GALLERY: State Fair Releases List of New Foods and Vendors for This Year’s Event

Nearly three dozen new dishes and six new vendors have been announced that will make their debut at the 2024 Minnesota State Fair.

Early Tuesday morning, the fair’s organizers released the following new dishes for fairgoers to try:

• 3 Piggy Pals On-A-Stick – Smoked sausage slices wrapped in bacon, filled with a cream cheese blend and drizzled with BBQ sauce. These can be found at Sausage Sister & Me in the Food Building.
• Afro Poppers – Deep fried pastries infused with vanilla, cardamom, ginger, cloves and nutmeg. Can be topped with a drizzle of mango chutney, caramel or chocolate and also topped with a choice of coconut flakes or sugar. These can be found at Sausage Sister & Me in the Food Building.
• Ba’bacon Sour Cream & Onion – Sour cream and onion hummus with beef bacon, sumac tater tots, caramelized onions, scallions, black cumin seeds, and chive oil with pita chips drizzled with sour cream and onion powder. Available at Baba’s on the east side of Underwood Street, just south of Little Farm Hands.
• Blazing Greek Bites – Chickpeas, tomato, roasted red pepper, scallions and cayenne pepper are ground into fried bites and served with roasted red pepper hummus. These can be found at Dino’s Gyros between Nelson and Underwood Streets.
• Buffalo Cheese Curd & Chicken Tacos – Fried buffalo-flavored cheese curds and chicken with blue cheese slaw, in a fried flower shell. These can be found at Richie’s Cheese Curd Tacos outside the Sheep and Poultry Barn.
• Chile Mango Whip – Mango Dole Soft Serve with Chamoy and Tajin Rim and Topping with a Tamarind Candy Straw. Find it at Tasti Whip on the northwest corner of Dan Patch Avenue and Underwood Street.
• Cookie Butter Crunch Mini Donuts – Vanilla flavored mini donuts are covered in vanilla sugar and cookie butter and cookie crumbs in a bucket rimmed with cookie butter and cookie crumbs. These can be found at Mini Donuts and Cheese Curds between Murphy and Lee Avenues.
• Cotton Candy Iced Team – Butterfly pea flower tea with edible glitter and a rock candy swizzle stick. This will be at Loon Lake Iced Tea, located on the west side of Underwood Street between Wright and Dan Patch avenues.
• Crab Boil Wings – Chicken wings marinated in hot sauce before being grilled and baked with corn, chicken apple sausage, and potatoes. They are tossed in a “crab boil” butter and include a lemon wedge and parsley. These can be found at Soul Bowl in the Food Building.
• Fried Halloumi Cheese – Halloumi cheese (a mixture of sheep and goat milk) wrapped in dough and then deep fried before being served with sweet chili sauce. This can be found at Holy Land Deli in the International Bazaar.
• Fried Ranch Dressing – Found at LuLu’s Public House on the south side of Schilling Amphitheater, this is a ranch dressing filling made with ranch seasoning, buttermilk, and cream cheese in a panko shell that’s been deep fried and then dusted with ranch powder. It’s served with a side of honey hot sauce.
• Dill Pickle Tots – Think of a tot version of a dill pickle potato chip. These can be found at Tot Boss.
• Fried Bee-Nana Pie – Handmade pie crust filled with honey, banana and cookie butter that is then fried. You can find these at Sabino’s Pizza Pies.
• Grilled Purple Sticky Rice – Grilled sticky rice topped with shredded Hmong beef jerky or pickled mushrooms. Garnished with fresh herbs and chili aioli. Available from Union Hmong Kitchen.
• Ham and Pickle Roll Up on a Potato Skin – Potato skins filled with sour cream, cream cheese, chopped pickles, and ham, topped with potato chip crumbles. These can be found at Route 666 Roadhouse Chicken in the Food Building.
• Lady’s Slipper Marble Sundae – Available at Bridgeman’s Ice Cream, these sundaes feature strawberry ice cream, lemon marshmallow creme, and ladyfingers all in a cup and topped with whipped cream and a cherry.
• Marco’s Garden – Located at Jammy Sammies in the North End, this is rhubarb jam, thyme-marinated tomatoes, cheese, peppers and honey served with grilled gluten-free flatbread. A vegan option is to use thyme tofu dip and maple syrup instead of the cheese and honey.
