25 Deep-Fried Foods From the Texas State Fair

For years, county fairs have been at the forefront of deep-frying science, splicing and creating mutant “foods” that are all at once monstrous and wondrous. The Texas State Fair—the largest state fair in the country—holds a yearly competition for the most innovative deep-fried foods. Here are 25 fried Frankenfoods from fairs past.

1. Bubblegum

It's actually bubblegum-flavored marshmallows, battered and deep-fried and sprinkled with Chicklets. Do you chew this? Eat it? Who knows, but you can buy it.

2. Butter

Not too different from toast. / Austin Marshall, Flickr // CC BY 2.0

Frozen balls of butter, battered and fried and served with sauce. Because why not.

3. Beer

Fried beer at the 2010 state fair. / Stacey Huggins, Flickr // CC BY 2.0

Nope, this isn’t beer-battered. This is beer: battered and fried. The beer is poured into little ravioli pockets which burst with scalding suds upon first bite.

4. Peanut Butter Banana Cheeseburgers

Elvis would've probably made a special trip to Texas just to sample this.

5. Coke

It's basically Coke-flavored funnel cake. / Willrad von Doomenstein, Flickr // CC BY-SA 2.0

An enterprising chef found a way to deep-fry soda without the third-degree burns.

6. Chicken Fried Bacon

Could make even a vegetarian's mouth water. / Steve Rainwater, Flickr // CC BY-SA 2.0

This is self-explanatory. And probably delicious.

7. Jelly Belly Jelly Beans

It's really just batter with some Jelly Belly jelly beans mixed in, like a fritter on a sugar high.

8. Cadbury Crème Eggs

It's probably delicious. / Krista, Flickr // CC BY 2.0

Easter doesn’t have nearly enough fried foods... until now.

9. Pizza

It's not just pizza ingredients inside a ball of dough. No. It's an actual slice of pizza, breaded and fried.

10. Kool-Aid

Washed down best with Kool-Aid. / Eugene Kim, Flickr // CC BY 2.0

The bright pink ones are cherry-flavored; the darker ones are grape.

11. French Fry-Coated Hot Dog

Not only do fry-coated hot dogs actually exist—they're not too hard to make at home.

12. Pecan Pie

This particular fried pie hails from New Jersey's State Fair Meadowlands. / Martin Lewison, Flickr // CC BY-SA 2.0

There's probably not a more delicious way to gain five pounds.

13. Latte

Do you like your latte liquid or solid? / Todd Carr, Flickr // CC BY-ND 2.0

This one is a bit of a misnomer, it seems; the fried part is a sweet dough, which is topped with coffee-flavored ice cream, whipped cream and shaved chocolate.

14. PB&J

The brown bag lunch of your dreams. / Martin Criminale, Flickr // CC BY-SA 2.0

There's almost no chance that this tastes bad.

15. Salsa

Deep-fried condiments can't be a good thing, but according to some people, this is the best-tasting item at the fair. It's salsa mixed with masa, then rolled in crushed tortilla chips before frying.

16. Pop-Tarts

Toasted Pop-Tarts are good. Deep-fried Pop-Tarts are better.

17. Margaritas

Doesn't look quite as appetizing as a regular margarita. / David Berkowitz, Flickr // CC BY 2.0

Funnel cake batter made with margarita mixer, fried and soaked in more margarita, all served in a salt-rimmed glass.

18. Club Salad

The thing about salad is that it’s good for you, usually. Not Fernie's Fried Club Salad—a spinach wrap filled with ham, bacon, cheese, chicken, tomatoes, shredded lettuce and carrots, fried and served on a bed of lettuce.