Red Potato Salad
This Red Potato Salad recipe is the perfect potluck side, or lunch side for work or a picnic. It’s an easy recipe to make and has lots of fresh flavor and texture.
What makes or breaks a potato salad is whether there’s lots of flavor incorporated into the dish. Otherwise, potatoes can be quite bland and boring.
That won’t be a problem for us today! We’ll use minimal dressing ingredients but have a great balance of flavor and freshness.
When I go to parties in the summer or on a picnic, I’ll almost always bring some sort of sturdy salad like this. It’s the perfect side dish for a summer cookout.
Salmon Salad, Cranberry Chicken Salad, Caprese Pasta Salad, and Egg Salad are some of my other go-tos. It’s truly one of my favorite recipe categories. This is also a great side for dishes like Buttermilk Fried Chicken or Oven BBQ Pork Spare Ribs.
What Makes This Recipe The Best
Seasoning the water – By seasoning the boiling water heavily with salt, just like when you make pasta, that allows the salt to penetrate the potato. This is great because the salted water seasons the flesh on the inside and makes for tender red potatoes.
A knockout dressing – We’ll make a quick homemade dressing that has a great balance of creaminess and tang. It’s delicious! This is creamy potato salad that isn’t drowning in mayo.
Fresh herbs and vegetables to add crunch and texture – Because potatoes are so neutral, it’s important to add other ingredients for flavor, and to ensure a delicious recipe. The bits of crunchy celery, scallions, chives, and more add both texture and flavor that is absolutely heavenly.
Step by Step Overview:
Start with the dressing so it’s ready to go for when the potatoes are hot. That way they absorb the tangy dressing and flavor really nicely.
Combine mayonnaise, extra virgin olive oil, Dijon mustard, red or white wine vinegar, kosher salt, and black pepper in a large bowl:
I love the combination of fats here, with the fruity flavor and aroma of the olive oil, and the creamy classic flavor of the mayonnaise. It’s so much better than a mayonnaise-only dressing.
Also, if you have 10 minutes to spare, I recommend making some homemade mayonnaise for optimal flavor.
I think red or white wine vinegars are by far the best acids here, but champagne vinegar, sherry vinegar, and apple cider vinegar work too.
Whisk that together until creamy and smooth:
What variety of potatoes should you use?
The best kind of potato to use for potato salad is any of the “waxy potatoes,” like red bliss potatoes or yukon gold, over the starchy ones like russet. They hold up better, whereas russets can fall apart into mush.
Slice (or chunk) some red skin potatoes and put them in a large pot. How I cut them totally depends on my mood, and both work great.
Cover the potatoes completely with cold water:
Next add a couple tablespoons of salt to the water:
I know it seems like a lot of salt, but the potatoes will only absorb a small amount of this water, and it will help season the potatoes “on the inside.”
Bring the potatoes to a rolling boil over high heat.
How long do you cook red potatoes for potato salad? It depends on how you cut them up, but about 5 minutes of cooking time after the water is boiling, or until fork tender.
Then drain them in a colander, and let them sit for a few minutes at room temperature to let the steam escape a bit.
While the potatoes are still warm, toss them with the dressing, then add chopped celery, scallions (aka green onions), and chives:
You can either serve this warm (which I love) or you can chill it for a few hours before enjoying.
Potato Croquettes, Steak Fries, and Potato Gratin are some of my other favorite potato dishes.
I have a whole section of potato recipes in my recipe index if you want more ideas. Enjoy!
Recipe Variations
A great potato salad is one that caters to your preferred tastes and ingredients. Here are some ideas for variations you can try.
Herbs – You may use other herbs that you enjoy here, such as fresh dill.
Sour cream – For a more heavily dressed and creamy red potato salad, add 1/4 cup of full fat sour cream to the dressing.
Hard boiled eggs – Combine the greatness of an Egg Salad with potato salad by adding hard-boiled eggs to the mix. Double the dressing and add up to 12 hard boiled eggs.
Onion – Instead of green onions, you can thinly sliced or chopped red onion instead. Or try pickled red onion or shallots to reduce the bite.
Lemon – Swap the white or red wine vinegar out for fresh lemon juice in the creamy dressing for extra fresh flavor.
Bacon – Add crispy bacon bits to the dressing, and extra on top for garnish.
FAQ and Tips
You can absolute scale the recipe as needed, you are really only limited by the size of pot you have. You may need to boil the potatoes for longer since it may take longer for the pot of water to reach a boil.
That means different things to everyone, but it is gluten-free, dairy-free, vegetarian, and paleo.
Yes, but I recommend only making it up to 1 day ahead though, so the flavor is still fresh and at its peak.
