State Fair News

State Fair of Texas debuts an astounding 35 new foods to try for 2025

State Fair of Texas

SFOT

The most famous food at the annual State Fair of Texas is the Big Tex Choice Awards — the competition between concessionaires who submit new festival creations to try and win an award, fame, and especially fortune, with the competition helping to stoke sales.

But that's far from the only thing to eat at the annual State Fair of Texas — an event that has evolved into a food fest, with more-more-more new foods to try. This year's judges favored Crab & Mozzarella Arancini, Cookie Chaos Milkshake, and Wagyu Bacon Cheeseburger Deviled Egg Sliders — three of the winners from the 2025 Big Tex Choice Awards — but the snacking options don't end there.

This year, the State Fair of Texas has an additional 35 new beverages and bites to try. The fair itself runs from September 26-October 19, which spans 24 days. If you're a conscientious foodie, that means going to the fair every day and trying 1.3 snacks every time you go — and that's not even factoring in the Big Tex winners.

Here are the new foods to try at the 2025 State Fair of Texas (and to see the photos of each, go to bigtex.com/new-food).

Aguasol Tequila Corazon Verde - Old Mill Inn on Grand Ave.
Refreshing drink combines melon, elderflower liqueur, lavender bitters, Aguasol Tequila, pineapple fronds, pineapple wedge, and a cantaloupe wedge

Birria Ramen Bowl - Mr. Ramen Fusion at Midway
Ramen with corn, cilantro, fried onion, birria meat, and Monterey Jack cheese, served with consommé.

Cajun Stuffed Seashells - Gulf Coast Grill on First Ave.
Jumbo pasta shells stuffed with shrimp, Andouille sausage, secret sauce, rice, cheese, and cornbread stuffing, served with Cajun Alfredo sauce.

Churro Cheesecake Jalapeño Popper - Velasquez Catering & Concessions Inc. on Funway and MLK Blvd.
Jalapeño peppers with a cheesecake filling covered in churro batter and fried, with dulce de leche sauce.

Colada Lemonada - Mac Loaded on Nimitz Ave.
Frozen twist on piña colada and tangy lemonade with coconut, pineapple juice, and lemonade, topped with cherry syrup, cherry, and a mini umbrella.

Cornbread Doughnut - at Milton’s Donuts at Grand Area
Southern cornbread mix and classic cake batter, topped with choice of cheesecake glaze or warm honey butter.

Decadent Dubai Chocolate Dream - Dickel’s Smokehouse at Cotton Bowl Plaza and First Ave.
16-oz cup with chocolate, strawberries, vanilla ice cream, freeze-dried strawberries, pistachio floss, and a gold-dusted brown butter Dubai chocolate chip cookie stuffed with pistachio kataifi, marshmallow, chocolate, and secret ingredients.

Deep Fried Carbonara - Eataly in Cotton Bowl Plaza
Spaghetti carbonara is breaded and deep fried, topped with guanciale, Pecorino Romano, egg yolks, and Pasta di Gragnano IGP.

Dole Soft Serve Mango - Dippin’ Dots Ice Cream throughout the fairgrounds
Dole Soft Serve Mango in a cup, cone, swirl, or as a sundae with Tajín and chamoy.

El Cono Loco - Cone’d in Cotton Bowl Plaza
Tex-Mex chicken spaghetti with Hatch green chiles, queso, and Monterey Jack tucked inside a a garlic parmesan bread cone, topped with pico, sour cream, and a slice of avocado.

Fried Pickle Bombs - Front Gate, Midway, Funway, and Grand Area
Fried pickles laid atop Crispy Dillies and drizzled with spicy ranch.

Frozen Pickleback - Spicy Hut on Lonestar Blvd.
Salty, sweet, savory, and sour frozen drink with a dill pickle kick, served with a dill pickle & Tajín rim.

Guac-a-Rrons - Tony’s Taco Shop in the Tower Building and on Lonestar Blvd.
Fried pork belly with guacamole, with a pickled red bell peppers, red onion, and cilantro garnish.

Iced Coffee with Ube Milk Foam - Korean Corn Dog on Gateway
Iced coffee with ube (purple yam) milk foam.

