How To Make Potato Salad
Here’s precisely how to boil the potatoes and how to make every style of potato salad dressing.
A plate of classic potato salad on a picnic table with plastic cutlery.
Christopher Kimball / EyeEm/Getty Images
Fraya is a chef and a contributing writer at Food Network.
Because potato salad is a simple dish with minimal ingredients, the difference between good results and great results come down to technique. Its easy to make potato salad thats mushy, water-logged or just plain flavorless. Luckily, we have tons of tips and tricks, including answers to the most common potato salad questions.
Do You Put Eggs In Potato Salad
There is no one answer to this question as it depends on personal preference. Some people like to add eggs to their potato salad for a heartier dish, while others find that it is just as satisfying without them. Ultimately, it is up to the individual to decide whether or not to include eggs in their potato salad recipe.
If you served eggs with your potato salad, youd almost certainly have an American mother. It would be preferable if you brought it up to your friend or neighbor. boiled eggs are required in potato salad for a reason. One of the most important things to remember is not to overcook hardboiled eggs.
How To Freeze Potato Salad
If you must freeze potato salad, heres how to do it. Before getting started, check out our ultimate guide for freezing food. In general, frozen vegetables last about eight months in the freezer. Since potato salad has added ingredients, you can probably count on about three to six months until the quality really starts to decline.
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Our Favorite Summer Salad
Potato Salad was always my dads very favorite salad at a potluck, cook-out, or regular summer dinner. He instilled a love for this salad with all of his children were obsessed with it!
The perfect potato salad for us had tender chunks of potatoes, plenty of sweet pickle relish, lots of hard-boiled eggs, and an ultra-creamy mayo-based dressing. This is our absolute favorite Potato Salad ever!
Identifying the best potato salad can be a highly personal experience, depending on what youre used to and prefer. That said, one of the best parts of making a this salad from scratch is that you can customize ingredients and add exactly what you want to make it the perfect potato salad.
How To Make The Best Potato Salad Ever
Potato Salad Ingredients
What really are the classic potato salad ingredients? In my research, I found the passionately argued requirements differed slightly based on the geographical location of the author. I narrowed it down to these:
- 6 medium potatoes
- 1/2 cup finely diced red onion
- 1/3 cup finely diced dill pickle
Potato salad dressing ingredients also varied based on preference. Heres the ingredients that gave to us the flavor and creaminess we were looking for:
- 1 1/2 cups Miracle Whip salad dressing
- 1 Tablespoon mustard
Step by Step instructions for potato salad
Step 1: Cook, cool and dice the potatoes
What type of potatoes are best for potato salad?
Potato salad requires potatoes that will remain firm when they are cooked. Yukon Gold, Russet, or Red potatoes are the ones that seem to be up to the task for a perfect potato salad recipe.
How long to boil potatoes for potato salad?
To prepare the potatoes for potato salad, first wash them well with tap water, peel them, and cut them into large chunks that are about the same size. Place the potatoes in a large saucepan and cover them with cold water I do NOT salt the water at this point, as the salt may make the potatoes watery in the salad later.
Once they are cooked, drain off the boiling water and toss them immediately with 1 Tablespoon vinegar. Let them sit in the vinegar in the heated pan for a few minutes. Then transfer to a colander to cool completely.
How do I hard-boil eggs?
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What Is The Best Potato Salad Dressing
To achieve a classic creamy potato salad dressing, we recommend using the following ratio: one third Greek yogurt, a third mayonnaise and a third crème fraîche, seasoned with lemon and mustard. If you want to go down a creamier route, buttermilk also works nicely.
For those who find mayonnaise too heavy, try opting instead for yogurt and crème fraîche. If youre a mayo devotee, mix things up a bit and add some spice.
If you’re avoiding anything creamy, try dressing your potatoes in a simple oil-based vinaigrette. Go for extra virgin olive or rapeseed oil mixed with balsamic or another mild vinegar, plus citrus if you go light on the oil, youre looking at a pretty healthy dish. We also like the fresh and fragrant dressing in this herby potato salad, which will turn your potatoes a vibrant green.
