Creamiest Easy Potato Salad Recipe

If you’re looking for the creamiest potato salad recipe that is super-simple to make, you’ve got to try this one.!

The dressing is made with mayo, mustard, vinegar, and oil. Plus, I like to mix in a good amount of green onions at the end. That’s all that’s required for this recipe! But I know people have strong opinions on what belongs in a potato salad, so here are some optional ones.

There are no hard-boiled eggs in here because the potato salad I had growing up didn’t have any. But you can add 3-4 hard-boiled eggs, peeled and roughly chopped. Stir them in when you stir in the green onions at the end.

Similarly, there’s no celery in here. My mom never put in celery, and honestly, I love the smooth texture of this salad. I think it’s why it seems so extra-creamy. But, if you want that crunch, then when you add the green onion, you’ll also add 2 ribs of celery, finely chopped.

There’s also no relish in this dressing. I think that’s also part of why it’s so creamy. There are no real chunks of anything. I also don’t really love to have any sweetness in my potato salad. It’s creamy and savory, and a bit tangy from the vinegar and the mustard. I love it so much and hope you do too. 

Tips To Make Potato Salad Extra Creamy 

The key to making good potato salad is to know how much dressing to add, and when to add it. If you’re serving the potato salad right after making it, you’ll add enough dressing to make it nice and creamy, and then serve. 

But, most of the time when we make potato salad, we make it ahead of time. Then what happens is you get your potato salad just right, nice and creamy, and then you cover it and put it into the fridge. But since potatoes like to soak up moisture, when you take it out of the fridge the dressing is thicker and it will be a bit drier. So then, what you have to do is, yup, ADD MORE DRESSING.

The key to creamy potato salad is to always taste it before serving it, and then add more dressing if it has gotten dry. I have more info about this below for you.

A great tip for flavorful potato salad is to add the dressing when the potatoes are still warm. Not hot, but warm. They actually soak up more dressing initially that way, which really flavors inside the potatoes. I usually drain the potatoes in a large colander, and then leave them in the colander set over the pot they cooked in. I leave them on the counter for about 10-15 minutes, gently tossing them ever 5 minutes or so to expose them to the air to help them cool down, but not fully cool down.

When To Add More Dressing

As mentioned, you’ll see when you make this recipe that you have more dressing than you need at first. That’s totally fine. Put the rest of the dressing in a sealed container in the fridge. Then, when you go to serve your potato salad, add more dressing. You’ll add about 2 tablespoons at a time and stir. It’s just enough to coat the outsides of the potatoes. And, if you have leftovers of the salad and you put it into the fridge again and pull it out the next day, well, you’ll add more dressing again! Another 2 tablespoons will do ya.

Now, if you do serve the potato salad right away and you don’t end up needing the extra dressing, know that it will keep in the fridge for 2-3 weeks in a sealed container. That’s because all of the ingredients are things that keep well in the fridge for a long time. 

That leftover dressing can be used to make more potato salad, of course. I also really love it tossed with cooled cooked pasta to make a tangy, creamy pasta salad. Or, much like above, if you have pasta salad leftovers that are no longer moist from the pasta sucking up the dressing, no matter what kind of pasta salad it was, you can add a bit of this dressing to moisten it and spruce it up. This dressing is also great on shredded cabbage for a quick coleslaw.

Safety Of Potato Salad At Room Temperature

Now, since potato salad is popular at picnics and potlucks, let’s be clear that it is not safe to be sitting out at for hours. It should be fine for two hours at room temperature, but if you’re serving it outside in the summer when it’s hotter? Toss any leftovers after an hour of sitting out in the heat.

You may be thinking this is because of the mayonnaise in the recipe, but it’s actually because cooked potatoes are at risk of growing bacteria that will lead to food poisoning if they spend more than two hours between the temperatures of 40° and 140°F.

Want to keep potato salad out of the refrigerator for longer than that? Find a way to keep it chilled, either by setting the bowl in a larger mixing bowl filled with ice or ice packs or by keeping it in a cooler and just pulling it out when someone wants seconds.

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