My favorite potato salad recipe is filled with eggs, sweet pickles, and slaw dressing that gives it a unique twist. I’ve been making it for years & it’s always a hit!
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I love this potato salad. I make it for almost all of our BBQs and every Easter.
Serve it alongside macaroni salad, my husband’s famous macaroni and cheese, and some baked beans, and you’ve got a party.
A variation of this recipe was given to me years ago by my friend’s mom. I’m not a big fan of mayo so I liked that her recipe used mostly slaw dressing. I ran with it and made it my own.
I also typically don’t like crunchy things in my otherwise soft food (i.e. celery and pickles), but I let it slide in this dish.
INGREDIENTS
- Potatoes – I like to use russet potatoes in my potato salad.
- Celery – I opt for celery hearts.
- Pickles – Sweet gherkins. I always get the “petite” size.
- Eggs – Hard boiled eggs.
- Slaw Dressing – I always use Marzetti slaw dressing.
- Mayo – I always use olive oil mayo.
- Salt & Pepper
HOW LONG DO I BOIL THE POTATOES?
First, start by scrubbing your potatoes then cutting into 1/2″ to 1″ pieces. Keep them similar in size so they’ll cook evenly. Add them to a large pot of salted water and bring to a boil over medium high heat. Cook them for 15-20 minutes or until fork tender. You don’t want them crisp but you also don’t want them too soft or you’ll end up with mashed potatoes.
Now that I have an instant pot, I’ve been using that to pressure cook my potatoes for potato salad. It’s slightly faster and less hands-on.
If you’re going that route, pour in a cup of water, add the potatoes to a steamer basket and place in the pot, cook on high pressure for 3 minutes. The pot will take about 10 minutes to come up to pressure, 3 minutes to cook, then quick release to finish.
PERFECT HARD BOILED EGGS
I’ve also started making my hard boiled eggs in the instant pot. It is fast and I find that they’re easier to peel!
You’ll add a cup of water to the instant pot, put the rack in, add the eggs, seal the pot, cook for 6 minutes on high, let stand for 6 minutes, then quick release and move the eggs to an ice bath for 6 minutes.
That’s it! They peel really easily and you can make a large batch.
If you want to boil them, I have a trick for that, too.
Add your eggs to a pot of salted water. Bring up to a boil then turn off heat and cover with a lid. Remove from the heat and let stand for 10 minutes in the water. After 10 minutes, drain and spray the eggs with cold water. You’ll have perfectly yellow yolks – no green!
TIPS & TRICKS
- I like to use russet potatoes. I’ve tried it with yukon gold and red skins, but always come back to russets.
- You’ll want your potatoes to be fork tender, but not too soft, or you’ll end up with mashed potato salad.
- The slaw dressing is what gives this potato salad great flavor. I always opt for Marzetti brand.
NEED MORE SIDE DISHES IN YOUR LIFE? TRY THESE:
TOOLS FOUND ON AMAZON TO HELP YOU:
- Potato peeler – I really like this one because it has a large handle that doesn’t slip out of your hands.
- Marzetti SLAW dressing – this is what makes this potato salad different & in my opinion, so good.
- Instant Pot – I am still new to the instant pot, but it does make boiling potatoes & eggs SUPER fast.
- Veggie Chopper – For a shortcut, you can use a veggie chopper for the pickles, celery, and even the eggs.
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HOW TO MAKE POTATO SALAD
My Favorite Potato Salad
Ingredients
- 9 medium russet potatoes cut into 1/2"-1" cubes
- 2 celery heart stalks diced
- 20 sweet petite gherkins or 10 regular size, diced
- 5 hard boiled eggs peeled & sliced
- 3/4 cup slaw dressing I use Marzetti
- 1/4 cup mayo
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Scrub your potatoes, peel them and chop them into approximately 1/2″ – 1″ cubes. Keep the pieces similar in size so they will cook at the same speed.
- Add potatoes to a large pot of salted water and bring to a boil. Continue boiling until potatoes are fork tender. You don’t want them hard, but you also don’t want them too soft. Otherwise they’ll fall apart and you’ll have mashed potato salad.
- In another pot, boil your eggs.
- My egg boiling trick (that I think came from Rachael Ray) – Add your eggs to a pot of salted water. Bring up to a boil then turn off heat and cover with a lid. Remove from the heat and let stand for 10 minutes in the water. After 10 minutes, drain and spray the eggs with cold water. You’ll have perfectly yellow yolks – no green!
- While the potatoes are boiling, chop up the celery. I like the celery to be really small. Size is really up to you.
- Also, chop up the pickles and use an egg slicer to slice up the cooled eggs.
- Combine the egg, pickles and celery into a large bowl and season with salt and pepper, to taste.
- Once potatoes have finished cooking, I drain them and stick them into the fridge so they’re easier to work with. If they’re too hot, they’ll fall apart while you’re combining the ingredients.
- Once cooled, add the potatoes to the egg/pickle/celery mixture and season with more salt and pepper.
- Add the slaw dressing and mayo and stir to fully combine making sure all the potatoes are coated and the egg/pickle/celery is pretty evenly distributed. Add more salt and pepper and/or mayo or slaw dressing, to taste.
- Let it hang out in the fridge for a little while then serve.
Nutrition
Nutritional information is an estimate and provided to you as a courtesy. You should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe using your preferred nutrition calculator.
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Originally published April 8, 2013
I love potato salad, but have never made it with slaw dressing. Will have to give that a try this summer.
My grandmother always made Macaroni and Potato salad in the spring and summer time. It makes me think of her and makes me look forward to fun in the sun! I haven’t used the slaw dressing before to make it before, very interesting. I would not have come up with that on my own 🙂 Krista @ A Handful of Everything
This is my favorite potato salad recipe too! The slaw dressing really is a key ingredient. This recipe was passed to me by my Mom, and I make it a ton during BBQ season (I get requests). My husband likes it best when I use baby red potatoes and leave the skins on. Here’s the really freaky part though. My name is Melissa, and I live in Metro Detroit! 🙂
YUM!!! making it this weekend. Slaw dressing, is that similar to sandwich spread? That’s why my mom use to make it with.
Haven’t tried this recipe but since the potato salad dressing is not available presently I’ll rate it the same as that. I’m going to try it this weekend since I have about 12lb of russets. I’ve been searching for a copycat recipe with 5 ✨ ratings & this will be the 1st one I’ll attempt.
Hurry back tater salad dressing!!!
Thanks, Elaine – I hope you love it!