This Southern Potato Salad is the best creamy version made with simple ingredients. Tender potatoes, hard-boiled eggs, mayonnaise, sweet relish and a dash of mustard come together perfectly in must-have recipe for any celebration or barbecue.
You know those recipes you call your mom for. This potato salad recipe is one of those recipes. I grew up (in Eastern NC) on my grandmother’s old-fashioned Potato Salad and she never had an “exact recipe”. She just tossed in the ingredients and did the taste test.
Thank goodness I finally learned that making this classic potato salad is much easier than I thought. I was so nervous the first time for some reason.
There are many versions of Potato Salads, but this is traditional southern potato salad I grew up on. To me, this is by har the best potato salad recipe around!
It’s one of those family favorite easy side dishes that everyone looks forward to at so many holidays and family gatherings throughout the year. I mean is there anything better to have with burgers or hot dogs at a cookout than this great recipe!
Ingredients you will need:
Makes 8 servings
Potatoes – Peeled and diced. I think the best potatoes are white potatoes because they are so creamy But Yukon gold potatoes and red potatoes work well too. Starchy potatoes, like Russet potatoes, typically do not do well in potato salad since they have a tendency to fall apart after boiling them.
Hard-boiled eggs – A must for potato salad. I like my potato salad with lots of egg but if you prefer just 3 or 4 that is fine as well.
Mayonnaise – Another classic ingredient for any potato salad. My personal preference is Hellman’s mayonnaise. But I know there are some die hard duke’s mayonnaise lovers that swear by it too . Some people do prefer a whipped salad dressing ,like miracle whip, for a tangier flavor. I personally think regular mayo is best but feel free to use light mayo if you want to cut calories a little more.
Yellow Mustard – adds just the right amount of a tangy flavor.
Sweet pickle relish – has always been in our version of potato salad but you can also use dill pickles or dill relish if you prefer.
Salt and pepper – You can also sprinkle the top with a little paprika too if you’d like.
Other additions you can add is chopped yellow onion and chopped crunchy celery. Green onions, sweet onion and red onion are also great too. My grandmother didn’t add either of these but I know they are popular in some variations.
How to Make this Homemade Potato Salad
Step 1: Place the large eggs in a pot of water. When the water comes to a rolling boil, reduce the heat to low and simmer uncovered for 1 minute.
Step 2: Remove from heat and COVER and let stand for 20 minutes. Or you can make hard boiled eggs in the oven or Instant Pot hard boiled eggs for the perfect hard boiled egg!
Step 3: Peel and dice the potatoes into about 1 inch pieces. You can boil the potatoes with the skin on and scrape the skin off with a knife after you have cooked and drained them.
Step 4: Place the potatoes in a large pot and cover them with cold water and bring them to a boil over high heat for about 15 minutes UNCOVERED or until fork tender. Drain in a colander and then place the hot potatoes in a large bowl or the serving bowl you want to use.
Step 5: Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place it in the refrigerator for about an hour to give the potatoes ample time to cool completely. If you try to mix warm cooked potatoes, they tend to crumble when stirring.
Step 6: In a separate bowl, mix the mayonnaise, mustard, and sweet pickles together. Then add salt and black pepper to taste.
Then add the potatoes and fold in gently.
ENJOY!!!
Tips
Plan to give your potato salad several hours in the refrigerator before diving in. The flavors get better and better as the hours go by. (usually 4-6 is plenty of time).
Make a day or 2 before if you have time to let the flavors blend even more.
Variations
Cook the potatoes with the skin on if you prefer.
Use dijon mustard if desired.
Add a dash of apple cider vinegar or white vinegar if you prefer a tangier flavor
Add a little celery seed and/ or garlic powder if desired.
If you happen to have any leftovers, they will keep just fine for about 4 days in the refrigerator. If your potato salad has been at room temperature longer than 2 hours (or 1 hour if the temperature is over 90 degrees F), discard any leftovers since bacteria can grow if left out longer.
You can serve potato salad warm or cold. I actually love it warmed. Just be sure to heat it up and not let it sit out to get warm.
Try these other side dish recipes too:
Southern Potato Salad Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 lbs potatoes peeled and diced
- 7 hard boiled eggs chopped
- 1 cup mayonnaise
- 1 tsp yellow mustard
- 4 TBSP sweet pickle relish
- Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Place eggs in a pan covered with cold water. When the water starts to boil, reduce to low and simmer uncovered for 1 minute .
- Remove from heat and COVER and let stand for 20 minutes. Or you can bake your eggs in the oven for the perfect hard boiled egg!
- Peel and dice the potatoes into about 1 inch pieces.
- Cover them with water and bring them to a boil for about 15 minutes UNCOVERED or until tender. Drain in a colander.
