Homemade Southern Potato Salad
This is the classic homestyle southern potato salad recipe that I grew up enjoying, with a cool creamy dressing, accented with crunchy celery and green onion, a hint of pickle relish, a healthy dose of mustard, and a whole lot of chopped hard boiled eggs.This is a big, BBQ-sized or meal-prep batch of potato salad. You can easily cut this recipe in half for a smaller gathering or if you don't want leftovers.
Ingredients
- 3 lbs waxy potatoes (red or yukon gold)
- 1 tbsp salt (or to taste) for potato cooking water
- 12 large eggs, steamed or boiled, peeled, & chopped (you can use a few less eggs if you prefer)
- 3 cups celery, small diced
- 2 cups mayonnaise (for a lighter salad, replace up to half with plain or greek yogurt, or reduce the total amount slightly)
- 1 cup green onions, chiffonade (finely sliced) (one small bundle)
- 3 tbsp mustard (or to taste)
- 2 tbsp pickle relish or finely chopped pickles
- 2 tbsp fresh parsley or chives, minced (optional)
- 1 tsp Old Bay (optional but recommended)
- ½ tsp black pepper (or to taste)
- ½ tsp paprika (sweet, hot, or smoked) (plus a sprinkle to garnish)
Instructions
prep potatoes:
- Scrub the potatoes and trim any sprouting eyes, or green or soft spots. If you prefer, you can peel them, though I like to leave the peels on red or gold thin-skinned waxy potatoes, which are the best ones to use for potato salad. If you are using russet potatoes, you'll definitely want to peel them, submerging them in cold water so they don't brown before you cook them.
- Small potatoes can be boiled whole and cut smaller later, but large potatoes should be halved or quartered. You want all the potato pieces to be roughly the same size so that they cook evenly, but I prefer to cut them smaller after cooking, so that they do not get mushy.
cook potatoes & eggs:
- Boil potatoes in well-salted water & steam eggs over the pot of boiling potatoes (or hard boil the eggs if you prefer). If you are steaming the eggs, place the egg steamer over the pot of potato water as you bring it up to a boil, or add a few minutes to the cook time.
- Steam the eggs for 9-10 minutes over the boiling potato pot (if you started steaming them over cold water, otherwise add one or two minutes to this time).
- Using a potholder, carefully remove the egg steamer rack (being mindful of the steam, and lifting the steamer lid away from your face).
- Shock the eggs with cold water. Peel them under gently running water, which makes it easier to remove the shell.
prep veggies & dressing:
- Wash and dice the celery, herbs, and green onions with the cooked eggs.
- Combine these in a large bowl with the mayo, mustard, and seasonings.
assemble the potato salad:
- Drain the potatoes, letting them dry in the colander for a minute or two to make sure they're fully drained and slightly cooled before mixing them into the salad.
- Fold the potatoes into the large bowl with the veggies and dressing until they're well combined.
- Taste and adjust seasoning if needed.
- This salad is best well-chilled, which also gives it time for the flavors to meld. Make it at least two to three hours ahead of time to make sure it has plenty of time to chill (a half-batch will cool faster, or you can transfer it into smaller serving containers if you're in a hurry).
Nutrition
Calories: 423kcalCarbohydrates: 21gProtein: 9gFat: 34gSaturated Fat: 6gPolyunsaturated Fat: 18gMonounsaturated Fat: 8gTrans Fat: 0.1gCholesterol: 202mgSodium: 410mgPotassium: 690mgFiber: 3gSugar: 3gVitamin A: 598IUVitamin C: 13mgCalcium: 61mgIron: 2mg
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!
