Best Ever Potato Salad
This BEST EVER Potato Salad (with bacon!) is straight from grandma’s recipe box! It is easy, creamy, and loaded with bacon, and a secret ingredient in the dressing puts it over the top. It converted me to being a potato salad lover! Please don't go through the entire summer without making this at least once!
Why You’ll Love This Potato Salad with Bacon
I long disliked potato salad because of how over-the-top mayonnaise-y it typically is. That is, until this recipe. It was life-changing, and I am so happy to share the recipe with you!
This recipe comes from a friend's grandmother, and on the recipe card she gave me it is titled "Best Ever Potato Salad". A bold statement and one that always gives me pause, but it is absolutely, 100% warranted in this case.
First, I tend to trust old family recipes over others; second, the grandma was confident enough to call it the best; and lastly, it has a secret ingredient that takes it over the top. Well-deserved!
Ingredients
This classic potato salad relies upon these basic ingredients:
- Red Potatoes – You can substitute Yukon gold potatoes; both hold their shape really well in potato salad.
- Bacon – Regular sliced bacon is perfect!
- Hard-Boiled Eggs – A classic potato salad add-in.
- Celery – For crunch and flavor!
- Onion – A small yellow onion; you can substitute a shallot.
- Mayonnaise – This is the base of the dressing. You can substitute all or part with either sour cream or plain Greek yogurt. These will both impart more of a tangy flavor, but will still work well here.
- Dijon Mustard – Adds a little bite to the dressing.
- Sugar – Classic granulated sugar for a little sweetness in the dressing.
Many potato salad recipes call for vinegar of some type in the dressing, but the Dijon mustard here does a great job of adding tang and acid and goes incredibly well with the creaminess of the mayonnaise and the sweetness of the sugar.
The Secret Ingredient that Makes This Potato Salad THE BEST
The bacon drippings!
Along with all of the great ingredients that give this salad a great depth of flavor and lots of texture, the dressing on this potato salad is what makes it insanely special.
After frying up the bacon, you save a couple of tablespoons of the bacon drippings and whisk in a modest amount of mayonnaise, some Dijon mustard, a bit of sugar, and a smidge of salt.
It is ah-mazing. The flavor is robust, not terribly mayonnaise-y (a huge bonus in my book), and a perfect accent to all the flavors and textures in the salad.
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How to Make This Potato Salad
First things first… if you haven’t hard-boiled your eggs yet, do that first so they have time to cool down before being added to the potato salad. Then…
- Boil the potatoes until they are fork-tender, then drain.
- Meanwhile, cook the bacon in a skillet until crisp. Drain off the bacon drippings, reserving a couple of tablespoons.
- Add the remaining dressing ingredients to the skillet and whisk to combine.
- Toss together the potatoes, eggs, celery, and green pepper. Pour the dressing over and stir to coat, then gently mix in the bacon.
- Cover and refrigerate at least 3 hours before serving.
Making it Ahead of Time
Potato salad is the perfect candidate for making in advance! You can safely (and easily) make this potato salad up to 1 day in advance and keep it covered in the refrigerator before serving.
I have served this to people who claim to hate potato salad because of the mayonnaise factor. I have also served it to people who claim that they only like their mom's/grandma's/aunt's recipe and no others.
All of these people? They have tripped over themselves raving about this recipe, declaring it the best ever potato salad they've ever had.
If You Like This Potato Salad Recipe, Try These Summery Salads:
- Chinese Coleslaw
- Loaded Baked Potato Salad
- Thai Peanut Cabbage Slaw
- Seven Layer Salad
- Broccoli Salad
Watch the Recipe Video:
If you make this potato salad recipe and love it, remember to stop back and give it a 5-star rating - it helps others find the recipe! ❤️️
Best Ever Potato Salad
Ingredients
- 1½ pounds red potatoes, cut into small cubes (about 4 cups)
- 12 ounce package bacon, cut into 1-inch pieces
- ¾ cup (170 g) mayonnaise
- 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
- 2 teaspoons granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 4 hard-boiled eggs, peeled and chopped
- 1 stalk celery, finely diced
- 1 small yellow onion, finely diced
- ½ medium green pepper, finely diced
Instructions
- Boil the potatoes until they are fork tender. (If you're not sure how to boil the potatoes, this is a good resource.) Drain the potatoes and set aside.
- Meanwhile, cook the bacon in a skillet over medium-low heat until crisp. Remove bacon with a slotted spoon and place on a paper towel-lined plate to drain. Pour off all but 2 tablespoons of the bacon drippings in the skillet and remove the pan from heat.
- Add the mayonnaise, mustard, sugar and salt to the reserved bacon drippings in the skillet and whisk to combine.
