State fairs have been around since 1841, and the food has only gotten weirder since then. What started with farmers showing off their best crops has turned into a full-blown contest to see who can deep-fry the most ridiculous thing. Some of those creations are surprisingly good. But a lot of them? They sound cool, cost way too much, and leave nothing but regret and a stomachache. Here are the ones to skip.
Deep-fried Coke is exactly what it sounds like
Someone actually figured out how to deep-fry soda. A guy named Abel Gonzales Jr. took Coca-Cola, mixed it into batter, fried it up, and topped it with Coke syrup. It debuted at the State Fair of Texas back in 2006, and people have been both amazed and confused ever since. Fans even gave Gonzales Jr. the nickname “Fried Jesus” because of how many things he has managed to throw into a deep fryer over the years. The name stuck, and so did his long list of fried experiments.
The thing is, deep-fried Coke gives all the sweetness of the soda but none of the fizz. So what is even the point? It is basically a ball of sugary fried dough with a Coke aftertaste. Not long after the Coke version came out, someone made a Pepsi version at the 2007 Indiana State Fair. At the end of the day, it is a novelty that sounds wild on paper but does not deliver much once the excitement wears off. Save the money and just drink a Coke.
Funnel cake is a calorie bomb with powdered sugar
Every fair has a funnel cake stand, and the line is always long. It smells amazing. It looks great in photos. But here is the reality: a single funnel cake packs around 760 calories and 44 grams of fat, and that is before anyone adds toppings. The moment someone drops a scoop of ice cream, chocolate sauce, and whipped cream on top, the whole thing shoots past 1,000 calories. That is more than most full meals, and it is basically just fried batter with sugar on it.
A jumbo donut at the fair is not much better at around 900 calories. The problem with funnel cake is not just what is in it. It is that it fills up space in the stomach fast and then makes walking around the fair feel miserable. State fairs involve a lot of standing, walking, and being out in the sun. Eating something that heavy early on can ruin the rest of the trip. If a sweet treat is calling, a caramel apple is a much lighter option that still hits the spot.
Deep-fried butter is real and it is intense
Yes, someone deep-fried an entire ball of butter. Abel Gonzales Jr. — the same guy behind deep-fried Coke — sold around 140,000 deep-fried butter balls at the State Fair of Texas in 2009. It won the Big Tex Choice Award for most creative dish that year. The idea has since spread to fairs all over the country. At the Iowa State Fair in 2011, another vendor served deep-fried butter on a stick to celebrate the 100th anniversary of their famous cow sculpted out of butter.
People who have tried deep-fried butter say it tastes like a super buttery churro and is not as thick as it sounds. That might be true, but it is still a stick of butter coated in batter and dropped into hot oil. Paula Deen even had her own recipe for it on TV back in 2007, on an episode literally called “Everything’s Better with Butter.” Inventive cooks have actually been roasting butter since the 1600s, so this is not exactly new. It is just not something most people need to eat twice.
The giant turkey leg is misleading
The giant turkey leg looks like something a cartoon king would eat at a medieval feast. It is one of the most popular things at any state fair, and a lot of people assume it is a decent choice because it is meat on a bone. How bad could turkey really be? Well, those enormous drumsticks are deep-fried with the skin still on, and that changes everything. A single giant turkey leg packs around 1,140 calories and 54 grams of fat. That is the highest calorie count on this entire list.
The size alone should be a warning sign. These legs are not regular portions. They are oversized, greasy, and surprisingly hard to eat while walking around. Grease drips everywhere, and there is no clean way to handle one without looking like a mess. If turkey is the goal, a roasted chicken breast from a different stand is a much simpler option. It has around 280 calories, and no one has to carry a two-pound drumstick through a crowd to eat it.
Krispy Kreme cheeseburgers are a lot to handle
Someone at some point decided that hamburger buns were not exciting enough and swapped them out for Krispy Kreme doughnuts. The result is a greasy, sweet, salty mess that has become a staple at fairs like the NC State Fair. One popular story says that Luther Vandross invented it at home when he ran out of buns but had doughnuts lying around. That is how it got the nickname “Luther Burger.” Whether or not that story is true, the burger took off at Mulligan’s Pub in Decatur, Georgia, in 2005.
