Review: Sonic's New Drinks Are An A-Peeling Addition To The Summer Banana Trend

More than any other category of its expansive menu, Sonic Drive-In innovates when it comes to drinks. Sonic beat out other fast food chains with its own hard seltzer brand, for example. Its seasonal Picklerita Slush, meanwhile, ranks among the 13 most unique fast food drinks, to give just two among numerous examples.

One of the defining drink trends of 2026 is banana. A spring 2026 drinks menu at Dunkin' notably featured banana, though The Takeout's review found it lacking. Sonic also decided to get in on the trend, debuting four banana drinks in August of 2026, including a Banana Pudding Shake, a Banana Pudding Blast — Blasts effectively serving as Sonic's equivalent to Dairy Queen Blizzards — a Banana Dirty Dr Pepper, and a Banana Pudding Cream Slush. I picked up all four drinks from my local Sonic Drive-In, located in the suburbs of Las Vegas, on the day of their release. Ahead is an individual review for each item, before my thoughts on whether Sonic's banana drinks menu is a standout seasonal treat or a subpar summertime novelty.

I picked up all four Sonic banana drinks from a Sonic Drive-In about 15 minutes from my home in Las Vegas. Sonic provided me with a gift card to purchase its four banana drinks, with no expectations other than my honest thoughts on each item. Since the gift card was mine to use freely, my Sonic location had no indication the drinks were for a review and not just my own enjoyment.

Once I brought my four drinks home, I had maybe five or six sips of each of them, only moving on to the next drink after I felt I had sufficiently recorded my thoughts on its predecessor. Once I had my initial impressions of each drink typed out, I returned to each of them in no particular order, noting down anything new I found the next time around. My analyses are based entirely on this experience, and not any prior thoughts I may have had about Sonic or its banana drinks menu.

Recommendations are based on firsthand impressions of promotional materials and products provided by the manufacturer.

Before trying anything on the Sonic banana drinks menu, I was expecting the Banana Pudding Shake to be its pièce de résistance. At first, it didn't quite live up to my expectations, predominately due to vanilla overpowering its banana flavor. Initially, I suspected it was made with a vanilla ice cream base, but I found out on the Sonic website that it consisted of just a banana pudding soft serve and vanilla wafer cookies. The reason it tasted so strongly of vanilla I suspect was a factor of both a vanilla flavor in the banana pudding soft serve, and the fact the milkshake blends its vanilla cookies somewhat thoroughly into its banana base.

Over time, the vanilla-heavy balance of the Banana Pudding Shake's flavor became a strength — I found myself wanting to return to the Banana Pudding Shake over the other three Sonic banana drinks due to what I realized was more dynamic flavor. Adding to its solid level of quality were ample cookie pieces and a soft, creamy texture that delivered on the pudding experience promised by its name. The only factor preventing me from truly loving the Banana Pudding Shake was the fact I personally wouldn't order a banana milkshake over, say, anything chocolaty. But for banana drink aficionados, Sonic's banana milkshake should deliver in spades.

All that separates the Sonic website's description of the Banana Pudding Shake and Banana Pudding Blast — other than whipped cream and a maraschino cherry topping the former — is a single verb. Whereas the shake is mixed, the blast is swirled. What that means functionally is that the milkshake consists of a softer ice cream into which vanilla cookie pieces are blended, while the Blast's ice cream is thicker, and its cookie pieces are more intact.

Because the vanilla cookies aren't really altering the flavor of the Blast's banana pudding soft serve base, it tastes more banana forward and less vanilla-dominant than the milkshake. Also complicating its flavor was a slightly salty note I noticed from the ample cookie pieces, which I happened to enjoy. The banana flavor's boldness was something I liked about the Banana Pudding Blast at first, but over time, I felt like a bit of artificiality started to show. Plus, its consistency stayed a little thick and icy, whereas the milkshake ended up with a creamier, velvetier texture. The milkshake and the Blast consist of virtually all the same ingredients, and ultimately, I liked the milkshake better. The Blast, however, is still tasty, and may end up being preferable to those looking for its bolder dose of banana or its thicker consistency.

