Sonic is breaking ground in the burger industry with a nationwide drop of their new Signature Slingers, a unique burger patty that utilizes mushrooms to improve health and give a massive flavor boost.

Photo courtesy of Sonic

Sonic Signature Slingers utilize a "blended" burger patty. This mixture of ground beef, seasoning, and mushrooms has become popular in the culinary world. Sonic is capitalizing on the blended burger trend with their Slingers, which can help to reduce the sodium content in the patties as well as boost the flavor.

This is based off of a taste study conducted by the University of California, Davis and the Culinary Institute of America, who found that blends of ground beef and mushroom tasted just as good or better than traditional patties. That comes with a drop in fat, sodium, and caloric content, making the Slingers healthier than a regular cheeseburger. For comparison, the Sonic Signature Slingers, which contain 25% mushroom, start at under 350 calories, significantly less than the 595 in their normal cheeseburgers.

Sonic did test the Slingers last August, and it appears to have gone well, as the new patties will drop in stores nationwide starting March 5th. They'll cost $1.99 each, much lower than the $3.89 of a regular cheeseburger.

The blended burger patties give Sonic and the Signature Slingers a new role in the fast food industry. The chain is now leading the charge amongst major QSRs when it comes to healthy innovation thanks to this burger, which lowers cost and calories while retaining flavor. It also helps reduce overall meat consumption, so it pushes the chain to become a little more environmentally conscious.

The fact that Sonic can do all this and keep their burgers full of flavor is groundbreaking, and should serve as inspiration for other chains to hop on the blended burger or meat alternative hype trains.