Inventor of the Deep-Fried Oreo Reveals How It Changed Fair Food Forever and Shares His Legendary Recipe

For nearly 30 years, fairgoers have lined up at stands for outrageous creations that feel equal parts culinary creativity and comfort food. And Charlie Boghosian, better known as Chicken Charlie, has helped reshape fair food culture across America for decades.

His legendary invention? The deep-fried Oreo. As part of our “Fair’est of Them All” series with Sandra Lee, we’re thrilled to share the story behind this iconic treat.

How Chicken Charlie came up with the fried Oreo

“Who knew inventing the idea and frying that beautiful little chocolate cookie with the white stuff in the middle would give me all the fame that I’ve had over the past 2 1/2 decades and put me in Wikipedia,” Boghosian tells Woman’s World with a laugh. “I dedicate a huge percentage of my success to that little cookie.”

That “little cookie” was the fried Oreo—a now-iconic fair dessert that debuted in 2001 and went on to inspire a wave of over-the-top fair foods nationwide. Long before fried butter and candy bars became staples of carnival menus, Boghosian was experimenting behind the fryer.

“If you ask me the reason for this, why would someone fry a perfectly-cooked and beautiful chocolate cookie like the Oreo, it’s because I was trying to mimic the McDonald’s apple pie,” he explained. “We had an awesome menu of fried chicken and french fries, but we didn’t have dessert.”\

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The fried Oreo changed fair food forever

So Boghosian started testing pastries and sweets in hot oil, searching for what he called the “missing link” on the menu. The Oreo stood out immediately.

“When I fried it for the first time, I topped it off with powdered sugar, rainbow sprinkles and chocolate sauce because more chocolate makes everything better,” he recalled. “The first bite I took, I swear my brain stopped working for a few seconds. When I came back to it, all I could think about was, ‘We can’t hide this from people. We have to share this with everyone.’”

The invention changed more than his business. It changed fairs themselves.

Chicken Charlie’s most outrageous fried foods

As media attention exploded, Boghosian realized fairgoers craved novelty just as much as nostalgia. Reporters constantly asked him what he would fry next, sparking a tradition that has lasted more than two decades. “Every year I should invent something new,” he remembered thinking.

Since then, Boghosian has become one of the most influential figures in modern fair food culture. His inventions—including deep-fried Kool-Aid, deep-fried bacon pickles, deep-fried Klondike bars and the Krispy Kreme chicken sandwich—earned national headlines and television appearances on shows hosted by Chelsea Handler and Conan O’Brien. One creation even landed him on the front page of a newspaper in Beijing.

The fried Oreo’s secret ingredient

Still, Boghosian says his love of food started long before the spotlight. Born and raised in Damascus, he moved to San Diego in the early 1980s and learned the art of frying from his mother. “My love for cooking comes from my mom. She taught me that not all batters are created equal,” he said. “Some are dry and some are wet. Some flours make it crispy, light and airy and some make it dense and heavy. Depending on what you’re trying to do, frying is an art.”

Her biggest lesson, he said, was balance. “The most important thing I learned about fried food is that the batter is supposed to complement the item you’re frying and not the other way around. When we eat, we want to taste the main subject of the dish and not the batter. In the fried Oreo case I decided to dip an Oreo cookie in a pancake type batter that I made from scratch.”

Celebrating 30 years of Chicken Charlie’s

Though his creations became famous nationwide, Boghosian remains deeply tied to his hometown fair scene.

“I love cooking, and I love the fair—all the fairs—but my favorite is the San Diego County Fair because it’s my home,” he said.

These days, Boghosian spends more time close to home with his children and runs Chicken Charlie’s Table, which doubles as a test kitchen for future fair inventions. “This is where I have so much fun trying out new things for the county fair,” he said.

Today, Boghosian’s influence can still be seen in nearly every fairground across America—wherever people are willing to wait in long lines for the next unexpected thing to come out of a deep fryer. Visit Chicken Charlie’s at the San Diego County Fair this summer June 10 to July 5.