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DALLAS – Fairgoers heading to Fair Park this fall will find no shortage of culinary experimentation, as the State Fair of Texas unveiled its sweeping lineup of new foods, vendors, and concepts for 2026.<\/p>\n
Running from Friday, September 25, through Sunday, October 18, this year’s exposition \u2014 themed “Stars, Stripes, and Howdies” \u2014 introduces dozens of eccentric creations spanning deep-fried novelties, global flavor fusions, and over-the-counter sweets.<\/p>\n
Big Tex Choice Award Contenders <\/p>\n
Big picture view:<\/p>\n
Among the high-profile additions are the semi-finalists and finalists for the annual Big Tex Choice Awards. Concessionaires are pushing boundaries with items like the Twinkle Twinkle Brisket Star \u2014 a hollowed-out Twinkie stuffed with smoked brisket, bacon, jalape\u00f1os, and cream cheese before being battered, deep-fried, and finished with raspberry chipotle sauce. Other bold contenders include the Soft Serve Smoked Peach Bourbon Smash, blending Texas Post Oak-infused smoked whiskey, peach Bellini Prosecco, and vanilla soft serve, and the Deep-Fried Thai Tea Tres Leches Cake, topped with fresh strawberries and boba pearls.<\/p>\n
Twinkle Twinkle Brisket Star*
\nLocated at Smokey Johnz Deli in Cotton Bowl Plaza & Smokey John\u2019s on Nimitz Drive and the Funway Introducing Twinkle Twinkle Brisket Star \u2013 Hollowed out Twinkies\u00ae get a smoky, creamy filling of slow-smoked brisket, bacon, fresh jalape\u00f1os, and cream cheese. Dipped in special batter, rolled in panko breadcrumbs, and deep fried to a golden crunch, the sweet and savory creation is finished with a drizzle of raspberry chipotle sauce and topped with bacon crumbles and fresh jalape\u00f1o slices, making for an undeniably Texas bite! <\/p>\n
Savory options lean heavily into inventive mashups. Concessionaires are introducing items such as Texas Brisket Pierogies, a Cubano Flatbread brushed with mojito butter glaze, and Chan’s Signature Pho Burger, which infuses a beef patty with authentic Vietnamese pho spices, hoisin, and Sriracha. Meanwhile, extreme snack trends take center stage with offerings like Candy Watermelon \u2014 a giant slice wrapped in six feet of Fruit by the Foot, Chamoy, and Taj\u00edn \u2014 alongside Deep Fried Ranch and Foot-long Fries.<\/p>\n
New Vendors <\/p>\n
The 2026 season also welcomes four brand-new food vendors to the fairgrounds, including HGG Tanghulu bringing traditional Chinese skewered candied fruit, Naan Better offering fried butter chicken over basmati rice, Pierogizilla serving Polish comfort food with a southern twist, and Big Tex Business Masterclass graduate Thee Kitchen Beast introducing tempura-battered fried broccoli.<\/p>\n
Several new concepts are also debuting, highlighted by the revival of the historic Old Mill Inn near Big Tex Circle. Reimagined by longtime concessionaire Isaac Rousso, the landmark spot now features an outdoor patio, food, drinks, and the new ZiegenBock\u00ae Stage for local performers. Additionally, Howdy\u2019s is launching a new Value Menu offering smaller portions of fan favorites like pickle pizza and funnel cakes priced between six and eight coupons.<\/p>\n
A full directory and map of this year\u2019s new foods and vendor locations are available at BigTex.com\/NewFoods<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Source: Information in this article is from the State Fair of Texas.<\/p>\n State Fair of Texas<\/a>Food and Drink<\/a>Things To Do In Dallas<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"DALLAS – Fairgoers heading to Fair Park this fall will find no shortage of culinary experimentation, as the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":431722,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[3613,242,223,3000,27,29,28,41924],"class_list":["post-431721","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-food-drink","tag-lifestyle","tag-news","tag-state-fair-texas","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news","tag-things-to-do-in-dallas"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/431721","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=431721"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/431721\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/431722"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=431721"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=431721"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=431721"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}