You know those dishes that embody wonderful memories of gathering with family and friends for special occasions? Food has a way of doing that. For our family, loaded potato salad is one of those. It is a summertime favorite and is often fondly present on our family table for Mother’s Day, Memorial Day, July 4th and Labor Day. To us it says “it’s summertime and let’s celebrate together”. Potato salad has a multi-generational family presence for summer meals and gatherings.
This loaded potato salad recipe is not your grandmother’s potato salad. You know the one sweetened with sugar and gobs of mustard? Or a least that’s the way that our grandma used to doctor hers up. And that was her favorite. In her later years, she even bought already prepared potato salad from the store, to save time. And then she fixed it up or doctored it up as she called it, adding the condiments that she liked best.
The difference with this recipe for loaded potato salad is that it’s a spin off on loaded baked potatoes. Those extra fancy baked potatoes that you love to eat at the restaurant that are loaded with butter, sour cream, chives, shredded cheddar and bacon pieces. They are so much more tasty than a plain baked potato. So how do you take the wonderful flavors of something like a loaded baked potato and make it into a chilled salad?
That’s exactly what we’ve done here. In this recipe along with the mouth watering flavors of a loaded baked potato, we’ve also added celery for a nice crunch throughout the experience, as well as eggs, which give a great punch of protein you are sure to enjoy.
Helpful tip: Allow the potatoes and eggs to cool completely before mixing with the sauce ingredients to avoid extra absorption of the sauce as the mixture cools. This can result in a dry potato salad. Your potato salad should be nice and moist and tasty.
For a low fat version: Use low fat or fat free mayonnaise and sour cream.
For a gluten free version: This dish is naturally gluten free.
Loaded Potato Salad
Equipment
- soup pot
- mixing bowl
- sharp knife
Ingredients
- 3 lbs red skinned potatoes, diced into bite sized pieces
- 4 stalks celery, chopped
- 3 scallions, chopped
- 6 eggs, boiled
- 1½ cups mayonnaise
- 1 cup sour cream
- 3 tbsp mustard
- salt and pepper to taste
- shredded cheddar
- bacon bits
Instructions
- Boil largely diced potatoes and eggs in a large soup pot until potatoes are tender. (about 10-15 minutes) Allow to cool.
- Chop scallions and celery. Once eggs have cooled, peel the shells and rinse with cool water. Chop the eggs.
- Mix together mayonnaise, sour cream, mustard, salt and pepper.
- Add potatoes, eggs and scallions. Mix together until completely covered with sauce.
- Top with shredded cheddar cheese and bacon bits.
