Best Ever Potato Salad
This BEST EVER Potato Salad (with bacon!) is straight from grandma’s recipe box! It is easy, creamy, and loaded with bacon, and a secret ingredient in the dressing puts it over the top. It converted me to being a potato salad lover! Please don’t go through the entire summer without making this at least once!
Why You’ll Love This Potato Salad with Bacon
I long disliked potato salad because of how over-the-top mayonnaise-y it typically is. That is, until this recipe. It was life-changing, and I am so happy to share the recipe with you!
This recipe comes from a friend’s grandmother, and on the recipe card she gave me it is titled “Best Ever Potato Salad”. A bold statement and one that always gives me pause, but it is absolutely, 100% warranted in this case.
First, I tend to trust old family recipes over others; second, the grandma was confident enough to call it the best; and lastly, it has a secret ingredient that takes it over the top. Well-deserved!
Ingredients
This classic potato salad relies upon these basic ingredients:
- Red Potatoes – You can substitute Yukon gold potatoes; both hold their shape really well in potato salad.
- Bacon – Regular sliced bacon is perfect!
- Hard-Boiled Eggs – A classic potato salad add-in.
- Celery – For crunch and flavor!
- Onion – A small yellow onion; you can substitute a shallot.
- Mayonnaise – This is the base of the dressing. You can substitute all or part with either sour cream or plain Greek yogurt. These will both impart more of a tangy flavor, but will still work well here.
- Dijon Mustard – Adds a little bite to the dressing.
- Sugar – Classic granulated sugar for a little sweetness in the dressing.
Many potato salad recipes call for vinegar of some type in the dressing, but the Dijon mustard here does a great job of adding tang and acid and goes incredibly well with the creaminess of the mayonnaise and the sweetness of the sugar.
The Secret Ingredient that Makes This Potato Salad THE BEST
The bacon drippings!
Along with all of the great ingredients that give this salad a great depth of flavor and lots of texture, the dressing on this potato salad is what makes it insanely special.
After frying up the bacon, you save a couple of tablespoons of the bacon drippings and whisk in a modest amount of mayonnaise, some Dijon mustard, a bit of sugar, and a smidge of salt.
It is ah-mazing. The flavor is robust, not terribly mayonnaise-y (a huge bonus in my book), and a perfect accent to all the flavors and textures in the salad.
How to Make This Potato Salad
First things first… if you haven’t hard-boiled your eggs yet, do that first so they have time to cool down before being added to the potato salad. Then…
- Boil the potatoes until they are fork-tender, then drain.
- Meanwhile, cook the bacon in a skillet until crisp. Drain off the bacon drippings, reserving a couple of tablespoons.
- Add the remaining dressing ingredients to the skillet and whisk to combine.
- Toss together the potatoes, eggs, celery, and green pepper. Pour the dressing over and stir to coat, then gently mix in the bacon.
- Cover and refrigerate at least 3 hours before serving.
Making it Ahead of Time
Potato salad is the perfect candidate for making in advance! You can safely (and easily) make this potato salad up to 1 day in advance and keep it covered in the refrigerator before serving.
I have served this to people who claim to hate potato salad because of the mayonnaise factor. I have also served it to people who claim that they only like their mom’s/grandma’s/aunt’s recipe and no others.
All of these people? They have tripped over themselves raving about this recipe, declaring it the best ever potato salad they’ve ever had.
If You Like This Potato Salad Recipe, Try These Summery Salads:
- Chinese Coleslaw
- Loaded Baked Potato Salad
- Thai Peanut Cabbage Slaw
- Seven Layer Salad
- Broccoli Salad
Watch the Recipe Video:
If you make this potato salad recipe and love it, remember to stop back and give it a 5-star rating – it helps others find the recipe! ❤️️
Best Ever Potato Salad
Ingredients
- 1½ pounds red potatoes, cut into small cubes (about 4 cups)
- 12 ounce package bacon, cut into 1-inch pieces
- ¾ cup (170 g) mayonnaise
- 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
- 2 teaspoons granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 4 hard-boiled eggs, peeled and chopped
- 1 stalk celery, finely diced
- 1 small yellow onion, finely diced
- ½ medium green pepper, finely diced
Instructions
- Boil the potatoes until they are fork tender. (If you're not sure how to boil the potatoes, this is a good resource.) Drain the potatoes and set aside.
- Meanwhile, cook the bacon in a skillet over medium-low heat until crisp. Remove bacon with a slotted spoon and place on a paper towel-lined plate to drain. Pour off all but 2 tablespoons of the bacon drippings in the skillet and remove the pan from heat.
- Add the mayonnaise, mustard, sugar and salt to the reserved bacon drippings in the skillet and whisk to combine.
