Whether you’re looking to have the best barbeque side dish at the cookout or something new in your packed lunch-this is for you! With less mayo than traditional potato salad, it’s lighter while still being large on flavor! 

THE INGREDIENTS: 

Potatoes: We hope you aren’t trying to make potato-less potato salad! Potatoes are the star of this dish, after all. We personally use russet potatoes in this recipe, but any kind of potato works-even baby potatoes! We recommend peeling the potatoes, especially if they are not baby potatoes, for that classic texture and taste. When we say 6 potatoes, we also mean 6 medium potatoes. If you’re like us, that means you’ll probably end up using a few large ones and a few small ones-there’s no issue if you end up with a little bit more or less potatoes than we did. This recipe is quite flexible! 

Eggs: While many potato salad recipes miss out on this ingredient, we argue it is a must! If you love eggs in your potato salad, feel free to even increase this to 4 or 5 eggs. If you want to reduce it, we really wouldn’t go under 2 eggs for this recipe. Otherwise, just 1 boiled egg in the batch will be barely detectable! However, if you truly dislike eggs, you can leave them out entirely. No other changes to the recipe needed. 

Green Onions: Crunchy, fresh, and oh-so-flavorful, we couldn’t miss out on the green onions in this recipe! As potato salad can get quite mushy, we like to have some crunchy vegetables throughout to liven things up. Green onions count as a vegetable, right? Also, onion flavor is nearly essential in American cooking, and nobody wants a bland potato salad! We prefer green onions in our potato salad as they give you all of the flavor you want without that strong onion-y aftertaste that other raw onions have. If you don’t have green onion on hand, you can still use diced onion. In fact, you can even use diced red onion. We’d use about half of a medium onion, diced. To get that sharpness out of the way, soak the diced onions in cold water for about 10-15 minutes. Only have your spice cabinet? Use about 1 tablespoon of onion powder. 

Green Bell Pepper: Here is one of our two ingredients that may not have been in your potato salad before, but really should be! Don’t worry, we know it looks healthy, but it doesn’t turn this potato salad into salad salad, if that’s your worry. What it adds is some crunch and some freshness! Once we had some crunch in our potato salad, we didn’t want to go back! We wouldn’t be surprised if the same thing happens to you. Also, the mayo and mustard dressing can really make any side dish feel too heavy. For some brightness, green bell pepper really is quite the help. Don’t have green bell pepper on hand? Any color bell pepper works, or you could even use cucumbers, celery, radishes, or carrots. 

Parsley: Here is the second ingredient that may not have been in your potato salad before, but it really should be! Again, it looks healthy, but this is no healthy salad takeover! The parsley spreads itself throughout the potato salad, giving it a little extra flavor without taking over at all. When we say ¼ cup of minced parsley, we mean you should mince enough parsley to fill the entire ¼ cup. Don’t be afraid to make it heaping! This should take under half a bunch of parsley, so no need to purchase a lot at the grocery store. If you aren’t a fan of the parsley, this is an ingredient you can skip without any replacement! 

Mayo: Here’s a classic ingredient! We may use 2 tbsp when you may be used to nearly 2 cups, but let us tell you it doesn’t take that much to completely coat a potato salad! Whether you use mayo, miracle whip, light or full-fat, or even sour cream you should be pleased with the results of this recipe. Just use what you have on hand! 

If you feel you added too much mustard, salt, pepper, or any other flavor-this is where mayo also comes in. You can increase it a few tablespoons for when you’ve gone a little overboard. It may dress your potato salad a bit more, but it’s not nearly as bad as adding more mayo to a salad that already has heaps! 

Mustard: Another classic ingredient incoming! Mustard adds flavor and acidity, two things potato salad has been known for. When it comes to mustard type, we just use classic yellow mustard. We add a pretty generous amount considering how little mayo we have in this recipe. In our opinion, it works great! If you happen to increase the mayo in this recipe for whatever reason, you can also add another squirt of mustard to keep the ratio constant.

