Sauce Vs Dressing: What's The Difference?

Sometimes, just a single addition can make or break a dish, and few foodstuffs hold more power in the kitchen than sauces and dressings. They can add complex dimensions of flavor, imbue extra moisture, and tie all the other ingredients together in the process. In fact, your fridge likely already contains a range of offerings, ready to accompany your food at a moment's notice. But there's a lot of minutiae to untangle where these liquid foods are concerned. While dressings and sauces stand side by side on the shelf, the two styles come with plenty of nuances that can become contentious. We're here to navigate these details and help clear up any confusion.

Firstly, it's helpful to consider dressings as a type of sauce. As long as it's liquid and isn't the dish itself (like soup), just about anything falls into the sauce categorization. Dressings are simply a more specific subcategory, typically alluding to a pairing of oil and vinegar. Although an inherently unstable combination, the two complement one another with an invigorating and appetizing quality. They're perfect for coating a salad, as they meld flavors and add complexity. In their distinctive culinary properties, they reveal the endless potential of sauces.

Sauce is a broad culinary category — it simply refers to any liquid mixture used to enhance a dish. The role of sauce in cooking is malleable. Sometimes it's simply a finishing flourish or an aromatic dose of bright flavor, like hot sauce. Alternatively, it can also define a dish by being a central component — you could argue that curry is a type of sauce, although this definition is debated. And more often than not, it's something in between: It's a way to moisten and flavor food without defining it outright.

Chefs approach sauces in different ways. An especially common technique is to simply thicken a liquid mixture, thereby concentrating its flavors and texture. Whether this is accomplished via flour, starch, bread crumbs, or merely reduction, the assembly method yields tasty results. It's no surprise that the five mother sauces — béchamel, velouté, Espagnole, hollandaise, and tomato — are assembled through such means. Nevertheless, raw, un-thickened sauces exist, too (think salsas, pesto, and the like).

Sauces are often mixed together to form even more intricate creations. Complex fermented products like fish sauce, soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, oyster sauce, and others already contain a rich culinary palate. In recipes from the continent of Asia, they're often further remixed, forming new flavor possibilities. Such readily accessible yet complex palates showcase the power of the sauce — it imparts flavor in ways few other culinary components can.

Even by dictionary definition, the word "dressing" draws malleable associations. It may reference fertilizer, a liquid used to treat wounds, a dish similar to stuffing, and — most relevant for our purposes — a type of sauce. So, finding a set definition in culinary terms is tricky. Some suggest it's simply a thinner sauce, but more frequently, dressing alludes to a tasty pairing of oil, vinegar, and aromatics that ties dishes together. The permutations of these ingredients are wide-ranging, and chefs are always crafting new takes on this kind of dressing.

Most famously, dressing goes on top of salad, but there are a few surprising candidates that don't fit this description. Mayonnaise, which emulsifies eggs with oil and vinegar, fits the bill, although it's so common that it's typically placed in a standalone category. Furthermore, some dressings stray from the classic oil-and-vinegar base. There's the beloved ranch dressing, which uses the aforementioned mayo with buttermilk, cream, and seasonings for flavor. And then there's blue cheese dressing, which relies on a similar combo of mayo, sour cream, herbs, and the eponymous blue cheese.

It's worth noting that "dressing" can also refer to a dish similar to stuffing that consists of breads, aromatics, and herbs. Moistened by broth and filled with butter, this version is usually prepared by itself and doesn't go inside a roasted bird. While this dish definitely isn't in the sauce category, it nevertheless offers a highlight for many Thanksgiving dinners.

Dressings employ a pairing of oil and vinegar to create varied aromatic results. Curiously, the pairing of these two liquids isn't stable — the vinegar and oil compounds repel one another. As a result, an emulsifier is necessary to unite the compounds. Common examples include mustard, honey, tomato paste, and egg yolks, and at least one of these ingredients is essential to create and maintain a stable texture.

Such a delicate formula may seem limiting, but it's what defines dressings as a type of sauce. Nevertheless, salad dressings can incorporate everything from citrus to herbs to varying alcohols, as well as garlic, seafood products, and more. Oils suspend aromatics, while the tartness of vinegar cuts through them, creating a dependably satisfying combination. Dressings can define a dish, and they can even offer bold vegetal tones or fruit-like notes. (If you're into creamy dressings, you might want to investigate the differences between salad cream, ranch, and mayo.) So, like other sauces, dressing comes in many flavors and colors, but it's generally meant for salads.

You've likely tasted some especially popular examples. There's Caesar dressing, built around egg yolks, garlic, and anchovies, or there's Thousand Island, composed of a curious mix of tomato products, pickles, citrus juice, paprika, powdered peppers, mustard, and cream. For something simpler, a great vinaigrette can have as few as four ingredients — just ask Ina Garten. This contrast between the more minimal and more thorough ingredient lists are a testament to dressing's versatility.

Sauces are found in many categories, but the type most similar to dressing is other emulsions — sauces like hollandaise, which uses butter and egg yolk, follow the same chemical technique. It's the reason your hollandaise sauce could break. Also similar are raw sauces like chimichurri, which are more prominently herbal and used alongside meats rather than salad.

Another common sauce category reaches for fruit, and an all-purpose tomato sauce falls into this category. From its one central ingredient, the sauce can be accentuated with herbs or turned more savory with beer or wine. You can even serve it raw. Technically, even applesauce falls into such a broad category, as it's made with a fresh, pulverized fruit. For something completely different, there are a variety of dairy sauces on offer, especially those formed around butter. There's the classic French beurre blanc, made by emulsifying slowly simmered butter into shallots. Give it a little longer over the open flame and it becomes beurre noir, which calls for the sharpness of citrus or capers. Also in the dairy category are cheese-based sauces, from béchamel or white sauce to queso.

Such broad categorizations showcase the elaborate possibilities of sauces beyond the limitations of dressing. From creations like barbecue sauce to horseradish to mustard, liquid sauces are an ideal way to give a dish some bright flavor.