15 Boysenberry Treats Worth Trying At Knott's Berry Farm

There is no question that Orange County, California institution Knott's Berry Farm offers all the rides and attractions that you look for in an amusement park, but it's also a celebration of one of the greatest fruits to ever bless humans with its presence: the boysenberry. According to Knott's Berry Farm's website, Walter and Cordelia Knott purchased their farm in 1920 and decided to try to cultivate a friend's new berry plant — 100 years later, it's clear they've been successful. Now, you can't find boysenberries everywhere, but you will be lucky enough to encounter a lot of them when you take a trip to Knott's. Sometimes, they take an expected form — you're not going to find any shortage of pies and other desserts here. However, boysenberries show up in unexpected ways that will change the way you think about fruit.

If you're wondering what kind of boysenberry dishes you can find at the park, you're in luck. Some of them are available year-round, while there are others you can only try during the park's annual Boysenberry Festival. Try them out for yourself the next time you take a trip to Knott's Berry Farm.

If there's one boysenberry treat you have to snag when you go to Knott's Berry Farm, it's definitely the boysenberry pie. After all, what's a more iconic dish for a berry than a pie? Luckily, this pie is absolutely packed with berries. While we generally don't mind a crust-heavy pie (if the crust is actually good, that is), when the quality of the fruit is so great, we really want it to shine. That's exactly the case for this boysenberry pie. It's quite sweet, but it has just the right amount of tartness to it.

There are a few places around the park where you can snag some of this pie, including the Knott's Berry Farm Bakery. If you're not going into the park and still want a slice, you can also get it at Mrs. Knott's Chicken Dinner Restaurant which is located just outside the park entrance.  

While Knott's Berry Farm offers plenty of straight-forward boysenberry treats, you'll also find some culinary curveballs throughout the park. One of our favorites?: the unique boysenberry corn dog. Yes, you read that right. And before you knock it, you really do have to try it for yourself. 

The cornbread coating contains boysenberries, which adds an interesting element that you've likely never experienced while enjoying a corn dog before. Along with providing a layer of sweetness to the already slightly sweet batter, there's also a touch of acidity there as well. Combined with the savory profile of the hot dog itself, everything comes together in a harmonious bite. (We recommend adding a squirt of mustard for a touch of heat.) This is a snack you absolutely have to try if you go to Knott's Berry Farm (you can find it over at Strictly-On-A-Stick). After all, where else are you going to find something like this? 

According to Theme Park Insider, the spring fling salad with shrimp and boysenberry vinaigrette was a new menu item at the 2022 Boysenberry Festival, and it's something we hope to enjoy during future fests. All too often at amusement parks, you absolutely stuff yourself full of heavy, greasy food. That's great if your stomach can handle it, but there are plenty of people out there who are just craving some veggies and something on the lighter side after a day or two of roller coaster riding. That's where this salad comes in. The shrimp is the star of the show, but it's complemented by an assortment of greens that will have you feeling your best.

In this case, the boysenberry shows up in the dressing. It's no surprise that a touch of sweetness can work wonders for a vinaigrette, giving it an extra touch of flavor that keeps things interesting. If you're looking for one of the lighter food options available at Knott's Berry Farm, this salad is probably one of your best bets.

This is one you're simply going to have to taste to believe — a fruity twist on an all-time classic. It's Knott's Berry Farm's pot roast with boysenberry mashers. What are mashers, you ask? Just mashed potatoes, only these are blended with boysenberries. It gives the dish a purple hue that's probably unlike any other kind of mashed potatoes you've had before in your life.

The pot roast tastes like just that: braised meat pure and simple. It's delicious, but there's nothing that's really out of the ordinary there. The mashers, on the other hand, deliver a unique culinary experience that you'll likely only be able to enjoy if you head to the park's annual Boysenberry Festival. It's a chance to explore this ingredient in a wide variety of dishes, and the pot roast and mashers is definitely among the most interesting of them. It's not for everyone, but it is for those who have an adventurous palate who are open to trying new things.

