This Classic Potato Salad recipe is made with Yukon Gold potatoes, hard boiled eggs, and a creamy dressing. It is a family favorite, and a must-have at any BBQ!
Want more side dishes? I love this Corn Salad, Cucumber Salad, Baked Beans, and Coconut Rice!
Why I love this recipe:
- Classic – No funny stuff here, this easy potato salad recipe is the traditional one everyone loves, with the best sauce to coat the potatoes.
- Fresh – Making this salad with fresh ingredients is absolutely worth it. You won’t buy one at the grocery store again!
- Make-Ahead – Throw it together when you have time, and pull it out of the fridge and serve when you are ready!
Potato Salad Ingredients:
- Yukon Gold Potatoes: these are my favorite kind for potato salad, but russet would also work.
- Hard Boiled Eggs: we use the egg yolk to make the best creamy sauce to coat the potatoes.
- Mayonnaise: good quality, like Hellman’s or Kewpie.
- Buttermilk: a must for the amazing potato salad dressing. You can make your own buttermilk, if in a pinch.
- Yellow Mustard (or Dijon)
- Dill Pickles
- Celery
- Red Onion
- Salt and Pepper
How to make Potato Salad:
Boil Potatoes: Place whole, unpeeled potatoes in a large pot of water. Bring the water to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer for 10 to 15 minutes, until the potatoes are fork tender. Drain water from the pot, then cover with a lid to allow the potatoes to steam for 5-10 minutes. Peel potatoes, if desired, and cut them into 1 inch chunks.
Make Potato Salad Dressing: Mix together egg yolks, mayonnaise, buttermilk, mustard, a splash of pickle juice, and salt and pepper, to taste.
Combine: Pour dressing over the potatoes. Add chopped egg whites, celery, onion, and pickles. Stir well.
Serve: Cover, and refrigerate for a few hours.
Make Ahead and Storage Instructions:
To Make Ahead: This is the best potato salad recipe because you can make it up to 2-3 days ahead of time and it will taste great! Make it at least a few hours before and refrigerate.
To Store: Keep potato salad in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
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Recipe
Classic Potato Salad
Ingredients
For the salad
- 3 pounds Yukon Gold Potatoes
- 4 hard boiled eggs
- 1 cup mayonnaise
- 1/4 cup buttermilk
- 2 Tablespoons yellow mustard (or half dijon)
- 2 dill pickles , minced + splash of pickle juice)
- salt and pepper
- 2 ribs celery , chopped
- 1/4 cup red onion , chopped
Instructions
- Boil and chop potatoes: Place the whole, unpeeled potatoes in a large pot of water. Bring the water to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer for 10 to 15 minutes, until the potatoes are fork tender. Drain the water completely from the pot and then cover the pot with a lid to allow the potatoes to steam for 5-10 minutes. Peel potatoes, if desired, and cut them into ½ inch chunks.
- Make Dressing: Separate egg yolks from the whites of the hard boiled eggs and place the yolks in a bowl. Mash the yolks with a fork and then stir in the mayonnaise, buttermilk, mustard, a splash of pickle juice, and salt and pepper, to taste.
- Assemble: Pour the dressing over the warm potatoes. Chop the egg whites and add them to the potatoes along with the celery, onion, and pickles. Stir well, cover, and refrigerate for a few hours to allow the flavors to blend.
Notes
Nutrition
Did You Make This Recipe?
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*I first shared this recipe in May 2013. Updated May 2019 and May 2023.
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My first attempt for my wife’s birthday, she loves it. Thank you so much for this awesome recipe.
My husband and daughter made this as a surprise. I was skeptical because I am very picky with potato salad. This WOWED me. It tasted just like my mothers passed down to me recipe. Great instructions. I wish he had made more.
Can you make without the milk if you are dairy free?
I used apple cider vinegar (2 TBL) instead of buttermilk, I also left out the pickle juice since vinegar is enough tang for me. Tasted great
This recipe has good bones but I, personally, found it to be quite bland. I doctored it up pretty extensively to give it some flavor.
This is an amazing potato salad. Being a Brit we don’t put anything like the number of ingredients in our potato salads! I’ve made this twice now and it’s sublime.
I made this two days before a family cookout I hosted yesterday. I should have followed my gut and cut the potatoes before boiling. I ended up with an undercooked potato salad and found myself apologizing to everyone. I also wasn’t a fan of the dressing. The flavor was okay but not my favorite, but the issue was the fact that it was way too watery. I don’t think I’ll make this one again. I followed the recipe as written other than I peeled the potatoes first.
Excellent recipe! I used a little more celery and added some paprika and seasoning salt to the dressing but this potato salad is a winner!
Sounds delicious can’t wait to make it. But need to know what you sprinkled on top of the dish.
Thanks
This is delicious!! I used half French and half English mustard for a little extra kick.
I made this for our Memorial day BBQ and it was a hit! I didn’t change a thing. Even my husband who doesn’t like crunchy things (onions, celery, and pickles) in his potato salad loved it! This will be a forever go to recipe for me.
Just made it, following your clear directions. It is special and much better than any I have made and all that I’ve had from others. A WINNER!!!!
Husband says way better than store’s
This recipe reminded me of the one my grandmother used. It was simple but delicious!
These are some of the changes I did, 6 hard-boiled eggs, two splashes of milk, 3 Tablespoons yellow mustard, a splash of apple vinegar, large dash of celery seeds, large dash onion powder.
What would be some possible substitutes for buttermilk?
You can get powdered buttermilk in the same section of the store where powdered milk is. I just bought some based on a friend’s recommendation. Easy sub for liquid!