- Let the potatoes cool before mixing so they won’t crumble. I actually put mine in a bowl in the refrigerator for about an hour.
- In a separate bowl, mix the other ingredients together.
- Then add the potatoes and mix gently.
- ENJOY!!!
Katie
omg. This potato salad sounds delish! I may just have to make a picnic date for the husband and I just so I can make this potato salad. I would love it if you linked this up to my Motivate Me Monday linky party on IT’S A ginger SNAP.
Sherri
It is so good! I can’t wait to have it 4th of July 🙂 I will head over and link up. Have a great week!
Tanya
This is my Mom’s recipe as well, except here in British Columbia, Canada, she dices up one or two of her own canned dill pickles and a adds in a tablespoon or 2 of the juice to give the salad an extra kick.
Dean
I’m from the midwest, born and raised. This is the exact kind of potato salad we always had. I’ll eat other kinds, but this is my all-time favorite.
gigibear
Minus the sweet relish same recipe my sister came up with when our kids were little. They didn’t like all the extras people would put in ie, onions, celery, pickles. This is super simple and tasty. Everyone is grown (late 20s – early 30s) but we still make it this way 🙂
Brenda
I need to feed about 15 people. Can you tell me how many this recipe will serve? thanks
Sherri
This recipes makes about 8 servings 🙂 So doubling it should work for you.
Leah
I’m from Alabama and this is the basic potato salad recipe I use…..with a few alterations….I use dill pickle relish instead of sweet and I add a tbsp of sugar and a tbsp of white vinegar….it gives it that extra twang!
Melanie
This is exactly the recipe I was looking for! I just wanna know how much does this serve. I’m making some for a Memorial Day picnic. Please help!
Lynn
I have loooooved potato salad all my life. My recipe is very similar to yours, except I add chopped onion & a little chopped green pepper & salt of course.Try it sometime. Everyone loves my potato salad!
Diane Balch
I’m from CT and we always ate potato salad like this… I didn’t know it was Southern. PInned.
Stephanie
This recipe was featured at Tasty Tuesday! Come check it out and grab a feature button here!
Ann
I also add onions too.
Betty Smith
I also put onions in and have add a few dill pickles but most of the time leave off the dill. This is a true southern receipt I grew up with in the south.I also put some of the juice from the pickles
Stephanie
Thank you so much for linking up at Tasty Tuesday! Your recipe has been pinned to the Tasty Tuesday Pinterest board! Please join us again next week!
katherines corner
one of my favorite things! This looks wonderful. Thank you for sharing your wonderful blog at the Thursday Favorite Things Blog Hop ♥
Cindy @ Hun... What's for Dinner?
We practically live on potato salad during the summer months. I love the eggs and pickle relish in this one. Thanks so much for sharing with us at Simple Supper Tuesday.
Daphne
Good Evening Sherri, I love potato salad and I love the creamy texture. When I lived in Germany I adored the potato salad as the German mayonnaise had a real creamy texture….. trouble was, I could eat far too much of it as it was so scrummy. I have never used eggs in my potato salad, I use chopped chives, or chopped spring onions…. but I agree with you, there is something lovely about eating a warm potato salad. When the summer finally arrives here in England I am going to try your recipe and include eggs and pickle.
Have a lovely weekend.
Best Wishes
Daphne
Kim @ The Cookie Puzzle
You are killing me! I love Southern Potato Salad. I have not had it is years either, my mom used to make it all the time and it was always my favorite. What a great idea to put the potatoes in the fridge to cool. Thank you so much for sharing this recipe…my mom is also one of those mix and taste cooks…drives me crazy!
Kelly
My momma’s family is from NC (although we just about all live in Florida now) – and this is exactly our potato salad. I’m just has happy to leave the relish out if I don’t have any, and every once in a while I’ll get a urge to dice up some onions.
I see all these fancy ‘tater salads with tarragon dressing and olive oil and all these other ingredients – and I think “Y’all just need to put some Kraft or Duke’s in there and let it be!
Sherri
I know right! No fancy for me either. I will have to add a little onion one day too! I used to only use Duke’s! Now I’m in love with Hellman’s 🙂
Mindie Hilton
Looks really good! Please come share your potato salad at the Anything Goes linky, if you have not already.
Dale
This is the way I make Southern Potato Salad too and I’m from Georgia! I love it freshly warm and if it has been in the ref. I zap it a tiny bit in the microwave.
Sherri
That’s exactly what I do!
Leanna @ Alldonemonkey
I’m also from NC (Charlotte), and this looks just like what I grew up eating! I’ve never had a recipe of it either, just the taste test, so how nice to have a real recipe for it 🙂
Sherri
That’s so funny! 🙂 It is so yummy! I have to admit I had a little for breakfast yesterday too.