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]
Why did the dressing split
I had this the last time I made it- luckily I’d saved some bacon fat and had enough for a second go!
When mine split the thing I did differently was I mixed the sugar and salt with the bacon fat before putting in the mayo.
Second time I went back to combining the mayo and fat first, and then adding salt, sugar, etc.
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!!!
Indeed, hands down, this is THE BEST Potato Salad I have ever come across. Like me, I do not really like potato salads that are drenched thickly with mayonnaise. I like being able to taste the different textures in it and this is PERFECTION. Thank you so much for sharing it. I have since made it numerous times and each time, I actually scrape the bottom of my bowl EACH TIME. That is saying a lot for a picky eater like me. And each time I make it for family and friends, nothing is left to take home!
Every time I need to bring a dish now, this is what they ask for.
Awesome! I made it for Christmas and I’ve made it several times since. Thank you!
I have made this over and over!! The ONLY exception I did was not to use potatoes…I used chopped raw cauliflower instead as most of my family is keto!! They love this recipe!!! So thank you!!!!
This is basically our secret family recipe, minus the Dijon, and it’s the best ever. I always take to to parties and people rave about it. I have never liked regular potato salad—once you have the best it’s hard to like others.
I made this yesterday, and hands down, it really is the BEST potato salad I ever had!! What sets it apart from the normal potato salad, for me, is the amount of bacon and the bacon drippings in the dressing. I’ve already passed it on to my daughters! Thanks for a fantastic recipe!
Just made this today and had it with shrimp burgers from cook’s illustrated site. OMG!!! So delicious. I have always thought of potato salad as “ho hum”…always about the same. This totally blows me out of the water. This will be our “go to” recipe from now on!!!!! Thanks for sharing.
Hi there! While taking a look at your web site, your Best Ever Potato Salad caught my eye. I had a bag of baby Yukon gold potatoes on hand, so used those instead of red potatoes, and I used Maui onion instead of yellow onion, plus a red pepper I had on hand, as well as the rest of your suggested ingredients. My mom always swore by using bacon grease for all kinds of things. I hadn’t thought of using it in the dressing, but it was delicious. I did make the potato salad a day ahead of needing it for shared pot luck weekly dinner down by the ocean. I have to admit, I forgot to take a picture and before I knew it, the bowl of potato salad was almost empty!! Needless to say, everyone loved it. Thanks so much for sharing your recipes. I’ll be back to try some of the others.
It never occurred to me to add bacon to my potato salad. I like the idea of adding bacon drippings to the mayonnaise.
Kind of fun to see all of the different add-ins and twists that people have. We are sort of boring. I guess you could call it classic,or traditionalists..but we do the mayo mustard hard boiled eggs, a little bit of onion and a bit of sweet pickle relish. Bit I’m going to be adventurous and make a German potato salad for my Dad. He asked for it. So I really am needing to venture out of the same old..living on the edge😋 hope u had a good mothers day. We had a lovely family time weekend. Very blessed low key time..just perfect really.
I always steam my potatoes inside of boil them. They hold up better in a salad.
Steaming the potatoes – that’s interesting to me. How do you do it, and how long does it take to steam potatoes? Do you use red skinned or russet? I like the idea that they hold up better when steamed.
I’m not a mustard fan. I make it without and thought it was delicious.
Made this for an office potluck and it was a hit! Thanks for sharing!
Going to try itangie
I made this and it was not false advertising at all! This is so far, the best potato salad I have never hated. I am not a big potato salad person but this, i ate. And ate. And ate. I served it our chairman’s luncheon meeting and the boss gave it a thumbs up. I did not change a thing. it is awesome. Thank you for sharing this recipe!
Very similar to my recipe which was my mother’s recipe that was her grandmother’s recipe. Only difference is the added sugar and mustard – we don’t use those ingredients. I can add a tip on the potatoes here so that you’ll never have a mushy potato salad. When your potatoes come out of the hot water line them up on tinfoil and let them cool that way side-by-side. It removes any excess water and excess starch and it comes out perfect and never mushy.
Making your own potato salad seems so intimidating sometimes! I feel like I’m just getting the hang of it!…
Thank you for sharing your recipe. It was super easy to follow and taste so delicious. I added one green apple 🍏 diced finely and half a red onion. I will be garnishing with garlicscapes.
Absolutely the best tasting potatoe salad i have ever tasted. So yummy! I could eat the whole bowl myself. Thanks grandma so tasty, only way i will be doing it from now on. 😁
Best potato salad ever!!! I doubled the potatoes as i had 14 guests. It was enough to serve them all and it all went in one go! Thank you for sharing.
I hate it when people comment that they altered a recipe but i have been trying to make a southwestern potato salad (with cubed chedder, red pepper) and could not find anything, then I tried your tip with the bacon fat and mustard and omg omg thank you thank you heaven….(: