Epcot Food & Wine Festival 2025: Best and worst new food items

The Epcot International Food & Wine Festival serves as Walt Disney World’s version of speed dating with snacks. One booth woos you with rich flavors that make you fall in love at first bite, while another leaves you wondering why you wasted precious stomach space. The good news? We’ve done the eating (and the regretting), so you can skip the heartbreak and head straight for the winners.

The Epcot International Food & Wine Festival 2025 is a culinary journey running from Aug. 28 – Nov. 22. This annual event transforms Epcot into a global gastronomic tour with more than 35 Global Marketplaces serving up delicious dishes and specialty beverages from around the world.

Festival activities

Beyond the food, the festival offers a variety of entertainment and activities. The fan-favorite Eat to the Beat Concert Series returns to the America Gardens Theatre, featuring performances from a mix of classic artists and local bands. For a guaranteed seat, guests can book an Eat to the Beat Dining Package. Other returning activities include Emile’s Fromage Montage, a cheese-themed quest with a prize, and Remy’s Ratatouille Hide & Squeak, a family-friendly scavenger hunt. The festival will also include a limited-time Halloween season scavenger hunt, Pluto’s Pumpkin Pursuit.

Of course, we visited on the opening day of the event for the food! This year’s new dishes range from “where have you been all my life” to “oh no, never again.” Some bites had us wanting to grab seconds before we’d even finished the first forkful, while others were … well, let’s say they’ll live forever in our hall of festival food shame. Don’t worry, we’ll spill all the details so you won’t end up with buyer’s remorse in the middle of World Showcase.

Before fans of the classic Epcot International Food & Wine Festival food items get concerned, many of those favorite items from years past will be available when you visit Epcot for the event. Fans of the Fry Flight, Chicken Tikki Masala, Warm Raclette Swiss Cheese, Cheddar Soup, and Filet Mignon will find those favorites at this year’s event. So grab your stretchy pants, loosen your belt a notch, and let’s dive fork-first into the best and worst new Epcot Food & Wine Festival food.

List of all new food at Epcot Food & Wine Festival 2025

This year’s event features a variety of new food items to try. Depending on your method of calculation (we excluded some new milkshakes and coffee drinks, categorizing them as drinks rather than food), there are 38 new food items at the Epcot Food & Wine Festival. These include:

