secret sauce

noun

1

: a sauce that adds an important element to a dish and that has ingredients which are typically kept secret

A frank of beef, pork, and veal … is split lengthwise, coated with secret sauce, and cooked on a grill.

—Jane Stern and Michael Stern

called also special sauce

2

: an element, quality, ability, or practice that makes something or someone successful or distinctive

If leadership has a secret sauce, it may well be humility. A humble boss understands that there are things he doesn't know.

—The Economist

called also special sauce

Examples of secret sauce in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

To what degree Reid engages those gears, and any other brewing secret sauce, will be a matter looming over camp and the early part of the season, in particular. — Vahe Gregorian july 31, Kansas City Star, 31 July 2026

Part of the secret sauce to Barbie’s and Oppenheimer’s success was the fact that their target demographics didn’t overlap much, prompting lots of friendly joke-making and double-feature date planning. — Eric Vilas-Boas, Vulture, 30 July 2026

Sure, every offseason, rival executives pick apart San Francisco’s coaching staff like a buffet, desperate to steal the secret sauce. — Dieter Kurtenbach, Mercury News, 25 July 2026

The menu borrows from hot dog traditions around the country while putting its own spin on them, including its own take on the Carolina Dog, topped with slaw, bacon and a blend of barbecue and secret sauces. — Usa Today Network, USA Today, 15 July 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1906, in the meaning defined at sense 2

Rhymes for secret sauce

• albatross
• applesauce
• barabbas
• helios
• kshatriyas
• menelaus
• across
• backcross
• crisscross
• lacrosse
• recross
• tomas