There are some pretty wild boysenberry treats to choose from on this list, but what if you just want to keep things easy and simple? Of course, you can always opt for the pie if you're looking for a safe choice, but there are other options as well. One of our favorite conventional classics? The boysenberry soft serve from the Mix-It-Up Ice Cream Shop. This is where you can find the sweet-tart masterpiece that is the boysenberry soft serve. You may not have had this flavor before, but trust us when we say it's pretty much universally beloved. Especially if you like fruity flavors, you're going to go wild over this ice cream.

But if you want to make things even more exciting, you have to go for a cookiewich. You can get that same boysenberry soft serve sandwiched between two freshly baked cookies. They're big, though, so you may want to get one with the intention of sharing. Or not. We won't judge if you want to finish the whole thing yourself.

There is perhaps no better amusement park food than the Icee. The classic frozen dessert is literally just a sweetened cup of ice begging to be consumed on those hot summer days you spend with your family and friends. Like most theme parks, Knott's Berry Farm sells Icees, which are available in a variety of flavors. Go for that electric blue number or the unnaturally colored red option if you want to stick to the classics. As for us, we prefer to sip on a boysenberry Icee from the Log Ride Mix-It-Up.

It's sweet. It's tart. It's unlike any Icee you've ever encountered up to this point in your life. And you can even get it with soft serve on top. There's something so refreshing and thirst-quenching about boysenberries that work exceptionally well in an Icee. Sipping on one of these is the ultimate way to cool off when the temps are soaring and you're just trying to have a good time.

When you're going out to eat at an amusement park, sometimes you just want to fill up and fuel up so you can stop your stomach from grumbling and make it to the next destination in the park. However, there are other times when you want an experience from your meal, and that's exactly what you'll get when you visit Cordelia's Pie Kitchen at Knott's Berry Farm. Cordelia, one of the farm's original owners, was responsible for the advent of all the boysenberry-infused goodies you love. This is a place for little ones to earn their culinary chops — and get a delicious dessert in the meantime.

At this joyful eatery that's designed to look like Cordelia Knott's first kitchen, kids will get all the materials they need to make a boysenberry tart. This super simple recipe is fun for the little ones to put together (and even more fun for the adults to eat). The tart, jammy filling gets just the right touch of texture with the addition of the crumble topping. Plus, you'll feel like you really earned dessert after you learn a new skill.

It's nothing unusual to find pizza at an amusement park. But what should you expect when that amusement park focuses its culinary expertise on a single berry? As it turns out, something pretty good. Undercover Tourist listed the boysenberry ricotta and ham pizza available at the Grizzly Creek Lodge and Sutter's Pizza as one of a long list of boysenberry-infused savory treats available at the Knott's Berry Farm Boysenberry Festival.

We're really glad that they decided to pair ricotta with the boysenberry. The sharp acidity and crumbly texture of the ricotta pairs exceptionally well with the sweetness and smooth texture of the boysenberries, creating an unexpectedly delicious pizza base. But then comes the ham. There's nothing like pork and fruit paired together, and this pizza highlights that perfectly. You may not ask for boysenberries on your pizza at your favorite local pizza shop, but Knott's Berry Farm is the right place to give it a try.

Who says you have to wait until lunchtime to get a sampling of the boysenberry offerings at Knott's Berry Farm? If you want a boysenberry treat first thing in the morning, you just have to check out Charleston Circle Coffee, which serves Starbucks coffee. Sure, you could stick to your standard drip coffee or even branch out and order one of the absolute best Starbucks Frappuccinos, but you should take advantage of the special menu item you can find at this coffee shop: the boysenberry latte.

Mostly, this drink just tastes like a standard latte, but it does have a fruitiness to it that works really well, especially if you like your latte with some sugar in it. We love that they offer a breakfast boysenberry treat without being too obvious. This is one of the subtler boysenberry offerings on the menu, so it's a great way to try the ingredient even if you're not too keen on the wilder menu options that incorporate the fruit.

If there's one thing we love, it has to be unconventional desserts. And is there anything less conventional than Dippin' Dots? The tiny, flash-frozen ice cream bits generally come in all the expected flavors, like chocolate and banana split. Don't get us wrong — we love the classics. But when you want to sample a flavor you won't find anywhere else, you have to venture to one of the two Dippin' Dots locations at Knott's Berry Farm. Why? It's the only place in the world that carries the boysenberry version of the ice cream of the future.  

