Here is my review for all the foods and drinks me and my two accomplices (husband and sister) had at the Minnesota State Fair. For the first time ever, I can say that we drank as many different things as we ate. Impressive.

There are a lot of other food items we’ve loved in the past that we didn’t get to this year, so you can find any food item by either searching in the search bar or reading past reviews here.

2026 Stats: 7.5 Hours. 13 Foods. 13 Beverages. 15,610 Steps.

Minnesota State Fair Food Review:

Except for three items, everything we tried this year was new or at least new to us. We lucked out that my sister was able to come with us, because 3 mouths is much better than 2. I still ended up giving away a couple things to strangers because we just couldn’t do it haha.

O’Gara’s Sligo Slider Bites On-A-Stick:

Sligo Slider Bites On-A-Stick: Dumplings stuffed with a cheeseburger blend and deep-fried

The full plate is held by husband in the photo above this, but here is the inside. These tasted how you’d think a burger dumpling would taste. While we liked them, we do both prefer the Rueben Bites from the year before.

Qui Viet Eggroll-On-A-Stick:

Qui Viet Eggroll-On-A-Stick:

My sister had never had this so she wanted to try it. I absolutely love Que Viet’s egg rolls (they serve the same recipe at their restuarants) and I did warn her that the reason I love these eggrolls so much is that it’s a meat bomb instead of a cabbage bomb in case she was wanting a more cabbage flavor. She agreed it was basically an Asian corndog haha.

Cheese-On-A-Stick:

Cheese-On-A-Stick: Battered and deep fried swiss cheese on a stick.

This is my always must get. It is my absolute favorite fair food and nothing will ever change that.

Union Hmong Kitchen Hmong Corndog:

Union Hmong Kitchen Hmong Corndog: Pork Hmong sausage flavored with ginger, garlic, fish sauce, chili and lemongrass made in collaboration with Kramarczuk’s. Skewered, dipped in a cornmeal batter and fried. Served with a side of citrus Kua Txob sauce.

This was a must try for husband and we actually came back later during an off meal time in the day, because the first time the long was way too long. This was really good. The sauce was too spicy for me (go figure), but husband and sister really enjoyed it.

Pro tip: you need to purchase what you want first and get a ticket. The long line is the pickup line so don’t wait in the line until you paid!

Sausage Sister and Me When Pigs Fly:

Sausage Sister and Me When Pigs Fly: pork sausages wrapped in puff pastry and served on-a-stick. Varieties include: Chorizo Sausage with chimichurri; Texas Two-Step Sausage with sweet pepper coleslaw; Oktoberfest Sausage with melted cheddar and chili crunch; and Porketta Italian Sausage with pickle aioli

This flight was so good and actually we all agreed this was our favorite new food this year. It wasn’t exactly easy to share each one 3 ways, but we succeeded haha. Where there is a mouth there is a way.

Saturday Dumpling Co. Chinese Sausage and Cheese Popper

Saturday Dumpling Co. Chinese Sausage and Cheese Popper: Fried dumpling with savory & sweet Chinese sausage and provolone cheese

Next door to Sausage Sister & Me is the new vendor Saturday Dumpling Co. Husband and I have been wanting to try them for a couple years so we were excited to get these. I opted for the sausage and cheese as I wasn’t really wanting the sweetness of the cheescake ones. I thought there were a good mouthful, but I wish they would have served the sauce on the side as I would have preferred it bare.

LuLu’s Public House Pickle Pie:

LuLu’s Public House Pickle Pie: Pie crust filled with a blend of chopped pickles, pickle juice and cream cheese. Topped with homemade savory whipped frosting made with ranch and Cholula Hot Sauce. Garnished with a gherkin and a sprinkle of dill. 

I actually didn’t have this one on my list, I thought it may not be great, but my sister got one so obviously I got to try hers (again, the perks of going in a group). I thought the filling was great and loved the dill, but I was not a fan of it combined with the pot pie crust. Could definitely do without.

