A Little Bit of Magic, a lot of Fried Food:

There are certain things that tell you autumn is coming to Oklahoma: the first tolerable evening on the porch, football creeping back onto television, the smell of rain on warm pavement—and, of course, the unmistakable perfume of something being deep-fried somewhere in Oklahoma City.

The Oklahoma State Fair returns September 17–27, 2026, bringing with it the rides, livestock, music, midway lights and wonderfully peculiar food combinations that have made the fair an annual pilgrimage for generations. But this year, the food vendors appear to have collectively decided that ordinary is simply not an option.

The 2026 official Food Finder lists 48 offerings as new, ranging from internationally inspired dishes to desserts that seem to have been created after someone looked at a perfectly innocent snack and asked, “What if we put this on a stick?” (Oklahoma State Fair)

And honestly, that is precisely the spirit of the fair.

Where Oklahoma Meets the World

One of the most interesting things about this year’s food lineup is how much culinary variety has found its way onto the midway.

At Afrikan Delights, fairgoers can try Egusi + Fufu with chicken, beef, goat meat or a vegan option, alongside beef and chicken plates and wings. The presence of West African cuisine at the fair is a particularly welcome reminder that the Oklahoma State Fair is more than corn dogs and funnel cakes—it is increasingly a miniature food map of the world. (Oklahoma State Fair)

Then there is Sweis’s Restaurant, bringing Greek and Mediterranean flavors into the carnival atmosphere with gyros, Greek nachos, baklava and a shawarma chicken sandwich. Their menu also includes chocolate-covered cheesecake, strawberries and the ever-faithful turkey leg, because apparently cultural diplomacy requires a turkey leg. (Oklahoma State Fair)

Chan’s Concessions adds another international stop with shrimp fried rice, vegetable fried rice, vegetable lo mein and egg rolls, while Wesley Stevens Concessions offers asada nachos, asada fries, street tacos, flautas and churros. (Oklahoma State Fair)

It is perhaps one of the most charming things about the modern fair: you can walk past a livestock exhibition, hear a country song drifting across the grounds and, five minutes later, find yourself eating something that originated thousands of miles away.

**And Then There Is the Steak Sundae

**

Every fair needs at least one food item that makes you stop mid-sentence.

This year, that honor may belong to Oklahoma Steak Bistro, which is serving something called the Steak Sundae.

Yes. Steak. Sundae.

The vendor’s 2026 menu also includes honey coquito and a honey coquito cookie dessert, along with a non-alcoholic coquito. But the Steak Sundae is the sort of culinary curiosity that practically demands investigation. (Oklahoma State Fair)

Whether it becomes your new favorite fair food or merely the story you tell everyone afterward is between you and your taste buds.

Pizza Has Gone… Buggy

If the Steak Sundae doesn’t satisfy your appetite for the unusual, Swain’s Pizza On-A-Stick has another contender: Bug Pizza.

The vendor’s menu includes pizza, garlic cheese bread and several frozen and fresh lemonade options, but Bug Pizza is the item likely to generate the most photographs, questions and nervous laughter. (Oklahoma State Fair)

It is difficult to imagine a more appropriate fair-food philosophy: take something familiar, put it somewhere unexpected and give everyone something to talk about.

Waffles, But Make Them Portable

Waffle Chix is leaning enthusiastically into the stick-food tradition with breakfast sausage waffles, chicken waffles, chicken bacon ranch waffles, strawberries-and-cream waffles and a brownie waffle on a stick.

There is also an Oreo Brownie Blast for those who believe a normal dessert is simply insufficient. (Oklahoma State Fair)

The waffle-on-a-stick may actually be one of the more practical inventions of the fair. No fork. No plate. One hand remains available for carnival games, photographs or the inevitable second food purchase.

**Sweet Tea Chicken and Grilled Peaches

**

For something that sounds a little more Southern—and considerably less dangerous to your imagination—1907 is introducing a menu that includes Sweet Tea Chicken, Cajun Pork, Grilled Peaches and Schwab’s Hatch Green Chile & Smoked Gouda Sausage. (Oklahoma State Fair)

The combination of grilled peaches with savory fair food is particularly intriguing. It has just enough sweetness to feel indulgent without requiring a powdered-sugar avalanche.

