How Do You Make Simple Potato Salad

Why You’re Going To Love This Recipe

I grew up having potato salad as a side dish at every bbq. The one my mother made was made with mint and quite yummy, but the main ingredient was storebought potato salad dressing, something which I don’t use. Instead, using mayonnaise you have more control over the contents of the potato salad.

My kids like this, although in all honesty, Master 8 would never admit it. He put up such a show of hating it this week, but then stole half the portion I was eating as leftovers! Here’s why you’ll love it too:

• quick and easy to make
• 5 ingredients- so nothing difficult!
• perfect flavours for a bbq
• the kids can make it
• make it in advance- you can prep it the night before, meaning you look like the host with the most when the guests turn up
• travels well for when you have to bring something to a bbq

Add Acid To Bring Out The Best Potato Flavor

Theres one simple step that will guarantee your potato salad is better than anyone elses at a potluck. No matter which type of potato you choose, tossing them with a splash of vinegar or vinegar and oil will give the potatoes a pop of brightness that brings out the pure potato flavor. You should add the acid right after you cut the potatoes so it penetrates them.

Ingredients In Easy Potato Salad

This list is going to be pretty short, nice and easy right?

• Potatoes I used Yukon gold as theyre perfect for this recipe.
• Eggs I use hard-boiled eggs for texture and extra creaminess.
• Celery Celery is a low-calorie vegetable that offers a range of health benefits. I personally like to slice my celery very small. You can cut them as small or large as you want, but in my opinion its a must for that bit of crunchiness.
• Onion I used a medium onion. White onion works best as its mild and crunchy.
• Pickle Sweet pickle relish is what I like to use but feel free to use whichever kind if your favorite.
• Mayonnaise I love using a good organic mayonnaise. If youd like to make your own Ive included instructions how in the tips section below.
• Mustard This adds an extra kick of flavor as well as a bit of color. I usually use Dijon mustard in my recipes, but when it comes to potato salad, regular yellow mustard wins.
• Spices such as fresh dill, salt and pepper.

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Tips For The Best Potato Salad Recipe

• Put the potatoes in the pot of water before you heat up the water and bring it to a boil. This ensures even cooking. If you drop the potatoes into already boiling water, the outside of the potatoes will cook quickly, while the inside will stay hard.
• Boil the potatoes whole. Do NOT dice or peel the potatoes before they go in the water. Cutting or dicing the potatoes causes them to release steam while cooking, which will result in a mushier potato.
• The potatoes will take about15-20 minutes in the boiling water to become fork-tender. If you’re using baby potatoes, they may only require about 10 minutes, so keep a close eye on them — you don’t want to overcook them and end up with mushy potatoes.
• Use full-fat mayo and sour cream for the best flavor and texture. With so few ingredients, you want the highest quality in this dish.
• The potatoes will absorb some of the sour cream and mayonnaise while the salad chills in the fridge, so you will likely need to add an extra spoonful of mayonnaise and/or sour cream right before serving.

Recipe Tips And Variations

• Make ahead: Make up to three days in advance and store covered in the refrigerator.
• Shelf life: Potato salad should not sit out at room temperature longer than 2 hours. According to the USDA, If the potato salad was held in excess of 41°F for over two hours, then discard. Its better to be safe than sorry.
• Mix-ins: Make this potato salad your own by adding cooked bacon, fresh chives or other herbs, minced pickles or relish, peas, capers, or slivered radishes.

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The Best Kind Of Potato To Use For Potato Salad

With so many different varieties of potatoes available at the market, it can be confusing to know which potatoes will work best in a creamy potato salad recipe. Ive shown red potatoes here , but Yukon Gold potatoes or other waxy potatoes will also work well. These potatoes hold their shape when cooked and keep their firm texture in the salad when you chop them up and toss them with dressing. Youll want to stay away from starchy, thick-skinned potatoes like russet potatoes, which will fall apart during the cooking process.

How To Make Potato Salad

There’s more than one formula for a great potato salad. There are creamy potato salads, vinegar-based potato salads, warm potato salads, cold potato salads, and a world of add-ins to flavor up the mix. And then there are the potatoes: Russets, reds, Yukon Golds. We’ll take you through the different styles of potato salads, show you how to cook the potatoes, and suggest top recipes to try.

Try this recipe for Best Classic Potato Salad from Nicole Mcmom, and watch the video above to get all her tips for how she makes her favorite potato salad.

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Recipe: The Ultimate Potato Salad

This is my go-to potato salad recipe. Feel free to make adjustments to seasonings and mix-ins to suit your taste.

Servings: Six to eight

• 2 pounds New/Baby potatoes, Red Bliss, or Fingerling potatoes, cut into two inch pieces

• 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

• cup mayonnaise, regular or light

• cup sour cream, regular or light

• 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

• ½ pound bacon, about 6 to 8 strips, cooked until chewy-crisp and chopped

• ½ cup chopped green onions

• 2 stalks celery, finely chopped

• 4-ounce jar pimentos, drained and chopped

• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

• Paprika, for serving

Preparation:

How To Prep Potatoes For Potato Salad

Consider prepping your potatoes the day before. To save time, cut your potatoes up to one day in advance and place the cut potatoes in a large bowl with enough cold water to cover. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and chill until youre ready to cook.

