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.
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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]
Damn. Now my mom’s secret ingredient is out of the bag too! LOVE the bacon drippings. And while we’re at it, my mom does a combo mayo, buttermilk…shakes it up with salt, pepper and bacon drippings. It’s never too mayonnaise-y. Sometimes when she’s feeling kooky, she’ll add sliced black olives. That’s good too. She is truly potato salad queen.
I have this in my fridge right now, chilling for tonight’s dinner. I tasted a bit, still warm, and OHMAHGAWD it is so good! I left out the green pepper as my husband doesn’t like them, and only used two hard-boiled eggs because I forgot to buy eggs (who does that?).
Can’t wait for dinner tonight!
THIS IS SIMPLY THE BEST POTATO SALAD EVER! I thank you from the bottom of my heart mami! I thank you for sharing all of this love, with all of us, to share with all of our other friends!!! When I was a kid I used to go with a friend, over to one of his friends house and his wife would make a salad similar. Now that I am much older and I have friends over to my house I have been fantasizing about a potato salad with bacon in it! So I came across you and your GREAT site via google. I made this recipe 3 days ago at my bbq and all in attendances wanted this recipe… I was a little hurt though, I thought all would want my ribs recipe… Few did, however nothing like this one! I double what your recipe called for and added some black pepper with a dash more salt… This recipe has truly been a dream come true for me! I deeply thank you for sharing this with your NEW friends in Seattle.
Hi! I hope you don’t mind, I included this link to my blog. I don’t know your name, or at least I wasn’t able to get your name. I was inspired to share it with minor revisions on your recipe and it worked for me. Thanks!
I plan on making this soon…it sounds delectable! My only question is….If you mix all the dressing ingredients in the frying pan, does the finished dressing look a little gritty and darkened from the fried bacon particles in the pan? Not that it’s going to stop me from making it…just wanted to know. Thanks! :)
Hi Karen, You will see some bits from the bacon grease but it definitely doesn’t make the dish look “dirty”. Enjoy!!
Just about the kind I make, except instead of sugar, I use a little sweet relish. Also use a little sweet relish in my deviled eggs………super good.
This is now my “keeper” recipe! I might have added a tad more bacon grease, but honestly I didn’t vear from the recipe at all and it came out really good! THANK YOU!!!
What kind of onion are we supposed to use with this recipe? Red or yellow?
Hi Erica, Yellow onion.
This is the best potato salad ever. How do I know? Because it’s the recipe that my mother and grandmother used! The ingredient amounts are slightly different, and they were for them too, depending on the number of people they were seving an their individual likes and dislikes. I never had a specific recipe for this as Mom ad Grandma just knew how much of everything to put together depending on the no. of people to feed. In those days, you learned how to cook by being the “assistant” to your mother and grandmother. Those are very good memories.
What a hit! This is my new go to potato salad recipe! Thank you
I only just came across this recipe. The best part is I make my own mayonnaise from bacon drippings. I always collect the fat as we have bacon in our house every Sunday morning. There is usually around 8 people over for breakfast. I read about the advantages of bacon fat and have been using it ever since. I used my mayonnaise and of course I still put in the extra bacon dripping it was perfect. Everyone loved it. They couldn’t believe the difference the bacon fat made. This one has been printed of and placed in my salad folder in the kitchen. Thank you for posting it.
Can you please explain to a ‘Kiwi’ girl what bacon drippings are please? Is it just the fat that comes off the bacon in the pan? Thanks :)
Hi Marnie, You are spot-on! The bacon drippings is just the bacon grease in the pan.
just heard about this recipe
I made a big bowl of this salad yesterday! I’m not a big fan of hard-boiled eggs in my salad, so I only added two. On the other hand, I’m a total, die-hard veggie girl, so I added twice as much bell pepper and four times as much celery. The result? Wonderful, wonderful crunchy texture. I only added about 2-3 tbsp of mayo, substituting the rest with Balkan yoghurt – that’s pretty much my standard approach to any salad. I also thought the salad would benefit from a bit of spice, so I added lots of freshly ground black pepper. The result? Awesomeness :)
Also…I was contemplating roasting my potatoes this time as opposed to the traditional boiling the potatoes…
What do we think about this?