The year after that, a minor league baseball team in Illinois started selling their own version called Baseball’s Best Burger. Now, fair vendors serve up Krispy Kreme cheeseburgers with extra bacon and even Krispy Kreme Sloppy Joes. The combination of sugary glaze and beef sounds interesting for about two bites. After that, it just becomes overwhelming. The sweetness fights the savory in a way that does not really work, and it falls apart fast. It is one of those things that is more fun to talk about than to actually eat.
Deep-fried vegetables are not what they seem
This one tricks people every single year. The word “vegetables” sounds like a smart move at a place full of fried everything. But deep-frying removes a lot of what makes vegetables good in the first place and replaces it with grease and empty calories. A basket of deep-fried veggies comes in at around 760 calories and 75 grams of fat. That is the same as a funnel cake but without any of the fun. At least funnel cake knows what it is. Deep-fried veggies pretend to be something better.
The “blooming onion” is the worst offender here, ringing in at a whopping 1,320 calories. That is just one onion. The oils used at most fair stands are usually not the best quality either. If the goal is to eat something that came from the ground, corn on the cob is a much better call. A plain cob has only about 96 calories. Even with a little butter and salt, it is still way lighter than anything that has been battered and dropped in a fryer.
Pickle fried Oreos push things too far
Fried Oreos have been around since 2001 when Charlie Boghosian brought them to the Los Angeles County Fair. On their own, they are a perfectly fine fair treat. But fairs keep trying to one-up themselves every year, and that is how pickle fried Oreos happened. At the 2025 Indiana State Fair, the Pickle Barrel stand took a Golden Oreo, slapped a pickle slice on top, dipped the whole thing in batter, and fried it. Then they added dill pickle seasoning and served it with ranch dressing.
Sweet and sour combinations can work in cooking. But a cookie, a pickle, batter, and ranch all in one bite? That is four things fighting each other at once. The trend of putting pickles on everything has been growing for years, going all the way back to the Chicago World’s Fair in 1893. Pickles are great. Oreos are great. Putting them together in a deep fryer and dunking the result in ranch dressing is where things go off the rails. Some combinations exist just to get attention, and this is one of them.
Chili cheese fries sound better than they taste
Chili cheese fries are not unique to state fairs. They show up at restaurants, stadiums, and movie theaters too. But something about the fair version always seems worse. The fries are already deep-fried, and then someone pours nacho cheese and chili on top. The cheese is almost always the processed kind that comes out of a pump, and the chili is usually lukewarm at best. The whole plate clocks in at around 750 calories and 40 grams of fat, according to estimates.
The biggest problem with fair chili cheese fries is that they get soggy almost immediately. By the time someone walks from the stand to a bench to sit down, the bottom fries are mush. Nobody wants to eat soggy fries covered in room-temperature cheese. If fries are a must, plain ones with a little salt are a better bet. Or better yet, grab a baked potato instead. A medium baked potato on its own has only about 150 calories and actually holds up while walking around the fairgrounds.
Dill pickle iced tea is a confusing drink
On a hot summer day at the fair, an iced tea sounds perfect. But what about an iced tea that tastes like a dill pickle? Loon Lake Iced Tea is bringing dill pickle iced tea to the Minnesota State Fair in 2025. The drink is infused with dill pickle and comes with a dill pickle spear sticking out of the top. The rim is coated with Tajín, salt, and dill, kind of like a margarita but with way more pickle going on. It is definitely one of the stranger drinks at any fair.
Pickle-flavored things have been trending for a while now. From pickle pizza to pickle chips to pickle beer, people seem to love putting that salty and sour taste into everything. But a drink is a different story. Iced tea is supposed to be refreshing and easy to drink. Adding pickle makes it more of a novelty than something anyone would actually want to finish. It is the kind of thing that is fun for a sip and a photo but hard to get through a whole cup. When it is 90 degrees outside, plain lemonade is probably the smarter call.
State fairs are supposed to be fun, and the food is a big part of that experience. But not every wild creation is worth the price tag or the stomach trouble that follows. Some of these items exist purely because they are weird enough to go viral, not because they actually taste good. Stick with the classics, keep things simple, and remember that the best part of the fair is the rides and the people anyway. The food should add to the day, not ruin it.
