Fair Food Night: A Fun Twist on Family Dinner

Chances are you’ve been cooking more dinners at home lately like most everyone else in the world. If you’re running out of recipes or dinner options, here’s an easy idea that’s also fun for the whole family: fair food night.

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Fair Food Night Menu

Have you gone to the fair specifically to get food items you can’t get anywhere else? Of course you have! Fresh fried corndogs, donut burgers, and lemon shakeups are highlights of our trips to the fair each year. So, this dinner menu is not going to be the healthiest. There are a few vegetables here and there, but they’re mostly fried. Oh well.

Our fair food night dinner included:

– Corn Dogs

– Roasted Turkey Legs

– Philly Cheese Steaks

– Italian Sausages

– Fried Pickles

– Fried Okra

– Fresh Corn on the Cob

– Chili Cheese Fries

– Funnel Cakes and Ice Cream

Next time we plan to also try donut burgers with Krispy Kremes, pretzels, and sno cones on our Snoopy Sno-Cone Machine.

How To Prepare Your Fair Food

Now, you can be like me and head to your local grocery for the store bought versions of these items for your family fair food night. But if you want to try your hand at making any of these items from scratch a few of my friends have offered recipes you can try.

My favorite thing to get at the fair is a fresh dipped and fried corn dog. They are the absolute best. Merry from Merry About Town has a homemade corn dog recipe that’s just as good, but you have to be willing to make them yourself.

Kendra from Simply Darrling has a fried pickle recipe you can make in your air fryer. That seems much easier than dragging out the turkey fryer like Harold did.

And while I am head over heels for the Baker’s Corner Funnel Cake Mix from Aldi, Michele from Midlife Healthy Living has a funnel cake recipe that you can make in your air fryer as well.

Laura from Little House, Big Alaska has an awesome soft pretzel recipe that’s on tap for our next fair food night. Because who doesn’t need more snacks, right?

We did make a few thing from scratch, but everything was quick and easy. You can get a package of Italian Sausages almost anywhere you shop. Cook and serve them on hoagie rolls with sauteed bell peppers and onions. We use a George Foreman Grill to make it even easier. You can use the heated plate grill of your choice for quick and easy grilled sausages.

The turkey legs were roasted in the oven this time, but next time we’ll fire up the grill and smoke them. And for the philly cheese steaks brown thinly sliced or shaved steak in pan with mushrooms, onions, and bell peppers. Season the meat to your taste and serve them on hoagie rolls topped with cheeze whiz or swiss slices. I prefer the flavor of portobello mushrooms and vidalia onions, but again it’s your choice.

Adding Fun To Fair Food Night

You can’t have a fair without food AND games. My favorite thing to do at the fair besides eat is the rides. But we don’t own any fair rides, so we added a pinata to the mix. We went all out with the blindfold, mini bat, and spinning. It was so much fun even the teenagers had a ball.

Since there was no skee ball or ring toss (which we actually had and just didn’t get to it because it got dark) we opted for family game night instead.

All in all, it was a quick meal, fun time, and a great way to bond while spending so much time together.

What will you add to your fair food night menu?