Popular South Dakota Foods You Have To Try And Where To Find Them (2024)

FAQs

What are the most popular foods in South Dakota? ›

Dining, South Dakota-Style

Communities have their own food stories, but in a state where traditions and recipes vary, dishes like Indian fry bread, chislic, tiger meat, walleye, buffalo burgers, lefse and mocha cakes gather people around the table to eat and drink as neighbors.

The Scandinavian immigrants brought many food traditions to North Dakota. You might be familiar with foods such as lutefisk, lefse, Swedish meatballs, rømmegrøt, pickled herring, pickled beets, rye bread and a variety of baked goods.

Chislic: Salted cubes of meat — ranging from mutton to beef to venison to goat — deep fat fried or grilled; served skewered or on toothpicks with a side of crackers or dipping sauces. South Dakota stands at the epicenter of the chislic revolution.

The principal crops cultivated in South Dakota are corn (maize), alfalfa (lucerne), rye, flaxseed, wheat, and soybeans. Cash-crop farming prevails to the north, with reliance on wheat and other small-grain crops.

A traditional Southern meal may include pan-fried chicken, field peas (such as black-eyed peas), greens (such as collard greens, mustard greens, turnip greens, or poke sallet), mashed potatoes, cornbread or corn pone, sweet tea, and dessert—typically a pie (sweet potato, chess, shoofly, pecan, and peach are the most ...

In the spring of 2000, the South Dakota State Legislature even passed a bill declaring kuchen the official dessert of The Mount Rushmore State. Small-town bakeries, especially in the eastern half of the state, commonly serve these tasty treats.

Chislic. One of the most iconic and probably the highest recommended food in South Dakota is Chislic. This cubed red meat, typically beef or lamb, is deep fried or grilled and served with a tasty dipping sauce.

If you're going to eat pie from one place in South Dakota, let it be the Purple Pie Place. It's a purple fixture where the bumbleberry pie is the perfect snack before or after visiting Mount Rushmore and Crazy Horse Memorial, just minutes away. To clarify: Bumbleberry is not a real berry.

State Drink: Milk (lac vacuum)

Dairy producers are one of the major industries in South Dakota, producing nearly 246 million gallons of milk in 2014 and generating approximately $427 million in sales annually. Milk was adopted as the official state drink in 1986.

Our iconic attractions include Mount Rushmore National Memorial, Badlands National Park, the Black Hills and the Missouri River. On top of that, we have abundant state parks, lakes and trails. Beyond that, we have some of the nation's best hunting and fishing. It's the complete package.

What food is Rapid City, South Dakota known for? ›

Sioux City's signature dish is loosemeats, also known as a tavern, a Charlie boy, a tastee and a Big T.

Many South Dakota foods reflect the heritage of its people like its state dessert, Kuchen, and salted half-inch cubes of lamb or beef that are fried or grilled known as Chislic, both of which were brought to the Dakotas by Germans-from-Russia.

Small fruits like blueberries, grapes, raspberries and currants can be a great addition to South Dakota gardens, as they take up less space than fruit trees, and are easy to grow. Erik Helland of Landscape Garden Center in Sioux Falls says raspberries are a great plant to start with.

Our iconic attractions include Mount Rushmore National Memorial, Badlands National Park, the Black Hills and the Missouri River. On top of that, we have abundant state parks, lakes and trails. Beyond that, we have some of the nation's best hunting and fishing. It's the complete package.