Are They Worth It? Reviewing Some Of The Most Popular New Foods At The 2025 Minnesota State Fair

The 2025 Minnesota State Fair is underway, and with it, dozens of new foods and beverages are being served up for fairgoers looking to try something new, inventive, or adventurous.

Attempting to sample all 30+ new foods and 25 new "specialty sips" is a daunting task. Not only would it be pretty expensive, but a person can only eat so much in a day!

So, to help you decide whether or not it is worth spending your money and time in line on some of the new foods and beverages for this year, here's a look at some of the most popular new items this year and whether they're really worth it or not.

Hot Honey Jalapeño Popper Donut

Found at Fluffy's Hand-Cut Donuts

A donut with jalapeno cream cheese "frosting", crumbled bacon, and pickled jalapenos, and a drizzle of hot honey is what you get with this new food. The hand-cut donut is pretty sizable and will easily share with a few people, where each person gets a substantial sample.

Even though I knew what the description for this food was, it is a bit of a mind-bender. The cream cheese "frosting" looks an awful lot like a fluffy, whipped frosting you'd find on a pastry, so your brain expects something sweet. Sweet it is not.

READ MORE: 7 Northern Minnesota-made beverages featured at the 2025 Minnesota State Fair

The sweetest thing about this savory donut is the hot honey drizzled on top. Once my brain got past the fact that this is not a sweet treat, I enjoyed the soft and delicious donut and the rest of the flavors that come together.

If you're expecting hot with the jalapenos and hot honey, I'd call it more "Minnesota Hot" than anything. There's a little zing, but it is pretty mild on the grand scheme of things. The jalapenos are pretty tame, and the cream cheese helps with that as well.

Rating: 8/10 - I enjoyed it pretty thoroughly, but the more I thought about how my brain was thinking it should be sweet, I wondered what if it was a little sweeter? Maybe a slightly sweetened cream cheese frosting? Candied bacon instead of normal bacon? I'd also have preferred a little spicier jalapenos to go along with that for more of a "sweet heat" kind of thing. It's still worth trying, though, if it is something that grabs your attention!

Orange Bliss Fruited Smoothie Ale

Found at Andy's Grille

I enjoy trying all sorts of new beers. While fruit beers and sours aren't my first choice, they can be pretty good. This one, made by Pryes Brewing Company and available at  Andy's Grille, looks to bring the flavors of a creamy orange smoothie to a beer.

I'd say they did a pretty fantastic job of doing so! The ale tastes an awful lot like an orange smoothie. It has a thicker, creamier texture than most beers, and it tastes as smooth as that sounds. While it does have the flavor of an orange smoothie, it isn't overly sweet and doesn't taste artificial.

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It also has a 6.1% ABV, so while it might taste like an innocent treat, it is indeed still a beer.

Rating: 9.5/10 - I don't really know how they could improve on it, to be honest. Maybe a little orange garnish on the top? It's definitely a must-try.

Tater Kegs from Greater Tater

Found at Greater Tater

Who doesn't love tater tots? These bad boys are supersized "kegs" of ground-up potato that also happen to be filled with things like cheese and meat. The options this year include bacon jalapeño, bacon cheddar, breakfast skillet, cheese bomb, and reuben.

I opted for the bacon cheddar kegs with a side of Top the Tater (the dip options include thousand island, blue cheese, Top the Tater, maple syrup, and ketchup).

As you can see, you only get four of them, but they are pretty sizable.

Rating: 8/10 - It's hard to go wrong with a giant golden-brown tater tot with cheese, bacon, and a side of Top the Tater. While the flavors were definitely there, you won't be overwhelmed by an overstuffed amount of the other parts making up the tater keg flavor of your choice. At least, mine weren't full of all kinds of cheese and bacon. While this is far from the most adventurous new dish at the fair, it is a well-made classic combination of flavors that come together well.

Soft Serve Royal Raspberry Beer

Found at West End Brews

This seems to be the most buzzworthy new item at the fair this year - and I don't just say that because it is a frozen alcoholic treat. It seems like everyone is talking about this crazy concoction that looks like an ice cream cone, but isn't.

