With some of the best BBQs, brisket, burgers, and beer in the country, it’s no surprise that the country hosts some of the world’s best food festivals in Texas.
While most visitors associate Texas with meat-based cuisine and deep-fried desserts, the gourmet culture is alive and strong.
The greatest Food festivals in Texas appeal to diverse preferences. Whether you’re vegetarian or vegan or want to stuff your face with the tastiest delights, Texas has you covered.
Because the state is so large, we did the dirty work for you. Here are seven of the top food festivals in Texas that you should make a point of attending.
1. Texas Hot Sauce Festival
It’s difficult to deny that Texas produces some of the best sauces in the country and is one of the places with the best BBQ. The Texas Hot Sauce Festival has been going on for more than 20 years and is still strong.
However, a ticket to this Texas culinary festival gives you access to more than simply a taste test of the state’s most fantastic hot sauce. You’ll also be able to try salsa, barbeque sauce, Bloody Mary mix, and more.
2. Austin Ice Cream
Visit Waterloo Park to sample some of Texas’ most delectable confections. Austin hosts a fantastic ice cream festival every June, where you can enjoy all things ice cream. You can also buy ice cream from your favorite local.
Also, national ice cream companies are in a lovely park with live music and children’s activities.
3. Meat Fight
With a name like Meat Fight, it’s easy to see why this is one of the top food festivals in Texas. What is Meat Fight, exactly? It’s a “Texas non-profit with a mission to make giving charity an unquestionably entertaining experience,” according to the website.
However, at the heart of it all is an opportunity to sample some of the state’s best barbeque and meat-based delights.
4. Wurstfest
New Braunfels, a German-influenced Hill Country community, has staged its annual Wurstfest for almost four decades, with sausage, strudel, pretzels, polka music, etc.
5. Floresville Peanut Festival
Floresville, which bills itself as the “Peanut Capitol of Texas,” backs up its claim with the annual Peanut Festival, the second weekend in October every year.
6. Texas Citrus Fiesta
Since the 1930s, this yearly festival has included the Parade of Oranges and the Product Costume Style Show and extravagant costumes constructed of citrus and other local Valley products.
It begins in late January, celebrating the Rio Grande Valley’s citrus harvests. Another highlight is the Vaquero Cook-off, a barbecue competition with different events for Pan de Campo and citrus desserts.
7. Poteet Strawbery Festival
This is one of the top Food festivals in Texas. The annual Strawberry Festival attracts over 100,000 tourists to Poteet, a small town in New York. In addition to the carnival, art shows, rodeos, dances, processions, and “Taste of Texas” food shows,
Also, this nearly 60-year-old event features nationally-known country music singers and Tejano entertainers.
8. Texas Red Festival
Do you enjoy red wine and steak? You do, of course! The Texas Reds Festival is a fantastic combination of the two. This steak and wine festival brings wineries and chefs together to showcase the year’s most innovative flavors.
In addition, you can head to steak cook-offs and live entertainment, all while enjoying a glass of world-class wine in your hand.
9. Czhilispiel
Czhilispiel (pronounced ‘chili spill’) has been conducted yearly in the Czech hamlet of Flatonia for over 30 years, attracting some of the best chili and BBQ cook-off teams nationwide.
10. Luling Water Melon Thump
If you aren’t from the South, the Luling Watermelon Thump is a four-day event you will thoroughly appreciate. Watermelon is, of course, at the heart of this celebration. This is one of the top food festivals in Texas.
Furthermore, you’ll also have the opportunity to cool off from the summer heat by competing in a watermelon seed-spitting or watermelon-eating contest.
11. Crystal Beach: Texas Crab Festival
The main attractions are the Crab Legs Contest, Weiner Dog Nationals, Crab Races, and eating crab and seafood delicacies. Still, playing volleyball, competing in the horseshoe game, and browsing the arts and crafts merchants is plenty of fun.
12. Texas Mushroom Festival
The Texas Mushroom Festival in Madisonville includes a cooking competition, mushroom farming demos, wine tasting, kids’ activities, a photography contest, live music, etc.
13. Jacksonville: Tomato Fest
I say to-mah-to, you say to-may-to”… Although there are other ways to pronounce the excellent fruit’s name, Jacksonville’s annual Tomato Fest is seasoned with a down-home taste no matter which inflection you choose.
In addition, this is one of the top food festivals in Texas. The day features a farmer’s market for those who want to put their culinary skills to the test, a tomato-eating contest for those who want to taste triumph, a street dance, tennis and fishing contests, live entertainment, and much more. It is held on the second Saturday in June.
14. Texas Blueberry Festival
A blueberry pancake breakfast, a pie-eating contest, a blueberry cupcake contest, and sweets at the Blueberry Hill Soda & Sweet Shoppe are just a few of the mouth-watering events planned for Texas Blueberry Festival guests.
Furthermore, the only state-sanctioned festival commemorating America’s second favorite berry, held in June in Nacogdoches, provides free shuttle rides to area farms where foodies may select their berries directly from the bush.
Classic vehicle and motorbike exhibits, a pet parade, a petting zoo, a washer-pitching game, and arts and crafts stalls are among the traditional festival festivities.
15. Austin Ice Cream Festival
The Austin Ice Cream Festival at Waterloo Park is a terrific way to beat the summer heat. The celebration includes games, activities, live entertainment, and ice cream.
16. Texas Rice Festival
Winnie’s annual Texas Rice Festival takes place every October to commemorate the rice harvest. Food, a carnival, a cattle show, arts and crafts, and live music from prominent Texas and Nashville singers are all part of the festivities.
17. Oktoberfest
The city of Addison gets a head start on other Oktoberfest events across the state by adopting the Munich festivities’ start date.
Throughout the four-day festival, Addison Circle Park is filled with displays of German pride, from yodeling competitions to a procession of Germany’s most famous export, the Dachshund. Bratwurst, sausages, strudel, pretzels, and more German specialties are available.
18. Pasadena Strawberry Festival
Pasadena’s annual Strawberry Festival has been a Texas classic for almost three decades. Activities and entertainment include skydiving, bingo, live music, strawberry eating contests, strawberry cuisine, a barbecue cookoff, mud volleyball, and a carnival.
19. Groves Pecan Festival
The town’s yearly event honors the harvesting of pecans from the more than 2,500 pecan trees planted in Groves around the turn of the twentieth century.
The state’s official pecan festival, held in Lyons Park for four days in mid-September, includes a carnival, live music, pie-eating, and pecan-toss contests. In addition, there is a pet show, a parade, arts and crafts activities, and the crowning of the Pecan Queen.
20. Heritage Syrup Festival
The Heritage Syrup Event, East Texas’ unique folklife festival, brings these echoes of the past to life every November.
This day-long event, which takes place on the second Saturday in November, includes a syrup-making demonstration. It is one of the top food festivals in Texas.
Furthermore, experienced syrup makers use the museum’s vintage mule-powered equipment to prepare old-fashioned cane syrup.
Watch how artisans hand-stitch bits of cloth into kaleidoscopic-patterned quilts, potters shape mounds of clay into bowls and cups, and carvers whittle fanciful things from woodblocks.
21. Dublin Dr. Pepper Birthday Celebration
The Dr. Pepper Birthday Celebration, held annually in Dublin, pays homage to a true Texas original. Visitors can tour the bottling factory and museum during the birthday celebration. There are carnival activities and food vendors.
