How to Make Tasty Basic Potato Salad

Delicious and Easy Recipes

Basic Potato Salad. Easy creamy potato salad recipe with lots of tips for making it best, including the best potatoes to use and Small, waxy and thin-skinned potatoes are best for potato salad. Combining the potatoes with the vinegar mixture while they're still hot allows them to absorb it all for a more flavorful salad. This potato salad recipe is so tasty that I used it as a base to make a healthier version with yogurt.

Basic Potato Salad It's simple, not fancy at all, and just plain good! I don't chop potatoes before I boil them for potato salad. I always boil them in their jackets. You can have Basic Potato Salad using 12 ingredients and 9 steps. Here is how you cook it.

Ingredients of Basic Potato Salad

  1. 🢂 3 pounds of Russet potatoes, halved.
  2. 🢂 1 Tablespoon of white vinegar.
  3. 🢂 of salt (I prefer kosher).
  4. 🢂 4 of large eggs.
  5. 🢂 1/2 of a medium onion, minced (about 1 cup).
  6. 🢂 2 of medium carrots, minced (about 3/4 cup).
  7. 🢂 2 of large celery ribs, minced (about 3/4 cup).
  8. 🢂 8-10 of baby sweet pickles, minced (1 to 1.25 cups).
  9. 🢂 of brine from the pickles.
  10. 🢂 1-1.5 cups of mayonnaise.
  11. 🢂 2-3 Tablespoons of mustard.
  12. 🢂 of black pepper.

Potato salad is notorious for giving hapless picnickers a bout of food poisoning! What kind of potatoes are best for potato salad? Now is not the time to use extra starchy russet For potato salad you need waxy potatoes. They hold their shape better when cooking and they usually.

step by step Basic Potato Salad

  1. Put your potatoes in a pot with enough water to cover by 1/2 an inch + 2 teaspoons salt + 1 Tablespoon vinegar. Start covered with medium high heat until the water starts boiling (15 to 20 minutes), then put the lid askew, turn the heat down to medium low, and cook another 20 minutes or so until you can pierce the center of the thickest piece with a skewer or fork like a warm knife through butter..
  2. While the potatoes are going, hard boil your eggs. Some people like to put them in with the potatoes, but it's just easier for me to keep track of them in a separate pot. I usually start with cold water, bring the water up to a gentle boil and let the eggs continue cooking another 4 minutes or so for a hard boil. Once the eggs are boiled, drain the hot water and cover them with cold tap water. This stops the cooking process and keeps the yolks from getting that green ring..
  3. Put your minced carrots, celery, and onion in a bowl and barely cover with pickle brine, add 1.5 teaspoons salt and stir to dissolve. I find small, controlled stirring action at the bottom of the bowl does a quicker job of dissolving the salt. Let the veg sit in the brine until it's time to mix the potato salad..
  4. When potatoes are cooked through, take them out of the pot, drain well, and let them cool for at least 20 minutes or so before peeling. This is a good time to peel and chop your eggs into roughly 1/2-inch pieces and set aside..
  5. Cut the potatoes into roughly 1-inch cubes, place in a mixing bowl, and toss with 1/3 cup pickle brine and 1 teaspoon salt sprinkled evenly over all the potatoes..
  6. Squeeze the excess liquid out of the veg mixture in fistfuls and add it to the potatoes along with the minced pickles. (The reason for steeping the veg in the brine is to season it all the way through and, in squeezing the excess liquid, giving it a pickled crunch without adding extra liquid to your salad.).
  7. Add 1 cup of mayonnaise and 2 Tablespoons of mustard to start and gently fold the potato salad mixture to season evenly. Give it a taste because the next step is where you're going to adjust your seasoning if you need to..
  8. Add chopped eggs and adjust seasoning if needed - additional mayonnaise for more creaminess, mustard for more of that mustard punch, maybe a *little* more salt or pickle brine if you think the potato pieces could use a little more seasoning, black pepper to taste - and fold gently again to incorporate thoroughly..
  9. Potato salad's done! Store in fridge until serving. Enjoy! :).

Potato salad is a summertime favorite, and so easy to make. Perfect for those outdoor grilling parties and family reunions. Boil the potatoes until tender but not too soft. Allow potatoes to cool until you can stand to touch them, then peel and cube. We're delivering the best basic potato salad recipe every cook needs and adding a few mix-ins for when you want to change it up.