This creation uses the Royal Raspberry Sour Ale made by Pryes Brewing Company. You can also get the liquid version of the beer if you prefer. Both are served up at West End Brews right next to Lulu's.

While this looks like a creamy ice cream treat, it has more of the texture somewhere between an Icee, a slushie, and a snowcone. The alcoholic frozen treat eats almost like an ice cream cone, though it isn't as melty or creamy as it looks.

Besides the quirky novelty of it being frozen beer, the flavor is pretty good, too. It is kind of tart, but not too tart, thanks to the raspberry flavor. It reminds me of kind of like a sherbet.

In case you're curious, it does taste exactly like the beer.

Rating: 9/10 - This is a fun treat for adults at the fair looking for something a little different. The only thing that works against it for me is the combination of the tart raspberry flavor of the frozen beer and the cone (just a normal ice cream cone) just don't seem to go together as well as an ice cream does with a cone like that.

Don't get me wrong, it isn't bad. I don't know what you'd use instead, but I did have an initial reaction that something was a little off. Maybe it was just because I'm so used to a creamy ice cream in a cone, and my brain was confused. I quickly got over it and enjoyed the rest of the cone, though! Definitely worth trying.

Timber Twists

Found at Giggles' Campfire Grill

These creations are a blend of Italian sausage, mozzarella, cream cheese, and barbecue rub piped into three large manicotti shells that get wrapped in bacon. The whole thing gets cooked in a wood-fired smoker and then gets served with barbecue sauce for dipping.

Going in, I was expecting a smoky, meaty barbecue-flavored item. What threw me off was the Italian sausage, which felt like a slight conflict with the rest of the more smoked/barbecue flavor profile this thing seems to be going for. The Italian spices and sweet barbecue sauce in particular clashed a little, but not enough to make this a bad dish, but enough that it stood out in my mind.

I'd actually recommend a beverage pairing with this food item. More on that in a bit.

Rating: 7/10 - While it is still good, I feel like there was an obligation to include Italian sausage, being manicotti shells are being used. To me, I feel like more of a "barbecue meat" in the shell with the cheese and barbecue rub would be a more complete, less disjointed food. It's worth trying, though. Try it with and without the barbecue sauce to see what you like better.

Strawberry Blaze Ale

Found at Giggles' Campfire Grill

A spicy strawberry blonde ale is on tap at Giggle's Campfire Grill. This beer is an import, made by Millstream Brewing Co. in  Amana, Iowa. Giggles describes it, saying, "This strawberry blonde ale is packed full of bright flavors and finished with a jalapeño kick." It is garnished with a Tajín-dusted lime.

How does it all come together? The strawberry is pretty subtle, and the flavor profile is heavier on the jalapeño and tajín. It sort of reminds me of a spicy Bloody Mary (though it obviously isn't for a number of reasons).

Interestingly, it pairs fairly well with the Timber Twists I mentioned above. A meaty food and a spicy drink go together pretty well, kind of going back to my Bloody Mary reference. While there is a bit of a spicy kick, it isn't overwhelmingly spicy.

Rating: 7/10 - This is one of those quirky State Fair beers that kind of fall in line with the dill pickle beer and such that you try because you don't see something like it just anywhere. While it's decent, there are certainly better beers at the fair (see the ones I reviewed above, for example). If you enjoy the idea of the flavors this blends together, or you like trying quirky beers, give it a try. I'm happy I did, but I don't know that I'd be upset if I had tried a different one instead.

BONUS: Peachey's Baking Co. Amish Doughnuts

This is not a new food item this year. They've been at the Minnesota State Fair for a few years in a row now, but it continues to be one of the most popular items at the fair. I've had one of their donuts twice now, and it is well worth the wait in line for one (or a few) of them.

Speaking of those lines, I think we waited in line for about an hour, getting in line in front of the Fine Arts Building, around the corner from where Peachey's trailer is. The line certainly got longer than that at times during the day. Despite waiting in a lengthy line, they are indeed very much worth the hype. The light, fluffy, and lightly-glazed donuts are unlike any other donut you'll find at the fair. They're pretty sizable, and you can get them individually or by the bunch.

Rating: 10/10 - If you want try try one of these, wait it out in line. It is absolutely worth it.