Mom’s Classic Potato Salad

If you attend a BBQ at my parent’s house in the summer, there’s a 99% chance you’ll be served Judy’s Baked Beans, The BEST Pasta Salad, and Dirt Cake, or any combo of the three, but always, always, always Mom’s Classic Potato Salad. It’s a summertime staple.

My Mom (she cracks me up. Yes, Mom, I know who you are!) has made this recipe so many times that it’s ingrained in her memory, but recently I had her write it down ingredient by yummy ingredient, step by simple step. I’ve never actually made this recipe myself – after all, Mom always seems to make it best – and was surprised to see there’s not nearly as much mayo as I thought, plus the recipe includes a secret marinating step that gives the salad flavor from the inside out.

My Mom has fine-tuned this recipe over the years to fit our family’s tastes – eliminating add-ins like chopped onions and celery, which we don’t love – so feel free to jazz this recipe up with any mix-ins you like. The base recipe, which I’m sharing here, is a classic, creamy, dare I say, clean, tasting Potato Salad. The only one I’ll eat. It is SO good!!!

Two Tips for Making Classic Potato Salad:

1. Russet potatoes make for the best classic potato salad. You heard it here first. We’ve tried many different types of potatoes in this salad over the years, but russets are our very favorite, tried and true potatoes.
2. You CAN making this potato salad up to a day ahead of time. It just gets better as it sits.

Onward!

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How to Make This Recipe:

Start by scrubbing and peeling. 2-1/2lbs russet potatoes, which is about 4 medium-sized potatoes. Make sure they’re all roughly the same size so they cook evenly. Again, we have used various types of potatoes in this recipe over the years, and russets are the best. Trust.

Scrub the potatoes then place in a big pot of cold water, bring to a boil, then cook for 20-30 minutes or until a knife can be easily inserted into the center of each potato.

Remove the potatoes with tongs then let cool slightly. When they’re cool enough to handle but still warm, use a paring knife to help peel (it should be very easy) then chop the potatoes into big chunks and place inside a large bowl.

Meanwhile, mix up the dressing for the potato salad. Part of this dressing will be swirled over the warm potatoes, and part will be stirred in at the very end before serving.

In a small bowl combine 1/4 cup canola or vegetable oil, 1 Tablespoon cider vinegar (same as apple cider vinegar) and 1 Tablespoon lemon juice. Then add 1/2 teaspoon sugar, a scant 1/2 teaspoon dry mustard, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and a heavy dash of paprika.

Give ‘er a little stir with a fork to combine.

Pour 3/4 of the dressing over the warm potatoes then stir and stash in the fridge for at least an hour or up to overnight. This is the “marinating” step that gives the potato salad so much flavor!

While the potatoes are still cooking, hard-boil 4 large eggs. Just pop them into a saucepan then cover the tops by 1″ with cold water. Bring to a boil, place a lid on top, then let them sit off the heat for exactly 12 minutes.

Plunge the eggs into ice water, or run under cold water for a few minutes, then lightly smash each egg against a cutting board, roll so the shell cracks all the way around the center, and then peel. I find that still-warm eggs peel the easiest. Chop the eggs up then place ’em into the refrigerator.

Before serving, add the remaining dressing, 1/2 cup light mayonnaise, the chopped hard-boiled eggs, and a dash of salt to the marinated potatoes then stir to combine, adding up to 1/4 cup more light mayo to achieve a creamier consistency.

That’s it! Classic, right?! Refrigerate until ready to devour, then dig in. Creamy and SO dreamy, I hope you love this salad as much as we do – enjoy!

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