My Favorite Potato Salad

Written by Karen D | May 31, 2024 3:30:00 PM

With the official first day of Summer not scheduled for another few weeks, Memorial Day always seems to be the unofficial start of the season. It certainly was for us! While we ate indoors, our first summer picnic-style dinner included burgers and dogs on our balcony grill (with all the optional trimmings, of course), baked beans in the oven, blueberry pie for dessert and – you guessed it – my favorite potato salad!

I’m completely aware that nearly everyone has their own favorite potato salad. And while I don’t have an exact count, I believe there are something like two million potato salad recipes available online! But, over the years, with tweaking here and adjusting there, my own favorite has become a family request whenever we enjoy what Yogi Bear would call a “pic-a-nic” (remember him?). So here I am, sharing it with you. Even if you never try it, there might be a little tip or trick in here that you may choose to incorporate into your own favorite version. Let’s get started!

All the ingredients you’ll need are shown above.

1.5 lbs baby potatoes (I like using a mix of red & yellow), halved

1 Tablespoon dill pickle juice (or vinegar of your choice)

1 cup mayo

1/2 cup sour cream

3 Tablespoons sweet pickle relish

1 1/2 Tablespoons worcestershire sauce

1 1/2 teaspoon hot sauce (use your favorite)

2 teaspoons kosher salt

1 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 cup celery, sliced into approximately 1” strips

1/2 cup red onion, thinly sliced and rinsed in cold water

3 scallions, thinly sliced on the bias

7 hard-boiled eggs, quartered lengthwise

Parsley, for garnish

The best do-ahead I can suggest is to make your hard-boiled eggs the day before – or even earlier. For an easy-peel how-to that I continue to swear by, you can check out my blog post: Perfectly Peel-able Eggs. Because the recipe calls for the eggs to already be hard-boiled, I have not included the time to prepare them in the recipe times.

You can prepare all the ingredients while the potatoes are boiling and cooling, so let’s start with the potatoes!

First, I’m definitely in Camp Skin-On! Doing so adds color and texture. Of course, if you’re in Camp Peeled, go for it! If you decide to peel the potatoes, you may want to start with full-size potatoes instead of the baby potatoes, and then just cut them down to the size for potato salad. Look for “waxy” potatoes such as Yukon Gold or red potatoes, as they will remain more intact when boiled and tossed in the potato salad. More “floury” potatoes, such as Russet, are great for baking or mashing, but not so much for potato salad. For a really great discussion of the various types of potatoes, check out The Chopping Block Founder Shelley Young’s blog post: Understanding Potatoes.

Slice the baby potatoes in half, trying to make them all approximately the same size (so if you end up with a big one, don’t hesitate to cut it smaller). Place them in a pot with enough cold, salted water to cover them by about an inch. For me, that comes to just over my first knuckle, as you can see in the photo above. Always start with cold water so the potatoes come up in temperature along with the water for a nice, even cook. Bring them to a boil on your stovetop. Boil until tender-but-firm. Unlike boiling for mashed potatoes, you want these to hold up to being tossed about with your dressing. They will likely cook for no more than 10 minutes; feel free to take one out and test it for doneness along the way.

While the potatoes are cooking, lay a piece of parchment in a sheet pan. Drain the cooked potatoes and immediately spread them out on the sheet pan. This will allow them to cool quickly. Once on the pan and before they cool down, sprinkle the pickle juice (or vinegar) over the potatoes and gently toss with a spatula to coat. This boost of acid absorbs into the still-hot potatoes and starts your potato salad out with a little boost of flavor! Leave the potatoes on the sheet pan to cool completely.

While your potatoes are cooking and cooling, you can prep the rest of your ingredients. I like to start with the dressing so I can refrigerate it while slicing up the vegetables and eggs. I find that refrigerating the dressing allows it to firm up somewhat. Plus, it helps the flavors meld together and allows me to better taste for (potentially) additional seasoning.

I like to keep the dressing completely separate from the rest of the ingredients until the very end. I would rather add some of the dressing to the ingredients, than add the ingredients to all the dressing. I typically use most, but not all, of the dressing; adding everything else to all of it can make for a very slushy potato salad. Combine the sour cream and mayo (I use just one measuring cup for both, as you can see in the ingredients photo). I have found that using both as opposed to mayo alone gives the dressing more substance and creaminess; it doesn’t get as “soupy” as mayo alone sometimes does. The sour cream also adds a hint of tang to the dressing, which I like.

