Texas State Fair 2025 Review

Ahh…state fairs. What do you know about them?

Have you ever been to one?

I believe they must have been started in the late 1800s or early 1900s. Perhaps a response to the industrial revolution. Farmers have always been big on PR and “educating” the “public”. I think. I’m not going to do any research on this. I do know the original purpose for them must have been to showcase livestock and purchase farm equipment. Were they farming conventions? Did they have any correlation to the Worlds Fairs?

Who knows. Let’s make something up that will contrast really well with the soon to be revealed main focus of this review.

Table of contents

Deep Fried Carbonara
Cookie Chaos Milkshake
Honey Glazed Cornbread Donuts
Brisket and Brew Stuffed Pretzel
Corn on the cob, Mango Lemonade
Hawthorne Heights
Matcha Cream Float
Fryed Big Tex

Big Tex watches over the Texas State Fair in Dallas, Texas on October 18th 2025. I don’t know how resize images in squarespace. I don’t know if I can.

State Fairs used to be sites of every day reverence. Reverence for the working class. For the humble animals who forcibly dedicate their lives to us. Reverence for an honest day’s work. You would walk around the fair and learn. Learn about where your food came from. Learn about what it really means to work in agriculture.

NOW THESE DAYS the state fair is a site for gluttonous, trendy, edible slop. Booths containing snacks and drinks that feel like something you have already seen on Instagram. Snacks that feel like something left on the chopping block in a Disney World food planning meeting. I couldn’t help but wonder, how many of these booths are selling the exact same thing in other states? What really makes this the TEXAS state fair?

Of course that edible slop is what I’m here for! I didn’t really figure out the answers to the questions I just posed. I just rated the food really.

Deep Fried Carbonara

A photo collage showing little fried pucks of carbonara. Pictured in a basket with a yellow speckled dipping sauce. There are two photos from an iPhone and one promotional photo from Texas State Fair. Root chakra. — *Texas State Fair copy: Massimiliano Tosi of EATALY DALLAS LLC*
*Located at EATALY in Cotton Bowl Plaza*
Have you ever craved carbonara on the go? Well, now your favorite Italian pasta is portable! Introducing Deep Fried Carbonara, a cheesy spaghetti carbonara gets breaded and deep fried until golden brown and delicious. Bacon’s Italian cousin, Guanciale, meets Pecorino Romano DOP, rich egg yolks, and authentic Pasta di Gragnano IGP for a piping hot bite of crave-worthy Tex-Italian deliciousness.

What can I say about the fried carbonara that would hold a candle to the creative copy already written? I’m so glad my favorite Italian pasta is now portable. Although to be honest, carbonara has never been my favorite Italian pasta. I’ve always struggled with the raw eggs of it I think. I often feel slightly nauseated after eating it. But these were very yummy if slightly bland. I thought the breading could have used some seasoning. The pasta on the inside was not too mushy or overcooked. It paired well with the sauce. It was a yummy little snack!

AA score: 8/10

2. Cookie Chaos Milkshake

Insane milkshake at a state fair. Filled with speculoos cookie items and gluttony. Yummy sweet delicious gluttony.Sacral chakra. — *Texas State Fair copy: Big Tex Award*
*Best Taste - Sipper*
*Created by Brad Weiss*
This shake is what cookie dreams are made of! A rich, creamy, cookie butter milkshake loaded with snickerdoodle chunks, Golden Oreo® Cookies, and classic Oreo® Cookies for the ultimate cookie explosion. We top it with a fluffy swirl of whipped cream, a scoop of edible cookie butter cookie dough, a perfectly perched Biscoff® cookie, and a cookie butter drizzle that ties it all together. Finished with a rim coated in crushed Biscoff ® cookie pieces for that extra crunch in every sip, the Cookie Chaos Milkshake is sweet, spiced, and unapologetically over the top

It’s kind of amazing to call a milkshake “unapologetically over the top”. Let all the Registered trademark symbols lure you in like a comforting siren song. They will deliver. As much as I love to make fun of confections like these…this was delicious. It IS over the top and maybe it should be apologetic for that. But the darker chocolate of the regular oreos help balance out the tooth rotting sweetness of it all. It created a balance that was perfect for me but I’m sure still abhorrent to some. The biscoff cookies add that little bit of almost spicedness which also adds another flavor so the flavor is not just “sweet”. I was nervous about chugging this much dairy on a warm October evening but I couldn’t stop drinking it. It went down really well. Surprisingly well. It was so delicious and cold and sweet but splitting it between two or more people is definitely the move. If you want to stay on your feet. I would get this again but I probably won’t because a bigger, better, more ridiculous, empowered milkshake will surely come along next year.

