Old Fashioned German Potato Salad Recipe

Southern German potato salad is completely different than American potato salad- the only thing they have in common are the boiled potatoes! American Potato Salad is a cold potato salad dressed in a mayonnaise-based dressing often with mustard, relish, celery and eggs.  The term “German Potato Salad,” in America is used to describe our Americanized version of potato salad from the Bavarian region of southern Germany. It is a warm potato salad dressed with a vinaigrette made from bacon drippings, vinegar, mustard, sugar and onions tossed with the potatoes while they are still warm so they absorb the flavor. Potato Salad from northern Germany would commonly include mayonnaise and be quite similar to our mayonnaise-based American potato salad.

Kartoffelsalat is the name of German Potato Salad in the German language.

Hot German potato salad is referring to Bavarian German potato salad that is best served warm (as shared here today) as opposed to German potato salad from northern Germany which is more similar to our American potato salad and is served cold.

You can use any waxy potatoes for German potato salad.  These thin-skinned potatoes have the least amount of starch and retain their shape well when boiled.   Thin skins also mean that peeling is optional. Examples are red, new, or fingerling potatoes.

It’s better to boil the potatoes halved or quartered so they cook more evenly and soak up more flavor from the salted water.

You’ll want to bring the potatoes to a boil, then reduce the heat to medium so that the water is still gently bubbling.  Cook the potatoes for 8-12 minutes or until they easily pierce with a fork.  Immediately drain the potatoes to prevent them from continuing to cook and becoming too soft.

Although German potato salad doesn’t contain mayonnaise, it should not sit at room temperature for more than two hours before serving.  If it won’t be consumed within two hours, hold the bacon, refrigerate and gently reheat before adding the bacon and serving. 

German potato salad is more flavorful if prepared the day ahead and served the next day so the potatoes have more time to soak up the dressing.  If serving the next day, hold the bacon and stir in when serving. 

I love potatoes so it’s hard to fathom a time when potatoes weren’t a welcome addition to every table! The potato was cultivated in modern-day southern Peru and northwestern Bolivia between 8,000 and 5,000 BC. The potato was brought to Europe in the 1500s, but most Europeans refused to eat the new crop.  It was distrusted and feared to be poisonous, nicknamed “the devil’s apples.”   At first, potatoes were mostly used for non-food purposes and then only consumed by the poor, the ill and the prisoners.  In fact, potatoes were barred from large-scale cultivation until the 1700s.
Eventually, agriculturalists in Europe found potatoes easier to grow and cultivate than other staple crops, such as wheat and oats. Most importantly, it became known that potatoes contained most of the vitamins needed for sustenance.  When much of Germany’s (then Prussia) crops failed in the 1750s, King Frederick the Great changed the laws and promptly promoted the rapid conversion of fallow land into potato fields and the popularity of the potato swept across Europe. 
As the popularity of the potato spread, so did its uses.  In the Bavarian region of southern Germany, potato salad was created as a way of using up leftover roasted or boiled potatoes.  Inexpensive ham or bacon were added, and the drippings were combined with vinegar to make the dressing.  Today, you will encounter different types of potato salad all across Bavaria, from neighbor to neighbor and city to city but they all have one thing in common = bacon drippings and vinegar dressing!