If your potato salad experience has been from a deli or made with mayo, we have some alternatives for you. We’re a no-mayo household, which has allowed us to discover the many styles of potato salads that exist in other corners of world cuisine.
The great American writer Laurie Colwin devoted a chapter to potato salad in her book “Home Cooking.” She began with her belief that there is no such thing as a bad potato salad, “So long as the potatoes are not undercooked …”
Colwin also had good advice on selecting potatoes for salads. She found that waxy potatoes like our popular red-skinned varieties don’t absorb as much dressing and are best when you want a salad, “delicately coated.” And mealier potatoes, like russets, soak up dressing for a creamier result.
Vinaigrette Potato Salads
Thinking vinaigrette rather than mayonnaise is very traditional. In Fannie Merritt Farmer’s “The Original Boston Cooking School Cook Book 1896,” there are five potato salad recipes, all sans mayonnaise. We turned to contemporary authors we follow for particular cuisines to find their version of this popular dish.
For Greek options, we rely on Diane Kochilas, who offered one that combines the crunch of smashed potatoes with traditional Greek flavors and a herby yogurt dressing. Another recipe was for an Ikarian salad featuring cucumbers, onions, and fresh oregano, topped with feta and olive oil.
Peru is famous for its potatoes and for Papas a la Huancaina, with a cheese sauce that can be made with ingredients from any grocery store.
One of the most colorful and tempting offerings came from Turkish YouTube vlog Refika’s Kitchen. Her “Perfect Potato Salad” has tossed, crispy, air-fried potatoes with caramelized peanuts and fresh cilantro, finished with a sauce filled with Asian flavors.
Warm Potato Salads
German potato salad is served warm. Here, diced bacon and onion are sautéed in a skillet, and the cooked potatoes are tossed into the pan and coated with the bacon fat, soft onion, and bacon. It’s seasoned with cider vinegar, salt, and pepper. Some cooks add a bit of beef broth to make it moister and creamier.
The Mediterranean Dish YouTube channel served up Tuna and Potato Salad, Mediterranean-Style Mustard Potato Salad, and Batata Harra (Middle Eastern Spicy Potatoes), all of which can be served warm.
Tastier and Healthier Options
Switching to dressings other than mayo can add more nutrition to this summer staple. Adding vegetables can help you meet your five-a-day goal. The additions we saw from other places add texture, color, and flavor to what is sometimes a pale, bland dish.
Thinking about your choice of sauce or dressing can also make it safer to leave it on a table or in the refrigerator longer, although we still suggest keeping the serving temperature within the safe zone.
Refrigerating the salad before serving will allow the flavors to blend and convert the fiber in your potatoes from regular starch to resistant starch. Johns Hopkins explains, “Resistant starch is a carbohydrate that resists digestion in the small intestine and ferments in the large intestine. As the fibers ferment, they act as a prebiotic and feed the good bacteria in the gut.”
With all these benefits, we’ve adopted the practice of trying new potato salad recipes and creating our own versions with the ingredients we like best. The photo below shows our new favorite: a roasted potato salad with a honey mustard dressing. Ed is mad about that particular condiment.
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