AA score: 10/10

3. Honey Glazed Cornbread Donuts

cornbread chakra — Texas State Fair Copy:
*New for 2025!*
*Cornbread Doughnut*
*Milton & Grace Whitley of Homestyle Products, LLC*
*Located at Milton’s Donuts at Grand Area*
If comfort food had a fairytale moment…this is it! The Cornbread Doughnut is blended with a southern cornbread mix and classic cake batter, then topped with an added touch of Amish-inspired richness. Served your way, with your choice of their signature cheesecake glaze or warm honey butter glaze. Looking to flip this sweet treat into a savory classic? Get it with jalapeños, cheese, or crispy bacon. It’s the ultimate cornbread glow-up!

A fairy tale moment? I don’t know about that. These cornbread donuts can’t decide how to spell doughnut (see Texas State Fair copy vs Instagram promotion for the item) but I had no problem deciding how I felt about them. I pictured a beautiful cake donut texture with a corn bread flavor. Maybe a little bit of a dryer cake donut, to make it more corn bread like. I still wanted fluffy. What I got was gummy and almost rubbery. Horrible texture. Hostess Donettes have a better, fluffier texture than these golden tires. The flavor was subpar as well. Barely any corn flavor. One time I bought the corn cookies mix from Trader Joe’s. And I realized the beauty of corn in more dessert style baked goods. I expected the sweet corn flavor of those cookies. I received a regular donut flavor. The marketing is confused about spelling and about the topping. Are the donuts “honey glazed” or a “warm honey butter glaze”? When I heard honey glazed, I imagined a glaze of pure honey. A delicious, natural, complex sweetness. It was not even really honey butter. It just tasted like fake honey. Like sugar syrup with some kind of bastardized honey “flavoring”. It was quite abhorrent. Is the “Amish inspired finish” the powdered sugar? I don’t know.

Despite the fact these these donuts were not everything I wanted, (such as fresh, and made with real ingredients, and interesting) they still tasted sweet and by virtue of being sweet they were also yummy. I guess.

AA score: 5/10

4. Brisket and brew stuffed pretzel

brisket stuffed abominations sinful objects that are aligned with the devil the anti chakras evil 666 — *Texas State Fair Copy:*
*Big Tex Award Finalist*
*Brisket & Brew Stuffed Pretzels, Glen & Sherri Kusak*
Brisket & Brew Stuffed Pretzels are where smoky BBQ dreams meet classic pub snacks in one golden, salty twist. We’re talking tender, slow-smoked brisket loaded with deep, juicy flavor, and blended with a bold, velvety beer cheese made from sharp cheddar and a hearty brew. Then, it’s all wrapped up in soft, chewy pretzel dough, hand-rolled, sprinkled with sea salt, and baked to crispy, crave-worthy perfection. Each bite is a flavor bomb: salty on the outside, rich and gooey on the inside. They’re easy to carry and absolutely made for munching as you wander the fairgrounds. Pair with a cold German beer or dunk into spicy mustard or tangy BBQ sauce—just be warned, your lederhosen might not forgive you.

Let’s just go through this one claim by claim.

Brisket & Brew Stuffed Pretzels are where smoky BBQ dreams meet classic pub snacks in one golden, salty twist.

These were dark, burnt brown - not golden. The salty twist is true I guess. It was very overly salty. I would not say smokey BBQ dreams. I would maybe say dry, lunchable nightmares.

We’re talking tender, slow-smoked brisket loaded with deep, juicy flavor, and blended with a bold, velvety beer cheese made from sharp cheddar and a hearty brew.

