We tried all the weird and wacky new food at the 2025 CNE so you don't have to

The 2025 CNE arrives in Toronto this week, and that can only mean one thing: weird, wonderful and downright outrageous foods are here.

Sure, when the annual exhibition rolls into town, you can always fall back on the tried-and-true classics of corn dogs, popcorn, and cotton candy, but what would be the fun in that? After 146 years, you’ve just got to spice things up.

That’s why, year after year, the carnival’s food vendors up the ante to create the most over-the-top, indulgent and occasionally nauseating dishes to keep carnivalgoers’ attention — even if they’re merely looking on in horror.

The 2025 CNE, which kicks off on Aug. 15, will be no exception.

Butter is the name of the game at this year’s carnival after the almighty Deep-Fried Butter was inducted into the CNE Food Hall of Fame in 2024, and vendors did not disappoint. From butter ice cream to butter chicken birria, the dairy delight is front and centre.

Midway

2-Foot Hot Dog — Sam’s Grill

While Sam’s Grill’s Maki Sushi Corn Dog, a cornmeal-battered sushi roll that’s served deep-fried and drizzled with spicy mayo and soy glaze, is a standout in its own right, its 2-Foot Long Hot Dog steals the show. Mostly because it’s too large to look away from.

It’s the perfect size to share with your crew or, if you’re really hardcore, hoard all for yourself, and sometimes the classics just hit different.

Butter Soda —Dirty Sodas

If you’ve ever dreamt of trying Harry Potter’s Butterbeer in real life (or outside the gates of a Universal Studios theme park), this butter-centric take on the viral, Utah-born dirty soda trend is a worthy replacement.

A twist on the ever-popular root beer float, this drink incorporates a creamy, butterscotchy butter foam instead of ice cream.

Butter Ice Cream — Legend Dairy

With a name like Legend Dairy and a butter-themed food mandate in place, it’s only appropriate that their big-name dish puts butter front and centre. For better or worse.

Don’t expect to take a lick of this frozen treat and come away saying “I can’t believe it’s not butter,” though. Rather, the flavour is more akin to a particularly salty butterscotch. It’s not bad, but this stall’s other treats, like their butter tart funnel cake and deep-fried maple cookies, are a better bite.

Fruity Pebble Corn Dog — Korean Dogs

What would the CNE be without a decidedly non-breakfast food getting rolled in sugar cereal? Sure, you can always argue “sweet and salty” in its favour, but let’s be real, wouldn’t most of us rather just eat Fruity Pebbles on their own?

Nonetheless, Korean Dogs is serving up a Fruity Pebbles-coated Korean corn dog drizzled with pastel icing, because, sure.

Spicy Habanero Bacon Cotton Candy — Greekery Bakeshop

Ever wonder what the experience of eating cotton candy would be like if it were spicy, somewhat savoury and smoky? No? Well, you still get to find out at the CNE this year with this puff pastry cone filled with cream filling, drizzled in a maple glaze, topped with spicy habanero bacon cotton candy and crowned with a butter tart.

Fair warning, the cone comes out hot, so the cotton candy starts melting immediately on impact. You’ll have to act quickly if you hope to consume it while it’s still in its spun form (as opposed to dripping down your arm).

Deep Fried Frozen Watermelon — Mr. Pickle

Okay, the “frozen” angle here is a bit of a misnomer, because, by the time the batter coating this chunk of frozen watermelon is finished crisping up, the fruit inside is a little on the warm side.

A deeply divisive member of the CNE food lineup this year, this dish is something you either love or you hate — and that conclusion is seemingly highly dependent on the batch you get. Love it or hate it, this is one of the only fruits in sight at the carnival, so get that fibre in where you can.

Food Building

Meatball Mozzarella Corn Dog — Deep Fried Co.

Who doesn’t love a good cheese pull? Moreover, who doesn’t love a good cheese pull when it’s coming from within a deep-fried, corn-dog shell?

We’ve seen no shortage of variations on the carnival classic over the years, from Korean rice dogs to hot dogs shoved inside a pickle and then fried, but this one, which alternates massive blocks of mozzarella with hefty meatballs, dipped in marinara sauce, is certainly something new. We hate to say it, but it kind of works.

Ice Cream Sandwich Hashbrown — Ice Cream Sandwiches

Sometimes, simplicity is key, and what could be simpler than potatoes and ice cream? Believe it or not, this block of vanilla ice cream sandwiched between two steaming hashbrown patties is one of the best things we ate at the CNE.

