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

Cross-departmental collaboration is the secret sauce for success. —Cheryl Ragland, Forbes.com, 15 May 2025

Benjamin Edward Birch Acid League Strawberry Rosé Living Vinegar Acid League’s concentrated, unpasteurized vinegars are my current secret sauce for balancing out savory dishes, like the bright and sweet glaze in Kendra Vaculin’s Pork Tenderloin With Jam-and-Mustard Glaze. —The Bon Appétit Staff & Contributors, Bon Appetit Magazine, 15 May 2025

We’re often told that compromise is the secret sauce to a healthy relationship. —Mark Travers, Forbes.com, 15 Apr. 2025

Bridges was tight-lipped and didn’t go into much detail when asked for the ingredients to his secret sauce. —Kristian Winfield, New York Daily News, 13 Apr. 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