Triple Chocolate Mini Donuts - First of all, there are four forms of chocolate in this, so deducting points for the math error. Also, this is just too much chocolate in one item.
Uncrustaburger - What hellish abomination is this?!?! I like PB&J, and I like burgers, but who in their right mind thought peanut butter, jelly, cheese, pickles, lettuce, special sauce and beef was a combo the world needed to have?? TWO deep-fried uncrustables as the bun?? Good lord. This is just plain disgusting, a ridiculous attention-grabbing, Instagram-ready stunt with zero thought towards the actual edibility of the item. I will absolutely be trying one. For science.

New Food Vendor Excitement Levels

Eight new vendors this year! Ranked in order of my excitement.

Beans & Beignets - Beignets and coffee? They could have just named this Fran’s First Stop.
Urban Glow Mocktails - I even surprised myself ranking this one so high. I’m usually not into mocktails, but maybe at the Fair that’s the antidote to my desire for amazing iced tea? But the real gems here are hidden deep in the description. First, nitro cold brew! But the real treat - they also serve Cheweenies - pigs-in-a-blanket with Kramarczuk’s hot dogs in Hawaiian sweet rolls with an assortment of mustards. Boom!
Chocolate Strawberry Cup - The Fair needs more simple treats. A cup of strawberries with chocolate sauce fills the bill. Intrigued by the Dubai flavor.
Magdalena’s Chimney Cakes - Hungarian rotisserie pastry is enough to pique my curiosity.
Greater Tater - Torn on this. Tater Kegs were invented in Shakopee, so they’re local. But they’re also basically a standard Sysco food service item. But if the reuben flavor is enough to erase the memory of the O’Gara’s reuben bite debacle, that’s a win.
Lumpia City - I am just confused as to what these are. Pizza-flavored fried spring roll? The french toast one is a little more coherent, I might give it a try.
MGM’s Oasis Grill and Hoyo Sambusa - I’ve soured a bit on MGM’s fair offerings. I appreciate having all these international foods at the Fair, but not too many of them have stood out as excellent fair foods.
MGM’s Irie Jamaican - Not into oxtail.

Phew! I’m excited for all the new stuff this year! How about you? Which ones are you most excited to try? Which of my picks seem suspect? Drop a note in the comments!

2025 New Foods Announced - Let's Have a Look!