That said, this is the Oklahoma State Fair.

The powdered sugar is probably nearby.

Boba Gets a Fairground Makeover

The bubble-tea crowd has not been forgotten.

Sunrise Boba is bringing a new S’mores Boba to the Bennett Event Center. It is precisely the sort of mash-up that feels inevitable once you think about it: chewy tapioca pearls meet the campfire dessert we have been putting chocolate, marshmallows and graham crackers into since childhood. (Oklahoma State Fair)

Meanwhile, A Latte Love Coffee House offers everything from cold brew and frozen hot chocolate to its Love Potion, frozen brown sugar sweet tea and a Mangonada Palmer. (Oklahoma State Fair)

Because apparently even beverages deserve a little fairground drama.

Deep-Fried, Naturally

We cannot discuss the Oklahoma State Fair without acknowledging the food group that has become practically its own branch of Oklahoma cuisine: deep-fried things.

Granny’s Cheesecake & More is approaching the concept with admirable commitment. Its menu includes deep-fried cheesecake, Nutella, Oreos, Snickers, shortcake and Twinkies, along with apple fries, chocolate-covered fruit and the increasingly ubiquitous chocolate-covered cheesecake on a stick. (Oklahoma State Fair)

Elsewhere, Our Place offers deep-fried green beans, green tomatoes, mushrooms, peaches and cream, pickles, pineapple and street-corn bites. (Oklahoma State Fair)

At this point, it seems less appropriate to ask what can be deep-fried and more appropriate to ask what cannot.

Bacon Has Entered the Conversation

The Bacon Habit is doing exactly what its name promises.

The 2026 lineup includes bacon beer cheese, bacon cheese fries, a bacon honeybun, a bacon hot dog with cheddar and bacon-wrapped asparagus. (Oklahoma State Fair)

There is something almost philosophically satisfying about this menu. Bacon is not merely an ingredient here. It is a lifestyle choice.

The Fair’s Most Oklahoma Moments

Of course, innovation does not mean abandoning tradition.

There will still be turkey legs, corn dogs, funnel cakes, kettle corn, lemonade, cotton candy, fried pickles, loaded fries, sausage, nachos and enough food-on-a-stick to make a dietitian quietly leave the premises.

Big G’s Cajun is bringing gator-on-a-stick, crawfish boil, Cajun shrimp, crab cakes and bourbon chicken. (Oklahoma State Fair)

Gilty Pleasure is offering cowboy nachos, Gilty Mac & Cheese, calf fries, smoked barbecue-inspired offerings and its Maccin Cowboy. (Oklahoma State Fair)

And Redbird Concessions combines familiar fair fare with Oklahoma favorites including Indian tacos and fry bread, along with an Indian Sweetie dessert fry bread and frozen sugar-coated grapes. (Oklahoma State Fair)

That mixture is what makes the fair so much fun. It is not trying to be a fine-dining restaurant, nor should it. The State Fair exists in that delightful space between culinary creativity and complete abandon.

Come Hungry

The Oklahoma State Fair has always been about more than food. It is about memory.

It is the child who insists on riding the biggest ride first. The teenager walking the midway under neon lights. The grandparents explaining how the fair used to look decades ago. The smell of livestock barns mingling with funnel cake. The sound of music carrying across the grounds. And, inevitably, somebody saying, “We should have gotten one of those.”

The 2026 food lineup simply gives us more opportunities to say it.

Whether you are adventurous enough for Bug Pizza, curious about the Steak Sundae, tempted by S’mores Boba, intrigued by Egusi and Fufu, or perfectly content with a funnel cake and a lemonade, this year’s fair has something designed to make you stop, stare and probably take a picture before taking a bite.

And perhaps that is the real magic of fair food.

It does not have to make sense.

It just has to make a memory.