- In a large bowl, combine the potatoes, eggs, celery, onion and green pepper. Pour the dressing over the ingredients and gently stir to evenly coat. Stir in the bacon.
- Cover and refrigerate for at least 3 hours before serving. Leftovers can be stored, covered, in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
Notes
- Potatoes: You can substitute Yukon gold potatoes; they also hold their shape well in potato salad.
- Onion: You can use one shallot in place of the chopped onion.
- Mayonnaise: You can substitute all or part with sour cream or plain Greek yogurt. These will both impart more of a tangy flavor but will still work.
- Storage: Leftovers should be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
- Make-Ahead: You can prepare this potato salad and keep it covered, in the refrigerator, up to 1 day in advance of serving it.
Did you make this recipe?
Leave a review below, then snap a picture and tag @thebrowneyedbaker on Instagram so I can see it!
[photos by Ari of Well Seasoned]
Sorry but had to downgrade earlier opinion as no one wanted to eat the leftovers so had to throw it out. Sad. i hate wasting food. Again this is not on the recipe perhaps just my crowd as they say “we like yours better”
Sorry but respectfully disagree with the title: We did not find this to be best ever but actually “just okay” by all family votes. Followed recipe to the T with the exception of decreased sugar as the Yukon Gold potatoes had a sweet taste to begin with. That said however I say try it as it may be for you. Each to his own!
I have been making potato salad for 50 years. I was looking for a better dressing than just dumping in some mayo, mustard and vinegar.
My husband and I both thought this was the best potato salad I ever made.
Thanks for the great recipe.
This is the best potato salad! My husband asks after it all the time, and it is usually gone that night – never any left for lunches or leftovers! Guests continue to rave about it. Thank you!
Definitely lives up to the name! I’ve never made any other recipe other than the one I grew up on and wanted something different. Came across this recipe and so glad I did. It’s absolutely delicious!
This truly is the “Best Ever” potato salad I’ve ever had and made. It’s now my go-to for picnics and gatherings.
This is my go-to! It’s so fresh and all my friends love it just as much as I do.
Recepe it is Is very good the peoples comments are over the TOP very boring and repetitive,enough said !!!!
Sounds amazing!
Hello Michelle! I believe you must have gotten into MY mother’s recipe box! We grew up with this same recipe and continue to wow friends with it! The one technique in which we differ slightly, is that we drizzle some of the bacon fat directly on the cooked, and still warm potatoes! (Timing counts here!) It absorbs deliciously. Then we immediately add all the remaining prepped ingredients. We always enjoy a bowl of the potato salad whilst warm—a special treat to us! Having had our fill, we chill the remaining salad, enjoying it in the traditional chilled manner.
Take the sugar and green pepper out and add chopped hard-boiled eggs and this is the same as my mother’s recipe we’ve been making for decades. Bacon definitely makes the potato salad. She also reserved and added a few tablespoons of the bacon grease and it gives it a kick.
Excited to make this. Folks, here’s the way to make perfect hard boiled eggs. Place them in cold water, covering the eggs by about an inch. Bring the water to a full boil then immediately remove from heat, cover and set the timer for 16 minutes. Plunge in cold water.
I’ve made this recipe over a dozen times and it’s a hit every single time. Simply outstanding and truly the best ever. Thanks for sharing it!
Made this tonight and it was a hit!!! I omitted the green peppers but otherwise followed recipe! Will be making again!
Can’t wait to make this for Mother’s Day.
Michelle, this really is the best potato salad ever! As a personal preference, I omitted the green pepper and added freshly ground black pepper but the basic recipe is perfect.
Amazing. Thank you. It’s my go to now for sure. Only thing I changed was I salted the potato water so I cut the added salt in half.
This turned out delicious! We loved it! Thanks for a great recipe!
Awesome potato salad. Such great flavour, not like a typical mayo/mustard only version. Very yummy, I am serving it tomorrow at a Canada Day dinner party as a side for pulled beef on a bun. I will make this again for sure. I did leave out the green pepper as I’m not a fan and find raw green pepper overpowers other flavours.
Personally, I love mayo. Real mayo, not that yucky Kraft imitation. This recipe sounds intriguing, but I’ll leave out the green pepper. My father-in-law will probably love this! He says my husband and I spoil his palate for anyone else’s food. We yse recioes like yours!
looks delish-gotta’ make this.
Can you add pickle relish to the salad
close to my favorite recipe. It has been years since I made it so I started with this and did my own thing.
Wanted to say that I adore this recipe!! Found it several years ago, and used it as a side at a volunteer firefighter fund raiser. Everyone loved it. I was asked to make it again for a senior citizen center fund raiser, again it was a hit. Thought you would want to know.
I left the bacon out. I’ve never felt comfortable hurting pigs – especially to make a salad. The rest tasted fine.