Fair warning: Come hungry

8/5/2026

For foodies who love discovering new dishes, the Iowa State Fair offers a giant menu of fried delights, foods-on-a-stick and cool confections to try, all within steps in one central locale. 

This year, the Iowa State Fair vendors will debut 84 new foods. With more than 200 food stands, options vary, and fair food goes beyond the traditional corn dog or funnel cake. 

I joined 75 other fair food judges to narrow down our top three favorites, and our stomachs thanked us for not sampling all 84 foods. However, we did eat our way through 11 new foods and voted on the top three: Porky Parm Gnocchi, Ultimate Minneapple Pie and the All-American Scrambled Egg Roll. During the fair Aug. 13-23, fair goers can vote, and one food will be crowned the champ. 

A top vote getter — and one of my picks — was the Porky Parm Gnocchi ($14) from Destination Grille. The gluten-free potato gnocchi and Graziano sausage is tossed in an AE cream parmesan sauce with a pesto drizzle and shaved parmesan, topped with a souvenir piggy.

The sauce was rich, creamy and flavorful. The entrée felt like it should have been served on fine China with cloth napkins instead of in disposable bowl. The squeaky pig is a fun, noisy addition and will most likely drive you nuts.

Speaking of squeaky, cheese lovers know the key to fresh cheese curds is the squeak it makes when you bite into it. One of my favorites was the Garlic Dill Pickle Cheese Curds ($9) from Brad and Harry’s Cheese Curds.

The garlic and dill flavor curds are made with fresh cheese curds from Ellsworth Cooperative Creamery in Wisconsin. Owners drive to Wisconsin to get fresh cheese every three days during the fair. 

Another one of my favorites was a decadent dessert from The Strawberry Station, the 1776 Dubai Strawberries. Sure, Dubai chocolate is trendy, but it goes beyond Instagram or TikTok mentions. It includes fresh strawberries topped with milk chocolate, pistachio crème and crunchy kataifi. The rich flavor includes Belgian milk chocolate made by Callebaut. The pistachio cream is made specifically for Dubai candy bars. It’s healthy since it includes fruit, right? The layers of chocolate and fruit is a splurge, but it’s worth it for $19.

Chocolate and strawberries make its way in another dish — the Strawberry Bliss ($8) from Iowa Specialty Crop Growers Association. The presentation of the strawberry atop shortbread, covered in sweet meringue and dipped in hard shell milk chocolate, offered an elegant presentation. However, the chocolate melted quickly, so don’t save this dish for the sky glider ride. 

If you want to play with your food, get the Cajun Cluck ’N’ Chaos ($14) from Cluckin’ Coop. It’s a Cajun crunchy chicken sloppy joe with coleslaw; topped with a skewer of spicy pickles, pickled egg and pickle flavored cotton candy, served on a Frisbee ($14).

For fairgoers eager to experience creative culinary delights alongside farm animals, live entertainment and people-watching, this year’s Iowa State Fair serves up something for every appetite. ♦

Jackie Wilson has written hundreds of articles for CITYVIEW and the Iowa Living magazines. She has covered many ordinary people living extraordinary lives.