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

Eynon said the brand’s secret sauce is its top-sheet graphics. —Max Scheinblum, Denver Post, 9 Jan. 2026

What’s the secret sauce of a Julia Roberts laugh? —Baz Bamigboye, Deadline, 6 Jan. 2026

Big gains in lithium miner Albemarle (ALB), aerospace company Curtiss-Wright (CW), SPX Tech (SPXC), Nucor (NU) and Bank of America (BAC) were the secret sauce to Charlotte’s success this year and drove the area to victory in 2025 (a reference to the area’s heavy NASCAR presence). —Brian Sullivan, CNBC, 2 Jan. 2026

Yet the secret sauce was in the service. —Bloomberg, Mercury News, 29 Dec. 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