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Our Family’s Favorite Red Potato Salad Recipe

This red potato salad recipe is the way my mom has made potato salad my whole life! It is loaded with egg and the crunch of cucumber and celery with a whole lot of dill. This is a classic potato salad recipe you’ll revisit again and again!

The Best Potato Salad Recipe - Summer Salad Recipes from entertaining blog @cydconverse

Bob and I are both partial to a good potato salad recipe. It’s our go-to picnic food all summer, and we make it a bunch of different ways. This red potato salad recipe might just be our ultimate favorite. It is the classic potato salad recipe you need right now.

The Best Potato Salad Recipe - Summer Salad Recipes from entertaining blog @cydconverse

The Best Red Potato Salad Recipe

You can make potato salad a lot of different ways, of course. Our default is a red potato salad with the skins left on to preserve all that extra flavor. I like to add in lots of crunchy veggies for great texture. Not a speck of mustard. I’m not against mustard in potato salad, it’s just not my favorite way to make it – but this! This way is so so good.

The Best Potato Salad Recipe - Summer Salad Recipes from entertaining blog @cydconverse

Ingredients for Red Potato Salad

  • Red potatoes – I like to leave the skins on for maximum flavor, cube then boil
  • Celery – Diced pretty small so it’s not overwhelming
  • Cucumbers – Mostly deseeded (or use seedless cucumber) 
  • Hard boiled eggs – Red potato salad begs for hard boiled eggs
  • Radishes – A few radishes finely minced add so much flavor
  • Bell pepper – I like the sweetness of using orange, yellow or red bell peppers
  • Mayo – Skip the eggs and use vegan mayonnaise and make this a vegan potato salad
  • Salt – I love a good quality sea salt here
  • Black pepper – No salad is complete with a bit of freshly cracked black pepper
  • Dill – Fresh is always preferable to me, but dried will also work

(You can scroll down for the complete recipe!)

The Best Potato Salad Recipe - Summer Salad Recipes from entertaining blog @cydconverse

How to Make Red Potato Salad

Start with cleaning, cubing and boiling red potatoes until fork tender. While that’s happening you can work on chopping veggies and boiling eggs. Allow the potatoes to come to room temperature before mixing the salad.

Finely chop the radishes, just in case you hit one with a tiny bit of spicy. Nobody is trying to make (or eat) a spicy potato salad. But the flavor of radishes is so good!

The Best Potato Salad Recipe - Summer Salad Recipes from entertaining blog @cydconverse

Then add celery. Bob’s dad hates onions, so his family skips onion in salads such as this, so it’s just how Bob is accustomed to eating potato salad. Adding celery adds that extra crunch and flavor, but in a non-oniony kind of way.

The Best Potato Salad Recipe - Summer Salad Recipes from entertaining blog @cydconverse

Next, bell peppers! I love bell peppers, but usually avoid green ones in this red potato salad. I like the sweeter profile of yellow, red or orange. Either work well in this salad or use a combination of whatever you have on hand.

The Best Potato Salad Recipe - Summer Salad Recipes from entertaining blog @cydconverse

Fresh dill is a must! I pull ours straight from our herb garden outside our kitchen. If you don’t have an herb garden, a little planter packed full of dill on a windowsill will make your summer salad recipes shine!

The Best Potato Salad Recipe - Summer Salad Recipes from entertaining blog @cydconverse

The Best Potato Salad Recipe - Summer Salad Recipes from entertaining blog @cydconverse

Now we talk mayo. I love the stuff, let’s be honest. But don’t mess up this salad with any mustard! It’s a hard pass on that one. I don’t hate a mustard potato salad, mustard just has no place here.

The Best Potato Salad Recipe - Summer Salad Recipes from entertaining blog @cydconverse

With this red potato salad, I season with freshly cracked black pepper and coarse sea salt. I just think it adds a little extra punch to the flavor! Season a bit at a time, taste test and add more if needed. Nobody likes an overly salted or too peppery salad.

The Best Potato Salad Recipe - Summer Salad Recipes from entertaining blog @cydconverse

The Best Potato Salad Recipe - Summer Salad Recipes from entertaining blog @cydconverse

I like to use a large wooden spoon or a wide rubber spatula to mix up my potato salad. Fold all the ingredients together to combine, but be sure not to mash up the potatoes. (This is why room temperature potatoes work best!)

