Experience the Flavor Explosion of Knott's Boysenberry Festival

Entrance sign to Ghost Town at Knott's Berry Farm, adorned with grape decorations and surrounded by visitors.

It’s that time of year again, it’s Boysenberry Festival! It’s time to head to Knott’s Berry Farm and feast upon a variety of foods that incorporate the Boysenberry. We are always excited because the food items are usually imaginative and extremely tasty. This year is no different with nearly 80 different food and drink options. We were lucky enough to be invited out by Knott’s, to check out the new entertainment offerings and try the food!

We always suggest buying the Tasting Card when visiting. Simply because you’ll get much more value out of your visit. For $55, you can partake in 6 different tastings. And some of these tastings are massive portions. Trust us when we say that you won’t leave hungry!

Here is what we ate while at Knott’s and ratings for each!

Boysenberry BBQ Beef Tips with Mashed Potatoes – 9/10

These are new for 2025 and we loved it! The smokiness and sweetness of the boysenberry bbq sauce worked perfectly with the beef tips. And the mashed potatoes were delicious on their own, but also worked as a perfect vessel for the beef tips too. While this might be a smaller portion than the rest, great things come in small packages!

A hand holding a plate of Boysenberry BBQ Beef Tips over mashed potatoes, topped with green onions, with a scenic pond and rocks in the background.

Hawaiian Bread with Boysenberry Garlic Cream Cheese – 7/10

We love Hawaiian sweet bread, so this was a must for us. And while it was good, it just didn’t live up to our own hype. The garlic flavor wasn’t enough for us and we felt like it could have used more boysenberry as well. But even then, the taste of the cream cheese and the sweetness of both the bread and boysenberry mixed well together.

A woman with glasses holds a dessert in a takeout container, making a playful expression. She has a purple plush toy on her shoulder, and the setting features outdoor dining at a festival.

Chocolate Dipped Boysenberry Bunuelo with Boysenberry Ice Cream – 10/10

An instant classic in the making! While the boysenberry flavor in the bunuelo was mild, it made up for it with the boysenberry ice cream. It was like an elevated and deconstructed ice cream cone…if that makes any sense. The powdered sugar and chocolate also lent a nice hint of extra sweetness with the tart boysenberry ice cream.

A dessert featuring a soft swirl of boysenberry ice cream topped with a large chocolate-dipped bunuelo, presented in a tray with Knott's Berry Farm branding.

Boysenberry Elote – 10/10

This is and forever will be the GOAT of Boysenberry Festival for us! The char from the bbq on the sweet corn, mixed with the savory/sweet boysenberry mayo and salt cotijas cheese works together in the best of ways. This is also a pretty good portion of food too!

A hand holding a colorful Boysenberry Elote, featuring sweet corn coated in boysenberry mayo and topped with cotija cheese, served in a white container with decorative corn husk.

Boysenberry Infused Chile Verde with Spanish Rice – 8/10

While mild on the boysenberry flavor, the Chile Verde was flavorful and tender! The Spanish Rice was also cooked nicely and made for a much heartier meal than most. While we always like having more boysenberry in food items, we feel like this one actually worked well. The mild sweetness offset the tartness of the Chile Verde in a way that balanced the dish well.

A woman in a lace top holds a bowl of Boysenberry Infused Chile Verde with Spanish Rice at Knott's Berry Farm, with a plush toy on her shoulder.

Boysenberry Marinara Chicken Parm Thigh over Noodles – 6/10

Everything we had at the event was good, but this one might have been our least favorite. While we enjoyed the flavor, we weren’t a fan of the presentation and felt like the description was misleading. It was described as a chicken parm, but it wasn’t cooked like a chicken parm, nor did it have cheese. When you have dishes with great plating and accurate descriptions, the ones without will stand out.

A hand holding a fork with spaghetti and Boysenberry marinara sauce in a white bowl.

“The Stack” Boysenberry BBQ Pulled Pork over a Boysenberry Corn Bread and Coleslaw – 8/10

A dish so good, it has a nickname…THE STACK! The only downside we had with this dish was our cornbread was dry. But other than that, these flavors works spectacularly together. Additionally, it feels like a massive portion of food. It also gives a good examples of how much boysenberry was incorporated into almost every single aspect of the dish. This is why we love Boysenberry Festival!

A person holding a bowl of pulled pork topped with coleslaw and boysenberry sauce, set in an outdoor dining area at Knott's Berry Farm.

We hope that ranking these foods will help you in your adventures through Knott’s Berry Farm for Boysenberry Festival. It’s a very large event and can get overwhelming at times. But our biggest suggestion is to prepare before you go. Know the foods ahead of time so you don’t find yourself second guessing decisions while there, so you can save valuable time!

Aside from the food, there are plenty pieces of entertainment and merchandise! We’ll have another post about those, but for now, here is a peak at those!