Ah, sweet summertime is here again. To me, nothing says summer more than rolling up to a Sonic drive-in on a hot day and grabbing a slushy or lemonade from a carhop on roller skates! Although, admittedly, the Sonic where I grew up in was situated on a hill that slanted down towards the main, busiest road in town, so you didn’t often see anyone in skates there, for obvious safety reasons. Anyway, it was a stop we made multiple times a week when I was a teenager. I loved their burgers, tots, hot dogs, cranberry lemonades and endless ice cream options!
Since switching to a vegan diet, the stops there are a lot less often. Unfortunately, Sonic’s vegan choices are pretty limited, but there are a few! Especially if you’re willing to get creative. Vegetarian options are a little more varied. Being famous for ice cream means the menu is extensively filled with dairy products!
A few notes:
Many of the meatless options here are deep fried, which can be a problem if you’re worried about cross-contamination with meat or dairy containing ingredients, so be aware of that. Many vegans are ok with this, since they are not contributing to the meat consumption by just having their non-meat cooked in the same fryer. However, if you have severe allergies or other reasons to avoid this contamination, proceed with caution. However, it does appear they use vegetable oil in their friers, as opposed to an animal based fat.
I’ve listed everything according to the categories found on the Sonic Allergen Guide for the United States. For each category, I’ve broken things down into either vegan items or vegetarian items. Naturally, everything on the vegan list is also vegetarian, but the vegetarian options will contain milk, eggs, cheese, etc.
About the vegan bread choices: Some of the vegetarian bread items may in fact be vegan, but because they source fresh bread products from local bakeries, they may all have a few different ingredients. As such, they are not able to list ingredients for food items specific to individual Sonic locations. You could potentially get additional information from your local sonic employee or manager.
Now your big question is probably “does Sonic have a vegan burger?” Trust me, we’re all asking that! Unlike Burger King or Taco Bell, Sonic hasn’t jumped on the fast-food restaurant chain vegan meat wagon yet. They may have Sonic veggie burgers at some locations, but not all, and none have rolled out an Impossible Burger or Beyond Meat option. And as listed in their own allergen information, their veggie burger contains milk, so it’s not a viable vegan option. (Sonic, if you’re reading this, we’d really appreciate an update. Give the people what they want!)
Until they hear our pleas, we’ll just have to settle for coming up with out own meal from their vegan-friendly options.
Vegan and Vegetarian Options at Sonic
Bread:
Vegan:
Bagel
Philly Roll
Soft Pretzel Twist
May contain eggs or milk, depending on local bakery:
Hamburger bun
Hot dog bun
Texas Toast
Tortilla
Vegetarian:
Biscuit
Brioche bun
Croissant
Cheese:
All cheeses are vegetarian
Baja cheese sauce also contains egg
Condiments:
Vegan:
Buffalo Sauce
Celery salt
Hickory BBQ
Ketchup
Mustard
Salt and pepper
Vegetarian:
Asian Sweet Chili sauce
Honey BBQ sauce
Mayonnaise
Ranch dressing
Tartar sauce
Condiment Packets
Vegan:
BBQ Sauce
Grape jelly
Ketchup
Lemon juice
Marinara
Mustard
Salt and pepper
Salsa de Sonic
Strawberry jam
Sugar
Sugar substitute
Sweet and Sour sauce
Sweet relish
Syrup
Vegetarian:
Coffee creamer
Cream cheese frosting
Honey Mustard
Light mayonnaise
Ranch
Signature Sauce
Signature Cheese Sauce
Fried Items:
Vegan:
French fries
Onion rings
Tots
Vegetarian:
Ched ‘R’ Peppers
Cheese Fries
Cheese Tots
Cinnabon Cinnasnacks
French Toast Sticks
Mozzarella sticks
Pickle-O’s
Frozen & Ice Cream Items:
Vegan:
Ice Cream Cone (empty cone only)
Lemonade slush
Limeade slush
Plain slush base
Vegetarian:
Vanilla ice cream
Grill Items:
Vegan:
Grilled onions
Vegetarian:
Egg
Veggie Burger Patty (Contains milk)
Other:
Vegan:
Fritos corn chips
Mint
Apple sauce
Vegetarian:
Gravy
Slaw
Sandwich Toppings:
Vegan:
Avocado
Dill pickle chips
Dill pickle spears
Hatch green chilies
Jalapenos
Lettuce
Diced onion
Sauerkraut
Sport peppers
Sweet Pickle relish
Tomato
Ice Cream and Slushie Toppings and Add-ins
Vegan:
Fresh banana
Graham crumbs
Lemon
Lime
Maraschino cherries
Oreo Cookie pieces
Peanut butter topping
Strawberry topping
Vegetarian:
Butterfinger pieces
Caramel topping
Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough pieces
Chocolate fudge topping
M&M’S Mini chocolate candies
REESE’S peanut butter cups
SNICKERS bars
Whipped topping
Drinks at Sonic:
I’m going to make this list a little easier. Pretty much all the beverages and soft drinks at Sonic are indeed vegan, except for these few:
(Not vegan beverages at sonic)
Milk
Cold brew iced coffee
Hot chocolate
Slush bases are vegan too, and all of the flavor add-ins and syrups are as well, except for the cheesecake syrup.
In summary
So, if you ever find ourself in a car full of hungry vegans, out on the town after a long night, and the only thing open is a little old fast food joint called Sonic, never fear. Although they aren’t going roll out a full vegan menu in welcome when you pull up, you can still get something to fill your bellies. Some ideas?
Vegan:
As long as you’re not trying for the ‘healthiest dinner award,’ tots, fries and onion rings can fill you up! Add in a few of their vegan sauces, and you can have a nice tasty variety.
Or, some Sonic locations have been known to create a vegan sandwich or custom veggie burger by piling all the standard toppings into a bagel or Philly roll (or hamburger bun, if you can confirm theirs is vegan)
Vegetarian:
If you’re vegetarian, you can go with breakfast for dinner and get French toast sticks and Cinnasnacks, since breakfast is served all day at Sonic. Add a side of fries and it’s basically a full meal.
Or, you can find a grilled cheese on the kids Wacky Pack menu, which usually comes with applesauce and a juice box, so you’d be set with vegan sides!
Again, don’t be afraid to get creative. One of the nicer things about the carhop style drive in is that you’re not sitting in a busy drive thru line forced to make snap decisions. You can park, peruse the menu thoroughly, and order your wacky vegan or vegetarian food options. If you’re there on a nice night, they also usually have picnic tables and a patio area with menus and ordering kiosks!
Whatever you decide on, have fun, find something to tickle your taste buds, and enjoy yourself! And, keep reading to learn some fun facts about Sonic that you can use to quiz your friends while you’re there 🙂
Sonic Facts
Sonic was founded by Troy Smith Sr. in 1953 in Shawnee, Oklahoma (That’s two years before McDonalds was founded, in 1955!)
It started out as a root beer stand called Top Hat, but when the owners found out that name was trademarked, they changed it to Sonic in 1959.
Smith first got the idea for drive up ordering from a restaurant in Louisiana and soon had ‘jukebox boys’ install an intercom system in his parking lot.
Their first slogan was ‘Service at the Speed of Sound,’ and they’ve had many reiterations since, including ‘America’s Drive-In,’ ‘Summer’s Funner,’ ‘Even Sweeter After Dark,’ and the current ‘This is how we Sonic.’
Sonic hosts local annual competitions to determine the top skating-carhop in the system.
Sonic’s current parent company, Inspire Foods, is also the parent company of Arby’s and Buffalo Wild Wings. So that makes them all… siblings?
