Her Small Tweaks To A Classic Potato
Start by properly salting the water you boil the potatoes in to give them the most flavor possible.
I use large- to medium-sized red potatoes and boil them whole until they’re cooked through without falling apart the potato version of al dente.
You’ll know that they’re done when you can fully insert a knife or toothpick.
Drain out the hot water and put the cover back on the pot, letting the potatoes steam with the residual heat so they end up creamy and smooth.
Once the potatoes are cool enough to be handled, you can cut them into quarters. It’s best to pour on the dressing immediately, so make sure you prepare it ahead of time when the potatoes are cooking.
The vinaigrette should be added while the quartered potatoes are still warm so they absorb the lovely, tangy, oniony flavors.
Tips For Making The Best Potato Salad
- Boil the potatoes the same day you are serving the salad. Boiled potatoes are not as nice the next day.
- To check that the potatoes are properly cooked you can pierce them with a knife. The knife should go through the potato smoothly.
- Do not cook the potatoes too much otherwise, they will mash when stirring the salad.
- Cut the potatoes in small squares about 1 in – 2.5 cm the have the perfect balance between potatoes and dressing. Too big and the potatoes will not be nicely seasoned.
- Let the potato salad rest for at least 1 hour so the potatoes have the time to absorb the flavours
- Instead of boiling the potatoes you can also steam them. I steam the potatoes in the pressure cooker or the microwave
How To Keep Potato Salad From Getting Watery
There are a couple of reasons potato salad can become runny. Heres how to troubleshoot the problem.
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Best Potato Salad Tips
I always choose Yukon Gold potatoes when making my moms classic potato salad recipe. These are nice and creamy but they dont fall apart when you cook the potatoes. The peels also come off easily after cooking which makes everything so much easier!
Add your potatoes to cold water before bringing to a boil, and dont forget to salt your water!
This adds so much flavor to your potatoes. You might even want to add a little more salt than you think is necessary.
Friends, youre going to thank me for sharing this delicious family recipe with you. I hope your family loves it as much as mine does!
Id also like to challenge each of you to really soak up every moment of spring and summer this year. THESE are the good old days, and every single second that we can spend with our families are moments that we should treasure.
This yummy classic potato salad just makes those moments a little bit more delicious. 🙂
Looking for potato salad thats a little more adventurous? Dont miss my loaded potato salad! You might also love this creamy German cucumber salad.
What Is The Difference Between A Hot And Cold Potato Salad
A potato salad is a combination of potatoes, dressing or mayonnaise, vegetables like onions and celery, seasonings, and sometimes eggs. Because dressings and mayonnaise can spoil quickly, these salads must be kept cool from the start. Some varieties are prepared and served hot, but creamy salads must remain cold at all times. This includes letting the potatoes cool down significantly after you have boiled them. Doing so will maintain a cooled environment from the onset of preparation. See the boiling section for how to cool off your boiled potatoes.
Hot potato salads are dressed in lemon juice, or vinegar. Seldom do they contain mayonnaise. The boiled potatoes are drained, tossed in a warm dressing, and served with item like cooked bacon bits or capers.
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More Easy Salad Recipes
- This Lemony Chicken Breast Recipe with Feta and Cucumber Salad it is quick to make and is perfect for weeknight meals.
- Easy Chickpea Salad with Lemon and Dill the salad comes together quickly and it made with fresh lemon, fresh dill, crisp cucumber and tomatoes.
- This delicious and Easy Potato Salad Recipe is mayonnaise free and has lots of fresh herbs.
- Creamy Cucumber Salad Recipe with a tzatziki-inspired dressing made with Greek yogurt, vinegar, fresh lemon, garlic, and dill. Its light, refreshing and less than 30 calories per serving!
Recipe updated, originally posted June 2013. Since posting this in 2013, we have tweaked the recipe to be more clear. Adam and Joanne
Whats The Best Potato For Potato Salad
Its completely up to you, but I highly recommend over starchy potatoes. Waxy spuds, such as Yukon Golds, are able to hold their shape well even when boiled.
