10 Sonic Secret Menu Items We Can't Believe Exist

If you're bored with the menu at Sonic, it turns out it has a surprising secret menu that might have you pressing that order button again. When we found out everything you can order that isn't listed, we were ready to head out the door and try some straight away. A few are menu items that once existed, while others are creative inventions made popular on social media outlets like TikTok and sometimes by employees. Turns out, there are plenty of ingredients in the Sonic kitchen that can go together in ways you never expected.

Sonic employees on Reddit explained that the secret menu at Sonic is practically limitless because the register allows all sorts of add-ons to regular items. This makes it easy to order off the secret menu, whether your order is a popular item in your area or not. Granted, we left a few Sonic secret menu items off our list. For example, employees can still technically make Pickle O's, but the necessary onion ring batter may only be available first thing in the morning while employees are still making onion rings. We also didn't add Fritos chili pie to our list, either because it's back on the official menu as of the writing of this article. However, the secret menu items we did include are ones you're going to want to keep in mind for your next Sonic order.

If you've been getting plain grilled cheese sandwiches all these years, we're here to let you know that you can order them loaded. When you think about all the extra ingredients already in the kitchen at Sonic, the possibilities suddenly become obvious — after all, several of these are already options in the Sonic app.

First of all, there are plenty of ways to get a vegetarian loaded grilled cheese sandwich at Sonic. Raiding ingredients from other menu items, you'll realize that you can get your trusty grilled cheese with jalapeños, crispy fried onions, or grilled onions. Plus, we've seen people on social media order them with hamburger toppings, like diced onions, pickles, tomatoes, lettuce, and condiments. You can even ask for shredded cheddar cheese instead of or in addition to American cheese.

Now, if you're not a vegetarian, the options for a loaded grilled cheese open up even more. The one that really surprised us is that you can order a grilled ham and cheese sandwich since there's ham on the breakfast menu. This is an especially great option if you've got a picky kid (or if you're the picky kid). You can get a grilled cheese with bacon or chili, too. People on social media have ordered all kinds of combos, like a grilled cheese with bacon and jalapeños, a grilled cheese with bacon and tomatoes, or a grilled cheese BLT.

Back in 2011, Sonic introduced a Ring Leader Loaded Burger, which turns out still exists on the Sonic secret menu. If you're an onion lover, this secret menu burger is a must-try. Just because the burger menu at Sonic is kind of boring doesn't mean you have no options. People on social media have actually had success ordering it by name, but you can also order it by just knowing which add-ons, subtractions, and substitutions are necessary.

The Ring Leader Loaded Burger got its name from being a bacon cheeseburger with onion rings and grilled onions. Then, it has lettuce and tomato as its additional veggies. Finally, it uses mayo as a condiment and cheddar as its cheese of choice.

If there's not anyone working at your Sonic who knows how to make it off the top of their head, you can create it yourself by ordering a regular Sonic bacon cheeseburger, minus ketchup and pickles. Then replace the American cheese with cheddar cheese, and replace the raw diced onions with grilled onions and onion rings. Keep in mind that all these add-ons increase the price of the burger. So, don't expect it to be as cheap as a regular cheeseburger. If you're already doing a special order, you could take it a step further by ordering it with BBQ sauce instead of mayo to turn it into a Western burger.

Another Sonic secret menu item that was once a real menu item is the Extreme Tots. So, it's one that you can likely order by name, like you can the Ring Leader Loaded Burger. It's tricky to pinpoint when they first came out, but we've found mention of them online as far back as 2007. Back then, they were like chili cheese tots with onions and jalapeños. However, the version we've seen people on social media get now is a little fancier, as they contain ranch sauce as well.

While it's a slim chance that there's someone still working in your Sonic who was working there when the chain actually had Extreme Tots on the menu, you may still be able to order it by name if enough people have asked for them at your location. With people making them popular again on social media, we're betting ordering should be fairly straightforward. However, if the employee seems confused, simply order chili cheese tots and ask for jalapeños, ranch, and onions as add-ons. This is another one that's easy to create in the app.