The Best Way To Make Potato Salad
Potato salad is a popular picnic dish that can be served at any time of year. You can keep store-bought versions in the refrigerator for a few days, but homemade varieties always taste better. To make the best potato salad, use high-quality ingredients and carefully combine them until the flavors meld. When it comes to potato salad recipes, hard-boiled eggs add a creamy layer of richness and creaminess. In potato salads, other commonly used ingredients include mayonnaise, buttermilk, mustard, pickle juice, and salt and pepper. Some people also prefer to add bacon to their salads, which is up to their personal preferences. Potato salad can be stored in the refrigerator for 3 to 4 days as long as the ingredients are carefully combined.
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Want More Salad Recipes Try These Next:
Cool, creamy, classic Macaroni Salad is a summer staple! Prepare it ahead of time and serve it at a picnic or backyard barbecue.
This homemade Coleslaw recipe is better than store-bought! Prepare it ahead of time to serve with chicken, burgers, or pulled pork.
A Tomato Cucumber Salad with fresh summer vegetables is always a hit at barbecues and picnics. This quick, easy side dish can be prepared ahead of time.
This yummy Broccoli Salad recipe features fresh broccoli, onions, bacon, and craisins in a creamy dressing. Everyone will beg for the recipe!
Chill Time: Total Time:
Here’s a Potato Salad Recipe to make on repeat! It’s the classic summer salad that everyone loves and it goes well with almost anything.
- 6 cups peeled and cubed Yukon gold potatoes
- 5 hard boiled eggs
- 1/3 cup chopped dill pickles
- 1/3 cup sliced green onions
- 3/4 cup mayonnaise
- 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 1/2 tsp paprika, for garnish
How To Make This Easy Potato Salad
To make potato salad, you do need a little bit of time up front to cook the potatoes and boil the eggs, and allow them to cool slightly, so be sure to plan ahead! You will also need to plan for a couple of hours of chill time afterwards.
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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?
What Is Potato Salad Made Of
There are many iterations of potato salad, including ones with creamy dressing or tangy dressing. Below, we outline the common ingredients most potato salads share.
- Potatoes: waxy or starchy potatoes
- Dressing: creamy or oil-and-vinegar
- Acid: a splash of white wine vinegar or apple cider vinegar intensifies the flavors of the potato salad
- Crunchy vegetables: celery and onion are the most common
- Protein: hard cooked eggs and ham or bacon are popular, but not necessary add-ins
- Extra flavors: mustards, herbs and spices and hot peppers are frequently used
- Salt and pepper: potatoes are starchy, so you need salt in the cooking water and in the salad
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The Best Potato Salad Dressing:
Adding sour cream to the mayo makes it lighter and so creamy. Dont be afraid of adding mustard. It is not potent in this recipe at all, but makes the salad next-level delicious. You might recognize this potato salad dressing as the same sandwich spread that we developed for our favorite Bakery sandwich.
Cooks Tip: The Vidalia Chop Wizard makes it quick and easy to uniformly dice boiled potatoes and eggs .
Make-Ahead Tip: Once this salad is mixed with dressing and salt, it is best enjoyed right away or refrigerated up to 6 hours. You can prep your other ingredients ahead of time and stir in the dressing just before serving.
Garnish with chives and freshly cracked black pepper to pretty it up.
If you make this recipe, Id love to see pics of your creations on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter! Hashtag them #natashaskitchen
Creamy, dreamy and delicious! Everything about this potato salad is good! Its definitely worth discovering and I hope you love it as much as we do!!
Is there a special side dish that always shows up at your holiday table? Id love to hear about your holiday traditions in a comment below!
The Rest Of The Ingredients
Now we have perfectly cooked and seasoned potatoes and a creamy dressing, its time to add some extra ingredients.
Potato salad is a personal process, and there are lots of opinions out there as to what makes it perfect or the best. The recipe below is our version it includes everything we love, but remember that its your potato salad, so add what you like!
Celery and Pickles The celery adds a lovely crunch and our house isnt stable without dill pickles in the refrigerator so adding them is a no-brainer for us. If you dont like pickles in potato salad leave them out .
Red Onion I love the sweetness and crunch of red onion in this. To make sure that the onion doesnt overpower the salad with raw onion flavor, I deflame the onions. Its a simple process, simply add cool water to chopped onion and set aside for 10 minutes. The time in the water takes the raw edge off the onion.
