Best Ever Potato Salad Recipe
This BEST EVER Potato Salad recipe from grandma is easy, creamy, loaded with bacon, and a secret ingredient in the dressing puts it over the top! It converted me from being a potato salad hater to a potato salad lover! Please don’t go through the entire summer without making this at least once!
Potato salad falls into the same camp for me as egg salad. It’s a mayonnaise-based salad that I long disliked because of how over the top mayonnaise-y it typically is. Until this recipe. It was a life changing experience and I neeeeeed to share it 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 of all, I tend to trust old-school 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. So I am totally comfortable in telling you that it is, indeed, the best ever.
What Makes This Potato Salad the Best?
The secret ingredient…
Bacon drippings. Ahhhhhh.
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 tablespoons of the bacon drippings and whisk in a modest amount of mayonnaise, some Dijon mustard, a bit of sugar and smidge of salt. It is ah-mazing. The flavor is robust, not terribly mayonnaise-y (huge bonus in my book), and a perfect accent to all of the flavors and textures in the salad.
How to Make Potato Salad Ahead of Time
I totally get it… you’re hosting a picnic, or you’ve been invited to a bbq and you don’t want to be throwing the potato salad together last minute, plus we all know that given some time to sit in the refrigerator only makes it exponentially better.
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, like me, claim to hate potato salad because of how gloppy it can get with mayonnaise. 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 they’ve ever had.
So there you have it. The best potato salad, ever. You’ll want to keep this recipe stashed away for all of your summer parties and picnics! Be prepared for lots of recipe requests!
If You Like This Potato Salad Recipe, Try These Summery Salads:
- Chinese Coleslaw
- Loaded Baked Potato Salad
- Thai Peanut Cabbage Slaw
- Seven Layer Salad
- Basic Creamy Coleslaw Dressing
- Fancy Pants Coleslaw
- Broccoli Salad
Five years ago: The Best Twice Baked Potatoes
Six years ago: DIY: Iced Coffee
Seven years ago: Colossal Reese’s Pieces Chocolate Chip Cookies
Best Ever Potato Salad
Ingredients
- 1½ pounds (680.39 g) red potatoes, cut into small cubes (about 4 cups)
- 12 ounce (340.2 g) package bacon, cut into 1-inch pieces
- ¾ cup (168 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 (0.5 ) 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
Did you make this recipe?
Leave a review below, then snap a picture and tag @thebrowneyedbaker on Instagram so I can see it!
Update Notes: This recipe was originally published in April 2011, updated with new photos in June 2016, and refreshed again with updated photos, a video, and extra recipe success tips.
[photos by Ari of Well Seasoned]
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.
Why did the dressing split
Was in the mood for potato salad and a google search popped up a few and yours said the best so I had to try it. Adjusted for items in the cupboard cos still in lockdown so mine was a mix of sweet potato and white potato, daikon instead of celery, coconut sugar and whole seed mustard for the sauce and the outcome was great plus boiled eggs perfectly for probably the first time! I’m not a huge dressing fan but this was just the right amount – mine is a bit on the mustardy side but for a first trial super happy.
The bacon dripping,mayo,mustard dressing sure made a big difference. What with the crispy bacon with each spoonful in your mouth. So yummy!😋😋
I made your potato salad today for the 4th of July, and it was DELICIOUS!!!. We had a small celebration dinner, due to the virus, so there wasn’t a big crowd, but it was a hit with my family of three. Even my husband liked it, and he is not a potato salad guy. It was the bacon that put this recipe over the top, as you said!
You are my Go-To site for recipes. Haven’t ever had a bad one! Thanks!
Happy 4th, and let’s all stay safe!
this is the best potato salad – awesome! I highly recommend it to all my family and friends.
This potato salad is so good!!! Making it to have with crabs this Memorial Day & I’m very much looking forward to eating and sharing!
I really want to try this but I really hate celery, do you think it would still be good without the taste and texture? Should I add something in place of it? Thanks!
Hi Alyssa, HA! My husband loathes celery too, so I’m here to tell you you can omit the celery without an issue :)
Being the “celery liker” (&the cook) in a family with “haters” , I learned that most often, it’s not celery’s FLAVOR people dislike per se, but a textural component that’s offensive.. (stringy, too hard, watery, “what’s this GREEN stuff in it?!” -yes that’s a thing in my house!Lol ,etc.) . I’ve found that that replacing it with a handful or 2 of finely chopped celery leaves (like it was parsley, in fact you can even say it is, I’ve done this and the hater was magically pacified) instead, or a tsp. or 2 of celery seeds and/or powder in order to keep the essence that only celery absolutely adds to things -even if usually as a background note, but in a more nuanced, subtler way than using pieces of the actual vegetable. You can get back the desired “Crisp/crunchiness” factor of the missing celery by adding in the same amount of chopped water chestnuts, radishes, bell peppers, cucumber, frozen peas, or what have you!
Thanks for the details Martha. Ppl now seem to want to be frugal on their comments and they miss providing the relevant details. You really helped a lot. I’m not a big fan of celery either and I’m very much a texture person. Textural component can turn some ppl off as fast as the taste. Very intuitive! Love your suggestions ~ Cheers :) PS.
I want to also try this with a dash of Balsamic reduction or liquid smoke. Both amazing options to zhuzh up potato salads. Thanks for the great recipe, Michelle!
Hii,
Awesome potato salad recipe. these is very tasty. i like it.
I changed the bacon for chorizo it was awesome, I love this recipe, well done.
This certainly lives up to its name – absolutely the best potato salad I have ever made or eaten! The dressing is absolutely divine! I added seeded mustard to mine as well, and used red onion but no green pepper. My fiancé declared it the best thing he’s ever eaten after one forkful – and he’s someone who grew up LOVING super saucy and mayonnaise-y potato salad. Will definitely be making this again and again!!!