The brisket was anything but tender. The brisket was described by multiple fair goers as “dishonorable”. The brisket did not have deep nor juicy flavor. As previously mentioned, the brisket was extremely dry. The only flavor it had was salt which made it taste and smell like a Lunchable. The beer cheese sauce tasted like nothing. An embarrassment to call it sharp cheddar. Nothing sharp about it. Everything about it was quite dull.

Then, it’s all wrapped up in soft, chewy pretzel dough, hand-rolled, sprinkled with sea salt, and baked to crispy, crave-worthy perfection.

The pretzel bun was a nice texture, soft and chewy. But it had way too much sea salt and as you can see, it was not baked to any sort of perfection. It was baked to abomination.

AA score: 3/10

5. mango lemonade, corn on the cob, tums

So, yeah. It’s just corn on the cob that I did a bad job putting the seasonings on. But to be honest, if I’m getting corn at a state fair…I want that corn to be so good you could eat it with just butter and a lil salt. But this corn was not that good. It didn’t really have any corn…flavor. I was clearly on the hunt for corn flavor! And I failed to really find any. The corn was also kind of undercooked. But it still provided a fun chomp factor.
The mango lemonade was yummy but too sweet and not enough mango flavor.
The tums did the job. And you know what, so did the corn and the lemonade. We needed some fruits and veggies at this point and both items were very refreshing.
AA scores
Corn: 5/10
Lemonade: 5/10
Tums: 10/10

6. Hawthorne heights

So obviously not something we ate. But Hawthorne Heights played. They’re like kind of emo I think. The lead singer kept stopping and giving long nostalgia bait speeches talking about MySpace and how he feels old? And how we need to be grateful I think? He was very grateful and seemed kind. It was quite beautiful.

Not scored.

7. matcha cream float

lying about the image of oneself matcha matcha cream float texas state fair matcha cream float at the texas state fair green chakra — *Big Tex Finalist*
*Matcha Cream Float*
*Keith Tran of Perfect Timing Concepts LLC dba Sandoitchi*
*Located at Sandoitchi in the Tower Building*
This Matcha Cream Float is a playful twist on the classic Italian affogato, made with rich, velvety matcha ice cream topped with a bold shot of ceremonial-grade matcha. Finished with a delicate Japanese sugar cookie shaped like the iconic Big Tex® logo, it’s a creamy, energizing treat that blends Texas pride with Japanese tradition!

So this was one of the items we got that you have to get from the Tower Building. I think probably the only one. Because it is literally - and I don’t say this lightly - hell in there. A smokey packed convention hall with seemingly no AC. You can see the thick smoke in the air from all the food stalls. It’s at least 90 degrees in there at all time from the heat of cooking and the sheer amount of people shuffling around in there. Some of them are crazy enough to sit and eat in there. It’s genuinely panic attack inducing.

But I would probably wait in there again to get a little matcha treat from the stand we went to. Despite the fact that it looks nothing like it’s picture, this was still really yummy! This was match poured over matcha ice cream. The matcha ice cream actually had, I think, a better matcha flavor than that matcha itself. Is that making much sense? Haha. Anyways. I don’t think “real” matcha heads would love this but “real” matcha heads would probably know to stay away from something like this. The drink poured over the ice cream was very sweet and didn’t have very much of that earthy matcha flavor. But the ice cream kind of did. So I found it yummy and so sweet and refreshing after a long hot day! I enjoyed drinking it.

AA score: 6/10

8. Fryed Big Tex

*? cant find online info on this. Don't remember where it was from. My own description:*
Fries topped with queso, brisket, bbq sauce, and bacon. Brisket is way better than the other one. Fries are a little cold and old but doesn't matter with the toppings. Pure slop but its delicious. Queso isn't too thick and adds just a tiny little baby kick"

Well this was definitely one of the best things we got. The best savory item for sure. yes the fries were cold and felt old. But all the toppings were sooo yummy. The brisket was actually yummy brisket and the queso added a little bit of heat. It was truly a perfect way to end the day. I want to eat them right now. All the flavors and textures worked so well together. In that they all become the most beautiful, salty, slop I had ever had.