If you’re looking for a simple potato salad recipe with a flavor punch, then this Miracle Whip Potato Salad is the perfect choice. With just a few ingredients and minimal prep time, you can enjoy this classic dish in no time at all!
Miracle Whip is the secret to a great potato salad. Speaking for me this is my favorite homemade red potato salad dressing recipe. Since we love new potatoes, and summer barbecues are right around the corner, go ahead and jump to the recipe or watch the video showing how we made it.
Table of contents
- Easy Homemade Potato Salad Recipe
- Gather The Potato Salad Ingredients
- Types Of Potatoes
- Miracle Whip Potato Salad Dressing Recipe
- Boil and Cool The Potatoes
- Mix In All The Ingredients
- Quick Tips & Tricks
- Potato Salad Variations
- Watch How To Make Potato Salad {YouTube}
- Is Red Potato Salad Gluten Free?
- Throwdown Kitchen
- Related
Easy Homemade Potato Salad Recipe
Don’t be afraid of making red potato salad. Frankly, the grocery store stuff is awful. People sometimes think that getting the potatoes just right, not too hard or not too soft, is impossible. We’ll give you the tricks and tips to make this a no-brainer. I hope this Miracle Whip potato salad recipe becomes your go-to version. Just in time for barbecue season!
For this easy recipe you will need all-purpose red potatoes, celery, pickle relish, Miracle Whip, sour cream, Dijon mustard, whole grain mustard, scallions and flat leaf parsley.
Gather The Potato Salad Ingredients
There all many kinds of interesting ingredients you can add to potato salad. In my house I am not a potato salad with egg fan but my wife, Jeannette, is. So, I’ll make the basic potato salad, and she’ll hard-boil some fresh eggs. Then, we’ll serve chopped eggs, crumbled bacon and finely diced red onions on the side of the basic red potato salad and people can add their toppings. It’s like a potato salad bar!
Celery
Celery is such a crispy vegetable, it is refreshing in potato salad. Adding finely diced celery into the salad not only adds crunchy texture but also adds a refreshing flavor of peppery citrus.
To dice the celery, about 2 large stalks, for the red potato salad, trim of the ends of the stalks. Then, with the tip of a sharp knife make 2 or 3 lengthwise long cuts. Now, gather the celery strips together onto a cutting board and cut the celery into small a small dice. You can dice them a little large if you want more crunch in your salad.
Sweet Pickle Relish
Sweet pickle relish adds a sweet and tart flavor to the potato salad all at the same time. The prepared sweet pickle relish is a combination of cucumbers, sugar, vinegar and red bell pepper. It becomes a question of how much relish is too much relish. I find it indispensable in a southern potato salad recipe. Use sweet pickle relish in this recipe instead of dill pickle relish. It makes a difference.
Mustard
Mustard makes a big difference in many recipes. For this, easy to make red potato salad recipe, we’ll use 2 types of mustard. Dijon mustard and whole grain mustard. First, I like to use whole grain mustard for the appearance of the potato salad. Because the mustard is only partially blended, some mustard seeds are still visible and that makes for a better presentation and texture.
Instead of bright yellow prepared mustard, Dijon mustard has a more distinctive flavor that is tangy, sharp and complex. The color of yellow mustard, heavy with turmeric, is favored in southern style salads, so feel free to change it up if you prefer.
Fresh Herbs
We love fresh herbs in salads. For our red potato salad I chose simple flat leaf parsley for its brightness and green scallion onion for the same reason. Many people love red onion or Vidalia onions in potato salad, but for many it’s not agreeable.
One of the most searched for potato salad recipe terms on Google is “potato salad with no onion”. But, we like the hints and color that onions bring to the recipe and looked for a more subtle flavor. Scallion was the hands down choice for flavor, texture and color. We used both the white and the green of the scallion.
