The State Fair of Texas has once again looked at ordinary food and asked: What if we deep-fried it, covered it in cheese, dipped it in chocolate or blended it into a drink?
The Fair announced the 15 finalists for the 2026 Big Tex Choice Awards on Thursday morning, with creations ranging from tater-tot taco shells and nacho-covered chicken wings to a chocolate version of Fletcher’s famous corny dog.
This year’s competition started with a record 77 entries from 46 State Fair concessionaires. The finalists will compete in four categories: Best Taste – Savory, Best Taste – Sweet, Best Taste – Sipper and Most Creative.
The winners will be announced Tuesday, August 18.
Savory finalists go big on tacos, wings and Hot Cheetos
The savory category includes five entries that combine several familiar fair foods into a single meal.
Tom Grace created the Burger Chop Tater TacosState Fair of Texas
Burger Chop Tater Tacos begin with a seared burger patty mixed with sautéed onions and jalapeños. The mixture is topped with mozzarella and American cheese and served on taco shells made from cheddar-cheese tater tots. Buffalo ranch coleslaw, garlic-parmesan buffalo sauce and even more tots finish the dish.
Dickel’s Texas Two Step Tacos offer two different tacos. One includes a fire-roasted jalapeño stuffed with pineapple pork sausage and mozzarella in a blue corn tortilla. The other wraps brisket around a roasted jalapeño and adds cheese, pickled onion and either barbecue sauce or habanero sauce.
Flamin’ Crunch Pizza features fresh pizza dough topped with jalapeño-cheddar queso, mozzarella and cheddar cheese. After baking, the pizza is covered with Flamin’ Hot Cheetos, queso blanco, buffalo ranch dressing and Cheetos dust.
The Golden Crunch Melt fills a crispy grilled tortilla with chicken pastor, roasted peppers, caramelized onions, chipotle mayonnaise, three cheeses and crispy potato strings.
Nacho Wings combine three fair-food staples in one dish. Taco-seasoned chicken wings are covered with nacho cheese, cilantro, green onions, cotija cheese, tomatoes, pickled onions and jalapeños. The wings are served over fries and finished with ranch.
Fletcher’s puts a sweet spin on its famous corny dog
The sweet category includes cheesecake, flan, ice cream and one very unusual corny dog.
Beck Fletcher created the Fletcher's Chocolate Corny DogState Fair of Texas
Fletcher’s Chocolate Corny Dog replaces the traditional hot dog with milk-chocolate fudge. The fudge is dipped in Fletcher’s Original Corny Dog batter, fried until golden and topped with yellow vanilla icing. It comes with raspberry compote for dipping.
Berry Me in Matcha is a New York-style cheesecake dipped in Belgian white chocolate, rolled in crushed matcha cookies and topped with more white chocolate, strawberry jam and a fresh strawberry.
Fernie’s Frozen Espresso-tini Bar turns an espresso martini into a popsicle. Cold-brew espresso is mixed with Fernie’s Funnel Cake Cream Cocktail and drizzled with a chocolate coating that hardens around the frozen bar.
Holy Flan! Buñueloco starts with a crispy buñuelo bowl filled with rice pudding and cinnamon Blue Bell ice cream. A deep-fried flan wrapped in puff pastry sits on top, along with whipped topping and caramel sauce.
The Texas Pecan Praline Cheesecake Cone fills a warm waffle cone with cookie-butter cheesecake. The cone is dipped in white chocolate and coated with Texas pecan praline, Biscoff cookies and freeze-dried strawberries before being topped with whipped cream, cookie-butter drizzle and another Biscoff cookie.
This year’s drinks may require both a straw and a spoon
The Big Tex Choice Awards added a separate sipper category in recent years, and the 2026 finalists stretch the definition of a beverage.
Milton and Gracie Whitley created the Corn Flake ShappéState Fair of Texas
The Corn Flake Shappé blends toasted corn flakes with dulce de leche, Texas pecans and warm spices. It is topped with whipped cream, crunchy cereal, strawberry crumble and powdered sugar.
Nevins Soft Serve Peach Bellini Float mixes peach bellini soft serve infused with sparkling wine with frozen peach, sparkling sugar and a sweet golden topping.
Rousso’s Bacon Jam Caramel Apple Hard Cider combines apple, caramel, churro and cinnamon-sugar flavors with a smoky bacon-jam twist.
The Sunset Soft Serve Rita blends a strawberry-and-mango margarita with vanilla soft-serve ice cream. Tajín, chamoy and a hot-honey Tajín topping add sweet heat.
Tropical Coco Fresca layers pineapple-watermelon agua fresca with chamoy and Tajín and adds a scoop of coconut snow that melts into the drink.
How the finalists were selected
The Big Tex Choice Awards are open to State Fair concessionaires with at least two years of experience at the Fair.
Each concessionaire submits an original recipe, name and description. The entries then go through blind judging, with the judges evaluating each recipe without knowing who created it.
The 15 finalists will next be judged by a panel of 35 hometown celebrities, television personalities, food experts and content creators. The dishes will be scored on taste, value, creativity and appeal to fairgoers.
The State Fair also announced several semifinalists that did not make the final round but will still be sold as new foods this year. Those include the Dirty Dr Pepper Do-Si-Do Float, Fried Gobbler Roll, Deep Fried Thai Tea Tres Leches Cake, Love Me Jam Sandwich, Triple Chocolate Flautas and Twinkle Twinkle Brisket Star.
The winners of the 2026 Big Tex Choice Awards will be crowned August 18.
The State Fair of Texas runs from Friday, September 25 through Sunday, October 18.