Theyre also creamy and buttery, which adds another fantastic layer of flavor to the salad.
If you want to leave the skins on, I suggest you go for baby reds. Theyre very thin-skinned, so you can leave them on without altering the texture of the salad.
Some prefer Russets, but personally, Im not a big fan of their mushy texture.
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Serve This Creamy Dill Potato Salad
Once the potato mixture has cooled down, you can store it in the fridge if you are making it ahead of time. Or, go ahead and enjoy it right away. This salad makes a great side for any main course like a sandwich, hot dog, or hamburger. Brookes also provides a few suggestions of her own, such as to serve it “as a side dish for steak, roast chicken, or ham. Or any food! Or maybe with some fresh green salad and fried eggs.” Brookes recommends storing leftovers “in the fridge covered for up to 4 days.”
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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How To Make An Easy Classic Potato Salad:
- Peel and cut the potatoes into quarters .
- Drain and lightly mash with a fork or potato masher .
- Add the diced onion and celery then with your finger over the top of an apple cider vinegar bottle, lightly coat the potatoes with the ACV. Doing this while the potatoes are hot is an important step.
- Combine the ingredients for the dressing as the potatoes are cooling and stir to combine.
What Is Amish Potato Salad
When I mention this recipe, Im often asked the difference between Amish potato salad and regular potato salad.
Both versions use potatoes, hard boiled eggs, and a creamy mayonnaise dressing.
However, Amish potato salad has a sweet and tangy dressing. The ingredients are real mayonnaise , yellow mustard, vinegar, sugar, and smoked paprika.
I love mayonnaise but hate Miracle Whip, which has less vegetable oil and isnt qualified to be called mayonnaise .
I highly recommend using real mayonnaise, but if you prefer the taste of Miracle Whip, you can use that instead. Please note Miracle Whip is a bit sweeter than mayo, so you may need to taste and adjust the dressing.
Dont like mayo? Check out my Italian Potato Salad without mayo and BBQ Potato Salad.
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Potato Salad With Homemade Mayonnaise
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When needing to make a dish for potlucks and especially picnics my first choice is to make potato salad. This is a dish I enjoy making not only because everyone loves my potato salad with homemade mayonnaise but its super easy to make. And I like super easy recipes.
Easy Simple Classic Potato Salad
Potatoes, celery and onions tossed in a classic mayo dressing simple ingredients make the best recipes!
If you google potato salad on the internet you will quickly discover that there are several ways this recipe can be made. It all depends on who you ask and what part of the country they were raised in. A majority of them, I have found, include eggs. And a good majority have bacon.
What surprised me though was how many of them had pickles or sweet pickle relish.
This is my moms classic potato salad recipe. I watched her make it a hundred times. There are no hard boiled eggs, there is no bacon, there are no pickles.
What is there? Potatoes.
Sometimes simple and classic are where its at.
She and I differ a little bit in HOW the potato salad gets made though .
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What Potatoes Work Best For Amish Potato Salad
Traditional American-style potato salads are typically made from starchy Russet potatoes, but, perhaps thanks to their German heritage, Amish potato salad takes after traditional German potato salad, which features waxy potatoes. Our recipe uses Yukon Golds, but any type of potato thats low in starch will work. Think red potatoes, new potatoes or fingerlings.
What Is The Best Potato For Potato Salad
While this seems like a simple dish, you can improve your salads by choosing the right potato. The traditional potato is, of course, the russet or Idaho potato. This potato comes in big bags at the grocery store. While this is an excellent choice for baking and French fry making, it is not necessarily the right choice for potato salads. I recommend using high moisture, waxy potatoes like the red potato, Yellow Finn or Yukon Gold. I prefer the Yukon gold because they have a superior texture and lend themselves well to dressing.
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Best Potato Salad Recipe
*Specific measurements and complete recipe instructions are located in a printable recipe card at the bottom of this article. However, be sure to continue to read the tips and tricks to making this recipe below.
