The taste of summer: six potato salad recipes

Classic American Potato Salad

With summer in full swing, potato salads are showing up at picnics, family barbecues—anywhere people get together and eat. Here are six potato salad recipes to get you through the season, from the traditional classic to the decidedly non-traditional.

Marion’s Classic American Potato Salad

Made with mayonnaise, yellow mustard and the crunchy bite of red bell peppers, there’s a reason the potato salad shown above is such a classic. Every time Marion makes it, we savor every bite. And if I’m being honest, this doesn’t only come out in the summer.

Potato Salad with Capers, Shallots and Mustard

Potato Salad with Capers, Shallots and Mustard

Based on the loosest of Mark Bittman recipes, this potato salad made with capers, shallots, whole grain mustard and lemon juice is bursting with lively flavors and sophisticated enough to go with anything.

Deconstructed Italian Potato Salad

Deconstructed Italian Potato Salad

Heirloom tomatoes, fresh basil, capers, red onion and garlic-infused olive oil star in this colorful layered Italian potato salad.

Kimchi Potato Salad

Kimchi Potato Salad

This potato salad is about as non-traditional as you get. Made with kimchi, scallions and bacon, it’s also one of the best we’ve ever had.

Potato and Cherry Tomato Salad

potato-cherry-tomato-salad

Marion turns a bumper crop of tomatoes into a simple, delicious potato salad with fingerling potatoes and a lively Dijon mustard vinaigrette.

Italian Tuna Artichoke Potato Salad

Tuna Artichoke Potato Salad

Italian tuna packed in olive oil and jarred artichoke hearts turn warm potato salad into a summer meal.

9 thoughts on “The taste of summer: six potato salad recipes

  1. My mother didn’t use mayonnaise when I was growing up, preferring the sweetness of Miracle Whip. Her potato salad included chopped red onions and hard boiled eggs along with yellow mustard and sweet pickle relish. I was an adult before i ever tasted traditional potato salad.

    Hot, cold, sweet or tangy, I’ve yet to meet a potato salad I didn’t like. Thanks for giving me so many new ones to try, Terry!

  2. Your Kimchi Potato Salad was the jumping off point for our eclectic 4th of July feast that celebrated our country’s diversity. It was joined by grilled Italian and Polish sausage, a French salad of arugala and mushrooms with a garlicy mustardy dressing, washed down with Czech Pilzner Urquell. Dessert was your Marscapone Cream with scavenged black raspberries and wild strawberries, and Scottish shortbread. Thank you for the great recipes!

  3. I saw baked potato salad in my favorite grocery store and passed it by. Over a year later, I found I only had baking potatoes in the house so I baked them and made my usual salad. It was very good and included the skin. It’s convenient to bake extra. I have baked potato for one meal and then baked potato salad the next day. Oh, I almost forgot. I mix in the seasonings – not the mayo – while the potatoes are diced and still warm.

  4. I was interrupted and want to add that I’ve been receiving your messages in my email for years now. Thank you for the stories as much as the recipes!

  5. Thanks, John!

    Dani, I grew up in a Miracle Whip family too. Now it’s real mayo all the way for me.

    Eeka, that sounds like an amazing meal to celebrate the 4th—and our nation’s rich diversity.

    Zena, I’ve never tried using baked potatoes for potato salad, but I bet their fluffy texture makes them perfect for it. And thanks for the kind words!

  6. Funny about the Miracle Whip – I grew up in a mayo family, and the first time I had potato salad with MW, I thought my friend’s mom was the worst cook ever. That was the same mom who gave me watermelon (YAY!) but she had salted it. I went home crying, convinced Mrs. D. was being mean to me.

  7. Once again, Anita, you crack me up. I’m with you on the Miracle Whip, but I grew up in a watermelon-salting family. It occurs to me now that I’ve stopped doing that, but it added an extra layer of flavor to it when I was a kid—although I didn’t even vaguely think in those terms back then.

  8. I never liked potato salad growing up. My Mom was a wonderful cook but she put everything in her potato salad that didn’t appeal to a youngster. Then when I married, my mother-in-law fixed a potato salad that my husband LOVED. She scrubbed potatoes and cooked them in their skin and when they were just “done” she peeled away the skin and chopped the potatoes bite size then added chopped sweet onion, celery, and chopped hard boiled eggs, sauced with a combination of 3 parts mayo and 1 part Miracle Whip. salt/pepper and a healthy spoonful of sugar to the mix. The last hard boiled egg was artfully arranged atop as garnish. I think she made it too “goopy” so I follow her instructions but stopped at the point of making it too goopy & also add put a squeeze of mustard
    Now even I can tolerate it and I can almost make it in my sleep.

    eVERYTHING in her potato salad and it didn’t appeal to a youngster.

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