iStockphoto / BWFolsom / Kondor83
The Minnesota State Fair is a destination for around 2 million visitors each year and this Summer they will be treated to a new food that has divided people between ‘gotta have it’ and disgust. That food is, as you read in the headline, deep-fried ranch dressing.
Let me first say that I am 100% in the ‘I need to try this deep-fried ranch dressing as soon as humanly possible’ crowd and cannot fathom the people who are turned off by this. I’m an adventurous eater, I suppose. I’ve eaten everything from rattlesnake to tarantula, and fermented shark in Iceland (hákarl) to pretty much any other rare delicacy that has crossed my plate. I’ll try and food at least once. And those are mostly foods I didn’t really want to try but felt I needed to at the time because when would I get another chance?
This deep-fried ranch dressing, well, there’s simply no world where this isn’t delicious. This is the description according to its listing on the Minnesota State Fair’s website:
Ranch dressing filling made with ranch seasoning, buttermilk and cream cheese in a panko shell, deep-fried and dusted with ranch powder. Served with a side of hot honey sauce crafted with Cry Baby Craig’s hot sauce. (Vegetarian)
Available at Lulu’s Public House at the State Fair, this item took the Internet by storm:
The deep-fried ranch dressing is just one of 33 new foods added to the Minnesota State Fair’s lineup this year. Other notables include Buffalo Cheese Curd & Chicken Tacos, Cookie Butter Crunch Mini Donuts, Cotton Candy Iced Tea for anyone who wants to test the limits of how much sugar the body can ingest, Crab Boil Wings, Bison Meatballs, Mushroom Calamari, and plenty of others.
But it is, without a doubt, the fried ranch dressing that has grabbed everyone’s attention:
DriveTime:
3pm: Steph Shimp on how to get a new State Fair Food
3:35p What do you want in your obit?
4p Crisp & Green Food Dir
4:35 More polite StP or Mpls?
5:35 The return of the F
Plus rejected fair foods; reax to @MarneyGellner on @twins TV; this is deep-fried ranch dressing pic.twitter.com/r3xo8HtqZX— Jason DeRusha (@DeRushaJ) July 9, 2024
There were all sorts of jokes over on X (formerly Twitter) where people made the typical Jurassic Park jokes about ‘you did it’ or ‘never stopped to think if you should’ and honestly, the jokes are fun and all but this could be featured on a menu at Buffalo Wild Wings or Hooters and people would go nuts for it. Deep-fried ranch dressing has all the makings of a classic American dish and I think they stumbled onto something special here.