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 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

Indeed, this ‘secret sauce’ tallies with the work of the winners of this year’s Nobel Prize in Economics, Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson and James Robinson, the body of whose works links growth to institutions and laws (the book ‘Why Nations Fail’ is worth a read). —Mike O'Sullivan, Forbes, 19 Oct. 2024

What has been your secret sauce for having this career and being almost 93 years old? Isn’t that astonishing? —Marc Malkin, Variety, 15 Oct. 2024

Its menu features traditional soul food dishes, including its signature fried chicken with its secret sauce of 24-hour soak in brine before frying. —Susan Selasky, Detroit Free Press, 8 Oct. 2024

But what's so special about the Krabby Patty and its secret sauce? —Gabe Hauari, USA TODAY, 4 Oct. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1906, in the meaning defined at sense 2