Keep in an airtight container in the fridge for about 4 days. After that the flavor starts to deteriorate too much.
Did you enjoy the recipe? Please leave a 5-star rating in the recipe card below and/or a review in the comments section further down the page. Or, follow me on Facebook, Instagram or Pinterest!
Red Potato Salad
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup mayonnaise
- 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tbsp white wine vinegar
- 1 tbsp Dijon mustard
- salt
- freshly ground black pepper
- 2.5 lbs red potatoes, sliced or chunked
- 1/2 cup finely chopped celery
- 1/3 cup sliced scallions
- 1/3 cup sliced chives
Instructions
- In a large bowl, whisk to combine the mayonnaise, olive oil, vinegar, mustard, 1/2 tsp salt, and 1/4 tsp black pepper.
- Place the cut up red potatoes into a large pot, and fill with enough cold water to cover the potatoes, plus an inch.
- Bring the pot to a boil over high heat, and season with enough salt that it tastes like ocean water, about a couple tablespoons. Then cook the potatoes until fork tender. The time will really vary depending on if you sliced the potatoes or cut them into chunks, and how large, but for me it usually only takes about 5 minutes once the water is boiling, about 10-15 minutes total.
- Once the potatoes are fork tender, drain them in a colander and let them sit for a few minutes for the excess steam to come off.
- While the potatoes are still warm, toss them well with the dressing.
- Stir in the celery, scallions, and chives, then serve warm or chill for several hours before serving. Enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition is estimated using a food database and is only intended to be used as a guideline for informational purposes.
Post updated with new pictures, writing, and more tips in August 2018. Originally published July 2014.
117 Comments on “Red Potato Salad”
I loved this recipe I’ve been making potato salad forever and this was the best ever – I didn’t overcook the potato like I usually do so thank you for that and the dressing is wonderful I’ll always make it this way from now on – used cider vinegar and cilantro cause that was what I had wow so good !
I love this recipe! I added sweet onion to the potatoes while they were cooking as someone else had recommended and I loved it. Also I use half mayo and half nonfat Greek yogurt to add a little protein to the salad.
Loved it! Thank you!
I did not like this. When warm it has a heavy vinegar taste and when cold is obviously missing something when tasted. A shame, it made a large amount and no one at my cookout would eat it.
I found this to be just a delightful recipe. As usual, I add different things, but basically followed this recipe. Instead of vinegar, I used pickle juice, I added fresh dill and parsley, which I mixed directly into the dressing, I didn’t use dijon mustard, but used spicy brown & regular yellow mustard. However, I think this recipe lends itself to being modified, but I did follow the measurements which are right on the money and it is a lovely tasting dish. My potatoes took to the salted water and are flavored very well and the dressing is yummy! I will definitely be looking your other recipes in the future. Great job!
This was good, but if I made it again I would cut the mustard in half.
Really great red potato salad! I love the crispness of the celery and the creaminess of the potatoes. Amazing salad dressing!
Love this recipe! I had red potatoes I needed to use; I found this recipe with my google search — it’s a keeper! Delicious!
love the simplicity of this recipe, joanne.
and short pantry list of ingredients.
this is absolutely the best potato salad i’ve ever tasted.
made it for my 95 year old mother and she swooned.
thank you!
Hi Jude, that is wonderful! What a treat you could make it for your mother. Love that. Happy cooking!
I made this yesterday, so easy! Not to mention so good too. My new favorite potato salad recipe. Susie
This came out so good and it was so easy to make I had to substitute a few things because I did not have any vinegar on hand but I did have a low-calorie Italian dressing which I added to the mayo and added a little olive oil deli mustard salt and parsley it came out great!
Very easy to follow directions and turned out delicious
Loved the potato salad. I added a pound of bacon pieces and mmm mmm mmm!
Best potato salad I have ever tried. Growing up and living in the south, that says alot!!!!
delicious!! I initially tried white balsamic vinegar (from Trader Joe’s) it has such a “bright” flavor, but my mom said she liked to use rice wine vinegar in her potato salad (which I alway loved). 2nd time I tried this recipe I went with (unseasoned) rice wine vinegar & it really added a nice tangy-ness.
I also upped the amount of celery & cut it up real small.
Oh my goodness this is the goodness. The key is the mayonnaise, olive oil and vinegar mixture. So creamy and the tastes blend to perfection. I actually didn’t have any celery or chives on hand but did put a pinch of dill in the dressing and it is so delicious. I probably didn’t put enough salt in the water so added a little extra to the blend. And since I didn’t have chives I threw a couple of small pieces of sweet onion in the boiling water. Sorry if I made too many changes but the key is the dressing.