Best Easy Potato Salad

I use classic ingredients for this flavor packed salad like apple cider vinegar, dijon mustard, mayonnaise, celery, and seasonings for a classic cool and creamy American flavor everyone loves.

At Ajpal, I add lots of tips in all of my recipes – because I am a home cook without any formal training, and I find I am more confident making dishes when I understand why it works, and what each ingredient means to the flavor of a recipe. My goal is for even the most beginner home cook to feel empowered in the kitchen.

Classic American Potato Salad

Potato Salad is an American classic that I love to serve at our July 4th party and other summer occasions. It’s super easy to make and easy to double and triple if you are feeding a crowd.

How to Make Potato Salad

• Russet potatoes – we’re using russet potatoes for their rich, starchy, potato flavor. Russet potatoes do get mushy when boiling, so don’t skip boiling them with vinegar, and boil from cold water, to help keep a wedge shape.
• Apple cider vinegar – apple cider vinegar is used in this recipe to both keep the shape of potatoes as they boil, and also give a bit of sweet, tangy, acidic flavor to cut through the cool, creamy, rich mayonnaise in this potato salad.
• Mayonnaise – mayonnaise acts as a binder, a rich fat, and cool and creamy texture bas for this potato salad. We add a lot of mayo for this recipe, so be sure to grab a brand you love.
• Scallions – scallions add a slight heat, vegetal, and pungent lighter than onion flavor and a bright green pop of color to potato salad.
• Celery – celery adds a salty, earthy, vegetal flavor and provides a nice crisp crunch to potato salad.
• Dijon Mustard – dijon mustard provides a bit of a spicy kick to cut through the rich mayonnaise. You can also opt for a stoneground or other mustard you love.
• Sugar – we skip sugar, but traditionally, many people add a tablespoon white sugar to potato salad. This is a personal preference.
• Salt and Pepper – always season well with fresh cracked pepper and high quality celtic sea salt.

Steps to Make Potato Salad

Once you have assembled the ingredients, use this method.

Prep

Prep the potatoes by peeling them (optional) and cubing them.

Boil

Bring water with some vinegar and salt in to a boil. Add the potatoes and cook till fork tender.

Why add Vinegar and Salt?

Boiling potatoes in water with a bit of vinegar and salt helps potatoes to hold their shape and keeps them from becoming a mushy mess. We prefer the bit of sweetness from apple cider vinegar.

Combine Dressing

While potatoes boil and soften, in a small bowl, combine mayonaise, scallions, celery, mustard, additional vinegar, sugar, and salt.

Combine and Serve

When potatoes have drained, toss in dressing. Combine well and serve warm or cold!

Tips and Tricks to Perfect Potato Salad

Boil potatoes in vinegar. Adding vinegar to the water you boil potatoes in help potatoes keep their shape, so your potato salad doesn’t turn to mush.

Use waxy or russet potatoes. Waxy potatoes retain their starch and keep their shape when cooking, so they are better for potato salad – but russet potatoes have a classic “potato” flavor people love.

Boil potatoes in cold water. Bringing cold water to a boil with your potatoes will help your potatoes not release all their starch at once and turn to mush, so you have the perfect texture for potato salad.

Season boiling water. Adding salt to your boiling water helps potatoes cook evenly, brings the water to a boil more rapidly, and adds flavor to potatoes as they cook.

Let potatoes cool before dressing. If you go to immediately dress warm potatoes with mayonnaise dressing, it will melt and run off. Let potatoes cool so the mayonnaise doesn’t melt. Potatoes can be slightly warm – but should not be hot.

More BBQ Favorites

Potato salad is delicious alongside pork tenderloin, smoked brisket, smoked ribs,bacon-wrapped hotdogs, BBQ chicken drumsticks, crispy pulled pork, and more of our favorite BBQ Recipes!

This potato salad is fantastic with easy coleslaw – its also great alongside baked pork tenderloin, ribeye roast and air fryer chicken drumsticks

Find more of our favorite BBQ Recipes :

BBQ Baked Beans with Ground Beef and Bacon

Easy Smoked Beef Brisket Recipe

Best Crispy Baked Pork Shoulder

Easy Smoked Hot & Fast Brisket

BBQ Chicken Quarters

Best Smoked Pulled Pork

Pineapple Chicken Kebabs

Crunchy BBQ Chicken Legs

Check out my web story about this simple but delicious potato salad!

Share on Facebook

Pin this now to find it later

Potato Salad FAQs

Boil potatoes in water from cold, and add vinegar to water as it boils to hold potatoes shape as it boils.

We like russet potatoes for potato salad – but waxy potatoes, like yukon gold potatoes, work well.

While it isn’t strictly necessary, we find it best to dd vinegar to help hold the potato wedge shape and help keep your potatoes from turning into mashed potatoes.

When you dress a potato salad is critically important – for oil-based potato salads, it is important to dress potatoes right away so they soak up some of the oil in the dressing. In this mayonnaise-based dressing, the potato salad needs to cool, so it does not all melt off when mixed with hot potatoes.

You can serve potato salad chilled, or slightly warm right after mixing.

Potato salad can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to four days.