• Korean BBQ Wings with gochujang barbecue sauce and toasted sesame (at Brew-Wing Lab)
• French Onion Burger: Gourmet beef blend, caramelized onions, and Gruyère cheese on a toasted brioche bun (Connections Eatery)
• Peruvian Ceviche with mahi mahi, shrimp, sweet potato, chulpe, choclo, and leche de tigre (Coastal Eats)
• Seaside Pot Pie with shrimp, scallops, crawfish tails, and lobster bisque topped with puff pastry (Coastal Eats)
• Buffalo-style Dumplings: Chicken dumplings with buffalo sauce, celery root purée, blue cheese cream, crumbled blue cheese, shaved carrot, and micro celery (Gyozas of the Galaxy)
• French Onion Soup-style Dumplings: Pork and beef soup dumplings with caramelized onions, sherry-beef broth, onion and Gruyère soubise, parmesan cracker, and micro chives (Gyozas of the Galaxy)
• Street Corn-style Dumplings: Chicken dumplings with tomatillo salsa verde, street corn salad, cotija cheese, lime crema, and cilantro (Gyozas of the Galaxy)
• Rodizio-style Grilled Beef Skewer with marble potatoes, charred shallots, roasted baby peppers, and chimichurri  (Flavors of Fire)
• Mixed Berry Pavlova with crunchy meringue shell, macerated berries, and whipped cream (Australia)
• Tostada de Carnitas: Braised Pork atop a fried corn tortilla with chipotle black beans, salsa ranchera, crema Mexicana, and queso fresco (Mexico)
• Flan de Cajeta: Creamy Mexican custard with caramel sauce and toasted almonds (Mexico)
• Beijing Zhajiang Noodles with stir-fried minced beef, cucumber, chili, and carrots in a savory douban sauce (China)
• Berbere-spiced Beef Stew with sweet potato mealie pap and kachumbari slaw (Refreshment Outpost)
• Kirschwasser Torte with cherry-brandy buttercream, fondant, sugared almonds, and cherry compote (The Alps)
• Zwiebelkuchen: German onion cake with caramelized onions, bacon, herbs, and a savory custard (Sommerfest)
• Trio de Pintxos: Jamón croqueta, pan con tomate, and tortilla Española (Spain)
• Paella Caldoso with rock shrimp, bay scallops, and smoked mussels (Spain) 
• Basque Cheesecake with orange sauce (Spain)
• Bacetti ‘Kisses’ di Pizza, Traditional Napoli Street Food: Pizza dough, pepperoni, mozzarella, and tomato sauce (Italy)
• Tortellini alla Vodka: Four-cheese tortellini, vodka sauce, parmesan, and calabrian chili oil (Italy)
• Chocolate Spuma: Chocolate mousse, caramel sauce, espresso whipped cream, and puffed rice (Italy)
• Gulf Coast-style Seafood Roll with warm-water lobster, rock shrimp, lobster bisque, and sherry-crème fraîche on a toasted brioche bun (Flavors of America)
• New England Slider: Slow-braised beef pot roast with spicy giardiniera, horseradish cream, and crispy fried onions on a potato roll (Flavors of America)
• Huckleberry Funnel Cake: Funnel cake with huckleberry ice cream, whipped cream, chocolate sauce, blackberry brandy glaze, and powdered sugar (Funnel Cake Stand)
• Beef Wagyu Don: Traditional Japanese rice bowl with American wagyu beef blend over steamed white rice served with homemade pickles, shredded togarashi pepper, and pickled ginger (Japan)
• Osakana Karaage: Crispy-fried pollock with spicy mayonnaise and a sweet-and-creamy yuzu sauce (Japan)
• Moroccan Wrap with tomato-cucumber relish and garlic sauce served on warm moroccan flatbread (Tangierine Café: Flavors of the Medina)
• Boeuf Bourguignon, Purée de Pommes de Terre: Red wine-braised short ribs with potato purée (France)
• Brioche aux Epices Avec Une Garniture Mornay de Trois Fromages: Spiced brioche with a three-cheese mornay filling (France)
• Trio d’Escargots, Garniture a l’ail et au Persil: Trio of escargot bites in croissant dough served with a garlic-parsley dip (France0
• Crème Brûlée Vanille, Confiture Myrtilles et Citron Vert: Vanilla crème brûlée with blueberry-lime compote (France)
• Strawberry Champagne Trifle (Shimmering Sips)
• Cast Iron-seared River Trout with vanilla-butternut squash purée, brussels sprouts salad, candied pecans, spiced pumpkin seeds, dried cranberries, and maple dressing (Bramblewood Bites)
• Butternut Squash and Ginger Bisque with cinnamon cream, toasted pumpkin seeds, and pumpkin seed oil (Milled & Mulled)
• Apple-Cinnamon and Caramel Mini Churros Sundae with vanilla bean gelato (Milled & Mulled)
• Autumn Chili featuring IMPOSSIBLE Beef with root vegetables, plant-based cheddar, and plant-based sour cream in a bread bowl (Plant-based) (Forest & Field)
• Schiacciata Sandwich: Mortadella, prosciutto ham, sun-dried peppers, arugula, stracciatella cheese, fall squash mostarda, and pistachio pesto on warm focaccia (Forest & Field)
• Liquid Nitrogen Frozen Pumpkin Cheesecake Mousse featuring Philadelphia Cream Cheese with candied pecans and maple-caramel sauce (Swirled Showcase)

Let’s be honest; that qualifies as a lot of food to eat in one day. As a result, we did not try every new food item. However, got really close! We edited the list slightly, based on our experience at the Epcot International Food & Wine Festival, to identify the best and worst new food items. Additionally, two Food & Wine booths do not open until Sept. 28. Those booths are:

Coastal Eats Menu

• Lump Crab Cake with cajun-spiced vinegar slaw and rémoulade (Not New)
• Peruvian Ceviche with mahi mahi, shrimp, sweet potato, chulpe, choclo, and leche de tigre (New)
• Seaside Pot Pie with shrimp, scallops, crawfish tails, and lobster bisque topped with puff pastry (New)

Gyozas of the Galaxy

• Buffalo-style Dumplings: Chicken dumplings with buffalo sauce, celery root purée, blue  cheese cream, crumbled blue cheese, shaved carrot, and micro celery (New) 
• French Onion Soup-style Dumplings: Pork and beef soup dumplings with caramelized onions, sherry-beef broth, onion and Gruyère soubise, parmesan cracker, and micro chives (New)
• Street Corn-style Dumplings: Chicken dumplings with tomatillo salsa verde, street corn salad, cotija cheese, lime crema, and cilantro (New)

Fortunately for our stomachs and health, the first day of the 2025 Epcot International Food & Wine Festival only sold 33 new food options. That still sounds like a massive amount of food for one day. However, having five fewer makes the daunting and exciting task more manageable.

