Meet the 2023 Iowa State Fair's 64 new foods, from Korean egg dogs to fried corn on the cob

Susan Stapleton, Des Moines Register
Updated ·4 min read
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The Iowa State Fair returns this Aug. 10-20 with music, butter cows and of course, new foods. This year brings 64 new dishes that will make their debut at the 2023 Iowa State Fair.

New this year, Vietnamese dishes such as banh mi and cafe muoi, a salted coffee, as well as Korean egg dogs and Korean bacon egg dogs. Ube funnel cake and bubble tea even make an appearance.

On the sweet side of the Fair, find new ice cream flavors such as butterbeer, apple pie cookie and cherry dream, a soft serve chocolate chip cookie dough sundae, a cotton candy cheesecake and a fried caramel apple cow tail. A walking banana dessert and walking s'mores dessert also made the cut. New doughnuts include peanut butter cream and blueberry minis.

Iowans love pork products and bacon, and both find their way into new dishes at the Fair. For savory novelty dishes, look for Buffalo chicken bacon ranch fries, an Iowa sweet corn sundae, a pork belly pinwheel, and dill pickle-flavored cheese curds. Fairgoers can even try a deep-fried bacon brisket mac-n-cheese grilled cheese or bacon and sweet corn lobster rolls.

Those who love their dishes deep fried can start with a deep-fried sweet corn nugget and finish with a deep-fried strawberry shortcake on a stick.

Catfish or walleye, a crunch cool ranch pickle, grilled shrimp and cookie dough in assorted flavors all find their way onto a stick.

For most curious dish, look for the Iowa Twinkie, a jalapeno filled with pulled pork, corn and cream cheese, wrapped in bacon, and smoked with sweet and sticky barbecue that's finished with ranch.

The Minnesota State Fair, perhaps Iowa's biggest Midwestern rival when it comes to fair food, also dropped its new foods for 2023 on Tuesday, with 42 on the docket, including a crispy lutefisk bao bun, a cheese curd stuffed pizza pretzel, lemonade served with cotton candy, and dill pickle cheese curd tacos.

Here's a look at the 64 new foods at the Iowa State Fair in 2023.

What new foods are at the Iowa State Fair in 2023?

  • (Banh Mi) Vietnamese sandwich

  • (Café Muoi) salted coffee

  • A-Hootenanny ice cream

  • Amish doughnuts

  • Apple pie cookie ice cream

  • Bacon and sweet corn lobster rolls

  • Bacon cheddar pretzel dog

  • Bauder’s cherry dream ice cream

  • Berry bowl frozen sorbet

  • Birch beer soda

  • Blueberry mini doughnuts

  • Bubble tea

  • Bucket of soda

  • Buffalo chicken bacon ranch fries

  • Burrito bowl

  • Butterbeer ice cream

  • Byrd Dawg crispy chicken sandwich

  • Caramel apple cake pops

  • Catfish in a boat or on a stick

  • Chicken salad hoagie

  • Chopped brisket sandwich

  • Chopped Italian chicken hoagie

  • Chopped Italian ham hoagie

  • Chopped Italian roast beef hoagie

  • Citrus boost energy drink

  • Cookie dough sundae

  • Cotton candy art

  • Cotton candy cheesecake

  • Craft link on a stick

  • Crunch cool ranch pickle on a stick

  • Deep-fried bacon brisket mac-n-cheese frilled cheese

  • Deep-fried strawberry shortcake on a stick

  • Deep-fried sweet corn nugget

  • Dill pickle-flavored cheese curds

  • Dough Crazy (chocolate chip, cake batter, brownie batter, brookie, CC dough w/o CC, monster, cherry chocolate chip, cookies and cream) sweet stick

  • Fried caramel apple cow tail

  • Grilled shrimp on a stick

  • Grinder ball

  • Hot stuff grilled cheese

  • Iowa sweet corn sundae

  • Iowa Twinkie — jalapeno filled with pulled pork, corn and cream cheese, wrapped in bacon, smoked with sweet and sticky barbecue, finished with ranch

  • Korean bacon egg dog

  • Korean egg dog

  • Lamb gyro salad

  • Made-from-scratch bacon maple monkey bread

  • Orange (with peppermint) sipper

  • Orange float

  • Orange slush

  • Orange-frosty

  • Oreo brownie blast

  • Peanut butter cream doughnuts

  • Popcorn shrimp

  • Pork belly pinwheel

  • Raspberry chipotle grilled cheese

  • Shrimp ceviche

  • Shrimp poke bowl

  • Shrimp tacos

  • Soft serve chocolate chip cookie dough sundae

  • Southern fried corn on the cob

  • The ooey gooey all-American grilled cheese

  • Ube funnel cake

  • Walking banana dessert

  • Walking s'mores dessert

  • Walleye in a boat or on a stick

More: 16 Iowa State Fair foods compete for bragging rights. You can vote for your favorites.

What will be the best new foods at the Iowa State Fair?

Next week, the Iowa State Fair invited in media personalities, Blue Ribbon Foundation members, State Fair queens and more to determine the three dishes that will vie for the best new food at the State Fair. The Fair selected 10 dishes that will be sampled and voted on.

Follow the livestream on July 18 at 1 p.m. at facebook.com/iowastatefair.

Last year, the People's Choice Best New Food of the 2022 Iowa State Fair was The Finisher. The loaded baked potato extravaganza crafted by Joni Bell and at The Rib Shack behind the Anne & Bill Riley Stage went for $10, and came with a baked potato stacked with chopped brisket, smoked pulled pork and The Rib Shack's famous bacon brisket mac and cheese, topped with barbecue sour cream and garlic rub butter.

More Iowa State Fair food news

Susan Stapleton is the entertainment editor and dining reporter at The Des Moines Register. You can reach out to her on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram, or drop her a line at sstapleton@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: The Iowa State Fair announces 64 new foods to try in 2023