The efficient development and production of high quality emulsion-based products depends on knowledge of their physicochemical properties and stability. A wide variety of different analytical techniques and methodologies have been developed to characterize the properties of food emulsions. The purpose of this review article is to provide a critical overview of the most important properties of emulsions that are of interest to the food industry, the type of analytical techniques that are available to measure these properties, and the experimental protocols that have been developed to characterize the stability of food emulsions. Recommendations are made about the most suitable analytical techniques and experimental protocols needed to characterize the stability and properties of food emulsions.