INGREDIENTS
- Salt and pepper, to taste
Garnish Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon fresh chopped dill
- 1/2 teaspoon paprika
Mix The Sauce Ingredients Together
Grab a large mixing bowl and start making the creamy sauce that will coat the potatoes. It wouldn’t be potato salad without the sauce! Toss in the mayo first, followed by the chopped onion which adds the perfect extra crunch to every bite. Then, go ahead and add the mustard, olive oil, minced garlic, lemon juice, and chopped dill. Last but certainly not least, add a little bit of salt and pepper to taste. This creamy mixture is full of flavor, and the combination of mayo, lemon juice, dill, and garlic will make your taste buds dance. If you want to add a little bit of spice, go for it. “You could always go for a little chili powder or sriracha,” Brookes suggests.
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What To Serve With Potato Salad
Looking for some main dish ideas to serve along this Classic Potato Salad recipe? Here are a few tried and true favorites, but I also recommend browsing the Recipe Index!
Smoked Pork Shoulder is a classic summertime BBQ recipe and goes great with Potato Salad. Come check out my tried and true method for making Traeger Smoked Pulled Pork along with my 9 pro tips for the best smoked pork Im including my favorite pork shoulder brine and pulled pork rub.
Easy Smoked Chicken is a great summer meal. The chicken turns out incredibly flavorful, tender and juicy. It is perfect along side this Classic Potato Salad for BBQs.
Cook up these sweet and spicy Mango Habanero Pork Ribs to go with your BBQ. THeyre full of flavor and perfect for one last summer hurrah!
Burgers are always a classic BBQ choice. I love these Gouda Stuffed Burgers with Horseradish Aioli and Caramelized Onions if you want to get a little more creative!
Dont Throw Away Broccoli Stems
When I first started cooking for myself, whenever it came to chopping up broccoli, Id slam my knife down just below the crown and throw away the stem. Thankfully someone, somewhere down the line set me straight. Broccoli stems are excellent especially in this salad.
We actually save and roast broccoli stems all the time. Take a look at our favorite oven roasted vegetables recipe that includes broccoli stems!
The end of the stem lets say about half-an-inch from the bottom is probably going to be too hardy and woody. Cut that off and discard, you wont be needing that for the salad. The rest of the stem is usable. Depending on how hardy the stem is, it might be a good idea to run a vegetable peeler up and down the stem to remove the outer layer. Then, chop into small pieces.
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How To Make Potato Salad:
Heres how to make the best potato salad recipe its so easy!
Baby Red Potato Salad
I love a good homemade potato salad, and this one is absolutely delicious, especially if youre not a fan of traditional potato salad loaded with mayonnaise. It uses just one tablespoon of mayo but still has plenty of sauce from the Dijon mustard, olive oil, and red wine vinegar. And since it uses red potatoes, no need to peel the potatoes so its quicker too! For more lighter potato salad recipes, try this Rainbow Potato Salad and Summer Potato Salad with Apples.
This healthy red potato salad is my favorite way to enjoy potato salad. Red potatoes provide vitamin C, vitamin B6, potassium, iron, and dietary fiber. They are even higher in fiber when eaten with the skins on.
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My Favorite Way To Cook And Serve Fingerling Potatoes
I love roasted potatoes. Maybe its the English in me? . When I roast potatoes at home, I like to get them as browned and crisp as I can. So when Im roasting smaller, unpeeled potatoes , I slice them in half to create one flat side. Its this flat side that gets crisp and browned in the oven.
To make sure the flat side roasts nicely, I take extra care to make sure the flat side of the potato faces down onto the roasting pan or skillet. In fact, I leave that side down the majority of the bake time.
When the potatoes are tender in the middle and browned on the bottom, we take a tip from Alton Brown and scatter a little vinegar over them. Since the potatoes are hot, they quickly absorb the vinegar, which makes them taste incredible! For this recipe, we sprinkle a little smoked paprika over the potatoes, too. You dont need lots, but just a half teaspoon or so adds a savory smoky element to the potatoes. It takes normal roasted potatoes from great to crave-able. Youll be going back for more, promise.