Muy Bueno: Fiestas 
Potato Salad
July 4th is right around the corner, and if you are going to throw a barbecue, you need to add this potato salad to your menu.
It’s a bittersweet July for me — My mom has spent the entire month of June with us and I just dropped her off at the airport to fly back home to El Paso. Dropping her off is always so emotional for me. I always try to keep it together, but as soon as I hug her and walk away the tears start pouring down my cheeks.
I can’t even begin to tell you how blessed I am to have her in my life. I know everyone will say their mom is the best, but no, my mom is truly the best!
I am thankful to not only have her in my life, but also to have so many wonderful memories, especially delicious food memories like her famous potato salad. When it comes to backyard summer family barbecues this potato salad always hits the spot.
She recently made this potato salad to celebrate our June birthdays and as I took a bite I was flooded with beautiful memories of family barbecues, weddings, and baby showers.
This potato salad is in the published Muy Bueno cookbook, but I wanted to share it with you here on the blog in time for the 4th of July.
Want to make potato salad just like my mom? This classic old-fashioned potato salad is so great because it’s creamy made with real mayonnaise, mustard, eggs, celery, and a little zing from green onions, pickles, and a splash of pickle juice.
Mom's Southern Potato Salad
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 pounds Yukon Gold or red potatoes, peeled and diced
- 1 tablespoon salt
- 1 - 2 cups mayonnaise, Hellmann's or Best Foods Real Mayonnaise
- 2 tablespoons yellow mustard
- 2 tablespoons pickle juice
- 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1/4 cup chopped green onions
- 1 cup chopped celery
- 1/2 cup chopped dill or sour pickles
- 4 ounces pimientos, drained and chopped
- 5 eggs, hard-boiled, peeled, and chopped
- salt to taste
Instructions
- Boil potatoes in salted water to cover over high heat, about 15 minutes. Do not cover the pot. Strain the potatoes but DO NOT rinse. Spread potatoes in a single layer on a shallow pan to allow them to cool off. Once potatoes are cool, cover the pan with foil and put in the fridge for about 4 hours or overnight to completely chill. This will prevent them from getting mushy when adding the other ingredients.
- In a large mixing bowl mix the mayonnaise, mustard, pickle juice, and black pepper.
- Add the green onions, celery, pickles, and pimientos. Add the cooled potatoes and diced eggs and combine all the ingredients gently, you don’t want this salad to get mushy from too much mixing. Add salt to taste.
Notes
- Mix Gently - This delicious potato salad requires a gentle hand. If you stir too much or too vigorously, it has a tendency to get kinda mushy.
- Know Your Taters - Different types of potatoes behave a little differently. Russet/Idaho potatoes are the starchiest of the bunch; they’re the most prone to turning mealy if you cook them too long. Yukon Golds are somewhere in the middle of starchy potatoes and waxy potatoes — they have a thin skin, denser flesh, and hold their shape better than russets. Red potatoes are the waxiest of the bunch, with the thinnest skin and least amount of starch. I like ALL potatoes, and in my opinion, they all make great potato salad. Have fun experimenting to find your favorite!
- Give it a Day - Allowing your dressed potato salad to hang out for a day (or even just a few hours) gives it time for all the flavors to meld.
- Storage: This dill and egg potato salad will keep well in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days.
7 Comments on “Potato Salad”
Best potato salad I’ve ever made!
I cut the recipe in half and used small red potatoes. My homemade dill pickles and the brine were perfect.
I’ve never had a recipe that cooled and chilled the potatoes in this way, but I’ll never do anything else! They turned out firm and didn’t break down while folding them into the mayo “sauce”. Oh, and I prefer Duke’s mayonnaise to any other brand!
Thanks, Yvette, for a delicious recipe.
I no longer search for potato salad recipes on the Internet because this one is perfect. I have made this numerous times over the years, but I haven’t tried it with pimentos yet.
The only thing I changed is the salt level. The first time I made it, I used the 1 T of salt, but it was too salty for me. Still, I knew it was a great recipe. Since then, I use 1 tsp of salt and that is just right.
Pickle juice is key. If anyone is reading this, be aware that some jarred pickles have high fructose corn syrup! Stay away from those.
Yvette, I haven’t commented on this before, but I wanted to now because I served this last night at dinner and my son came home on his lunch break today (which he never does) just to eat some more. He scarfed it down and went back to work. Apparently, he couldn’t get your delicious potato salad out of his head. Thank you!
Hello Yvette I forgot I’m not feeding them Friday I’ll be feeding them Saturday morning thank you
I’m sorry my phone didn’t act right your name is Yvette
hello you vet my name is Glen I’m going to be making this tomorrow for some people I know in the park I’m going to be feeding about 15 people how much does your recipe make or should I double it thank you
I was sad to leave too mija but have to go back to El Chuco and look after my grass and plants
Hated to leave all of you and cool Co. But I’ll be sure to make this delicous Potato Salad this summer. With this heat all all we want is cold good
many thanks