I Tried Our Top 5 Potato Salad Recipes and This Is the One I’m Bringing to Every Party

Potato salad is a lot of work: boiling, cooling and peeling potatoes and eggs; chopping herbs and veggies; and mixing a dressing. This isn’t a dish you just decide to make on a whim—it takes time and planning. These recipes are, more often than not, heavily guarded family secrets passed down from generation to generation. If your friends and family trust you to bring the potato salad, it’s an honor that should not be taken lightly. A great one is often the centerpiece of summer picnics and gatherings of all kinds. In search of the very best, I tested our top five recipes—my starchiest culinary journey to date—and selected a winner that I’ll make for years to come.

What Makes An Excellent Potato Salad?

Potato salads generally fall into two camps as far as the dressing is concerned: mayo based or vinegar based. Traditional German potato salads fall into the latter category, combining vinegar with oil or bacon drippings to make a savory sauce. Southern varieties typically include hard-boiled eggs and a creamy mayonnaise dressing. The best recipes are flavorful and interesting, balancing tender potatoes with crisp additions like briny pickles, celery, or relish. 

Meet the Contenders 

3 Criteria I Used to Judge

• Flavor: Potatoes are a blank canvas, and when prepared for salads, beautifully absorb the flavors around them. A tangy and flavorful dressing is the key to achieving potato salad nirvana. Fresh herbs, pickles, or relish are helpful additions, too. 
• Texture: Potato Salads need textural variety to really shine. This is best achieved with proper handling of the potatoes (they must be cooked just until fork tender, and not a moment more), and the inclusion of ingredients such as celery, relish, bacon, or hard- boiled eggs. 
• Ease of Execution: As previously mentioned, making potato salad requires a little planning. With this in mind, I gravitated towards recipes with clear, straightforward instructions, and a minimal amount of extra steps or dishes to wash. When we’re going for comfort and nostalgia, nothing kills the vibe like stress in the kitchen. 

The Results 

Easiest to Execute 

• The Recipe: Authentic German Potato Salad, submitted by Angela Louise Miller
• Average Rating: 4.7 stars
• Rave Review: “ I am German, 100%. I have been eating German Potato Salad almost all my many, many years. I’ve cooked many German Potato salads myself. I cooked this one today and my spouse and guests raved about it. We all agree it is better than what is served in our authentic German restaurants.” —Joe G. 

For this recipe, peel and dice the potatoes before covering them with salted water and cook until fork tender, about 10 minutes. Prepare the bacon as the potatoes cook, reserving the fat. Then add onion, vinegar, sugar, and salt to the drippings to make a dressing. Warm potatoes are tossed in the mixture and topped with crumbled bacon and parsley. The result is fantastic: The bacon, onions, and vinegar combine to make the loveliest, savory sauce.  I love how quickly this dish came together, and that it can be served warm or cold.

Most Classic Recipe

• The Recipe: Old Fashioned Potato Salad, submitted by jewellkay
• Average Rating: 4.6 Stars
• Rave Review: “I love this recipe and it is exactly the same as my Mother’s – she was famous for her potato salad. “ —Regina Riddle

This is the recipe you want to make when you miss your grandma. The author calls on the classics here: potatoes, boiled eggs, celery, sweet pickle relish, onion, mayo, mustard, and seasonings. All ingredients get tossed together and chilled before serving. I love this recipe for its straightforward instructions and ingredients. This is the perfect recipe to start with if you want to know what classic potato salad is all about. 

Best for a Picnic 

• The Recipe: Southern Potato Salad, submitted by Songlady
• Average Rating: 4.7 stars
• Rave Review: “This is true southern potato salad! Tastes like my mom’s recipe. Fabulous!!” —AllRecipes Member

Songlady combines mayo, mustard, crunchy sweet pickle relish, and salt and pepper to make a delicious dressing. The cooked potatoes, celery and hard-boiled eggs are mixed in. The result is a supremely creamy and satisfying salad. This would be an excellent recipe to make for a picnic or a potluck; I guarantee it will transport you right back to summers on the front porch. 

Most Original

• The Recipe: The Best Potato Salad, submitted by cheftini
• Average Rating: 4.7 stars
• Rave Review: “I have made this recipe a few times and it is really delicious! It is my go to when making potato salad. It is best made when you follow the directions exactly. I did not add any of the optional ingredients.” —Drizzleweed

This recipe is buck wild. The author creates a dressing with mayonnaise, yellow mustard, and prepared ranch dressing. To this, they add dill pickle relish, pepperoncini, black olives, and paprika. Potatoes and hard-boiled eggs are folded in at the end. The result is an absolute carnival ride. The pepperoncini, yellow mustard, dill relish, and olives invoke flavors and textures you might experience at a ballpark or pizza shop. This is definitely not your grandma’s potato salad. 

The Winner

• The Recipe: Red-Skinned Potato Salad, submitted by Donna
• Average Rating: 4.7 stars
• Rave Review: “Fabulous, I got no quarrel with a pound of bacon. Yum!” —Brushjl

Donna calls for cooking an entire pound of bacon for this recipe. At first glance, I assumed that much bacon would absolutely overpower the dish. I was wrong—Donna creates a simple, creamy dressing with mayonnaise, onion, salt and pepper, which becomes the perfect coating for unpeeled red new potatoes, celery, boiled eggs, and that aforementioned pound of cooked and crumbled bacon. This was by far my family’s favorite recipe. The finished dish is bright and colorful, and the ingredients meld together beautifully, creating a delicate balance of textures and flavors. 10/10. No notes.