• Mocha Madness Shave Ice – Think decaf coffee flavored shave ice with caramel macchiato cold foam, drizzled with chocolate syrup and topped with dark chocolate espresso beans. This has to be Minnesnowii shave ice.
• Nixtamal and Wild Rice Bowl – Available only from August 28 to September 2 at the Midtown Global Market booth at International Bazaar, the bowl features your choice of bison meatballs or sweet potato dumplings served on a bed of nixtamal (white, yellow and blue corn) tossed with wild rice and seasoned with maple syrup and spices, topped with mixed berry wozapi sauce. Seeds and crickets are optional.
• Patata Frita Focacciawich – Kettle chip flavored ice cream sandwiched between Wrecktangle Pizza focaccia bread, topped with honey butter, kettle chips, and herbs. Find this at West End Creamery.
• BP Bacon Cakes – Bacon dipped in pancake batter and topped with peanut butter whipped cream, grape jelly, and banana chips. Find these at The Blue Barn.
• Raging Ball – Sesame mochi dough ball with a vegan cheeseburger filling that is also fried. This is topped with bacon-flavored powdered sugar and can be found in the Food Building near the herbivorous Butcher.
• Savory Eclairs – Choux pastry eclair shell with a choice of two fillings: Banh Mi or Lobster. The Lobster version is filled with lobster meat, celery, mayonnaise, hot sauce, lime, chives and salt and pepper, topped with dried corn and micro coriander. The Banh Mi version is filled with pork jam, chicken liver pate, pickled carrot and daikon, cucumber and siracha mayonnaise. Find these at Scenic 61 by New Scenic Cafe.
• Shroomy Calamari – Oyster mushrooms that are then breaded and fried before being served with chipotle sauce. Find them at French Meadow Bakery and Cafe.
• Strawberries and Cream Waffle Stick – A Belgian waffle filled with strawberry shortcake cookie dough and topped with whipped cream and strawberry sauce. Find these at Waffle Chix.
• Strawberry Lemonade Donut – Found at Fluffy’s Hand Cut Donuts, these are lemon buttercream donuts rolled in a strawberry lemonade crunch that’s garnished with lemon gummy candy and freeze-dried strawberry slices. A strawberry lemonade-filled pipette accompanies the donut.
• Swedish Sundae – Vanilla ice cream covered in blueberry jam, sprinkled with Swedish gingerbread crumbs and decorated with a gingerbread heart. You’ll find this in the dining room of Salem Lutheran Church.
• Swedish ‘Sota Sliders – Cranberry wild rice meatballs formed into patties and paired with dill Havarti cheese and a red relish made with beets, red onions, red peppers, lingonberries and cranberries on brioche buns. These will be served in the Hamline Church Dining Hall.
• Sweet Corn Cola Float – Sweet corn cola and sweet corn ice cream in a cup, topped with whipped cream, popping candy, and homemade frozen caramel. Find this at Blue Moon Dine-In Theater.
• Sweet Heat Bacon Crunch – Double smoked bacon seasoned with red BBQ sauce and topped with a crunch of hot honey and chili peppers and served with white rice and green onions. Find this at RC’s BBQ.
• Turkey Kristo – Texas toast with turkey, white cheddar cheese, apple butter, and spicy brown mustard mayonnaise, sprinkled with powdered sugar. This sandwich is available at Minnesota Farmers Union Coffee Shop.
• Walking Shepherd’s Pie – Warm pastries filled with braised ground beef, mashed potatoes, onions, carrots and peas in a herb sauce. This will be available at O’Gara’s at the fair.
• Wrangler Waffle Burger – Found at Nordic Waffles, this is a pure beef burger with Whataburger melting sauce with American cheese and a waffle with caramelized onions.

A gallery of the new items can be found at the bottom of this article.

Meanwhile, the fair’s organizers have announced the following new exhibitors who will be present in 2024:

• Chan’s Eatery
• El Burrito Market
• Kosharina
• Loon Lake Iced Tea
• Midtown Global Market’s Indigenous Food Lab
• Paella depot

These items and vendors are among the 1,600 items for sale at nearly 300 stands on the fairgrounds.

The 2024 Minnesota State Fair will take place August 22 through September 2. CLICK HERE for KSTP’s full, honest reporting.