Lumpia City Longanisa Cheese Curd Lumpia

Lumpia City Longanisa Cheese Curd Lumpia: Filipino longanisa pork sausage combined with garlic and Wisconsin cheese curds, stuffed and rolled in a lumpia wrapper and deep-fried. Served with a side of sweet chili sauce.

I LOVE lumpia so I was really excited and had such high hopes to try this midwestern take. We waited in line for 15-20 minutes, but these were the biggest disappointment for me. The first bit was pretty good, but then the greasy aftertaste hit and that was it. Every other bite just tasted like grease. I’d say you could skip.

RC’s BBQ Bao Belly

RC’s BBQ Bao Belly: Smoked barbecue pork belly drizzled with RC’s hot sauce and yum yum sauce. Topped with pickled vegetables and cilantro and served on folded, steamed bao buns

The Bao Belly was on Husband’s list because he loved pork belly. We were both underwhelmed. I’d say you could pass.

French Meadow Bakery Shakshuka Lamb Meatballs:

French Meadow Bakery Shakshuka Lamb Meatballs: Lamb and pork meatballs stuffed with whipped garlic herb goat cheese and flash-fried. Served atop shakshuka – a blend of tomatoes, chili peppers, onions and spices – garnished with parsley and served with a side of chimichurri-spiced sourdough crostini.

Husband loved this, I did not. It was too spicy for me and also TWO meatballs for that price? That’s almost as insane as the Dubai Strawberries being $18.

Holman’s Table Dill with it, Cookie!

Holman’s Table Dill with it, Cookie!: White chocolate chips, finely chopped dill pickles and fresh dill baked into a cookie. Finished with a sprinkle of sugar and Maldon sea salt.

This cookie is found at the Urban Glow Mocktails stand by the Hanger. I wasn’t sure about this, so it was actually on my maybe list, but since it was right at my sister’s gate we tried it. I actually really enjoyed it. I think the dill and white chocolate is a nice mix.

Scotch Egg

Scotch Egg: Hard boiled egg ard boiled egg wrapped in sausage, rolled in bread crumbs and deep-fried

I did not eat this, because I find Scotch Eggs to be disgusting, but Husband absolutely loves them so including it here in case you too would be interested in meat wrapped egg…

Pronto Pup

Headed out of the fair I had to get one final food, so of course I picked a pronto pup, because fair time is the only time I get one!

As I’ve said before I think the corndog vs pronto pup argument is very coke people vs. pepsi people where for me, I will drink either. Same with any sort of hot dog. I’m just pro hot dog hahaha

Minnesota State Fair Drink Review:

If you notice that my drink count is almost 3x what it was last year, I want to point out that normally husband would be drinking Oktoberfest all day, but since he was the driver I got to pick the ones for us to try and share and I much preferred it this way – we got to try so much!

Que Viet Vietnamese Iced Coffee

Vietnamese Iced Coffee

This was my only non alcoholic beverage of the day (minus the many bottles of water) and it was the needed caffeine pick me up after battling the traffic and park and rides to get to the fair.

Grain Belt Blu

Schell’s Grain Belt Blu with a Frozen Topper

This is one of my fair musts and luckily even though Pryes took over the Schell’s area and it’s now “Pryes Brewing Pavilion” they do still sell it over next to LuLu’s. This is also where you get the beer ice cream, which I still haven’t tried…not my speed.

Excelsior S’Mores Beer:

Excelsior S’Mores Beer: Vienna, Munich and caramel malts combine to give this amber ale its distinct smooth and approachable character. Each glass is rimmed with chocolate and crushed graham crackers and topped with a marshmallow.

Giggle’s Campfire was the last drink stop of the day for me and since no one else wanted to share I got the small. I love this beer and either this or the Dill Pickle Kölsch are must stops for me.

Cannon River Flirty Fruity Bubbles:

Cannon River Flirty Fruity Bubbles: A fruity, bubbly wine cocktail served over ice with a rim of crushed Fruity Pebbles.

Since finding out about this Speakeasy last year a little too late, we made a point to get over there this year. I almost got the Quackerjack drink with a rubber ducktie, but that just didn’t sound appealing so a family member we ran into recommended this one and it was great. I am not a wine person, but as the beertender said “it is wine based because we can’t serve hard alcohol at the fair, but we do manipulate it as much as we can to make it as close to vodka as we can.” hahaha sold.