To the mayo-sour cream mixture, add the sweet pickle relish, Worcestershire sauce, hot sauce, 2 teaspoons of salt and 1.5 teaspoons of pepper. Stir together well. Note that the amount of hot sauce here will give the potato salad just a little heat – not much, but some. If you are at all uncertain but still want to give it a go, feel free to add it half-teaspoon increments and taste as you go. Place the dressing in the refrigerator until needed.

Now you can slice up your celery, onion, scallions and eggs. I suggest slicing the eggs last to minimize them drying out.

I like making little 1” strips for a bit of variety of texture in the finished potato salad. To do this, I cut the rib of celery into about 3” sections. Then I slice each of those sections into thin strips. Finally, I hold the strips together and slice them into 1” pieces. Certainly, if you prefer to dice the celery, that works, too! Put the sliced celery into the bowl you will use to mix the potato salad – use a larger bowl to give yourself room. You can always transfer everything to a serving bowl later.

For the red onion, again, you can do a simple dice if you wish. However, I prefer to thinly slice the onion. I find that biting into a thin slice is less overpowering in taste than a diced bit – especially when everything else in the potato salad is relatively mild. However you decide to cut the onion, I recommend placing it in a fine-meshed sieve and giving it a quick rinse under cold water. This will remove some of the pungent flavor, making the onion just a bit more palatable for the finished potato salad. Once rinsed and drained, place the onion on a paper towel to absorb any excess water. Put the sliced onions into the same bowl as the celery.

For the scallions, remove the root ends and thinly slice them on the bias, both white and green parts. “On the bias” simply means to slice them diagonally. They will taste the same, no matter how you slice them, but a bias cut is prettier from a presentation standpoint. And, as I’ve said throughout, it helps to vary the texture of the finished potato salad. In this photo, I tried to show the angle of the cut. Put the sliced scallions into the same bowl as the celery and onion.

On to the eggs! First, a note: I have found that I (and my family) like potato salad on the “eggier” side. Absolutely, if you prefer it less so – or completely eggless – feel free to adjust accordingly. I also prefer larger chunks of egg in the finished potato salad, instead of smaller bits.

All I do is quarter the eggs lengthwise. The yolks will naturally separate from the whites when everything is tossed together (if not sooner) and they will break apart a bit to deliciously blend with the dressing, giving it a beautiful golden color. The whites will remain relatively intact, and will make a nice contrast to the potatoes, since they will be the two “largest” ingredients in the finished potato salad. Place your sliced eggs in a separate bowl.

While it may have all sounded like a lot, preparing the dressing and slicing up the remaining ingredients only takes about 30 minutes. In that time, the potatoes have cooled to room temperature and the dressing has set up in the fridge. All that’s left to do is combine everything together!

First, place the cooked potatoes into the same bowl as the sliced vegetables, as shown below and toss together.

Remove the dressing from the fridge and taste it. Does it need more salt or pepper? Are you happy with the level of heat from the hot sauce? Now is the time to add more if you were cautious at the outset.

Once you’re satisfied with the flavor, add about half the dressing to the potato-vegetable mixture and give it a good – but gentle – toss, coating everything. I use a silicone spatula for this, as it allows me to scrape the sides and is gentle on the ingredients, especially the potatoes and (in a minute) the eggs. Now gently fold in the sliced eggs to coat again, adding more dressing to your taste. When you add the eggs, be sure to watch for yolks as they separate from the whites and make sure they get coated as well. This will allow them to break up a bit and meld with the dressing. If you have any dressing left over, set it aside (you likely will).

While the potato salad will be delicious immediately, I like to make it earlier in the day, cover the bowl I mixed it in, and put it in the fridge until about 20 minutes before I’m ready to serve it. This allows the potatoes to chill, the flavors to settle (more flavor) and get all nice and cozy. When you take it out of the fridge, give it another toss, double-checking that you’re happy with the amount of dressing you added – you can still add more of your reserved dressing to your taste!

Now is the time to turn the potato salad out into your serving bowl. Give your parsley a nice rough chop and sprinkle over the top to garnish. Now go enjoy your pic-a-nic!

If you like preparing summer dishes to enjoy outdoors, the patio is open at The Chopping Block! Nothing beats eating outdoors – except actually cooking outdoors! Take a look at all of our outdoor hands-on grilling classes.