When cutting your potatoes, make sure they are uniform sizes. It doesnt matter if you start with tiny baby potatoes or medium-size Yukon golds, just be sure to cut them so every piece is about two inches. That might mean some potatoes are halved, while others are quartered or cubed.

When sizes and shapes are similar, the pieces will finish cooking at the same time.

Never drop your cut potatoes in boiling water as it promotes uneven cooking and often leads to potatoes becoming mushy on the outside by the time the center gets soft.

Start the potatoes in a pot of cold water and bring the water to a boil over high heat. Then reduce the temperature to medium-high and gently boil the potatoes until fork-tender. Keep in mind that cooking time can be as short as five minutes.

And be sure to season your water. A respectable potato salad is seasoned from the very beginning, so add about a teaspoon of salt to your boiling water to season your potatoes from the inside out. Wait until your water is at a rolling boil so your salt will dissolve quickly, rather than adding it in the beginning.

For dessert: Make the ultimate carrot cake with this foolproof recipe

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How To Cook The Potatoes

We simmer potatoes whole in salted water when making potato salad. Here are our top tips for doing it:

Salt the cooking water. Its important to add a generous amount of salt to the cooking water. By salting the water, the flavor of the potatoes comes out. They wont taste salty, only like excellent potatoes.

Simmer, dont boil. When it comes to cooking potatoes for potato salad, theres no need to boil. When you do they violently bash against each other. Instead, bring the water with potatoes to a boil then reduce the heat to a gentle simmer. The potatoes cook just as quickly.

Potatoes are cooked when you can push a fork through the center. When they are done, drain the potatoes and add them to an ice bath, which stops them from cooking. After 2 to 3 minutes they are cool enough to handle.

While I love using skin-on potatoes for mashed potatoes, I like to remove the peel from the potatoes for this. Since I use small potatoes, peeling them before cooking would be a frustrating task. Instead, I cook my potatoes with the peel on, let them cool, and then peel. Since the potatoes are cooked, the peel comes off easily .

How I Make Perfect Hard Boiled Eggs On The Stovetop

Weve been cooking hard boiled eggs this way for years. I love to keep a batch of hard boiled eggs in the fridge for snacks throughout the week. I also use them to make classic egg salad, deviled eggs, and my favorite potato salad.

You wont believe how simple it is to cook hard boiled eggs. Follow my tips and youll be making the perfect boiled egg in no time!

full tutorial for how to cook eggs in a pressure cooker . The eggs turn out perfectly and are easy to peel. If you have a pressure cooker, I highly recommend taking a look.

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The Best Potato Salad Recipe Ever

My moms potato salad is better than your moms potato salad.

There, I said it and Im not taking it back! *wink*

Seriously though, my mother has magical abilities in the art of potato salad making. My mom makes traditional mustard, pickle, and hard-boiled egg potato salad. Its simple, but I have never made or tasted another potato salad better than her version And Im not the only person to think so.

Over the years Ive watched countless relatives and friends swoon over her classic potato salad.

The problem is, when you ask her for the recipe she has a hard time sharing it, because she doesnt actually have a recipe written down. She makes it by feel.

Its taken years of watching, assisting her, and asking questions to come up with what I consider to be her recipe.

Want to know moms secrets?

How To Make Southern Potato Salad

Southern potato salad is pretty similar to classic American potato salad, with the addition of chopped sweet pickles or pickle relish, giving it a sweet-tart flavor and a bright yellow color. Simply follow the instructions for making classic American potato salad, then add relish or chopped sweet pickle relish to taste.

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Picking The Right Potatoes

The potatoes you use will make all the difference in the texture of your salad. Some cooks prefer waxy potatoes such as Yellow Finn, Yukon Gold, and red potatoes because they hold their shape when they’re cooked and keep their firm texture in the salad when they’re chopped up and tossed with dressing.

Russet or Idaho potatoes have a drier, starchier texture and tend to break down during cooking, chopping, and tossing with dressing. But that’s not necessarily a bad thing. This kind of potato soaks up dressing like a sponge and tends to yield a softer, creamier potato salad. Read up on how to choose the right potato for the recipe.

Tater Tip: Potatoes can add color highlights to your salad. Red potatoes are red on the outside and creamy white on the inside, while purple potatoes hold their color all the way through. You can also use sweet potatoes to add a cheerful touch of orange, as in this Caribbean Sweet Potato Salad.

Related: Get recipes for red potato salads.

How To Make The Best Potato Salad Recipe

1) The key to making the best potato salad is to use starchy potatoes and let them get really soft, so they are partially mashed once mixed. This gives the recipe a rustic, yet thick and luxurious quality. I like to use Yukon Gold or Klondike Goldust potatoes. You can also use Russet potatoes if you like. Do not use new potatoes, because they hold their shape too well and will leave the dressing soupy.

