To distinguish them, you must know that both words are transliteration of English.

Salad is a kind of dish. Its sauces include Thousand Island Juice, Vinegar Juice, etc ... The thick ones are made with salad oil and eggs, and the Vinegar Juice is of course made with olive oil and lemon.

Sauce is a kind of mixed juice, or sauce.

For example, tomato sauce, black pepper beef sauce ...

Do you mean that the salad dressing is pink when you say "thought it was tomato salad"? That should be Thousand Island Juice, which is pink because tomato sauce is added.

Nutrition should not be analyzed from the sauce you say, but what kind of nutritious food you can make with this sauce, or what kind of food you like.

With tomato sauce, you can eat spaghetti, French fries, omelets, fried rice … lots and lots!

salad dressing, you can make salads. Of course, there are many salads, such as vegetables, seafood, ham and potatoes, corn and green beans, and many more! And now salad dressing is used in many innovative fields, such as toast, sushi rolls, etc. As long as you like it, there is no limit. Because it is eggs and oil, I have seen people mix cooked white rice with vegetables, sausages and other ingredients, then squeeze it into salad dressing in a net shape and bake it into a yellowish color. It looks good!

speaking of which, you probably know something about these two ingredients. Ask again if you don't understand.