30+ Interesting New Foods Are Hitting the CNE This Year

The CNE isn’t just bringing bigger rides and headline concerts this year; it’s bringing a full-blown food revolution. With more than 30 new food creations scattered across the Midway, Bandshell Park, and the iconic Food Building, the 147th Canadian National Exhibition (running August 21 to September 7, 2026) is once again pushing the limits of what belongs on a stick, in a taco, or deep fried.

The headline addition this year is the CNE’s first-ever branded hot sauce, “Sweet Heat” — and it’s showing up in everything from fries to donuts to iced coffee.

Sweet, Spice, and Everything Nice

The star of the show is CNE Sweet Heat Hot Sauce itself, a cotton-candy-inspired sauce that leans sweet with a mild kick (3 out of 5 on the spice meter). It’s produced in small batches by Hamilton’s Tijuana Tom’s House of Hot Sauce and available to buy for $12 + HST at the Drip Shop in the Music Building.

It’s also fueling a handful of new dishes:

The Szechuan Sizzle Spice Cream — Vanilla soft serve infused with numbing Szechuan peppercorns, chili oil, and chili crunch (Caf-eh TO, Food Building)
Korean Fried Chicken Ramen Taco — Fried chicken dipped in Sweet Heat sauce, topped with cotton candy aioli and kimchi, served in a Buldak ramen noodle taco shell (Los Vietnamita Taqueria, Food Truck Frenzy)
Sweet Heat Cloud Fries — Fries topped with a light, airy spicy cheese foam, bacon, and maple drizzle (Bacon Nation, Food Building)
Marry Me Mochi’s Sweet Heat Collection — Including a Mango Habanero Donut, Pina-Colada Inferno Donut, and a fully loaded Nacho Aaair Donut (Marry Me Mochi, Food Building)

Foods Just Wanna Have Fun

Not everything at this year’s CNE is about heat — some of it’s just about the sheer novelty. A few of the weirder, more playful additions:

KD Smoothie — A blended mix of KD Shaker Original Cheese flavour, mango, pineapple juice, vanilla frozen yogurt, and skim milk (Booster Juice, Food Building)
Sushi Pops — Sushi rice and fresh ingredients served push-pop style, in Salmon, Tuna, Shrimp Tempura, or California Roll (HK Station, Outdoor Concession)
Space Rocks — Nitrogen-infused Oreos, freeze-dried Nerd Clusters, and ice cream sandwich bites, tied to the CNE’s new Space EXperience (Yeti Puff Nitro Snacks, Heritage Court, Enercare Centre)
Edible Dirty Soda Spheres — Bite-sized citrus ice blue raspberry spheres over strawberry cold foam (Dirty Sodas, Outdoor Concession)
Blue Heat Taki Tenders — Chicken tenders brushed with hot honey and coated in crushed Takis Blue Heat (Lucky Chicken, Food Building)
Pickle Cheesecake Pop — NY-style cheesecake on a stick, dipped in chocolate and rolled in dill pickle chip crumble (Mr. Pickle, Outdoor Concession)
Popcorn Falafel Poutine (Gluten-Free) — Mini falafels, vegetarian gravy, pickled turnips, dates, and tahini over fries (Donia’s Donair, Outdoor Concession)
Jamaican Beef Patty Mini Pierogies — Ground beef, spices, and scotch bonnet peppers in mini pierogi form, served with sour cream (Supreme Pierogi, Food Building)

Rollin’ in the Deep… Fried

The CNE’s deep fryer is working overtime this year. New fried offerings include:

Lobster on a Stick — Tempura-fried Canadian lobster tail with Old Bay seasoning and dill sauce (Lobster on a Stick, Food Building)
Footlong Butter Chicken Taquito — Butter chicken, basmati rice, cheese, and veggies wrapped in a crispy footlong taquito (Rick’s Good Eats, Food Truck Frenzy)
Fried S’MOREO — Oreos and marshmallows rolled in chocolate and graham crumbs, then deep fried (Legend Dairy, Food Building)
S’more Deep Fried Slice — A Pizza Pizza cheese slice, battered, deep fried, and topped with marshmallow whip and chocolate (Pizza Pizza, Food Building)
Brie Cheese Deep Fried Oreos — Brie wedges sandwiched between Oreos, deep fried and topped with rosemary (Sam’s Grill, Outdoor Concessions)
Dill Pickle Pegrolls — The CNE debut of the “Pegroll,” a pierogi-springroll hybrid served with sour cream (Pegrolls, Outdoor Concession & Enercare Centre)
Ramen Fried Frog Legs — Ramen-coated frog legs with sweet Thai chili sauce (Farm to Fryer, Food Building)

Meat Me at the Fair

For the carnivores, there’s plenty on offer beyond the usual burgers and sausages:

Smash Burger Dumplings — Steamed dumplings filled with seared burger meat, cheese, and pickles, drizzled with burger sauce (Smash City, Food Building)
The Carnival Cone — A waffle cone loaded with candied yams, mac n’ meatball, and mac n’ cheese sauce (Beach Hill Smokehouse, Bandshell Park)
Beef Butter Tart — An award-winning butter tart topped with 12-hour braised beef, smoked gouda, and chipotle mustard (Temptations Food Truck, Food Truck Frenzy)
Nacho Ribs and Root Beer Candy Bacon — BBQ ribs loaded with Tex Mex cheese and nacho toppings, alongside root beer BBQ bacon (Bacon Nation, Food Building)
Steak Barrel Pork Belly — Barrel-roasted crackling pork belly with cassava fries (Steak Barrels, Bandshell Park)

Sip, Sip, Hooray. You won’t believe these drink combos!

New drinks round out the lineup, for those who like their beverages a little bit weird:

Sweetcorn Wasabi Lemonade — Sweet corn with a kick of wasabi (Alijandro’s Kitchen, Food Truck Frenzy)
Pickle or Bacon Flavoured Coffee — Choose between “Pig Me Up,” an iced espresso with white chocolate and smoky bacon flavour, or “The Big Dill,” an iced Greek coffee with dill pickle flavour (Greekery Bakeshop, Outdoor Concession)

Where to Find It All

New food offerings are spread across the fairgrounds — the Food Building, Bandshell Park, Food Truck Frenzy, Outdoor Concessions, and Heritage Court in the Enercare Centre. With more than 30 new dishes to track down, this might be the year to plan an actual eating itinerary before you go.

The 147th annual CNE runs August 21 to September 7, 2026, at Exhibition Place. For tickets and full event information, visit TheEx.com.