Lobster Three Ways - Big Tex Circle
Lobster roll slider, popcorn fried lobster, and lobster mac & cheese.

Matcha Cream Float - Sandoitchi in the Tower Building
Playful twist on the classic Italian affogato, made with matcha ice cream topped with ceremonial-grade matcha, with a Japanese sugar cookie shaped like the iconic Big Tex logo.

Meat Lovers Crunchwrap Calzone - The Dock in the Embarcadero Building
Flour tortilla with mozzarella, pepperoni, salami, seasoned ground beef, zesty red sauce, folded and fried, served with fried mozzarella bites, ranch, and marinara.

Nevins Pop-Elotes - Nevins Hot Buttered Corn in Cotton Bowl Plaza
Flamin' Hot Cheetos, Cotija cheese, mayonnaise, and cilantro with popcorn.

OG Handmade Cinnamon Rolls - Shug’s Cinnamon Rolls in the Tower Building
Shug's Cinnamon Rolls in flavors like original, cream cheese iced, iced with pecans, strawberries & cream, apple crumble, cookies & cream, birthday sprinkles, pecan praline, chocolate glazed, and the Texas Squealer with baco.

Ox’cellent Cornbread Sliders - Pearlie’s Southern Kitchen in Nimitz Terrace
Oxtails piled onto cornbread, with collard green slaw, smoked gouda, and spicy mayo.

Pop Rocks Margarita - Texas Holy Fried Ribs and Fusion BBQ in the Tower Building and Texas Holy Sopapilla Factory in Cotton Bowl Plaza
Frozen margarita with fizzy Pop Rocks and a firework-style garnish.

Rousso's Bacon Jam Cannoli - Rousso’s Fat Bacon on First Ave.
Cannoli filled with ricotta, chocolate chips, and bacon jam with brown sugar, maple syrup, drizzled in Belgian chocolate.

Rousso's Bacon Jam Wagyu Sliders - Rousso’s Fat Bacon on First Ave.
Wagyu beef and bacon jam stacked on a bun.

Russell’s Key Lime Pie Bombs - Palmer’s Hot Chicken on Midway
Key lime pie with extra graham cracker crust and crushed Nilla Wafers rolled into bite-sized pieces, dipped in pancake batter, fried, then topped with Chantilly cream and a lime jelly candy.

Sub-Lime-ly Berrylicious Cooler - The Dock in the Embarcadero Building and Fernie’s Funnel Cake Factory at Grand Area
Berrylicious cooler with strawberries, lime, and coconut water.

Swirly Pearls - Stuffed Wings in the Tower Building
Milk tea with boba pearls and brown sugar topped with soft-serve ice cream.

Texa-misu - Eataly in Cotton Bowl Plaza
Quadratini wafer cookies topped with frozen cremespresso, whipped cream and more Quadratini wafer cookies.

Texas Water - Vandalay Industries on Funway
Natural flavors transform any spring water, sparkling water, or pale ale into a pineapple or lime refresher.

The Texan Crepe - Crepes & Co. In the Tower Building
Brisket wrapped in a cone-shaped savory crepe, with onions, tomatoes, arugula, melted cheese, sriracha mayo and chimichurri sauce.

Ube Rice-Cream Crunch - Barrera’s on Funway
Ube (purple yam) topped with puffed rice, Cool Whip, and a cherry

Vegan Crunchwrap Supreme - Vegan Vibrationz on Nimitz Ave.
Vegan Vibrationz is making history by being one of the first vegan vendors at the State Fair of Texas, serving their vegan Crunchwrap, with seasoned plant-based meat crumble, nacho cheese, chipotle aioli, lettuce, and tomatoes wrapped in a grilled flour tortilla.

What on Earth is This? - Texas Cheesesteaks SouthSide Steaks and Cakes in Cotton Bowl Plaza
Smashed beef patty, chicken, steak, and vegetables in a bun, topped with mustard, provolone, chipotle mayo, green chile, and mysterious sauce.

Wild Black Cherry Bliss - Rita’s Italian Ice at Grand Area
Wild Black Cherry Italian ice meets Black Cherry Cheesecake frozen custard in five layers with real black cherry pieces.