If you're really wanting to take it the extra mile, you could ask for bacon to crumble over the top. Also, if there's a pulled pork sandwich on the menu, you may even be able to order the Pulled Pork BBQ Totchos that were once available. Those had pulled pork, BBQ sauce, and both cheddar and American cheese.

A really fun Sonic secret menu item that's going to get you excited for breakfast is strawberry shortcake French toast. We can see your eyebrows rising at that idea because it's like nothing any other fast food chain has on its breakfast menu. And like with the rest of the breakfast menu, you don't have to relegate your order just to the morning hours. Plus, it provides another Sonic vegetarian breakfast item.

While Sonic French toast sticks are one of the chain's highest-rated breakfast items, there really isn't anything else that usually comes with them except for syrup. French toast recipes generally include eggs to help make the dish more filling, but at home, you probably tend to add extra toppings like fruit and whipped cream to make it a more robust meal. And making a good menu item better is the whole idea behind this version of French toast.

If the person taking your order doesn't know exactly what's involved in making Sonic's strawberry shortcake French toast, it's basically an order of French toast sticks topped with strawberry purée and whipped topping. We've also seen people order it with hot fudge and graham cracker crumbles, too. If you're feeling especially hungry or want to turn it into a dessert rather than breakfast, you could even ask for it with vanilla ice cream. Although, with all those toppings, it might have grown into a dessert that you'll want to share, much like a banana split.

If you're hankering for the Hickory BBQ Cheeseburger that Sonic introduced in 2023, it turns out that you can still get it from the secret menu. It wasn't a complicated burger, but the addition of BBQ sauce made it a standout on the menu. If you've been going elsewhere to satisfy your BBQ burger cravings, it turns out that Sonic has continued to have one all along.

When it was on the regular menu, the Hickory BBQ Cheeseburger came with American cheese and two condiments: hickory BBQ sauce and mayo. Its veggie toppings included onions, pickles, and lettuce. One of the great things about ordering a Hickory BBQ Cheeseburger off the secret menu is that BBQ sauce is a free burger upgrade. So, you won't be paying any extra for this burger like you have to with the Ring Leader Loaded Burger.

Since it was a more recent menu item and easy to make, you can likely just ask for a hickory burger by name to get it rather than having to go through the whole process of telling your order taker exactly how to make it. However, if you want to be absolutely sure to get it right, order a regular Sonic cheeseburger, subtract tomatoes and ketchup (unless you want them on there), and add BBQ sauce. With BBQ sauce already an add-on option for the Sonic cheeseburger, this is an item that's easy to order in the Sonic app.

If you've missed the fact that Sonic had a viral Key lime pie shake on its secret menu, you're going to want to order it next time you visit. With its popularity on social media, we're betting you won't be the first person to ask for it. We've seen it made both like a regular shake and like a Cheesecake Master Shake. So, you might need to specify exactly how you'd like it. However, no matter how you order it, it should come with cookie crumbles to make it more like an actual Key lime pie by mimicking the crust.

If you want your Key lime pie shake to have extra tartness, you'll want to ensure that you're essentially getting a lime Cheesecake Master Shake, which is what we've seen as the most common version of the drink. Since it already comes with whipped topping, graham cracker crumbles, and a cherry on top, ordering a lime Cheesecake Master Shake will get you exactly what you want. And the added cheesecake syrup in the shake will give it added tartness.

If you're not the type of person who thinks that Key lime pies are better extra-tart, then you might specify that you want a lime milkshake with graham cracker crumbles to avoid the cheesecake syrup add-in. We've seen some Sonic employees on social media make it with both twisted lime syrup and fresh lime juice. Also try asking for it with a smidgen of coconut syrup.

With an orange Fanta being available and the chain having a penchant for making as many types of drinks as you can dream up, it's no surprise that a creamsicle is on the Sonic secret menu. Honestly, we don't think the creamsicle shake is going to need any explanation if you order it by its name or even as a dreamsicle shake. However, you may want to adjust your order depending on whether you're expecting a soft drink or a cream slush because we've seen it go both ways.

