This recipe comes from my mum, Pauline. It is essentially a traditional American salad, but if you add onions, use sweet onions and cut them with a very sharp knife. You should also let the potatoes cool to room temperature before dressing them, and you should always taste the salad for salt.
| Prep Time: | 15 mins |
| Cook Time: | 45 mins |
| Chill Time: | 2 hrs |
| Cool Time: | 30 mins |
| Total Time: | 3 hrs 30 mins |
| Servings: | 12 |
| Yield: | 12 servings |
Ingredients
- 3 pounds large russet potatoes
- ¼ cup kosher salt
- 10 cups cold water
- ½ cup finely diced celery
- 2 tablespoons finely diced sweet onion (Optional)
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
- 3 large hard-boiled eggs, peeled and cut into chunks
- 1 teaspoon chopped fresh chives for garnish
- 1 pinch paprika for garnish
- 1 ¼ cups mayonnaise, or more if needed
- 3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
- 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more as needed
- ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- cayenne pepper to taste
Instructions
- Place whole potatoes in a pot with 1/4 cup kosher salt. Cover with cold water. Bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to medium-low. Simmer until tender, about 40 minutes (depending on size). Transfer cooked potatoes to a plate. Allow them to cool to room temperature.
- When potatoes are completely cooled, peel off the skin. Cut into larger than bite-size pieces as the pieces will break down slightly when you toss with the dressing. Transfer potato pieces to a mixing bowl. Add celery, onions, parsley, chopped hard-boiled eggs. Combine ingredients, breaking up larger pieces of potato.
- Place mayonnaise in mixing bowl. Add cider vinegar, mustard, salt, black pepper, and cayenne pepper. Whisk until well combined.
- Pour mayonnaise mixture onto potatoes; stir until well combined. Cover and refrigerate until completely chilled, 2 to 3 hours. Taste for seasonings and texture. Salad may need a bit more salt and another spoonful of mayonnaise.
- Choose potatoes of uniform size so cooking time is the same for all.
- You can make the dressing while waiting for the boiled potatoes to cool. But remember, they absolutely must be room temperature before you dress them.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 279 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 22 g |
| Cholesterol | 62 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 2 g |
| Protein | 4 g |
| Saturated Fat | 3 g |
| Sodium | 2282 mg |
| Sugars | 1 g |
| Fat | 20 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
Using a dressing like this just ruins a potato salad for me. I mix up Miracle Whip (allergy to mayo), mustard, little bit of sugar and celery seed. We mix the salad while the potatoes are still warm, because if you use cold potatoes your dressing gets watery. I use diced: celery, cukes, green onions, and boiled eggs. Plus whatever color of green pepper is available. I add salt & pepper, and never use red radishes because they stain the salad. We had a family restaurant for 30 years and a homemade salad bar. We do basically the same thing for macaroni salad, switching pasta for potatoes, and add frozen green peas.
I’ve made many of Chef John’s recipes, and every one of them was amazing.
This is my favorite recipe for potato salad. I also like the fact Chief John shows the steps and technique. At times I have add dill pickles and sliced black olives when I’m in the mood for extra flavor and crunch. I have also used green onions instead of sweet onions just for color.
Sorry Chef John. I’m a huge fan but this isn’t even as good as the stuff get at the grocery store. Totally lacking in flavor. It’s just awful!
Great recipe as written. My go to potato salad recipe. I’ve experimented with half dijon and have yellow mustard and like someone else I also like to add dill pickles or dill relish. Awesome recipe!
I adjusted the recipe for 4lbs of potatoes Used 6 hard boiled eggs. 1+1/2 cups celery cut small. Just over 2 T red onion cut very small. Used white vinegar. Dry parsley 1/3 of fresh amount. No cayenne or chives. Everyone loved it!
Ohh my Goodness is this good!!! I’m NOT a big fan of potato salad, but this one changed my mind!!! The only thing I did differently, was add chopped dill pickles. I will be making this again over the summer. Thank Chef John!!
I chose this recipe because it was a Chef John recipe. The apple cider vinegar ruined it. May have been great without it.
I thought this was good for potato salad. Granted I am not a fan of potato salad BUT my husband loves all potato salads and ends up bringing home store bought potato salad . My Hubby LOVED it! I left he potato chunks big thinking they would really break apart but they didn’t which was the hubby’s only complaint which was my error not the recipe. YAY I have a potato salad recipe that uses russets that I always have on hand versus a special trip to the store for red potatoes! Thank you Chef John.
Chef John never disappoints. Once again it is the perfect potato salad! I didn’t have apple cider vinegar and I used a little white vinegar and apple juice and it was a nice way to keep it moist! Delicious!
This is my favorite “classic” potato salad that I had been on the search for. I recommend trying it as is before doing any modifications.
Deeeelicious! It’s the perfect picnic potato salad. I did mash about one cup of potatoes with dressing before adding the veges. I just love the moosh together with the potato pieces. Thank you!
Just finished making this, it’s chillin’ in the fridge. I had to taste, and it turned out awesome! Thank you, your recipes have all been great.
Delicious, this my new favorite!
A classic potato salad recipe that can be tweaked with what you have on hand. Comes out perfect every time no matter how I tweak it!
I was super excited to make this and became disappointed. I followed it to a T! I disliked the apple cider vinegar. I made it again but used regular vinegar and a tad less….perfect!
This was SO good. I love how all the flavors blended together. The consistency was perfect. I did add just a pinch of sugar. I like mixing the onion and celery (chopped super fine) to the dressing and then mix in eggs and potatoes. I added one more egg too. It got rave reviews in my house and most usually could take or leave potato salad.
Great basic recipe. I halved it and had to use white vinegar. I would like to continue to tweak to my particular taste by upping the mustard a bit. Thank you!
Delicious. The vinegar helps immensely. The assembly is simple and easy. Just a great recipe! Thank you for sharing.
I have made this recipe several times and it is the best old fashioned potato salad ever! The only change I made was to add chopped pickles, and make the day before serving to get the best flavor. Easy to make if you do the potatoes a few hours ahead so they can cool. Thanks Chef John! Delicious as usual!
I made this tonight for a weekend bbq. We only made 1/2 the recipe since we didn’t want to have any leftovers. The flavors were PERFECT! Thank you Chef John for another wonderful recipe!