The Best Potato Salad
This potato salad recipe is easy to make with Yukon gold potatoes, hard boiled eggs, chopped red onion, celery, relish and a creamy dressing - the best summer salad!
Ingredients
- 3 pounds Yukon Gold potatoes scrubbed clean or peeled.
- 2 tsp salt
- 4 hard boiled eggs peeled and diced
- 1/2 cup red onion diced
- 2 celery stalks diced
Dressing:
- 1-1/2 cups mayonnaise
- 1/2 cup sweet pickle relish
- 2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 1 Tbsp sugar
- 1 Tbsp yellow mustard
- 1 Tbsp Dijon mustard
- 1 tsp celery seeds
- 1 tsp dried or 2 tsp fresh chopped dill
- 1 tsp sea salt
- 1/2 tsp coarsely ground black pepper
Instructions
- Cut the potatoes into about 3/4 inch chunks and place them in a large pot of cold water, (make sure they are covered by at least an inch.) Sprinkle with 2 tsp salt.
- Bring the pot of potatoes to a boil over high heat, then reduce the heat to medium and let simmer for 8-10 minutes, or until fork tender. Drain and then let cool in the colander for about 20-30 minutes, giving it a light toss or shake every now and then to let any steam escape.
- For the dressing: In a small mixing bowl, stir together the mayonnaise, relish, apple cider vinegar, sugar, both mustards, celery seeds, chopped dill, salt, and pepper until well combined.
- In a separate large bowl, add the cooled potatoes, the diced hard boiled eggs, red onion and celery, then stir gently until it's all evenly combined. Add dressing a little at a time and toss until completely coated and the texture you like. Reserve any remaining dressing to add as needed before serving.
- Cover the potato salad with plastic wrap or a lid, then refrigerate for at least 4 hours before serving.
Notes
A couple of tips for this recipe:
- If you can't find Yukon Gold potatoes, you can use any yellow, red or fingerling potatoes. Gold are my favorite. Russets can be used in a pinch, but they aren't going to give you the best texture or flavor.
- I don't mind the texture of the potato skin in my potato salad, but not everyone does. If you do leave the skins on, make sure you scrub them well.
- My favorite way to make hard boiled eggs is in the instant pot using the 5-5-5 method. Click here to read the post on how to do it, you won't believe how easy and hands off it is! If you don't have an instant pot, you can absolutely hard boil your eggs however you like - for the stovetop method, place the eggs in a single layer on the bottom of your saucepan. Cover with enough cold water that the eggs are covered at least by an inch or so. Place the pan over high heat and let the eggs come to a boil. Once they are boiling, turn off the heat and cover the pot with the lid. Leave the eggs for 10-12 minutes, (I usually go the whole 12 for this salad.) Strain, and move them to a bowl of iced water for 5 minutes, then peel the eggs.
- If you prefer miracle whip, you can substitute it for the mayo, but the flavor will be different - they are not the same thing.
- Sweet onion can be swapped for red onion. I just love the pop of color the red onion gives the salad.
- If you don't have dill, try parsley or thyme. Fresh herbs give it a fantastic punch of flavor, but you can use dried if you have to.
- Do not add all the dressing - use as much as you need to get it to the texture you like, then put the rest in the refrigerator to add again when you serve. Potato salad gets dry as it sits in the refrigerator and the potatoes absorb the dressing. Having the extra ready will help you get it perfectly moist for serving!
- Potato salad gets better the longer you let it sit, so you can make it a day ahead!