Mom’s Southern Potato Salad
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on Jun 29, 2017, Updated Aug 02, 2024
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My Mom’s Southern Potato Salad recipe has been a family favorite since I was a kid in El Paso, Texas. This classic, creamy, old-fashioned side dish is made with mayonnaise, mustard, hard-boiled eggs, and celery, plus a little zing from green onions, pimientos, pickles, and her secret ingredient—pickle juice.
Table of Contents
This Southern recipe for potato salad with eggs made it in the first Muy Bueno cookbook, but I wanted to share it with you here on the blog in time for grilling season. I get asked for the recipe every single time I make it, so I’m certain it will be a hit!
Why You’ll Love This Old-Fashioned Potato Salad Recipe
- It’s both creamy from the mayo and tangy from the mustard and dill pickles. The perfect combination!
- This potato and egg salad pairs beautifully with all your favorite BBQ dishes but is hearty enough for a vegetarian meal.
- You only need 10 simple ingredients to make it.
Ingredients & Substitutions
The complete list of ingredients, quantities, and instructions can be found in the printable recipe card below.
- Potatoes – I’m often asked “What are the best potatoes for potato salad?” I’ve made this recipe with Yukon Gold potatoes, Russet potatoes, and red potatoes, and it has never failed me.
- Mayonnaise – Use a high-quality brand. I like Hellmann’s (a.k.a. Best Foods) Real Mayonnaise, but Duke’s or Blue Plate will also work.
- Yellow Mustard – While we don’t add enough for this to be considered a mustard potato salad, a few tablespoons add a ton of flavor. If you’re out, try using dry mustard powder instead. (1 teaspoon of dry mustard = 1 tablespoon of yellow mustard)
- Dill or Sour Pickles – Some potato salad recipes call for sweet pickle relish, but I’m a firm believer that potato salad should be tangy, not sweet. Opting for fresh, refrigerated dill pickles (e.g. Claussen) and chopping them yourself will yield a crunchier, more flavorful result than relish.
- Pickle Juice – We’ll use some of the pickle brine to add even more tart, bright flavor to this dill potato salad recipe.
- Green Onions – With a milder flavor and brighter color than yellow or white onions, scallions are a lovely addition. We’ll use the whole plant — whites/pale greens for stronger onion flavor, dark greens for gorgeous color and a nice garnish.
- Celery – For crunch. While neither is a perfect substitute, you’re also welcome to use either chopped jicama or water chestnuts in a pinch.
- Pimientos – These brightly colored, sweet, mild peppers give this recipe a quasi-Mexican potato salad vibe. Feel free to swap in chopped roasted red peppers instead.
- Eggs – Chopped hard-boiled eggs are a fixture of Texas potato salad. They add a boost of protein and a nice richness!
- Fine Sea Salt & Freshly Cracked Black Pepper – For seasoning.
How to Make Southern-Style Potato Salad
I’ve been making potato salad like my mom’s for years — it’s so simple! Here’s how to do it:
Step 1: Boil. Add potatoes to a large pot with enough salted water to cover them. Do not cover the pot. Boil over high heat until they’re soft enough to easily prick with a fork, about 15 minutes.
Step 2: Strain & Chill. Strain the potatoes but DO NOT rinse. The starch on the surface is important for getting our mayo-mustard dressing to stick. Spread potatoes in a single layer on a shallow pan to allow them to cool off. Once the 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.
Step 3: Make Dressing. In a large mixing bowl mix the mayonnaise, mustard, pickle juice, and ground black pepper.
Step 4: Add the green onions, celery, pickles, and pimientos.
Step 5: Complete Assembly. Add the cooled potatoes and diced eggs and gently fold everything together. Add salt to taste. Enjoy!
Optional Variations
This recipe has not been tested with all of these substitutions or variations. If you replace or add any ingredients, please let us know how it turned out in the comments below!
- Relish Style – You can use dill pickle relish instead of freshly chopped pickles. If this is the case, I recommend using apple cider vinegar in place of the pickle juice to replace the yummy tang.
- Skin-On Red Potato Salad – I typically prefer to peel my potatoes for this egg and potato salad. If you’re not a fan of the extra prep work and/or you want the extra fiber and nutrients, you’re welcome to leave the skins on. If you do this, I recommend any thin-skinned potato varieties over thicker-skinned jacket potatoes.
Serving Suggestions
This classic Southern potato salad is a no-brainer for any grill-out. Here are some of my favorite things to serve with it:
- Any grilled meats or burgers are the perfect BBQ pairing for my mom’s delicious potato salad with eggs. I love using skewers for easy serving — try my beer brats, steak fajita skewers or steak and bacon shish kabobs. These one-pan baby back ribs are also awesome!
- If you’re hosting a gathering, make sure you offer plenty of sides like my ensalada de coditos or macaroni salad with Spam, Mexican street corn or grilled green onions, and frijoles charros or slow cooker borracho beans.
- If you like the idea of having homemade condiments at the ready, you can’t do better than my parsley-cilantro chimichurri sauce.
- I’m pretty sure it’s not a summer party unless you have something fabulous to sip on. Try my zingy cherry limeade margaritas or strawberry lemonade tequila smashes for your alcoholic option, and sparkling limeade or agua de sandia for the DDs and kids.
Expert Tips & Tricks
- 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 Instructions
- This dill and egg potato salad will keep well in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days.
Frequently Asked Questions
I personally love Yukon Golds for this potato salad recipe because they have the perfect balance of starchiness and the ability to hold their shape. If you prefer, swap in waxy potatoes (no need to peel) for a red potato salad. You can also make it with super starchy potatoes like russets, but they have a tendency to fall apart, which results in a slightly mushier result.
The best Southern potato salad recipes are always creamy and mayo-based with a slight bit of tang from mustard. While many would argue that a proper Southern-style potato salad should have sweet pickle relish, I’m from El Paso — about as far south as you can go! — and I grew up with dill potato salad. Other fun mix-ins like bacon or sour cream sometimes find their way into these Southern recipes, but I like to keep it simple like my mama.
BOTH! Who says you have to choose? Not this gal.
Since this potato salad is made with mayonnaise (which is highly perishable), it shouldn’t be left out for more than 2 hours. If it’s a particularly hot day, I recommend nesting your potato salad serving bowl in a larger bowl of ice water (the water helps with temperature conductivity) to help keep it safe.
Adding vinegar (here in the form of pickle juice) gives potato salad some tang and prevents it from just tasting like mayo.
This depends on the type of potato you opt for. If you’re using Yukon Golds or waxy potatoes, you can chop them first, which cuts way back on prep time. If you’re using russet potatoes, however, I suggest you boil them whole, remove their peels after cooking, and then chop them to help retain a better shape.
In total, you can keep this potato salad in the fridge for up to about 5 days.
I don’t recommend it. The extreme cold breaks mayo’s emulsion, leaving you with an oily texture.
YES! I find that letting the potatoes cool down in the fridge overnight helps to keep their shape, which in turn prevents your potato salad from tasting mushy.
More Backyard Cookout Recipes
Did you make my Mom’s recipe for the BEST Old-Fashioned Potato Salad with Eggs? Please leave a comment below and tag @muybuenocooking on social media!
Mom’s Southern Potato Salad
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 pounds Yukon Gold or red potatoes, peeled and diced
- 1 tablespoon salt
- 1 cup 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.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Hhhmmm….no mention of Mayonasia? We have fights in our household….Tabitha is a Mayonasia fan and I am a Miracle Whip fan. I am usually the loser in these battles, unless I make His’n’Hers versions of potato salad.
We are a Hellmann’s (a.k.a. Best Foods) household 😉
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