The Best Potato Salad Recipe - Summer Salad Recipes from entertaining blog @cydconverse

Tips for Making this Red Potato Salad Recipe:

  1. If you want to prep your potatoes in advance, refrigerate them after boiling but allow them to come to room temperature before mixing your salad
  2. Alternately you can let the potatoes cool, assemble the salad and then refrigerate to serve the next day
  3. Try to cube your potatoes as close to the same size as possible – it will help them to cook evenly
  4. If you prefer onion, you can add a bit of yellow, white or red onion and either omit or keep the celery
  5. I like the texture best when the additional veggies are all chopped smaller than the potatoes so the potatoes stay the star of the show

The Best Potato Salad Recipe - Summer Salad Recipes from entertaining blog @cydconverse

How Long Does Potato Salad Last?

This red potato salad tastes best when eaten within 2 days. That said, it will keep for 3 to 4 days, covered, in the fridge. Be mindful if you’re serving on a hot day not to leave it outside of the fridge for more than an hour or two or it may spoil and nobody is looking for a side of food poisoning at a summer picnic.

The Best Potato Salad Recipe - Summer Salad Recipes from entertaining blog @cydconverse

What to Serve with Red Potato Salad:

The Best Potato Salad Recipe - Summer Salad Recipes from entertaining blog @cydconverse

More of the Best Potato Salad Recipes:

The Best Red Potato Salad Recipe

[Recipe + styling by Cyd Converse | Photos by Alice G. Patterson.]

The Best Potato Salad Recipe - Summer Salad Recipes from entertaining blog @cydconverse

The Best Red Potato Salad Recipe

Yield: 24
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 40 minutes

This red potato salad recipe is loaded with egg, cucumber and celery with a whole lot of dill - a classic potato salad recipe you’ll make again and again!

Ingredients

  • 5 lbs red potatoes
  • 1/2 red bell pepper
  • 1 English cucumber
  • 2 radishes
  • 4 eggs
  • 3 celery stalks
  • 3 cups mayo
  • 3 tablespoons fresh dill
  • Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

  1. Begin by washing and cubing potatoes into roughly 1/2" cubes
  2. Add potatoes to a large stock pot and fill with water; boil over medium-high heat for 15 - 20 minutes or until fork tender but not mushy
  3. Drain potatoes and rinse gently with cool water to stop the cooking then allow them to cool fully to room temperature
  4. In the meantime, finely dice red bell pepper, English cucumber, radishes, eggs and celery
  5. In a large mixing bowl, combine potatoes, red bell pepper, English cucumber, radishes, eggs and celery with the mayo
  6. Roughly chop fresh dill; season with salt and pepper to taste and then mix to combine

Notes

This red potato salad turns out the best when mixed while the potatoes are at room temperature. Allow them to cool before mixing or, alternately, prep and refrigerate the potatoes in advance and the mix the next day after the potatoes warm to room temperature.

My Favorite Summer Picnic Recipes

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Melissa

Wednesday 13th of May 2020

Wow - I made this for the family and it was a real hit! Cant wait to take it a party!

Cyd Converse

Wednesday 13th of May 2020

I love to hear this - thank you so much, Melissa! It's always a hit at picnics when we bring it!

Anna

Wednesday 13th of May 2020

This salad is delicious! We served it with grilled chicken thighs and it was awesome!

Cyd Converse

Wednesday 13th of May 2020

That sounds amazing, Anna! So glad you enjoyed it!

Kirstie Walker

Tuesday 28th of May 2019

Yum! I love potato salad and have been looking for a new recipe to try. Thank you for sharing!

Cyd Converse

Wednesday 29th of May 2019

Thanks, Kirstie! I hope you love it. I love potato salad in so many ways, but this is my favorite!

Becky Hardin

Thursday 23rd of May 2019

I love that you added all the extra goodies in your potato salad. So good.

Cyd Converse

Thursday 23rd of May 2019

This is similar to how my mom has always made it so I know no other way! lol It's so good!

Steph

Thursday 23rd of May 2019

Love this potato salad recipe! So easy and delicious!

Cyd Converse

Thursday 23rd of May 2019

Easy and delicious are my favorite things! ;-)

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