Perhaps my all-time favorite side, bar-none, is southern-style Potato Salad. While there are many different variations of potato salad all across the world, southern-style potato salad is specifically known for being mustard-based and being generously coated with Paprika for coloring. This side dish in particular is especially known for being served alongside soul food entrees as well as around the Thanksgiving holiday. You can often find this variation of Potato Salad at your neighborhood grocery store(s), but the store-bought salad just don’t compare to homemade versions of this dish. In this post, I’m going to share with you my recipe for making this side dish entirely from scratch in your own kitchen.
Key Ingredients for Southern Potato Salad
This recipe for southern Potato Salad is made using some of your standard ingredients: Potatoes, Eggs, Mustard, Salt and Pepper. That said, what makes this recipe stand out from the rest is the use of Apple Cider Vinegar, Tarragon and Sour Cream.
- Apple Cider Vinegar: Vinegar is a standard ingredient in Potato Salad, and this recipe is no exception to that. The most common type of vinegar that’s used in other recipes is white distilled vinegar. The main issue with white distilled vinegar is that its flavor is quite intense, thus overpowering all of the other ingredients in a dish. To address that, I tested this recipe with Apple Cider Vinegar as a substitution. Aside from providing a subtle fruity undertone, it still gives the salad its signature tang, but in a milder fashion as it tends to integrate much better into the dish and compliment the other ingredients without that strong vinegar-y taste you get with white vinegar.
- Tarragon: This is a somewhat unusual ingredient, but it is one that I find really elevates this potato salad recipe in a number of different ways. Also known as a leafy and tender perennial plant, Tarragon is a type of herb that is most commonly used in dishes and sauces of the French cuisine (such as Bearnaise sauce). That said, what I love about it is that it really helps to cut down on the sharpness of the Vinegar and Mustard in the salad. It gives the Potato Salad a somewhat sweet but licorice-like undertone that makes the dish feel and taste lighter than it would if it were excluded. You could even say it is my secret ingredient!
- Sour Cream: You will find that most Potato Salad recipes call for using all Mayonnaise, and this recipe uses Mayonnaise (in part) as well. That said, the biggest issue with Mayonnaise is that while it is a very tasty and critical ingredients for any potato salad recipe, too much of it can become overbearing because of how rich mayo tends to be. To address this, I tested this recipe with the addition of Sour Cream to compliment the Mayonnaise. Doing this, I discovered the Sour Cream not only makes for a more creamy salad, but it really mellows out the richness in the mayo. For the best balance, I split the difference by using 50/50 mayo and sour cream.
And that’s all there is to it! While Potato Salad is typically served as a side dish, it is just as good by itself as a snack or even an entree for lunch/dinner. By the time you finish reading this post, you will also be a pro at making this dish yourself and you’ll have your family & friends begging to make these all the time!
Tips for Making this Recipe
Do not overcook potatoes. This is perhaps the most important tip of them all. The potatoes for potato salad should be fork tender yet still firm enough to hold their shape as you’re combining them with the other ingredients. If you end up cooking them for too long, it’s very easy for the potatoes to turn into mashed potatoes. While there’s nothing wrong at all with mashed potatoes, it’s no longer potato salad that you’re serving at that point. If you’re unsure about whether the potatoes are done, simply pierce a potato chunk with a fork. If you can easily stick the fork through the potato without it falling apart, it has reached the ideal doneness for the salad.
Use a sharp knife. I often see a lot of folks peeling their cutting their potatoes with steak knives. While they can get the job done in a pinch if it’s all you have on hand, you will have a much easier (and safer) time cutting the potatoes with a knife that has much sharper edges. With potatoes being so thick & dense, there’s not only the risk that the chunks of potatoes won’t cut as evenly (which would become a problem with trying to cook them for a set amount of time), but there’s also the heightened risk of you cutting yourself. For the best results, I recommend a Santoku Knife (which is what I use) or a Chef’s Knife.
Do not undercook. Similar to the tip above about overcooking your potatoes, you should also avoid undercooking your potatoes. If anything, if you had to pick one poison between the two, it’s better to overcook the potatoes than undercook the potatoes. Undercooked potatoes will simply make the dish unpleasant to enjoy. For one, the texture of the potatoes themselves won’t be very appetizing as they will tend to be crunchy (the potatoes should be tender). But also, the dressing will have a much harder time adhering to the potatoes (thus the salad will end up oily) if they’re undercooked as having them ever so slightly mashed is what will help to form the creamy coating that binds around them.
Let the potatoes cool naturally. It might be tempting to run the potatoes under cold water in order to speed up the cooling process, and this can certainly work if you were making some other type of dishes. However, I strongly recommend against doing this with potatoes for Potato Salad for a number of reasons. For one, potatoes tend to absorb water very easily and this will carry over into the salad as you attempt to combine to ingredients. Thus, in the end, you’ll end up with a watery salad full of soggy potatoes. Also, you will tend to rinse off much of the starch on the potatoes, which is what (in part) gives them much of their flavor.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I substitute the Mayonnaise for Miracle Whip?
The answer to this question gets tricky.
