Easy Potato Salad Recipe

Overhead shot of hands holding a blue and white bowl of the best potato salad recipe

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5 from 3 votes

You only need 5 ingredients for my grandmother's easy potato salad recipe! Always a crowd-pleasing side dish!

Course Side Dish

Cuisine American

Keyword Creamy Potato Salad Recipe, Easy Potato Salad Recipe, red potato salad, Traditional Potato Salad Recipe

Prep Time 20

Cook Time 20

Chilling Time 1

Total Time 1 40

Servings - 8 people

Calories 164.5kcal

Author Blair Lonergan

Ingredients

2 lbs. red potatoes or Yukon Gold potatoes
1 large celery rib, diced
2 green onions, sliced
⅓ cup mayonnaise, plus extra as needed
⅓ cup sour cream, plus extra as needed
Kosher salt and ground black pepper, to taste
Optional garnish: additional sliced green onion, chopped fresh herbs (such as parsley or dill), or a dusting of paprika

Instructions

Rinse and scrub the potatoes. Place the whole potatoes in a large pot of cold water. Bring the water to a boil, add salt to the boiling water, and cook until the potatoes are fork-tender (about 15-20 minutes, but very small red potatoes may be done in 10 minutes). Drain; let the potatoes cool until you can handle them. Peel the potatoes and dice into bite-size pieces.
Place the diced potatoes in a large bowl. Add the celery and green onion.
Gently fold in the mayonnaise and sour cream. Season with salt and pepper, to taste.
Cover and chill in the refrigerator for 1-2 hours. Add a spoonful of extra mayonnaise or sour cream, if needed, just before serving. Garnish with optional toppings.

Notes

Garnish the dish with about a tablespoon of fresh herbs, such as parsley or dill.
Sprinkle paprika on top of the salad just before serving. My mom does this for a colorful touch.
Stir in cooked, crumbled bacon, add a few hard-boiled eggs, include a dollop of yellow mustard or Dijon mustard, or stir in some pickle relish or chopped dill pickles. Take the basic recipe and make it your own!
Put the potatoes in the pot of water before you heat up the water and bring it to a boil. This ensures even cooking. If you drop the potatoes into already boiling water, the outside of the potatoes will cook quickly, while the inside will stay hard.
Boil the potatoes whole. Do NOT dice or peel the potatoes before they go in the water. Cutting or dicing the potatoes causes them to release steam while cooking, which will result in a mushier potato.
The potatoes will take about 15-20 minutes in the boiling water to become fork-tender. If you're using baby potatoes, they may only require about 10 minutes, so keep a close eye on them -- you don't want to overcook them and end up with mushy potatoes.
Use full-fat mayo and sour cream for the best flavor and texture. With so few ingredients, you want the highest quality in this dish.
The potatoes will absorb some of the sour cream and mayonnaise while the salad chills in the fridge, so you will likely need to add an extra spoonful of mayonnaise and/or sour cream right before serving.

Nutrition