How to Make the Best Potato Salad
This BEST Potato Salad recipe is mega creamy and flavorful - no dry or bland potato salad here! It is made with Yukon potatoes, relish, green onions, celery, eggs, bacon and a sensational dressing of mayonnaise, sour cream, mustard, and a few secret ingredients to give it just the right amount of kick. This creamy Potato Salad is easy to double/triple for a large crowd, can be made in advance for stress free sharing and best of all everyone loves this Best Potato Salad recipe!
Servings 8 -10 servings
Ingredients
Potato Salad
- 3 pounds white or Yukon gold potatoes, quartered (about 6 medium potatoes)
- 1 1/2 tablespoons salt
- 1/4 cup Famous Dave’s Signature Spicy Pickle Relish (may sub dill pickle relish) *
- 6 green onions, diced
- 1 cup chopped celery
- 4 hard boiled eggs, peeled and chopped
- 6 thick-cut bacon strips cooked and crumbled
Creamy Dressing
- 1 cup mayonnaise
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 1 1/2 tablespoons cider vinegar
- 1 1/2 tablespoons yellow mustard
- 1 tablespoon Hidden Valley salad dressing mix
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/4-1/2 teaspoon chili powder (optional for a kick)
- 1/4 teaspoon paprika
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper
Instructions
- Add potatoes to a large pot and fill with water to about 1-inch above potatoes. Bring to a boil and season with 1 1/2 tablespoons salt. Reduce heat to medium, cover, and continue to cook for 10-15 minutes or until potatoes are easily pierced with a fork but DO NOT OVERCOOK. Drain potatoes and refrigerate in a large bowl for 30 minutes then peel and cube.
- Meanwhile, whisk together all of the Creamy Dressing ingredients together in a large bowl (the same bowl you will add your potatoes). Stir in relish, green onions, celery and eggs. Stir in cubed potatoes once cool until evenly coated.
- Refrigerate at least 1 hour before serving; best if chilled overnight.
- When ready to serve, season with additional salt and pepper to taste and garnish with bacon.
Notes
*Use more or less to taste. You can also mix both Famous Dave's Spicy Relish and traditional dill relish.
HOW TO MAKE POTATO SALAD RECIPE TIPS
While there isn’t a right or wrong way to make potato salads, I think there are few tips and tricks that make a way better potato salad.- Right potatoes: You want to avoid using starchy potatoes like Russets that can turn dry, mealy, mushy and crumbly. Instead, both white and Yukon gold potatoes are best. They boast a delicious buttery flavor, are a little sweet, hold their shape after cooking while still imparting a creaminess all without becoming mushy. They also absorb the dressing better than waxy potatoes resulting in tastier potatoes through and through.
- Use cold Water: Next, you want to add your potatoes to cold water. By bringing the potatoes to a boil with the water, they cook more evenly and you aren’t left with overcooked mushy outsides and under cooked insides, but instead have the perfect melt in your mouth consistency.
- Add Salt to water: By adding salt to the boiling water, you are instantly infusing your potatoes with flavor from the inside out that simply isn’t achievable any other way.
- Cook potatoes just until tender: And of course, you need perfectly cooked potatoes. This is huge. Potatoes are the main ingredient, so its important that they aren’t undercooked for firm, crunchy potato salad or overcooked for mushy potato salad. Potatoes are done as soon as they are tender enough to be pierced through with a fork. No fancy tips on getting this right, especially as cooking times will vary. The best thing you can do is test your potatoes often.
- Cool Potatoes before dressing: Lastly, you want to let your potatoes completely cool before dressing them with this mayo-based dressing otherwise the dressing will melt and you are left with potatoes swimming in oil. Not so yum. You will want to refrigerate your cooked potatoes for at least 30 minutes, then you are free to peel them and douse them in dressing.