Dippin' Dots offers a few other fruity flavors, but the boysenberry variety is by far our favorite. It's juicy and refreshing but still has a distinct creaminess to it. It's surprisingly fresh-tasting and is the ideal way to finish off a meal when you're at the park. Dippin' Dots aren't everywhere anymore, so it's always fun to snag some when you get the chance — especially when they're boysenberry flavored.

There are a few festival foods in this world that have reached iconic status, and the funnel cake is one of those dishes. If you're going anywhere with even a moderately celebratory energy to it, chances are, you're going to find a giant mass of fried dough with a sprinkle of powdered sugar somewhere. The same can be said for Knott's Berry Farm, and grabbing a funnel cake while you're at the park may just be one of the best ways to enjoy the culinary offerings there.

Of course, you'll get to choose from a few different toppings when you make your way to Sutter's Funnel Cake. The strawberry and chocolate toppings are delicious, but they can't compare to the magic that is the funnel cake with boysenberry topping. Funnel cakes can be aggressively sweet, so they need toppings that are going to balance them out. The acidity of the boysenberry topping does just that. This is definitely an intense dessert, so you may want to split it with family and friends if you're not feeling super hungry. That being said, it's not something you can miss when you're visiting Knott's Berry Farm.

The Knott's Berry Farm Boysenberry Festival is the place to be when you want to enjoy savory boysenberry-infused eats. One of the absolute best of these dishes is the boysenberry-filled donut open-faced chicken sandwich. Is there a lot going on here? Absolutely. But does it all come together in a delicious sandwich that incorporates the best of sweet and savory flavors? Definitely. The donut has a distinct sweetness to it that's tempered by the addition of the boysenberries. The breaded chicken adds a much-needed savory component. but to make things even more interesting, there's an addition of bacon jam (once again mirroring the perfect marriage of sweet and salty flavors) along with some arugula, which is much needed considering the heaviness of the rest of the dish.

This creative combination of flavors is absolutely perfect for anyone who loves a well-constructed sweet and savory dish. When you can't decide whether you should get breakfast or lunch, this open-faced sandwich is the way to go.

There are few desserts as indulgent as the churro, which makes it one of our all-time favorites. Luckily, you can snag the fried dough wands at Knott's Berry Farm's Gourmet Churro Factory. Here, you can find churros that are filled with other sweet ingredients, including strawberry filling and Bavarian cream. But of course, your best option is to order the ones that are filled with boysenberry filling. Once again, the tartness of the boysenberries complements the sweet fried dough of the churros perfectly.

But what if you want to take things up a notch? That's possible when you opt for a churro sundae. Warning: This is not a dessert for the faint of heart. Your churros will be topped with ice cream. Top it off with either strawberry or boysenberry topping (we prefer the boysenberry, for obvious reasons), and enjoy the whipped cream that finishes it all off. 

There are plenty of expected boysenberry dishes at Knott's Berry Farm, but the park really pull out all the stops for some of its festival offerings. Those who visited during the 2022 Boysenberry Festival had the opportunity to get their hands on a tasty plate of tamales topped with boysenberry sauce (via NBC Los Angeles). The tamales themselves are delicious with their soft but firm texture and luscious filling. But the real magic comes in with the sauce.

You might be expecting a boysenberry sauce to be too fruity, but we have to say that it works really, really well with these tamales. It does have a touch of sweetness to it, but the main appeal is the tart flavor profile. And it's not all sweet — it has a savory quality to it, which means you won't feel like you're eating a weird main course-dessert hybrid. Chances are, you've never had boysenberry sauce with your tamales before, so this is a must-order item in our books.

If you're going to Knott's Berry Farm, we're going to assume you're on vacation, and vacation is a time to have fun and relax. One great way to do that is with a boysenberry sangria, which could be found all around the park during the 2022 Boysenberry Festival (via Spectrum News 1). Most sangria is very fruity, but this version takes things to a whole new level. The emphasis on the berry really shines through in the flavor profile: It has a richness and depth to it that's tempered by a refreshing quality that makes it maybe too easy to drink. Even those who don't usually go for sangria will find plenty to love in this drink.

The boysenberry sangria is a fun way to experience yet another iteration of the boysenberry at its culinary peak while taking in the fun of the festival and the park. In fact, we're thirsty for one right now.