Hard-Boiled Eggs Maybe its how we were brought up or what were used to but, potato salad without eggs is missing something. Hard-boiled eggs add texture and extra creaminess.
Fresh Herbs The most common herbs are parsley and chives, but dill, cilantro, and tarragon all work well. In our recipe below, we use both dill and parsley. Experiment for yourself to see what you love. Add a tablespoon at a time then taste. Also, remember dill and tarragon are a little stronger than other herbs so add accordingly.
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This Classic Potato Salad Recipe Is Perfect All Year Round You Can Add Any Extras That You Like And The Homemade Potato Salad Dressing Is The Best
When I was at university and I had to take a salad to a BBQ, I would always take potato salad. I was soooo fancy back then – cook some spuds, chop them up and throw in a jar of potato salad dressing. Genius!
I’m happy to say things have changed a little bit since then. Not only are we making our own mayonnaise we are turning that into an epic homemade potato salad dressing that is being added to potatoes, bacon, peas and whatever else you like adding to your potato salad.
Vinegar Enhances The Flavor
When the potatoes are warm, they are better at absorbing flavor. Toss in two tablespoons of distilled white vinegar right after cooking, stir and allow to sit for 20 minutes. The vinegar infuses into each piece, giving some acidity to the mild potatoes and balances the rich dressings creaminess. If desired, you can substitute apple cider vinegar for a milder taste.
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Recipes That Go With Potato Salad
This Loaded Potato Salad is wonderfully versatile its a hit at potlucks, picnics and barbecues alongside all of your favorite cookout foods but its equally delicious alongside comforting dinner dishes and it holds its own as part of your holiday spread. Here are just a few recipes potato salad goes with, but the possibilities are endless!
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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Forgetting To Add Horseradish
Youâve added your mayo, your mustard, and your vinegar to your potato salad. You taste a spoonful of the stuff, and you suddenly realize: Somethingâs missing. What it is, you donât know, but you do know that the potato salad needs an extra bite something to keep things interesting. Too many home cooks make the mistake of sending their potato salad out into the world without making sure it has the kick it needs. Luckily, weâre here to tell you about an ingredient that can take your potato salad to the next level horseradish.
This may not be a typical potato salad ingredient for you, but hear us out here. This root vegetable is similar to mustard and wasabi in that it has a distinct heat to it without tasting like chili or other âhotâ spices you may think of. It adds a lovely sharp taste to a dish that can otherwise be slightly bland.
Adding horseradish to your potato salad is a solid move, and if you like the taste of the stuff, you should try it. That being said, you should know that horseradish goes a long way, so thereâs no need to use a ton of it. Adding too much horseradish to your potato salad could make it inedible, as the heat can be intense. Make sure to add it to the dish slowly, tasting between additions to see if itâs reached the heat level you prefer.
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Should Potatoes Be Peeled
The pros for leaving the skin on your potatoes are manifold theyll give texture, an earthy flavour and added fibre to your salad, as well as saving you effort. But it all depends on your potato choice new potatoes are great for eating unpeeled as their skin is smooth and subtle, but larger, floury potatoes have heavier skin that sometimes requires scrubbing, so these are best peeled.
Likewise, the skin of sweet potatoes is thick and chewy in parts. Whatever your preference, remember that leaving the skin on any kind of potato wont do you any harm.
Verdict? Unpeeled to give the salad another dimension.
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Potato Salad For A Crowd
What I love about potato salad is that it serves a lot of people without a lot of effort, and itâs so easy to make a good one.
I love using Yukon golds, though you can use any potato. My dad likes using russets in his potato salad. This recipe is for potato salad with sour cream â using it as a binder makes it extra creamy.
Can You Make Potato Salad The Night Before
Potato salad is actually better made a day ahead! It allows the flavors to build and the potatoes to absorb the dressing.
However, because you are using cold ingredients, the potato salad is still good if you serve it immediately.
I would try to refrigerate it a couple hours before serving if you have the time.
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Whats In Potato Salad
I spent many a summer afternoon making and taste testing this salad alongside my amazing mama, just like she did with hers. In fact, Ive made it so many times I dont even need the recipe. You know a recipe is that good when you know it by heart.
Heres the ingredients youll need for this classic potato salad:
- Yukon gold potatoes
- kosher salt and fresh ground pepper