Creamy potato salad, full of colourful ingredients, and lots of flavour. A quick and easy potato salad recipe that can be thrown together with simple ingredients, this classic and beloved dish is perfect for a summer barbecue, dinner on the patio, or picnic lunch. It’s a guaranteed crowd pleaser!
I’ll be honest, I used to hate potato salad. As a kid, I thought it was particularly bland, a bit slimy, and usually it gave me a stomach ache. I totally get the crowd who hate mayonnaise, but truly – you haven’t tried my potato salad. It’s divine, please give it a try at least once!
My recipe isn’t too stereotypical I think, or at least it’s got a few extra ingredients in it to give it more flavour, especially the addition of my pickled red onions.
I think that’s where the fault can lie with potato salad – if it’s not well seasoned enough and doesn’t have enough interesting stuff happening in it, then it’s just basically mashed potatoes and boiled eggs, no? I feel a bit disgusted just thinking about it.
One thing to watch out for with potato salad is, in fact, how long to cook the potatoes and the eggs.
For perfect hard-boiled eggs, add them to a pot of already boiling water for exactly 9 minutes, then immediately place them in cold water so they don’t overcook. Overcooked eggs will turn gray and creepy, while undercooked eggs (undercooked for potato salad) will be runny or gummy. Leave the five minute eggs at the breakfast table, because they need to be pretty firm and cooked for potato salad.
Regarding the potatoes, there’s a ton of variation that can happen here. I’m using potatoes fresh from the garden. In general, for almost everything, I prefer Yukon Gold potatoes, but just choose the one you like best or have available – red potatoes also work quite well.
Look at this incredibly small potato I found in the garden! It’s barely one mouthful!
“One does not simply cook a potato…”
To get a real potato flavour from your spuds, wash them, leave the skin on, then cut them into large rough chunks. This ensures all your potatoes cook at the same rate, instead of having a small spud overcooked and a large one raw in the centre. Leaving the skins on during the boiling process also adds way more flavour to the potatoes.
In general, potatoes cut into chunks will cook in boiling water in about 10-15 minutes. I think this might depend on the depth of your pot and how strong your stove burners are to some extent. My mother’s stove boils potato chunks in just 8 minutes, while mine takes almost 20 minutes sometimes! I recommend just piercing a potato regularly with a fork to tell when they’re done. A perfectly cooked potato for potato salad can be easily pierced with a fork, but isn’t disintegrating on contact.
Once the potatoes are cooked, immediately transfer them to a bowl to cool down. The larger the surface area they have to air out, the better. Once they are quite cool, you can remove the potato skins. You can just leave the skins on if you want the extra fibre, though be warned, it might add a weird texture to the potato salad…
Homemade Potato Salad with Fresh Dill
This easy and creamy potato salad recipe makes about 6-8 servings, and is ready from start to finish in just one hour.
Enjoy this with cheesy baked fish or radish salad for a delightful summer dinner on the patio!
Ingredients
For the Potatoes:
- 4 cups water
- 4 cups potatoes, cut into large chunks
- pinch of salt
For the Eggs:
- 4 eggs
- 3 cups water
The Pickles:
- ½ cup diced dill pickles
- ½ cup diced pickled red onion (or just use regular raw red onion)
The Fresh Herbs:
- fresh chives, dill, etc.
The Dressing:
- ½ cup mayonnaise
- 2 tbsp mustard
- 2 tbsp minced garlic
- 1 tsp paprika
- 1 tsp celery seeds
- 2 tbsp fresh dill (or 2 tsp dried dill)
- 2 tbsp fresh parsley (or 2 tsp dried parsley)
- 1 tbsp rice wine vinegar
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- ¼ tsp salt
- ¼ tsp ground pepper
Tools
- large pot
- large spoon
- knife
- vegetable peeler
- cutting board
- garlic press
- measuring cups
- measuring spoons
- mixing bowl
- mixing spoon
- optional : kitchen scissors
Instructions
1. Wash and slice the potatoes, then add them to a pot of water with a pinch of salt.
2. Bring the pot of water and potatoes to a boil over high heat. Let them boil for 10-15 minutes, or until the potatoes are tender but not falling apart. Test them regularly with a fork – the fork should pass through the potato pieces, but not cause them to break apart too much.
3. Once cooked, strain the water from the pot. Transfer the potatoes to a mixing bowl to cool off.
4. Once the potatoes are cool enough to touch, remove the skins (if you didn’t peel the potatoes before cooking), and roughly cut the potatoes into smaller bite-size chunks.
5. Bring a pot of water to a boil for the eggs, containing enough water to cover the eggs completely.
6. Once the water is boiling, gently lower the eggs into the hot water using a large spoon.
7. Let the eggs boil for 9 minutes.
8. Once 9 minutes are up, strain the hot water from the pot and cover the eggs in cold water. Set aside for a minute or two to cool.
9. Remove the eggshells from the eggs, give them a quick rinse and pat them dry with a paper towel.
10. Dice the cooked peeled eggs, then add them to the bowl with potato chunks.
11. Dice the dill pickle and pickled red onion, then add them to the potato salad.
12. Mix together the ingredients for the dressing, then add the dressing to the potato salad.
13. Gently mix the potato salad until all the ingredients are evenly distributed.
14. Serve garnished with fresh herbs, and enjoy!
Perfect Potato Salad with Pickles and Dill
The true stars of my potato salad have got to be the pickled red onions, soy sauce and paprika. Fresh dill also makes any potato salad phenomenal.
If you’re wanting to switch things up a bit, try adding different pickled vegetables in place of the dill pickles – why not bread and butter pickles, pickled carrots, or even pickled asparagus?
You can also add pickle brine or apple cider vinegar in place of the rice wine vinegar, if desired. Other seasonings that could be added to the potato salad could include curry powder, herbes de Provence, or Sriracha.
For some added spice, add some hot peppers! Jalapeños, Serranos or Thai chili peppers would all work great here.
Did you make this potato salad? Let me know!
Simmering Starfruit 
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