Best new Epcot Food and Wine food items

We found several new food offerings well worth our time during this festival. In fact, we plan to purchase them again at a later date, once our stomach recovers from having so much food on the opening day of Epcot Food and Wine.

Liquid Nitrogen Frozen Pumpkin Cheesecake Mousse – $5.50 (Swirled Showcase)

In previous years, the “nitro” desserts at Swirled Showcase during the Epcot Food and Wine Festival earned mixed reviews. However, this year, the pumpkin version works very nicely. On opening day, the one we received was hard in spots. They must have turned up the “nitro” since opening day of the festival was a hot one. If they did, it worked. This pumpkin cheesecake showed off the cream cheese flavor. Additionally, it reminded us of a pumpkin pie or pudding in terms of flavor. Some people in our group declare it 10 out of 10. Although we might not go that far, this Liquid Nitrogen Frozen Pumpkin Cheesecake Mousse is worth your time and money.

Korean BBQ Wings – $7.75 (Odyssey Building)

The best new food item selection might qualify as a hot take. That is not due to the spiciness of these wings, even though they offer some spicy heat. These wings replaced the popular Peanut Butter & Jelly Wings. Also, some guests did not like the flavor of the gochujang barbecue sauce. However, the wings were well prepared. The portion size for these wings earns praise. The wings were crispy, while the chicken remained moist. Sure, wings are something you can get in many places outside of the theme parks. Still, have you priced wings lately? We got four decent-sized wings for under eight dollars at Walt Disney World.

Rodizio-style Grilled Beef Skewer – $7.00 (Flavors of Fire)

Although our group joked that the portion size would reduce over time during this festival, the Rodizio-style Grilled Beef Skewer at Flavors of Fire impressed us. It offers a significant amount of beef for a festival item. The vegetables tasted well prepared. However, some guests will consider them cooked too soft.

The star of this dish is the beef. This steak serves as a festival version of the chimichurri steak found at Garden Grill, a table service restaurant in the Land Pavilion. While some of the steak pieces were not perfect, it is hard to argue the value of a seven-dollar steak dish at Epcot.

Worst new Epcot Food and Wine food items

In all the best and worst articles ever written, some items must fall in the worst category. This year, three new Epcot Food and Wine Festival food items earned this distinction.

Tortellini alla Vodka – $8.00 (Italy)

While we applaud the Italy booth for offering better food options this year, this pasta dish fell short of meeting the high standards of most items at the Epcot Food and Wine Festival. In fairness, we tasted this item three times on the opening day of the event.

This is not a bad item. In fact, it should make a “safe” option for picky eaters. However, the sauce lacked a robust flavor. Additionally, the pasta preparation varied significantly between the three festival samples we tried. Most guests will want to taste more of the Parmesan and Calabrian chili oil listed in the menu description for this item to be received better.

Paella Caldoso – $8.00 (Spain)

This new food item looked so good. However, the mussel flavor dominated the other components. For example, when we ate just rice, all we tasted was mussels. The shrimp and scallops did not get a chance to shine. Additionally, our order looked very greasy. Sure, we get that these things can happen with festival samples. However, we suspect that unless a preparation change happens, guests will need to really like mussels for this paella to be a winner.

From our understanding, this Epcot Food & Wine option appears to be facing an identity crisis. It says it is paella, but a caldoso dish, which is soupier as well. This makes it a challenge to declare a paella. We appreciate the chef’s creativity, but the flavor falls behind.

Trio de Pintxos – $7.25 (Spain)

The Spain booth also offered us another new food option, which was not on the worst new food at Epcot Food and Wine list. This sampler-style festival item offers three different classic Spanish appetizers to enjoy.

However, we found the Jamón Croquetas lacked any authentic ham flavor characteristic of Jamón dishes. Additionally, the Pan Con Tomate failed to offer a robust flavor that one would expect from this item. The Tortilla Espanola, a potato and egg omelet, served its purpose but will not impress most guests.

This season’s lineup features some standout stars that deserve a permanent spot on the menu, alongside a few newcomers that might have you wishing you’d saved that snack credit or your Disney World cash for something else. We wish you happy eating during your tour of the food options at the 2025 Epcot Food & Wine Festival.

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