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

The secret sauce here, as with most modern off-road models, is the camera setup. — Byron Hurd, The Drive, 5 Nov. 2026

But no deal has materialized because Fenkel and Katz have ruthlessly protected A24’s cool factor (the abstract secret sauce that’s trained younger generations to reclaim the moviegoing experience and make edgy auteurs their idols). — Matt Donnelly, Variety, 4 Nov. 2026

The gel exhibits strong shear thinning, meaning its viscosity decreases 100 times as the shear rate increases, which is the secret sauce to making rocket and satellite fuel easier to store and deliver to engines. — Maria Mocerino, Interesting Engineering, 2 Nov. 2026

Passion is the secret sauce in this industry, and many others also say Arnault has it in spades. — Paige Reddinger, Robb Report, 1 Nov. 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