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

These measurements confirmed that the metals were not forming nanoparticles but were dispersed as single atoms, chemically bound within the carbon framework in the favourable coordination environment — the secret sauce to their exceptional performance, according to a press release. —Prabhat Ranjan Mishra, Interesting Engineering, 27 Oct. 2025

That mixture of terror and safety is the secret sauce for Mike Jubie, creator of the Headless Horseman Hayrides and Haunted Houses in New York’s historic Hudson Valley. —Isabel Rosales, CNN Money, 25 Oct. 2025

Coordination is the secret sauce. —Wyles Daniel, USA Today, 22 Oct. 2025

Integrating properties so folks can easily move between housing, work, and play seems to be the secret sauce. —Jonathan Lansner, Oc Register, 16 Oct. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1906, in the meaning defined at sense 2

Rhymes for secret sauce

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