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

Meta and YouTube have certainly tried to copy TikTok’s timeline, but TikTok’s secret sauce isn’t short-form video, but the app’s sticky algorithm. —Dani Di Placido, Forbes, 19 Jan. 2025

TikTok’s secret sauce is its famously—even uncannily—smart algorithm, which none of the copycats have totally been able to replicate. —Hana Kiros, The Atlantic, 16 Jan. 2025

The secret sauce of Voroninski's company is combining a proprietary mathematical model with new advances in generative AI. —Emily Forlini, PCMAG, 13 Jan. 2025

Listen to this article Alec Martinez knows the secret sauce behind Chicago Blackhawks teammate Tyler Bertuzzi’s expertise with scoring tip-ins, snappers and other net-front goals. —Phil Thompson, Chicago Tribune, 10 Jan. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1906, in the meaning defined at sense 2