Same ingredients…just roasted potatoes instead of boiled….
I think its a great idea but I would only use the bacon and maybe the eggs and onion. Myself personally I wouldn’t use the celery or the green pepper. But I think it would be an awesome idea. If you have already done it can you post and let us know how it went.
I am DEFINITELY gonna try this recipe…
Need some advice first…
I am making it for a group of 20 people and no matter what recipe i am using…I plan on using 8-10 lbs. of potatoes…
Any suggestions on how much to up the ingredients for this much?
Hi Christine, I have never actually weighed the potatoes (eek!) but I would say you’ll probably want to triple the other ingredients.
I made this during the Thanksgiving holiday and it went so perfectly with leftover turkey sandwiches! This potato salad had EVERYONE raving…it really is the best ever! I made a lot, so we had leftovers for 3 days and it got yummier every day! I’m obsessed with the flavor combinations and textures. I have never been a huge potato salad lover–but I am NOW!
Looks really yummy, the bacon is what makes it really stand out in awesome taste probably.
I can say one thing, people who do not like mayonnaise on potato salad must be eating potato salad with Miracle Whip or some other awful mayo. The only mayonnaise that should be used is Hellman’s or Best Food (same thing, but west of the Rockies Hellman’s is called Best Food). I hate potato salad or deviled eggs that have M.W. in them…gross! I will be trying this recipe with Hellman’s. :-)
That’s quite possible! I grew up in the 80’s and Miracle Whip was all the rage.You may have just cracked the case!
WOW this is soooooooooo good :) Thanks for a great recipe!
Good God, I am in my 50’s and I have NEVER made potato salad for all the reasons everyone mentioned. Mayonnaise, YUCH. But I have to bring a vegetarian salad to a party the day after tomorrow and the birthday girl requested potato salad. Can I leave out the bacon?? I know, I know…blasphemy, but you gotta do what you gotta do. Will it still taste good? Anything else I could add in its place? Thanks!
Hi Dee, It will definitely still be good, just missing that “certain something”. I would replace the bacon drippings with a vegetable or canola oil for the dressing.
I have made this potato salad for years, but after I boil the potatoes, I salt and pepper them and place them under the broiler till crispy on the outside. YUMMMMM
Well…I have to say I think I have the ‘best ever’ potato salad and no surprise; it’s got bacon and bacon drippings. But I also mix half sour cream and half mayo for the dressing…I always thought that was more the big ‘secret’ but you’re right. Bacon trumps sour cream any day!
This really does look so good!! I’m putting it in my files and I’ll be trying it in the coming week. Thanks!
Just tried your recipe. Loved it!! The bacon really made the difference. Definitely a recipe to keep. Thanks.
YES!!! This is “the best potato salad ever”, the name is not hyperbole. I’d been making one pretty close to this for years but this recipe, with the addition of bacon and sugar and no vinegar is perfect. I despise store bought and restaurant potato salads because they always are too heavy on something or completely lacking in something else.
This is perfection.
Of course it’s yummy–bacon drippings and sugar–ha ha!! I personally do not like a potato salad with 100% mayo either. I always use half mayo and half sour cream or plain yogurt, not only for calorie-cutting reasons but as a matter of taste.
How do you feel about other kinds of potato salads?? german style/warm?? yum! My mom has been making “italian potato salad” for years and I love it!! Its with vinegar and oil, (you know I have a thing for tart vinegar tastes!!) I’ve been making coleslaw with vinegar and oil too…I, like you, hate gloppy mayo. Maybe you can lighten up egg salad too?!!?
Oh, I do love German-style potato salad! And I also love oil and vinegar coleslaw… hello Primanti’s :) I did an egg salad a couple of months ago, and I really like it – not TOO mayo-laden.
Thanks for posting this recipe I made it with just a few changes and my husband declared it the best potato salad ever! I have linked my post back to your site.
http://cooklisacook.blogspot.com/2011/06/potato-salad-with-bacon.html
Thanks again,
Lisa~~
Great recipe!!!! Thanks for sharing. :)