The BEST Potato Salad Recipe (2024)

FAQs

Is it better to boil potatoes whole or cut up for potato salad? ›

Drop a whole russet into the pot and by the time the outside has cooked through, the inside will still be raw. Larger potatoes should be cubed to ensure they cook evenly (peeled first if desired). Smaller potatoes tend to have thin skins and can be boiled whole, no peeling required.

To keep your salad from falling apart into mush, it's important to use the best potatoes for potato salad. Skip the russet potatoes and use a waxy variety instead, like Yukon gold, red potatoes or fingerlings.

Rinsing potatoes helps remove excess starch, so it is recommended to rinse the potatoes before cooking. To ensure even more starch is out of the way, it's recommended that they even be quickly rinsed after boiling. We recommend using hot water for rinsing after boiling and cold water prior to boiling.

If you'd like to add a little extra color and texture to your salad, leave the skins on. Just be sure to scrub them thoroughly with a vegetable brush before you cook them.

If it's a potato salad, be sure to let the potatoes cool (the starch cells close up) before adding any dressing or salad mixture. Warm potatoes will soak up the liquids. Taste an hour after mixing and see if the spices need tweaking. Mashed potatoes do the same thing if you add in the garlic or cheddar cheese too soon.

When using vinaigrette, don't let the potatoes cool before dressing them. And when making a mayonnaise-based potato salad, stay away from dressing warm potatoes. The hot potatoes will cause the mayonnaise to melt and become oily.

Bobby Flay's Mustard and Scallion Potato Salad

In a large bowl, whisk together the mayonnaise, mustards, vinegar, salt and pepper, olive oil, honey, lime juice, jalapeño, and scallions. Add the warm, sliced potatoes to the bowl and fold until well combined.

The key is to allow the potatoes to dry and become cold before you make the salad. If you cut hot, boiled potatoes, they tend to crumble. If you wait until they had time to dry (may I suggest laying them out on a plate or casserole dish during this time) and cold, they cut nicer.

You can boil potatoes either whole or cubed — both ways work fine. In either case, the key is to make sure the whole potatoes or cubed potatoes are roughly the same size. This way, they will all cook at the same rate.

Why does my potato salad get watery? ›

Potatoes can retain moisture. To prevent this, drain the potatoes very well in a colander or pot. Allow all the steam to escape the potatoes before mixing them with the dressing and other ingredients. Steaming the potatoes instead of boiling them is a good way to ensure that excess moisture isn't trapped inside.

Signs your potato salad is bad: It's slimy, it tastes odd, it smells bad, it has black, white or green mold growing on it, it's been left out on the counter for over 2 hours (or less if outside in the sun), it's been in the refrigerator for over 5 days. ”If in doubt, throw it out!”

Cutting potatoes before boiling does aid in removing excess starch. Excess starch can make potatoes gummy or gluey. That said, cutting the potatoes too small can lead to too much water absorbing into the potatoes. A good rule of thumb is to go with a 2-inch dice on the potatoes before boiling them.

The Vinegar Trick

In his recipe, López-Alt shares his secret for perfectly cooked potatoes every time: Adding vinegar to the water (specifically, 1 tablespoon of vinegar per 1 quart of water) prevents overcooking. This one tip has transformed potato salad for Kristina Razon, the Senior Food Editor at Kitchn.

The potatoes for a salad should be cooked whole then peeled and cut in order to preserve the texture of the potatoes. What happens if potatoes are cut before cooking? If potatoes are cut before cooking, they will absorb more water while boiling. This leads to an undesirable texture of the potatoes.

You don't have to cut potatoes to boil them, but smaller pieces of potato will boil faster than larger pieces. It will also be easier to work with smaller pieces if they will later become mashed potatoes or another dish.