You *COULD* replace the mayo with Miracle Whip, but with a couple of important caveats. While there are many similarities to both of them and they are often used interchangeably in many dishes,, their composition is not entirely equal. For starters, Miracle Whip tends to contain both sugar and water, both of which can change the overall flavor profile of the potato salad. In addition, Miracle Whip tend to have a lower fat content than Mayonnaise as it contains less oil.
All of that said, the short and sweet answer I can give you is I don’t recommend it. For a more detailed answer, see above.
Can I add Diced Onions or Celery to this recipe?
I’m personally not a fan of having these extra ingredients in my potato salad (personal preference), which is why I officially excluded them from my recipe. It’s mainly because I dislike the texture they give the salad. That being said, if you prefer having these items in your potato salad, you can certainly add them while combining the ingredients. If you do add diced onions, I would just advise omitting the onion powder from the recipe (so that the onion flavor isn’t overpowering)
Can I substitute the Yellow Mustard for Ground Mustard?
This Potato Salad recipe has not been tested with the use of ground mustard. That being said, the issue with ground mustard is that, unlike yellow mustard, it doesn’t contains added ingredients such as vinegar and sugar. These added ingredients can help to provide more depth to the flavor of the potato salad. So for that reason, I don’t recommend using ground mustard in place of the yellow mustard.
Can you freeze this Potato Salad? And if so, for how long?
There are some types of potato salad that freeze well, but this is not one of them. It’s generally not recommended to freeze a mayonnaise-based potato salad, for a number of different reasons. For one, with the mayo consisting of both eggs and oil, it will tend to lose its emulsifying properties once below freezing and will separate when thawed out, becoming an oily mess. In addition, the diced boiled eggs will have a tendency to become rubbery.
How long can you store this Potato Salad in the refrigerator?
As long as the Potato Salad is stored in an airtight container or bowl, it should be safe to eat for at least 3 days. After 3 days, it may begin to lose its flavor & texture. Once 5 days have passed, I would advise that you dispose of the potato salad as it may no longer be edible.
Try These Other Sides
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Best Homemade Baked Beans (NO Canned Beans)
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Best Cornbread (Southern-Style)
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Better Than Church’s Honey Butter Biscuits Recipe
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Red Lobster Cheddar Bay Biscuits (Copycat)
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Best Baked Mac and Cheese
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Best Candied Yams
Best Southern Potato Salad Recipe
Equipment
- 1 3qt Saucepan
- 1 Cooking Spoon
- 1 Set of Tongs
- 1 Colander
- 1 3qt Mixing Bowl
- 1 Knife
- Butcher Block *OR* Cutting Mat
- Measuring Cups/Spoons
- 2 Small Mixing Bowls
- Egg Slicer (optional)
- Aluminum Foil or Plastic Wrap
Ingredients
- 2 LB Yukon Gold Potatoes (roughly 6 medium-sized potatoes)
- 2-3 Chopped Hard-Boiled Eggs (optional)
- 1 TSP Distilled White Vinegar (for boiling eggs)
- 2 TSP Iodized Salt (for boiling potatoes)
- 1/3 Cup Distilled White Vinegar (for soaking)
- 1/2 Cup Mayonnaise
- 1/2 Cup Sour Cream
- 1/4 Cup Sweet Relish
- 2 TBSP Yellow Mustard
- 1 TBSP Apple Cider Vinegar
- 1/2 TSP Iodized Salt (after combining eggs, potatoes and dressing)
- 1/2 TSP Ground Black Pepper
- 1 TSP Garlic Powder
- 1 TSP Onion Powder
- 1/2 TSP Dried Tarragon
- 1/2 TSP Dried Chives
- 1/2 TSP Dried Parsley
- Paprika (for garnish)
Instructions
- Add 2 cups of water and 1 TSP of white distilled vinegar to 3qt saucepan with eggs and warm on medium-high heat until boiling.
- Once boiling, cover saucepan and continue cooking eggs on medium-high heat for 10-12 minutes***
- Using tongs, remove eggs from pot and place in cold water for at least 15 minutes
- Peel & cut potatoes into bite size chunks (roughly 1" cubes)
- Place cut potatoes in bowl with 1/3 cup vinegar and fill bowl half way with water, allowing to soak for 30 minutes
- Drain & thoroughly rinse potatoes under cold water (repeat approx. 3-5 times).
- Place clean potatoes in 3qt saucepan with 7 cups of water and warm on medium-high heat until boiling
- Once boiling, continue cooking potatoes on medium-high heat for 12-15 minutes (or until fork tender)***
- Remove potatoes from heat and drain water using colander
- Allow potatoes to rest at room temperature for 30-45 minutes.
- Peel and chop boiled eggs into small dices (roughly 1" in diameter), then set aside in small bowl
- For dressing, add ingredients (mayo, sour cream, apple cider vinegar, sweet relish, mustard) in separate small mixing bowl and mix until well combined.
- Place potatoes and chopped boiled eggs in 3qt mixing bowl and mix until well combined.
- Add dressing to 3qt mixing bowl and fold together with potatoes & boiled eggs until well combined.
- Add spices/herbs (excluding paprika) to 3qt mixing bowl and fold together with potatoes, boiled eggs and dressing until well combined.
- Transfer potato salad to serving bowl or dish and sprinkle top of potato salad with paprika for garnish.
- Cover with plastic wrap or foil, and chill in the refrigerator for a minimum of 4 hours (ideally overnight).