If you want a bit lighter of a flavor, you can reduce this to 1 to 2 teaspoons. We wouldn’t recommend going under that. Since this is already quite a good amount of mustard, we can’t recommend increasing it in this recipe. If you are using a tangier mustard, such as Dijon, we recommend starting at 1 teaspoon, tasting, and going from there. 1 tablespoon of an extra tangy mustard may be too much for this recipe. Only have your spice cabinet? Go for about 1 teaspoon of mustard powder. 

Vinegar: Again, potato salad is known for its tang! To help supplement our mustard, we add a small splash of vinegar in this recipe. While we use white distilled vinegar, you can use whatever you have on hand. As long as it’s not overly flavored, like balsamic, of course! The brand we are using has 4% acidity, so extra-diluted or concentrated vinegars in your cabinet may mean you need to add more or less vinegar to this recipe, respectively. 

Salt: A basic ingredient, but oh-so-necessary! Salt keeps this potato salad from falling flat. We would say we have just the right amount of salt in this recipe, but you know your tastes best. Feel free to reduce or increase the salt as desired. 

Black Pepper: Look, we really like black pepper. Freshly cracked, especially! However, this is not a recipe that needs a heavy dose. Trust us. If you go overboard, you’ll be coughing on peppercorns and adding some more mayo and mustard to make up for your mistake. Ask us how we know! That’s why we recommend sticking with about ¼ teaspoon of ground black pepper. ½ teaspoon may work well for you and your guests, but please taste after the ¼ teaspoon addition to make sure. It doesn’t sound like a lot, but black pepper really stands out in potato salad. If you are using freshly cracked, try to stick to just a few cracks-tasting as you go. Less is more here! 

KEY INFORMATION: 

How Long Do You Boil Potatoes for Potato Salad? The key is to boil them just until they’re fork tender. For mashed potatoes, it doesn’t really matter if they’ve been fork tender for 5 minutes now but you boiled them a little extra anyway. You’ll mash them, after all! For potato salad, you need to be on the lookout. Check in at the 10 minute mark, and check once every few minutes thereafter, until you can easily stick a fork through your diced potatoes. 

How Do You Make Potatoes Retain Their Shape In Potato Salad? While the type of potatoes can really make a difference, our tricks mean you can use any kind of potato.

The first step is to cut your potatoes into chunks. We’re going for chunks here, not diced! A little on the larger side is A-okay. You’ll find you can eyeball this pretty well, just think of what size you’d want to eat. Just keep your chunks consistent so they all are done cooking in the same amount of time.

The second step, as mentioned above, is to not overcook them!

The third step is to steam the potatoes! After you drain them, put them back on medium heat until all the water has evaporated that was on the bottom of the pan. The bottoms of the potatoes touching the pan should have just begun to stick, but you shouldn’t lose a lot of potato in this process. 

How Do I Make Potato Salad For a Crowd? You’ll want to get a couple (or more) 9×13 casserole dishes or those large aluminum pans you can find quite easily at the grocery store. From there-double, triple, quadruple, or even quintuple or more this recipe for your needs. Since you’ll have a lot of green onions and bell peppers to chop, you’ll want to have fully prepared the green onions, bell pepper, and parsley before dealing with your potatoes. This prevents them from overcooking as you multitask or browning before you can put them in the water. Otherwise, when the potatoes are ready, you may not be done chopping what else goes into the salad! 

What Are The Best Potatoes for Potato Salad? Traditionally, waxy potatoes are considered the best. These are potatoes like red potatoes, fingerlings, baby yukons, and so on! Waxy potatoes, when cooked, hold their shape the best with minimal effort. Perfect for if you don’t want to use our above tips or are extra in need of a guaranteed success. 

Can You Make Potato Salad Ahead of Time? Yes! If you’re hosting a barbeque especially, you’ll know there is a lot more preparation for a good party than just making the potato salad. Make it a day ahead, store it in the refrigerator, and focus on other things! As your potato salad sits in the fridge overnight, the flavor will also meld with the potatoes and get even tastier!