Start the potatoes in cold water and bring them to a boil to ensure even cooking. Make sure to salt the boiling water so the salty flavor gets deep down in the potatoes.

Once the potatoes are soft, drain off the water and peel off the skins. You can leave some of the skins on if you like the added texture.

Chop the potatoes when they are soft this saves time on the peeling and chopping.

2) Next, mix all the dressing ingredients together. Use your favorite mayonnaise as the base.

I know better than to tell you what brand to useMayonnaise is an intensely personal condiment!

Here in the Carolinas, we use Dukes Mayonnaise, but mom usually uses Hellmanns. You can even go with Miracle Whip if that is your favorite.

Mix a large amount of sweet pickle relish into the dressing.

Use the good quality refrigerated relish that tastes fresh, has large chunks, and stays firm. Otherwise, the dense ultra-sweet shelved variety might overwhelm the flavor of the dressing.

If you cant find good relish, finely dice firm refrigerated sweet pickles instead.

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Dress Your Potatoes While They Are Warm

This might be the most important tip of all, and one that may be new to you, but dressing potatoes while theyre still warm is the key to flavor. When the spuds are warm, ingredients can penetrate the flesh.

Keep in mind, you should only add vinaigrette-based dressings while warm. If you add a mayo-based dressing, the hot potatoes will melt the dressing and the salad with be oily.

To add flavor to the potatoes while theyre still warm, toss them with apple cider vinegar and spread them out on a baking sheet to cool for at least 30 minutes before adding the creamy sauces and remaining ingredients.

This step guarantees great flavor, a buttery-soft texture and allows any excess water to evaporate, which ensures that the creamy dressings will cling to the spuds.

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How To Make German Potato Salad

German potato salad is usually served warm, unlike classic potato salad with egg and mayo. German potato salad recipes usually feature bacon and vinegar as main ingredients. Since it’s served hot, German potato salad isn’t as much of a picnic favorite as classic potato salad, but that doesn’t mean you should pass this version up. Try serving German potato salad for dinner alongside just about any meat entrée, or make this warm dish in winter for a cold-weather variation of summer potato salad.

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The Best Types Of Potatoes For Potato Salad

Lets start with the potatoes. What type should you use? Not Russets. Potatoes are divided into three general categories based on their texture: starchy, all-purpose and waxy.

Russet potatoes are starchy, which means theyll likely fall apart during cooking or when youre combining ingredients.

All-purpose potatoes, like white and Yukon Gold, are less starchy than Russets and will work. But the absolute best potatoes for potato salad are the low-starch, waxy varieties, because they hold their shape during cooking.

For the best results, use New potatoes, Red Bliss or Fingerling.

My Top Potato Salad Tip

Now for my top tip when it comes to making potato salad:

As soon as the potatoes are finished cooking, drain them and spread them onto a large baking sheet. Immediately drizzle them with apple cider vinegar and sprinkle them with several big pinches of salt.

The potatoes will soak up tons of flavor while theyre hot, so adding some extra salt and a nice amount of vinegar will make them super tangy and delicious. No bland potatoes here!

Let the potatoes soak up the vinegar and salt for a few minutes, then give them a taste. You can always add more vinegar or salt if you want!

After the potatoes are perfectly seasoned and have cooled, you can add them to the dressing along with the eggs and dill.

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What Type Of Potato Is Best For Potato Salad

We use white potatoes, or Yukon Golds, in our familys recipe. Because they have a thinner skin, theyre easy to peel after boiling and taste creamier, a little sweeter, and hold their shape well after cooking. Avoid using starchier potatoes like russets that too easily turn to mush in salads like this.

Also remember to choose potatoes of the same size for the most consistent cooking.

Potato Salad Shopping List:

• Red potatoes or any waxy potato you have available
• Mayonnaise I prefer real mayo, not light, fat-free, or other combinations that are not the real deal.
• Sour cream adding sour cream to the salad helps make the dressing lighter, as mayo can sometimes be heavy by itself.
• Hard-boiled eggs a good potato salad has hard-boiled eggs, and I agree that eggs make the salad creamier and more satisfying.
• Celery stalks the celery adds a beautiful texture to the salad, and I love it in this recipe.
• Red onion this can be replaced with green onions if you like them.
• Red bell pepper
• Mustard yellow mustard is perfectly acceptable
• White vinegar I added white vinegar, but I also use apple cider vinegar when available.
• Salt is always the magic ingredient that gives flavor to the potatoes
• Sugar for the ones who think sugar is not good for you, I agree. However, we use it in the recipe just to balance the flavors, and we use only half a teaspoon of it.

Optional:

• Herbs dill, parsley, tarragon, all work well on this salad. However, dont overpower the taste of the salad with them. Add a little of one and see how you like it. For example, some of these herbs, like tarragon, are a bit strong, so make sure you dont add too much unless you are really into them.

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