Wild Corn Wheels - Pizza and Nachos in Cotton Bowl Plaza
Corn on the cob with choice of BBQ, Cajun, Tajín, Garlic-Parmesan, Lemon-Pepper, Hot Honey, Buffalo, and Mango-Habanero.

Yabba Dabba Doo Dirty Sprite - Texas Cheesesteaks SouthSide Steaks and Cakes in Cotton Bowl Plaza
Sprite with crunchy ice pebbles, strawberry and green apple syrups, mango, strawberries, coconut crème, Skittles, Lemonheads, pineapple slice, whipped cream, chewy ropes, and Fruity Pebbles.

state-fair

Food trends

Dallas-Fort Worth pitmasters lead Texas’ growing halal BBQ boom

Levant BBQ

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FORT WORTH, Texas (RNS) — At 9 am on a scorching Saturday in June, nearly 100 people were already lined up outside Goldee’s BBQ, a small, wooden-shack restaurant.

First in line was 30-year-old Thanh Huynh, who had been sitting in a lawn chair on the joint’s rustic porch since 6:30 am.

“I have, like, a whole list, and I’m going to spend lots of money here. It’ll be worth it,” he said, laughing while rattling off a long order of meats and sides from his phone’s Notes app as a sweet, smoky scent from nearby pits hung in the air.

Opened in 2020 by a group of his friends, the restaurant was named the No. 1 barbecue spot in the state by Texas Monthly a year later, and then won a Bib Gourmand award from the prestigious Michelin Guide, given for “great food at a great value.”

The restaurant serves classic Texas barbecue like craft pork belly, sausage, and ribs. But it also offers halal brisket, turkey, and lamb.

"Halal" means meat raised and butchered in accordance with Islamic guidelines. It refers to the method in which the animals are slaughtered, one that focuses on humane treatment, cleanliness, and acknowledging the value of life — similar in concept to kosher food in Judaism.

A growing number of halal places have opened around Fort Worth in recent years, and there are also non-halal restaurants that use halal beef, such as burger institution Kincaid's, the new Burger Vault in Keller, and the forthcoming Tick Tock Taco in Colleyville.

Growing Texas trend
At a time when Republican leaders are increasingly targeting the state’s growing Muslim communities, halal barbecue joints like Goldee’s are thriving in Texas. Across the state, Muslim pitmasters are gaining recognition for putting their own spin on one of Texas’ most iconic culinary traditions.

Goldee's Barbecue is an acclaimed BBQ joint in Fort Worth. Goldee's Barbecue/ Facebook

At least a dozen barbecue spots now serve halal meats, including Yearby’s Barbecue & Waterice, run by Black Muslim couple CJ and Sabrina Henley, soon-to-be in Plano; and Levant Mediterranean BBQ, a restaurant with locations in Houston and Frisco and whose all-beef menu includes a brisket shawarma sandwich.

“Now there are so many options, and for us to have highly rated barbecue, it’s a blessing,” said Haris Ghaffar, who drove an hour from Celina and stood in 90-degree weather for nearly two hours with a friend for the halal options at Goldee’s.

Growing up in the 1990s, Ghaffar said a McDonald’s Filet-O-Fish sandwich was one of the few halal meals he could eat while dining out. Back then, halal food was seen as serving a small community. Today, it’s a multibillion-dollar industry that’s part of the American culinary mainstream, said James Beard Award‑winning food writer Farhan Mustafa, who wrote about the rise of American halal barbecue for Bon Appétit magazine in 2025.

“Halal food is American food,” said Mustafa, who is based in Seattle. “It belongs on your plate. It belongs in the casual chat. It belongs in hip hop tracks. It’s the most American thing there is.”

Mustafa said Muslims are part of a growing list of communities putting their stamp on Texas barbecue. “Whether they’re first, second or third-generation Muslims or Muslim Americans or just Americans, they’re bringing what they know and what excites them,” he said.

More than salt and pepper
Texas barbecue is typically defined by salt-and-pepper brisket and pork ribs, but this new crop of halal pitmasters are adding inventive twists, often based on their own family heritages.