I used natural yoghurt with a bit of milk added to make it the consistency of cake batter. Worked a treat.
Wonderful!, Random search landed here and couldn’t be more pleased to visit.
Every thing taste better from scratch Traditional potato salad is a Classic! Thank You.
So glad you found us!!
Got rave reviews from my guests!
I would be concerned about food safety. If you take hot potatoes and add all the ingredients then place in a cover bowl to chill it may not be safe. Time and temperature exposure, you have volatile foods like eggs and potatoes. Better to mix the ingredients and place in a pan, with the salad uncovered, to chill.
Some recipes call for sweet pickles but I like this recipe better with dill pickles. Yummy.
Very nice basic potato salad. I would note that I have found that it is better to peel (if peeling)
potatoes and then cooking. Why? Well, unless you like handling hot potatoes, they are cooled
when done whole and peeled. And, if you put some of the dressing on REAL WARM potatoes, it sinks in better and ads flavor. I also ad the onions to the warm potatoes before cooling.
I followed this recipe as written. It’s our favorite…very simple and flavorful. I always get compliments when I make it for family and friends. Thanks!
I’m 74 yrs old and been making potato salad since I was 15yrs old. You might consider using pickle relish to replace the pickles. I use 2 jumbo eggs for every med size potato and I use a 50/50 ratio of red & yukon potato. I never use mustard. Adding the red potato makes it sweeter, and adding more eggs simply makes it much creamer. You might consider using a large cheese shredder for the eggs it makes them a uniform size, and makes the yokes blend better with the mayo. My potato salad has been a hit with our family for years.
Nice flavor & easy to follow instructions. I only added fresh chopped parsley & minced chives; also substituted Vidalia onion for the red onion. I vary the recipe I’ve used for years & this was a tasty change, plus I found your method with the eggs to be time-saving!
Made this recently and it’s great. I taste tested as I went along and once I mixed the sauce in with the potatoes I thought it was good enough then to serve/eat. It was still warm but I don’t mind that as it makes me think of my mom because she’d make potato salad and eat it right after making it, so that brought back god memories. I did add the celery, egg whites, pickles but left out the onions (my wife doesn’t like raw onions) and it was still was tasty.
My son-in-law has made me the family potato salad maker. I peel and dice my potatoes first as I hate trying to do so when they are hot. I add mayo (99% fat free) with chopped onion or green onion and mix while still hot. I can then add whatever I have on hand – crispy bacon, peppers, gherkins. I don’t add any egg, never have. Once it is mixed I cover and keep in the fridge until required. I will have to try your recipe with the boiled egg and see what the family think.
Fat free mayo is full of unhealthy ingredients. It’s ok to eat fat. It’s processed food thats bad for you
After accidentally tossing out my mom’s potato salad recipe years ago, I had pretty much stopped making it because I couldn’t get it “right”. This one is it! My husband and I both give it 5 stars!
I have found the easiest way to do the potatoes is to peel them, cut them up, place in a basket, place in instant pot with 2 cups of water and pressure cook for 3 minutes. All are evenly cooked. I spread out to cool 5 to 10 minutes and then mix up potato salad before putting in fridge to chill. It’s so quick and easy.
So delicious and I’m not a potato salad lover, but this one is awesome!!
Best potato salad ever! I added extra pickles and celery and left out the egg. My kids couldn’t get enough!
Another great LAUREN ALLEN recipe. Covering with a lid and steaming cooked potatoes is brilliant. I added dried mustard and lemon pepper seasoning. I made my own buttermilk by adding a little lemon juice (or white vinegar) to regular milk.
My Family went crazy over this recipe! I did change it a tad, I had no Buttermilk so I used Sour Cream and I did not addd the pickle juice. Still Fantastic! oh and also added scallions for presentation.
Very nice potato salad, something very homey about it, nostalgic even..Husband loved it, and he doesn’t usually like most potato salad.
This was really good! We had a lot of potatoes to use so I thought I would give this recipe a try. I am not usually a big potato salad fan, but this was really creamy and flavorful! Thanks!!
As close to my Mom’s potato salad as I have been able to find. The chopping of the yolks into the mayo mix makes it less runny than a lot of recipes. The only thing I do different is use sweet pickle relish from our garden instead of dills.
Excellant!!! Husband loved it!!!
Would sweet peas be a good alternative for celery? Not a celery fan.
Sure!
Very good flavor. Everyone enjoyed it in our family.
Amazing! Thank you for sharing!
I’m making this as we speak for Easter! Looks so easy and delicious! Can’t wait to try it!!
Super easy and DELICIOUS. Thank you
I made this, but as a pasta salad instead of potatoes! It was very delicious! I’m planning on trying it as written as well next time I make potato salad. I used 1 lb. of cooked elbow macaroni in place of the potatoes and just a touch of sugar, as our pickles are very sour. Thank you!
I’ve never had great luck with potato salad but I decided to give this one a try. It is the BEST! I served it at a friend’s and everyone loved it. Thanks for making me look good! New follower here!
That’s great to hear and I’m happy you enjoyed it! Thanks so much!
We are big time cold salad eaters here.
As soon as I uncover our grill it’s a question of…. “what salad are you making for me?”….from hubby of course. I’m not sure when it went form ‘making for us’ to ‘making for me’?! LOL!!
When I quit buying store bought cold salads years ago and started making ours all from scratch hubby just wants homemade only.
This is a slightly different potato salad recipe, sounds tasty, so I will be making it soon.
Thanks!
This looks delicious! My boyfriend loves potato salad and I ‘m always looking for new recipes to try 🙂
Thanks Hilary, I hope he loves this one!