Curly parsley, flat leaf parsley and even cilantro were under consideration as a fresh herb to add to our homemade red potato salad recipe. We eliminated cilantro almost immediately. Both types of parsley, flat and curly, will add color and brightness. However, the flat leaf parsley added something else. The flat leaf parsley added a nice punch of fresh flavor and was not as raw tasting in the finished salad. You can go with whatever you have on hand. But fresh herbs are essential.
Types Of Potatoes
What kind of potatoes are best for homemade potato salad? Waxy potatoes are the best choice. Waxy potatoes hold their shape better and are creamy, sweet and firm at the same time. The different kinds of waxy potatoes you should consider at the grocery or farmers market are new potatoes, all-purpose red potatoes, red bliss and fingerling potatoes.
- New Potatoes: New potatoes are always my first choice for potato salad especially when I find them in the farmers market. The small round potatoes have a thin skin and are sweet. Freshness and quality rule in my world.
- All Purpose Red Potatoes: The potato has a firm texture with a nutty sweet flavor. The skin is thin and is the all-purpose potato I prefer when I’m making salad for a larger group.
- Red Bliss: Red bliss potatoes seem to be the Chef’s choice for potato salad. They are very firm, but to me, Red Bliss always seem a little on the bitter side.
- Fingerling Potatoes: Are interesting indeed. Fingerlings are waxy and do hold up extremely well in salad. They cook quickly and have a thin skin with a nutty earth flavor. Fingerlings taste like a potato should. The best thing about fingerlings is their shape and size that make for an excellent presentation. I use Fingerlings mostly for herb roasted potatoes alongside a Sunday night roast.
Right in the middle of the mix is a perennial favorite, Yukon Gold potatoes. Yukon’s are semi starchy and semi waxy with a sweet flavor. They make wonderful perfect mashed potatoes and crispy roast potatoes. Because they hold their shape well, I’m tempted to make potato salad on the occasion that I’m looking for a buttery creamy salad.
Miracle Whip Potato Salad Dressing Recipe
A red potato salad dressing should evoke memories of your childhood right? The smell of pungent mustard, the sweet and sour taste? To make the dressing for the red potato salad combine Miracle Whip, sour cream, Dijon mustard, whole grain mustard, sweet pickle relish, kosher salt and black pepper in a medium bowl. Whisk the dressing until it is evenly combined. Keep the dressing in the refrigerator until you are ready to make the salad.
Boil and Cool The Potatoes
To cook the potatoes for the salad, start by scrubbing the potatoes. Place them in a large pot and fill the pot with enough water to cover the potatoes by 1 inch. You don’t salt the water at this stage. Salt doesn’t flavor the potatoes while the skins are on. Bring the pot of water to a boil and then reduce the pot of water to a simmer. Cover the pot and cook for about 25-28 minutes. Check to see if they are done by inserting a skewer into the center of a potato. If it slides in easily without too much resistance then the potatoes are done.
Drain the potatoes. Return the potatoes to the pot and cover with a tea towel. Let them sit covered for 20 minutes before cutting them into halves, and then the halves into quarters.
Mix In All The Ingredients
If you don’t like the skin on the potatoes, some people are averse to the skin of a potato, wait a few minutes for the potatoes to cool enough to peel them. After you peel them go ahead and return them to the pot. I usually peel a few of the potatoes just to add a different look.
Gently fold the Miracle Whip potato salad dressing, scallions, parsley and celery into the red potatoes, trying not to smash the warm cut potatoes. There is a reason we chose a waxy potato. Waxy potatoes hold their shape better than starchy potatoes. Hope that helps!
Quick Tips & Tricks
We said there would be a few tips and tricks this red potato salad recipe. The first tip is to use medium waxy all-purpose red potatoes and leave the skins on.
Boil The Potatoes In The Skin
Leave the skin on whole medium red potatoes while you boil them. Potatoes will absorb too much liquid while they are cooking, so the next best thing is to protect them and leave the skins on. After they are cooked, let them cool down before peeling. If you like the skins on make sure you have scrubbed the potatoes before boiling. The skins add a lot of color and are full of healthy nutrients. I don’t think that this works with russets but definitely works with the thin skins of new potatoes and red potatoes.