Zain Shafi, a pitmaster and co-owner of Goldee’s, previously ran Sabar Barbecue, a food truck that offered Pakistani-infused halal dishes, such as brisket with rub that included spices like bay leaf and coriander.

Sabar was nominated for Best BBQ in CultureMap's 2025 Tastemaker Awards, and made the list of Texas Monthly's Top 50 Barbecue Restaurants of 2025. The restaurant was also featured in a recently published BBQ book Texas BBQ: The Art of Low and Slow. He closed Sabar in December 2025 after two years.

Sabar BBQ Sabar Barbecue offered a Pakistani twist on BBQ. Sabar Barbecue

Shafi brought tandoori smoked turkey to Goldee’s menu. And sourcing halal cuts, he said, was a natural choice because they are “the highest quality” meats.

Goldee’s chef and part owner Nupohn Inthanousay also blends his Laotian heritage, serving a smoked Lao “sai oua” sausage with sticky rice and a fiery, tangy dipping sauce.

At Kafi BBQ in Irving, owner Salahodeen Abdul-Kafi brings halal Wagyu beef and Iraqi spices to classic Texas barbecue, challenging what he said is the “traditional old guard of Texas barbecue.”

“My goal at Kafi BBQ is to make the best barbecue in Texas,” Abdul-Kafi said. “I have not been shy about that at all, and making the best barbecue in Texas does not necessarily have to include pork.”

A former Silicon Valley tech worker, he moved to Texas six years ago in search of a Muslim community. On weekends in his backyard, he smoked brisket for friends. By 2024, he bought a smoker and opened Kafi BBQ.

He said he spent months testing and perfecting recipes and finding local producers. Abdul-Kafi attributes his obsession with crafting a stand-out menu to the Islamic concept of “Ihsan”— an Arabic term meaning doing something with excellence for the sake of God.

On a Sunday afternoon this summer, the restaurant’s red booths were packed with diners, drawn to menu items like the 13-spice Wagyu brisket, pomegranate-glazed beef belly burnt ends and Iraqi-inspired spicy beef sausage.

“That sausage, I’d probably put it at the top sausage I’ve ever had, and we eat barbecue a lot. This place is unique,” said Jonathan Tate, a Fort Worth resident who came to Kafi BBQ with a friend after reading about it on a Facebook foodie group.

“I don’t necessarily have to have it halal, but it’s nice to know they took good care of the food, the meat,” his friend Jon Sklar said, before going back in line to order oxtail.

Meat at Kafi BBQ in Irving. Kafi BBQ

'We love barbecue'
Although political rhetoric against Muslims in Texas has become increasingly hostile — some GOP lawmakers even discussed a ban on halal food at a conference this month — pitmasters like Abdul-Kafi see the rise of halal barbecue as an effective counterargument.

“It’s an example of exactly the opposite of what the Islamophobes talk about, right?” he said. “They say, ‘oh, Muslims don’t integrate, they stay alone, they don’t help society and all this stuff.’ And it’s like, I’m sitting here contributing to the most well-known cuisine of Texas.”

One of the diners at Kafi BBQ, Houston native Muhammad Sohail, 23, said the restaurant reflects who he is — a proud Texan and Muslim. “This place is super important because I can see halal within the culture of Texas, which is my culture at this point,” Sohail said. “We love the food. We love meat. We’re Muslims and we love barbecue.”

After finishing a big lunch with 10 relatives, Areeba Ali, a Dallas native of Indian heritage, said the restaurant’s appeal cuts across communities, which she said is evidence that halal barbecue isn’t a niche but resonates broadly with Texans. “If you look around in the restaurant, you see everybody in there — it’s not just one demographic in there,” Ali said.

For Mustafa, that success is ultimately a testament to the resilience of Muslim American communities.

“No matter how much they try to erase us, our food is here to stay,” he said. “You will see the power of just good food and the fact that most people really seem to understand that this is just as American as anything else.”

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This story was written and produced by Religion News Service and distributed by The Associated Press. It also includes information from the CultureMap archives.

halal halal barbecue muslim communities pitmasters religion texas texas barbecue trends culinary traditions goldee's barbecue