Tucked away in Buena Park, California, Knott’s Berry Farm isn’t just a theme park—it’s a delicious tribute to one of California’s most unique agricultural innovations: the boysenberry. Long before the roller coasters and thrill rides, this beloved destination began as a humble berry farm in the early 20th century, where founder Walter Knott cultivated the first commercial boysenberries. A cross between a raspberry, blackberry, dewberry, and loganberry, the boysenberry’s sweet-tart flavor helped put Knott’s on the map, drawing crowds for its famous fried chicken dinners and signature boysenberry pie.
Today, Knott’s Berry Farm celebrates its roots with a menu that turns the park into a kind of boysenberry tasting tour—a fair food version of a wine flight, where everything from margaritas to churros gets the berry treatment. Visitors can sip a frozen Boysenberry ICEE on a hot California afternoon, sample a boysenberry margarita that tastes like a festival in a glass, or indulge in funnel cakes dripping with the fruit’s deep purple sauce. Whether you’re a foodie chasing your next flavor adventure or a theme park lover curious about California’s sweetest invention, Knott’s Berry Farm offers a crash course in the berry that started it all.
On our latest visit to the theme park, we went all in on the Boysenberry experience. You can follow our lead and make your own favorite berry memories on your next visit to the park.
Drinks:
The Boysenberry ICEE
Location: The ICEE Mix-It-Up across from the Log Ride
Details: A delicious, totally vegan, frozen, boysenberry flavored ICEE that you can only get at Knott’s Berry Farm. Absolute perfection on a hot day, you can taste the sweet-tart berry flavor. It’s a battle against the brain freeze.
Boysenberry Margaritas!
Location: Cantina Del Sur restaurant
Details: Made with real boysenberries and fresh lime, the boysenberry margarita is a sweet but tart and festive cocktail that makes the day feel like a party.
Boysenberry Cream Soda
Location: Calico Saloon
Details: If you have a sweet tooth and love an old-fashioned soda in an adorable setting, this is the drink for you! The bartender mixes it up fresh and serves it in a cute little faux mason jar. The old west saloon ambiance is delightful, and the cold cream soda is an absolute treat.
Food:
Boysenberry Pancakes
Location: Thirty Acres Kitchen inside Knott’s Hotel
Details: he boysenberry pancakes are a sweet and indulgent breakfast treat, topped with a generous helping of fresh boysenberries and rich syrup. Each fluffy stack perfectly balances the tartness of the berries with the buttery, soft texture of the pancakes, making for a memorable start to the day.
Boysenberry Funnel Cake
Location: Sutter’s Funnel Cake
Details: What can I say? It’s a classic fair food, deep fried dough that’s crispy on the outside, and soft and fluffy on the inside, topped with whipped cream and boysenberry sauce. A perfect example of its kind, the dough is the perfect amount of a tiny bit chewy but very light.
Boysenberry Cotton Candy
Location: Candy Parlor at the California Marketplace
Details: Fluffy, sticky, sweet and berry flavored, the Boysenberry Cotton Candy is a great souvenir to take home, (or bring back to your hotel when you need another sugar fix).
Boysenberry Sugar Cookie
Location: Ghost Town Bakery
Details: A beautifully purple classic sugar cookie with a hint of berry. It has a great freshly baked chewy texture, and is super cute.
Boysenberry Dippin’ Dots
Location: Boardwalk Dippin Dots
Details: A surprisingly tart, berry-like flavor. The texture is fun, and almost berry like itself, so the contrast of the cold beads of boysenberry that melt in your mouth is lovely.
Boysenberry Stuffed Churro
Location: Gourmet Churro Factory
Details: Knott’s makes their churros in house and fresh to order. It’s really fun to watch them make the churros and stuff them with the various toppings.
Boysenberry Sauces Featured with Mrs. Knott’s Fried Chicken
Location: Mrs. Knott’s Chicken Dinner Restaurant
Details: At Mrs. Knott’s Chicken Dinner Restaurant, the boysenberry takes center stage, featured in everything from rich sauces and glazes to the famous boysenberry pie that perfectly complements the restaurant’s iconic fried chicken. Our favorite item was the Boysenberry Salad Dressing on the side salad served with the dinner.
The wildest thing about my visit to Knott’s Berry Farm is that there’s still tons of other boysenberry treats I didn’t try! They have boysenberry barbecue, boysenberry sloppy joes, boysenberry everything! I left absolutely stuffed, but full of new knowledge about the special fruit that is the boysenberry.
Knott’s Berry Farm in Buena Park, California, may be known today for its roller coasters and family fun, but at its heart, it remains a celebration of the humble fruit that started it all—the boysenberry. What began as Walter Knott’s small family farm has blossomed into a one-of-a-kind destination that honors its agricultural roots through inventive, berry-infused treats found across the park. From frosty Boysenberry ICEEs and tangy margaritas to fresh-baked cookies, churros, and classic funnel cakes dripping with purple sauce, every corner offers a sweet taste of history. Whether you come for the nostalgia, the rides, or the food, Knott’s Berry Farm delivers a flavorful tribute to California’s original homegrown innovation—and a delicious reminder that the boysenberry still reigns supreme.
When you make your pilgrimage out to Knotts Berry Farms to try the Boysenberry delights, here is the map to help you find your way, (Food is in red).