Ball Park Cafe

Lift Bridge Mini Donut Beer: English brown ale designed to taste like a fresh fried mini donut complete with a cinnamon-sugar rim.

Lift Bridge Frozen Blueberry Lemonade: 5% ABV gluten-free alcoholic slushie made with real juice

The Ball Park Cafe has a special place in our hearts, because when we were kids this is where our dad and family friend used to post up while us kids went and did rides, etc with our moms haha. This is a must stop for me because of the mini donut beer, but this year we also had the Frozen Blueberry Lemonade on the list and it was a needed cool off towards the end of the day.

Lift Bridge Cherry Limeade Hard Slushie:

Lift Bridge Cherry Limeade Hard Slushie: Cherries combined with a tangy citrus deliver a bold taste in this hard slushie. Ice cold and packed with flavor, it’s pure nostalgia with an adult upgrade.

When I saw this shared by Lift Bridge I knew it was going on the list for husband. Cherry Limeade is his favorite thing and he absolutely loved this adult version. For the Slushies at LuLu’s Public House there is actually a special window on the side near Pryes. Don’t get stuck in the normal line for no reason!

Lift Bridge Cherry Cola Hard Soda

Lift Bridge Cherry Cola Hard Soda: Classic cherry cola taste with a grown-up twist for a perfect balance of sweet, fruity and fizzy

Another one I added to the list because I knew husband and I would both love it was this cherry cola hard soda at RC’s BBQ. Was cool, refreshing, and exactly what you would want it to taste like.

Pryes Espressotini Frozen Seltzer

Pryes Brewing Company Espressotini Frozen Seltzer: An espresso martini-inspired frozen seltzer with flavors of coffee and vanilla

Located at The Blue Barn, I was looking forward to this, because I LOVE espresso martinis (should be no surprise to anyone who’s a subscriber). But this was bad. My sister and I both got them and for almost $15 a piece they were just really not worth it. I’ll admit once I got halfway I was buzzed so I was able to drink the rest pretty easily haha, but I wouldn’t recommend this.

O’Garas Drinks

Lift Bridge Lemon Berry Blitz Slushie: Mixed berries meet lemonade in this frozen feature inspired by a popular energy drink. Bursting with sweet-tart character and blended to icy perfection

Schell’s Oktoberfest: Husband can’t come to the fair without his Oktoberfest

O’Gara’s was our first stop at the fair since we were very thirsty and hungry after waiting in the sun in a mad chaos line to actually get into the fair. This slushie from Lift Bridge was bomb. So refreshing and because it was frozen is stayed at least cold (even if a little melted) until the last sip.

Andy’s Grille Drinks

Big Wood Chocolate Chip Cookie Beer: A cookie-inspired golden ale with chocolate chip rim

Big Wood Caramel Apple Craft Seltzer: Seltzer crafted with bright, crisp green apple. Served with a caramel rim

While husband was hanging out with some family we ran into at the KFAN booth (his mecca) we went around the corner to grab some specialty sips at Andy’s Grille. I really enjoyed the cookie beer, however pro tip: eat the chips immediately or at least push them inside the cup because when they melt it is a mess. Also very sticky with the simple syrup.

My sister got the caramel apple seltzer and she gives it a 4/5, but because it is so sweet she says you can definitely only have one.

BONUS: Fair Tips for 2026

• Bring a water bottle, but if not the cheapest option is $1 at Bobby & Steve’s booth. You can then keep refilling that. Save some money!
• Park and rides fill up so fat. Get there by 9am or wait until after the lunch rush. Otherwise plan to park blocks away and walk.
• Download the mnonastick app for the easiest fair experience
• Everywhere takes card, but there are extra transaction fees, so if possible try to bring cash to save money.
• Wear sunscreen, bring hand sanitizer, and start practicing your “ope”s now because there are people everywhere.

And that’s a wrap!

Let me know what foods you tried or think I missed out on!

Minnesota State Fair
Open through Labor Day