The effects of contents of fat, thickener and emulsifier in salad dressing were investigated. Twelve types of dressings were produced according to a full factorial design, whereby the fat content was set at three levels, the thickener and the emulsifier contents at two levels. The dressings were analysed by a sensory panel, using both quantitative descriptive profiling and time-intensity (TI) evaluation, and by instrumental/rheological measurements. The two sensory methods were related to each other and the instrumental results were related to the sensory results. All design parameters had a significant influence on the properties of salad dressing, mainly on texture and mouthfeel. Fat content was the most influencing parameter. Interaction effects were found and it can be concluded that the content of the emulsifier was less critical when the fat and thickener contents increased. Dynamic and descriptive sensory analyses were mainly related to each other in the fattiness attribute. There were strong relations between instrumental and sensory analysis according to rheological and texture attributes, r?0.7 (Pearson correlation coefficient) for most texture attributes.