The best food and drink in Montana

From Kalispell to Billings, Montana is full of delicious dishes, many of them inspired by nature. To celebrate all the great food and drink that our country’s 41st state has to offer, we’ve rounded up 14 of Montana’s claims to culinary fame as part of our first annual guide to the best food and drink in every state.

The Best Food and Drink in Montana for 2018 Slideshow

Big Sky Country offers more than just breathtaking wilderness: Its natural bounty includes huckleberries, chokecherries, trout, bison, and some of the finest beef in the country. Montana is tops in the nation for pulse crop production, including lentils, peas, and chickpeas. Lentils are the star of such dishes as the lentil-mushroom pate at Claudia’s Mesa, a boutique food emporium in Bozeman. If you find yourself in Lewiston, try the state’s famous beef by sampling a Wagon Wheel. It’s a burger placed in between two pieces of toasted bread that’s been crimped and sealed along the edge. People go crazy for them at the Dash Inn, especially when washed down with a Hot-n-Tot (Coke spiked with a homemade cinnamon syrup).

The Treasure State is home to many iconic foods, and over the course of the past year we’ve honored everything from its best steakhouse and grocery store to its best dive bar and Italian restaurant in our comprehensive and wide-ranging lists and rankings, compiled through extensive research and with input from a wide network of site contributors, bloggers, journalists, and chefs. We’ve compiled these into individual slideshows celebrating the best food and drink in every state, and you can find our Montana slideshow here.

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More Best in Every State

• The Best Bar in Every State 2017
• The Best Doughnuts in Every State
• The Best Pizza in Every State