Southern Potato Salad Recipe

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4.85 from 32 votes
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This Southern Potato Salad recipe is a delicious side perfect for casual suppers and cookouts! Potato salad is an easy make ahead favorite!

This potato salad recipe is a simple, classic side dish that’s so easy to make. It is a favorite year round – from summer cookouts to potlucks to a southern Sunday meal. Potato Salad goes so well with everything from hamburgers and grilled chicken to other side dishes like fried okra and baked beans.

Potato salad in glass bowl // addapinch.com

When I was a girl I loved being the taste tester when Mama made her potato salad. What a lucky job it was because her Southern Potato Salad is the best! She was asked to make it for every cookout or family reunion because everyone loved it. And my family requested it for so many suppers and family gatherings too. So I got to test it a lot.

Southern Potato Salad Recipe

This potato salad recipe has been in my family for so many years. My great grandmother made it by this recipe and passed it down through the generations. Mama taught my sister and me how to make it and it’s always been our go-to recipe.

Best Potatoes for Southern Potato Salad

You need to use starchy potatoes that get a little bit soft when you cook them. I prefer Russet or Yukon Gold potatoes, but I most often use Russets. A waxy potato won’t do for this southern favorite, so get one that will get somewhat soft.

How to Make Potato Salad

To make this recipe you will need these ingredients.

Southern Potato Salad Ingredients

  • Potatoes (Russets preferably)
  • Eggs
  • Onion
  • Dill Pickles
  • Yellow Mustard
  • Mayonnaise (not the sweet dressing type)
  • Salt

Cook potatoes. Start by scrubbing and peeling 3 pounds of potatoes. Cube them, add to cold water and boil until tender enough to pierce with a fork, but not until they are mushy. Drain well once they are done.

Boil eggs. At the same time, hard boil 6 eggs and then peel them once they’re done. Chop the eggs in preparation for the salad.

Dice onion and pickles. While the potatoes are boiling, dice your onion and dill pickles.

Combine. Stir together the drained potatoes, chopped eggs, diced onion, diced pickles and salt with the mayonnaise and mustard until creamy. Add more mustard, mayo and even pickles to taste.

Taste test. Make sure your tasting spoons are lined up and at the ready. You will want to have them for your own taste tests!

Once you’ve completed your potato salad, you can either serve right away or refrigerate to serve later.

Potato salad ingredients of chopped cooked potatoes and diced hardboiled eggs ready to combine, in stainless pot. // addapinch.com

Make Ahead Favorite

My family’s Southern Potato Salad recipe is one that is delicious made the day of serving, but is a great make-ahead dish as well. Just keep it tightly covered and refrigerated until ready to serve. It will keep in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.

Perfect for Cookouts, Picnics and Suppers

You’ll find this dish served at most family get-togethers in my family – from holidays like Easter alongside my Cola-Glazed Ham to reunions to cookouts to Sunday suppers! It’s a great potluck dish anytime, too. Potato salad is delicious with chicken, beef, and pork and is a dish that everyone in my family loves!

Adding yellow mustard to Potato salad ingredients of potatoes, diced eggs, chopped pickles, and mayonnaise in a large stainless pot. // addapinch.com

More Delicious Side Dishes and Salads

Here are a few more scrumptious sides for summer cookouts, potlucks and family suppers to try! Many are make ahead too!

Coleslaw

Cucumber Tomato Salad

Southern Macaroni Salad

Easy Tortellini Pasta Salad

Southern Baked Beans

Here’s my family’s Potato Salad recipe. It’s a special favorite!

Southern Potato Salad Recipe

4.85 from 32 votes
Southern Potato Salad – Potato salad is a classic recipe perfect for every possible summer celebration! Made with potatoes, pickles, onions, and eggs, this potato salad is an all-time favorite!
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Total Time: 40 minutes
Servings: 12

Ingredients

  • 3 pounds Russet potatoes, peeled, cubed and boiled until tender
  • 6 boiled eggs, chopped
  • 1 medium onion, diced
  • 4 medium dill pickles, diced
  • 1 cup mayonnaise
  • 1/2 cup yellow mustard
  • 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

Instructions 

  • Combine all ingredients together and mix until well-combined and creamy. Add more mayonnaise and mustard depending on tastes.

Notes

Make-Ahead:
Store potato salad in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.ย 

Video

Nutrition

Serving: 1cup | Calories: 242kcal | Carbohydrates: 15g | Protein: 6g | Fat: 17g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Cholesterol: 101mg | Sodium: 330mg | Potassium: 531mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 150IU | Vitamin C: 13.8mg | Calcium: 56mg | Iron: 4.2mg

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

Enjoy!
Robyn xo

Southern Potato Salad Recipe - Southern Potato Salad is a classic recipe perfect for Sunday suppers, summertime lunches, picnics, reunions, and every possible celebration! This potato salad recipe is a family favorite! // addapinch.com

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About Robyn

Robyn Stone is a cookbook author, wife, mom, and passionate home cook. Her tested and trusted recipes give readers the confidence to cook recipes the whole family will love. Robyn has been featured on Food Network, People, Southern Living, and more.

4.85 from 32 votes

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Recipe Review




145 Comments

  1. linda galarza says:

    This is almost like my Mom’s & Grandma’s except we put in diced tomatoes; however this was a good mistake. When my Mom was visiting her Mom in West Virginia she was helping with the potato salad. When Mom put in the tomatoes, Grandma asked her what she was doing. Grandma said I don’t put tomatoes in mine & Mom of course started arguing with her. Grandma told her She always put PIMIENTOS in it!!! We love the tomato version.

  2. Olga says:

    5 stars
    Love your story! I just made today homemade mayonnaise and was looking for potato salad recipe! Thank you for share!

  3. Lisa says:

    This is the same recipe that my mom and grandmother used to make; I can still see the big steel pot on the stove full of potatoes! Mine never turns out as well, so I have moved on to a yogurt/mayo mix with dill. But dang…this looks so good that I might just give it another try.

  4. Ellie H says:

    This is a keeper. Absolutely delicious!

  5. Karen says:

    North Dakota native and grandma came from Norway. We made potato salad almost the same way. Getting ready to make some now so it has time to sit until the party tomorrow night.

  6. Susie says:

    Wow, it’s great to see somebody else makes potato salad with dill pickles and mustard. I live in the south and everybody else, except my mother, uses sweet pickles & mayo only, no mustard. I love it this way.

  7. Terri J says:

    What kind of Mayo did you use? Miracle whip or Mayo?

  8. Lynn D Kimbell says:

    Very similar to the southern potato salad I grew up with. It had sweet pickles instead of dill, and also had celery. We used to whip our potatoes until they were like mashed potatoes (very smooth and creamy) and then add the other ingrediants. And you NEVER EVER ate potato salad hot! We always let it sit overnight so the flavors would blend. Delicious!!!

  9. ruthie says:

    Dill pickles? Honest? I thought I was the only one warped enough to demand dill pickles in my potato salad. ๐Ÿ˜‰ So much better than sweet! And the eggs, and the mustard…we must have been living parallel lives. Yum.

  10. Rebecca says:

    Oh my! I love the sight of that bright yellow potato salad!! After I left home for college, I thought my family was the only one in the world who made it with liberal amounts of yellow mustard and a sprinkling of paprika ๐Ÿ˜€ So glad to see others enjoy it this way as well. And I totally agree, you can’t call it potato salad unless it has that atomic yellow look and sour bite! This recipe made me think of my dear grandfather and how much he loved potato salad. It was a holiday staple for us.