The crispy, savoury flavour of the hashbrown is a perfect foil to the ice cream’s cool sweetness, and it all somehow just works. Be warned, though: the hashbrowns are served hot, so you’ll have to work quickly before the ice cream melts.

Poutine Dumps — Super Noodle Co.

Don’t let the name deceive you, this blissful marriage of Canadian, Chinese and Japanese cuisines was a major frontrunner for us at the carnival this year.

Your choice of chicken or vegetarian dumplings comes loaded up with Japanese coconut curry, three-cheese blend, chili crisp, green onions, crispy shallots and crispy garlic. The only drawback is that we won’t be able to eat it anymore once Sept. 1 rolls around.

Crispy Chicken Skin Dorito Salad — Farm to Fryer

This one-of-a-kind dish is proof that not all salads are created equal. For example, there are no vegetables to be found in this one, just fried chicken skin, Doritos and banana peppers.

After last year’s smash hit whole-fried soft shell crab on a stick, they’re also continuing along with the whole fried seafood trend with Argentine Shrimp drizzled in a spicy mayo, which is equally as tasty.

Smash Burger Taco — Smash City

If there are two things Toronto loves, it’s smash burgers and tacos, so mashing the two up and serving them in a convenient tortilla pocket package is a sure recipe for success.

Imagine the flavour of a Big Mac, right down to the secret sauce, but no fear of the goods slipping out from a bun. It’s as close to perfection as you could get.

Food Truck Frenzy

Ice “Kreamchi” Dumplings — K-Dee’s Twisted Gourmet & Co

Continuing along this year’s theme of bizarre ice cream-based creations, this food truck is combining the frozen treat with dumplings. It’s the CNE, why not?

Juicy Korean Pork Dumplings are paired with vanilla ice cream, bulgogi bacon glaze and kimchi, and, yeah, it tastes basically exactly how you think it would.

Butter Chicken Birria-Style Tacos — Rick’s Good Eats

A fan favourite at the exhibition year after year, Rick’s Good Eats took this year’s butter food theme and interpreted it in a way only they could: by serving a menu exclusively comprised of butter chicken-based eats.

It’s got Butter Chicken and Waffles, and a Butter Chicken Overload, which features fried chicken smothered in butter chicken sauce and sandwiched between two egg rolls with some French fries on top for good measure, but their Butter Chicken Birria Tacos are the real winner on their menu and, quite possibly, the entire carnival.

Biscoff Fried Chicken Crunch Ice Cream Sandwich — Los Vietnamita

Try saying that ten times fast. This frankensandwich is a tongue twister in more ways than one. Yes, it’s a mouthful to say, but it also includes so many different flavours that it’s nearly impossible to understand what’s happening in your mouth while you eat it.

Fried chicken is rolled in Lotus Biscoff cookie crumbs, topped with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, maple chili sauce, Lotus Biscoff cookie butter and finished off with carrots and daikon for a bite that’s at once sweet, savoury and spicy. Keep an eye out, because this could be one of 2025’s most divisive food offerings.

Chicken Nugget Cookies — Craig’s Cookies

All things considered, a cookie (made from Craig’s signature recipe) stuffed with chicken nuggets inside and served with BBQ sauce for dipping actually feels kind of tame this year. It’s the result of the same school of thought that thinks pairing any sweet flavour with any savoury flavour instantly makes it taste good, which isn’t necessarily the case, but it beats last year’s pizza and poutine cookies in our opinion.

For something a little bit more palatable for the general public, it’s also serving a classic cookie that comes wrapped in a cloud of pink or blue cotton candy.

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Lobster Ice Cream — Blue Claw Lobster Shack

We’re huge lobster fans over here, but this one had us skeptical, even as adventurous eaters. Something about the rubbery lobster claw poking out from the top of a tightly packed gelato bowl in 40-degree weather is a little hard to stomach.

If we’re being honest, though, the ice cream itself is great. It’s a classic, rich vanilla packed with small frozen lobster chunks that don’t actually offer much of a fishy flavour right at the top. It’s when they start to melt that you remember it’s lobster ice cream that you’re eating.

Deep-Fried Pizza Slice on a Stick — Pizza Pizza

Pizza and deep-fried foods married in one perfect, albeit logistically difficult, dish: what’s not to love?

These slices come topped with your choice of Creamy Garlic, Hot Honey or Sweet & Spicy Bang Bang sauce, but we’re ride or dies Creamy Garlic.

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