Potato Salad

Have you been searching for the perfect potato salad with a wonderful balance of fresh herbs, creamy, crunchy, tangy amazingness? This potato salad will be whipped up in a snap, so let’s get started.

Ingredients & Preparation

The Potatoes

First off, the potatoes. I’m using some smaller, delicious, creamy baby potatoes, but I didn’t have enough, so I’m also using some big, tasty—like, I think they’re new potatoes. Your goal here is to chop these into bite-sized-ish pieces that are uniform; you want the potatoes to boil at the same time so they’re all evenly cooked. Give those potatoes a once-over just to double-check that you haven’t missed any giant chunks hanging around.

These potatoes are all chopped up, so now it’s time to toss them into a big pot. This is a big potato salad, but I love having it in the fridge because it’s perfect for snacking on and it goes with basically everything. I’m adding about two teaspoons of salt, and now we’re going to fill it up with water so the potatoes are covered by at least two inches. Place it on medium-high heat and cook them until they’re fork-tender.

The Eggs

I have a confession: my potato salad has eggs in it. I have six eggs; they came to a boil under two inches of water in a small pot and now they’re just resting for 10 minutes.

Red Onion & Lemon

Time for the red onion. Red onion can have a bite to it—just like every other onion—it’s a little milder and a lot prettier, but might be a bit too much for you. Here’s what you can do: you could use shallots instead; they can be kind of expensive and hard to come by, though. If that’s the case, take the bite away with a little bit of lemon juice. Thinly slice about a third of a cup of red onion, transfer the onion to a smallish bowl, and then squeeze the juice of half a lemon—about two tablespoons—on top. If you love lemon, you can squeeze even more on; it’ll marinate in there, take away the bite, mellow things out, and add a delicious lemony flavor. Toss it every once in a while to make sure it’s all getting coated. Set this aside until the very end.

Finishing the Potatoes

Ten to fifteen minutes later, through the steam, you will see that your potatoes are fork-tender—or you’ll feel it with your fork—and it’s time to transfer them into a bowl after they’ve been drained. Drizzle with about two tablespoons of vinegar; I’m using apple-cider vinegar—it’s nice and mellow and will help bring out some of the flavor. Give it just a little toss and then set these aside to cool down a bit; they’re very, very hot.

Apple & Celery

In the meantime, let’s deal with those eggs. Fish them out; let your eggs cool in some cold water for a while so you don’t burn your fingers when you’re peeling them and set aside.

We can chop our apple up. My potato salad has apple in it; I think it adds a really nice bit of crispness and sweetness—it’s a perfect balance. One large apple should be about a cup diced; I’m using a big, delicious Honeycrisp—my favorite. Cut the flesh from the core and then dice as you’d like; it could be slices or whatever shape, just something that’ll fit onto a spoon when it’s all mixed together.

We’re using two stalks of celery; you could use a little bit more or a little bit less. Give the celery a thin chop.

Herbs & Eggs

Deal with those eggs. Look at that—peeling beautifully. If you’re worried about any fragments of shell clinging to your egg, you can rinse it or dunk it in the cold water; it’ll release them immediately.

One last bit of chopping is a quarter cup of freshly chopped dill and freshly chopped chives. Give it a little chop—smaller pieces. If you want to be a little more liberal, you could use a third of a cup. Set that aside into a bowl and then do the same thing for some dill.

The Dressing

Into a medium bowl we’re adding a half cup of mayonnaise—I’m using ice mayonnaise—and then a half cup of sour cream. Use a nice Dijon mustard; it’ll be really peppery and pecans and just creamy and amazing. You’re only using two tablespoons, so it makes a big difference. Next, we have a tablespoon of celery seeds.

One more ingredient: in this container I have a cup of chopped sweet pickle—that could be any kind of sweet pickle, including the juice. I chopped it up and then filled it up with the remaining juice. You could definitely use relish if you like; I just like chopping it because it has a firmer texture and you get bigger pieces.

Now we have a delicious dressing slurry to cover our potatoes with.

Bringing It All Together

Everything’s all done; it’s time to get this together. Drizzle that dressing over your potatoes—gently; this is a gentle moment. Gently toss the potatoes just to cover them with this dressing.

Add in about a third of a cup of the deflamed onions, mix that in a bit, then add your celery and apple. Break up the apple pieces if they need to be broken up.

The last step is to use almost all of your herbs—reserve some for garnish—and almost all of your egg; you might want to plop a few pieces on at the very end. Now gently, gently toss this.

The very last step is to salt and pepper to taste. Have a little bite, sprinkle some salt, sprinkle some pepper on, and you’re ready to go.

Serving

This potato salad is bringing back all the memories, but it’s also bringing a smile to my face because I love every single ingredient in here—there’s nothing that’s filler; it’s all perfectly balanced. That’s so good—everything, everything, everything is amazing in this.