Bring the Water To A Boil, Then Reduce To Simmer.
To cook the potatoes perfectly, then you must cook them evenly. Start with potatoes submerged in cold water and bring to a boil. Once the water begins to boil, reduce to a simmer so that the potatoes cook a little slower and more evenly. That way they’re retaining their structure better in finished picnic salad.
Season The Potatoes While They Are Still Warm
Potatoes absorb seasonings better when they are warm. While the potatoes are still warm, go ahead and dress them. There is plenty of salt in the dressing and the potatoes will also catch some of that saltiness. Instead of bland potatoes, this step helps the potatoes pop with flavor. The dressing then becomes another layer of flavor on your way to a perfect red potato salad.
Final Touches
After bowling the potato salad, sprinkle a light dust of paprika onto the top of the salad for a pretty presentation. We eat with our eyes and even though there is some color from the red skins, parsley and scallion, face it, potatoes are not very colorful.
Potato Salad Variations
Homemade Potato Salad with Bacon
Who doesn’t love bacon? Crispy bacon bits, crumbled from freshly cooked applewood smoked bacon, added to the basic recipe for potato salad just may blow your mind. When I make homemade salad for barbecue, I usually include bacon. More pork!
Red Potato Salad Without Mayonnaise
A good substitute for Miracle Whip is Greek Yogurt. Greek yogurt has a tangy taste that is similar to Miracle Whip. It’s also lower in fat than Miracle Whip and has a very similar consistency. It is thick and creamy because it is strained to remove water content. Be careful not to pick up a flavored Greek Yogurt. Stick to plain whole milk or low fat Greek Yogurt.
Another Use For Baked Potatoes
If you have leftover baked potatoes they make for a quick and easy salad. Peel and dice up the leftover russets and then add in the dressing. You could make this a loaded red potato salad by tossing in some cheddar cheese shreds, bacon bits, and broccoli florets.
Watch How To Make Potato Salad {YouTube}
Equipment
- Pot
Ingredients
- 3 pounds Red Potatoes medium
- 1 cup Miracle Whip
- 1/2 cup Sweet relish
- 2 tbsp Sour cream
- 2 tbsp Whole grain mustard
- 2 tbsp Dijon mustard
- 1/4 cup Flat leaf parsley
- 1/4 cup Scallion
- 1/2 cup Celery
- 1 tbsp Kosher salt
- 1 tsp Black pepper
Instructions
- Wash and scrub red potatoes(3 pounds). Place the potatoes in a large pot and cover with cold water. Bring the water to a boil. Reduce the heat to simmer and cover the potatoes. Cook for 25 minutes. Stir once midway through. Drain the potatoes, return to the pot and cover with a kitchen towel while you make the dressing.
- Combine Miracle Whip (1 cup), sour cream (2 tbsp), (relish 1/2 cup), whole grain mustard (2 tbsp), Dijon mustard (2 tbsp), Kosher salt (1 tbsp) and black pepper (1 tsp). Mix well and refrigerate.
- Finely dice the celery (2 stalks) about 1/2 cup.
- Roughly chop the flat leaf parsley (1/4 cup)
- Slice the scallion (1/4 cup).
- Dice the cooked potatoes.
- Combine all the ingredients in a large bowl. Potatoes, dressing, celery, scallion and parsley. gently fold until all the salad ingredients are mixed. Refrigerate until ready. Garnish the potato salad with copped scallion or parsley and sprinkle a little paprika on top for extra color.
Nutrition
Is Red Potato Salad Gluten Free?
Red potatoes are gluten-free. Gluten is found in wheat products and a red potato is a waxy vegetable. Gluten could become present in potato salad if Gluten was introduced into the recipe. Most salad dressing recipes are gluten-free because the base is mayonnaise, vinegar and mustard. Always check the ingredient list for wheat or wheat byproducts to be sure.
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