Today marks the first day of Summer! Tis the season for all of the outside BBQs and pool parties. So I figured we’d welcome in the new season with a potato salad! I was looking for a great side dish to go along with a steak, and I thought that a Potato Salad sounded good. Potato Salad is something that I do like to eat, but I never make it myself. I’m not sure why. So I figured that I would make some and see what I can come up with. I was looking around online for different recipes, and noticed that they all had weird ingredients that didn’t sound good to me. But then I saw a recipe on Whole Food’s web site for “The Best Basic Potato Salad.” This sounded like it was right up my ally!
Ingredients
- 3 pounds russet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch chunks (I didn’t peel and I quartered them)
- Salt and ground black pepper to taste
- 1/3 cup light or regular sour cream
- 1/3 cup gluten-free mayonnaise (I just used light mayonnaise)
- 1/4 cup mixed chopped herbs such as parsley, basil and thyme (I used some dried parsley)
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice (I didn’t use this)
- 2 ribs celery, chopped
- 1/2 small onion, chopped (I used red scallions from my CSA box)
Instructions
Put potatoes into a pot, cover with salted water and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 8 to 10 minutes. Be careful not to overcook. Test for doneness by inserting a fork into a potato chunk. It should slide in easily without breaking apart the potato. Immediately drain well and let cool 10 minutes.
Gently toss potatoes with sour cream, mayonnaise, herbs, lemon juice, celery, onion, salt and pepper. Cover and chill before serving.
Potatoes – Cooked & Quartered
Dressing
All mixed together
Now…as usual, there’s something that I either omit, substitute, or add into a recipe! I didn’t use 3 lbs of potatoes – it’s just two of us, so I used small baby potatoes that came in a 1.5 lb bag. I followed the measurements for the dressing though, except I added in 2 additional tablespoons of mayonnaise since I didn’t think Mr. Curly Fry would like the sour creamy taste of the dressing. I added in dressing until it looked like there was enough – I didn’t want to overdue it. I kept the extra in a custard cup just in case I needed it later, and it turns out that I did. I mixed it into the potato salad right before serving. That worked out so well! I didn’t have any fresh herbs on hand, otherwise I would’ve used them. Some fresh parsley and fresh chives would have been lovely in this.
I chilled it in the fridge for about 7 hours because I wanted to make sure it was nice and cold. There’s nothing worse than warm potato salad (that isn’t supposed to be warm!). I thought this turned out great. I didn’t want pickles or hard boiled eggs in my potato salad – I wanted something very basic. This fit the bill, and it wasn’t a heart attack on a plate. This is a great basic recipe that you can change up and make your own.
What ingredients would you add to make the perfect Potato Salad?
My favorite recipe is called, Loaded Potato Salad.
Cook the potatoes just as you mentioned in your recipe and instead of a dressing, I just add sour cream to coat the potatoes, then I add, cheddar cheese, real crumbled bacon bits and fresh chives. Chill for a couple of hours and then FEAST!
I have yet to figure out my Nana’s potato salad – she never wrote it down but I think that’s going to to be a summer project.
I like Nancy’s idea of a loaded potato salad
When I do make potato salad, I add a bit of Dijon and a bit of smoked paprika
Sounds like a great basic potato salad recipe. I almost never follow a recipe exactly either. It’s fun to play with it and tweak it. Your batch sounds tasty.