The viral version is simply an orange Fanta made with sweet cream and vanilla syrup, which is easy to order in the Sonic app. At least one person on social media was disappointed in the cream level and thought they might like it with extra sweet cream. This is the most likely version you're going to get if you simply ask for an orange creamsicle when you order.

The other way we've seen a Sonic orange creamsicle made is as a cream shake. That version starts with orange Fanta syrup and slush mix, which is topped with ice cream before blending. So, if you have something creamier in mind, this might be the version you ask for. While there's no cream slush currently on the menu, the ingredients are all there to make this possible if you want it.

We remember the Sonic Sunrise drink coming out back in the early 2000s when Sonic first got its all-day breakfast menu. Nothing hit quite like getting a breakfast sandwich with a Sonic Sunrise instead of a regular orange juice. While Sonic Sunrise is no longer on the breakfast menu, it's still on the secret menu since everything to make it still exists.

Essentially, a Sonic Sunrise is a half-and-half mix of cherry limeade and orange juice, and if you've never had it, you're going to love it. The fact that it comes with a lime slice and cherry makes it feel all the more like you're getting a fancy mocktail. We're guessing that it was created with the recipe for a tequila sunrise in mind since tequila sunrises include orange juice and grenadine (or crème de cassis), sometimes adding lime and a cherry. Of course, the Sonic version omits the tequila, but there's no reason you couldn't add a little once you get it home.

Another breakfast drink from the same era that you can still get is the Sonic Sunshine Smoothie. However, it probably hasn't gone viral enough to be able to ask for it without a detailed explanation. The Sunshine smoothie combines ice cream and slush mix with orange juice, banana, and strawberry. With all those ingredients, it's more like a breakfast smoothie than a breakfast drink accompaniment like the Sonic Sunrise is.

Oddly enough, Sonic's Purple O drink has never been on the official menu, but it's been a big part of the secret menu for years. It seems to have started out in 2010 as a not-so-secret drink made at the Sonic in Vero Beach, Florida, where everyone seemed to be ordering it. The O stands for what you think it stands for (please don't make us say it).

There's even a Facebook fan page dedicated to the Purple O. It links to a high school newspaper article talking about how popular the drink was on campus. The keeper of the Facebook page bragged about having made over 200 Purple Os in one day and said that they'd become more popular than Cokes or cherry limeades over the course of the year. There was even a t-shirt urging people to "experience the 'Purple O.'"

The drink eventually spread beyond Vero Beach to secret menus at Sonics everywhere. So, likely, you can order a Purple O without any introduction necessary. We've seen people on social media try to get the drink by ordering a Purple Sprite instead of a Purple O since it starts with a base of Sprite. The other ingredients besides Sprite are Mountain Berry Powerade, cranberry juice, and lemonade. Sometimes, it gets vanilla, too. So it's definitely more than just a grape Sprite, which could be what you get if you ask for a Purple Sprite from someone who doesn't know about the Sonic secret drink.

The ability to order a Pink Lady from Sonic's secret drink menu goes back to at least the early 2010s. However, the chain capitalized on the drink's silent fame in 2023 when the movie "Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies" came out by partnering with Paramount+ and promoting the fact that the drink existed. With the drink's long history and recent official promotion tied to the Pink Ladies in the "Grease" movie, your drink maker is more likely to know exactly how to make it without any prompting.

Now, if you're expecting something approaching a Pink Lady cocktail, you're going to be disappointed, as the only things the two drinks have in common are their names and color schemes. However, it does have the feel of a 1950s cream soda from a soda shop, which is why it tied in so well with the movie. We love how the cascades of sweet cream in this cherry vanilla Sprite start pinking up the drink from the top down. With Sonic still serving drinks in Styrofoam like it's the 1980s, we hope you get a clear cup to watch the process.

If you do happen to encounter an employee that is unfamiliar with the drink, all you have to do is order a cherry vanilla Sprite with sweet cream. This Sonic secret menu drink is also one that's easy to order in the Sonic app. So, give it a try next time you're looking for a fun drink.