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

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

But beyond the history, the sites, and the bites, Lisbon has something else that is its real secret sauce: a warmth that's unmatched. —Stacey Leasca, Travel + Leisure, 6 Nov. 2024

The secret sauce of surfaceology, though, is that each of the snaking curves on the surface replaces hordes of Feynman diagrams. —Charlie Wood, WIRED, 3 Nov. 2024

The real secret sauce, though: Simon Pegg and Nick Frost as lovable best friends. —Brian Truitt, USA TODAY, 25 Oct. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1906, in the meaning defined at sense 2