In the past, The Takeout positively reviewed Taco Bell's dirty sodas, and they were enough of a hit that they remain on its menu to this day. Sonic has always had a large, customizable drinks menu, so dirty sodas are even more of a natural fit than at Taco Bell. While I wouldn't say the Banana Dirty Dr Pepper would be my go-to dirty soda if it were available year-round, I found it delivered pretty excellently on its core concept all the same.

In my first sip of my Banana Dirty Dr Pepper, for what it's worth, I could perceive bits of creamer. Dirty sodas can sometimes curdle, and there are ways to prevent that — in this case, I don't think Sonic was at fault, but rather the fact that the drink had to sit in my car for about a 15 minute drive home before I tried it. It stopped being an issue after my first sip, but it's worth noting that can happen. Flavor-wise, I found that both banana and sweet cream were prominent in equal measure. They were so strong, in fact, I could barely perceive the Dr Pepper, to the extent I may have guessed it was cola had I not known the identity of the soda ahead of time. In any case, its natural acidic tang was a nice counterpoint to the banana creamer's bright sweetness. As long as cloyingly sweet isn't a deal-breaker, Sonic's Banana Dirty Dr Pepper is a solidly unique entry in the fast food dirty soda canon.

Of Sonic's four banana drinks, I was least interested in the Banana Pudding Cream Slush ahead of time. It sounded like there was less going on with the slush than its banana drinks menu counterparts — Sonic simply describes it as "creamy vanilla soft serve blended with our icy banana pudding slush." That said, there are those who think Sonic is the absolute best fast food chain for ice cream, so an ice cream heavy drink from Sonic does, at least, play to one of the chain's strengths.

Ultimately, while I liked my Banana Pudding Cream Slush, I did find it a little obsolete compared to everything else on the banana drinks menu. Due to its vanilla ice cream base, banana was more of a supplementary flavor than the main attraction, which resulted in a slightly more refreshing, less cloying experience. The flip side of that ratio was that its overall flavor was kind of one-note, with its banana-accented vanilla losing excitement over time. Its icier texture was also less compelling than the milkshake and Blast's respective consistencies. My Banana Pudding Cream Slush was plenty enjoyable in a vacuum, so Sonic slush heads who love banana, if such people exist, should find that this lives up to their expectations. Those merely looking for the best dessert drink at Sonic, however, would be better served by anything else on the banana drinks menu.

As far as I'm concerned, Sonic's banana drinks menu accomplished exactly what it set out to do — each drink offered a distinct textural experience, in addition to a unique balance of banana and vanilla flavors. Since Sonic's proprietary banana and vanilla flavors are solid, the ways they're complicated by ingredients like cookie pieces or Dr Pepper all work. My ranking, for what it's worth, has the Slush in the number four spot, the Blast at number three, the Dirty Dr Pepper at number two, and the Shake as the best of the banana drinks menu.

I do think it's worth noting that there wasn't a single Sonic banana drink I would order on my own, but that's just because banana isn't a flavor I personally covet. So, banana drinks skeptics probably won't find that anything on this menu will change their mind. That's fine, though, because foods can still be great while lacking the ability to convert non-believers. Simply put, if anything on Sonic's banana drinks menu sounds good to you, it's safe to say it will live up to your expectations.

The only Sonic Drive-In near me at which all four banana drinks were available through online ordering was the one closest to the Vegas strip. So its prices, as far as I can tell, are slightly inflated relative to the average Sonic. With that said, at that store, a medium Banana Pudding Shake is $5.29, a medium Banana Pudding Blast is $5.99, a medium Banana Pudding Cream Slush is $4.59, and a Banana Dirty Dr Pepper is $3.99. Going up or down one size typically adds or subtracts about 50 cents from the price.

Sonic debuted its banana drinks menu on August 24, 2026 — the Banana Pudding Shake is returning to the menu after previous limited-time availability, whereas the other three items were brand new at that time. There's no end date attached to the banana drinks promotion, but given that it's categorized as a limited-time offering, these four drinks will probably leave the Sonic menu well before 2026's end.