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

My secret sauce is anything to do with science and technology. —Erin Douglass, The Christian Science Monitor, 5 Dec. 2024

Oura Ring users will know that the secret sauce that is part of the wearable’s success includes a series of features in what’s called Oura Labs—a hub of innovations that’s available to subscribers. —David Phelan, Forbes, 5 Dec. 2024

The vibe is cool, fun and irreverent, but the secret sauce is actually vulnerability, a willingness to be messy and imperfect and sad sometimes. —Jem Aswad, Variety, 4 Dec. 2024

Inc 5000: For all the noise about big-name companies departing, California’s economic secret sauce is its entrepreneurs’ knack for creating new ventures. —Jonathan Lansner, Orange County Register, 14 Nov. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1906, in the meaning defined at sense 2