- In a large bowl, combine the potatoes, eggs, celery, onion and green pepper. Pour the dressing over the ingredients and gently stir to evenly coat. Stir in the bacon.
- Cover and refrigerate for at least 3 hours before serving. Leftovers can be stored, covered, in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
Notes
- Potatoes: You can substitute Yukon gold potatoes; they also hold their shape well in potato salad.
- Onion: You can use one shallot in place of the chopped onion.
- Mayonnaise: You can substitute all or part with sour cream or plain Greek yogurt. These will both impart more of a tangy flavor but will still work.
- Storage: Leftovers should be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
- Make-Ahead: You can prepare this potato salad and keep it covered, in the refrigerator, up to 1 day in advance of serving it.
Did you make this recipe?
Leave a review below, then snap a picture and tag @thebrowneyedbaker on Instagram so I can see it!
[photos by Ari of Well Seasoned]
My mother in law makes it like this, but she crumbles some of the bacon and puts it in the potato salad. It is soo good. Especially the next day.
One thing I love about BEB recipes is that you can usually omit or substitute any ingredient you don’t care for. I am a potato salad fanatic, but it must be the classic Hellmann’s type, simple and perfect. I adore mayonnaise, and lots of it, but I cannot stand mustard in my potato salad. Ever. Still, this recipe is beckoning me to make it, and make it I will. I’m just going to eliminate the mustard and green pepper. I think the addition of bacon drippings is GENIUS! I’m very appreciative of BEB sharing this awesome recipe.
I make potato salad basically like this recipe. Sometimes I bake the potatoes instead of cooking them, add a little pickle juice and leave out the green pepper (we don’t like them).
This really is the ‘Best potato salad ever”. After I made it for a special family event, all of my family members demanded the recipe. Thank you so much for sharing it.
Does adding the mayo to the warm bacon drippings separate the mayo? Looks delicious.
Hi Brent, At first it will look separated, but continue whisking and it comes together as a smooth dressing.
Best potato salad I have ever made! I replaced the green pepper with frozen peas. Yummy
OMG, I think peas would be fantastic in this!
made this today to bring to Mother’s Day! Omg it’s so good Best ever!
This is so delicious! I love it! Thanks for this recipe!
This sounds so good! I will try to use avocado instead of mayonnaise.
The very best potato salad ever!!!! Love love love it!!
Hi. Is the recipe missing pepper; Would you sprinkle paprika on top of the finished product? Thank you in advance.
Hi Rick, This particular recipe does not include pepper, but you can certainly add it if you’d like! I’m not a huge fan of paprika on potato and egg salads, so I don’t use it, but you could if you’d like.
Just wondering can I boil the pots the night before and store in fridge, or make the whole salad the night before with the dressing.
Thanks
Vanessa
Hi Vanessa, You could make the whole thing the night before; I actually think it tastes better after if it’s had time to sit and the flavors meld together.
I can’t describe in words how delicious this was! I am a bacon fanatic and went into bacon coma when I ate it! I added a little more bacon and bacon fat to my homemade mayonnaise. Now I want potato salad every day! Thank you for the delicious recipe.
OMG! I can hardly stay out of the bowl, and I just put it in the fridge to cool! I was on of those folks that was really picky and only liked my own potato salad. But bacon?!? What a great addition! I left out the onions and peppers as neither of us are fans, but I did add some celery seed and onion powder. Having this for dinner with bbq chicken… I can hardly wait! Thanks so much for sharing this recipe!
This is a fabulous potato salad. I’ve been trying for years to duplicate my ex-husband’s recipe (yeah, he wouldn’t give it to me) and this is as close as I will ever come. I do miss the dill pickle he used to put in his, and I will add one the next time. Also, I did omit the green pepper, but chopped up the ends of some green onions for the same color. Glad I made a double batch!
Good overall, but too much salt and too many eggs. Bacon in itself is salty. Next time I will cut the salt, and only do three eggs. Dressing with the bacon grease very good. Thanks.
I crisped the bacon in duck fat; best of all worlds. I thought it still needed acidity to cut the richness so I added some capers. I still like my mom’s better. But I can’t reproduce it. Probably just a taste memory……..
Im making this right now ! Im excited. My fiance loves bacon
I changed it up because I didnt have dijon mustard or celery and we’re not big on green pepper. I used frenchs honey mustard and chopped pickles. It is the best potato salad I’ve ever hsd.
Have been looking for a new potato salad recipe.. and this one looks like it might be the one to try for this Christmas 2013 Dinner.. being In Australia, salads and cold meats are the go..I normally use the eggs in a potato salad but bacon celery and Green capsicum and onion sound like it will add not only flavor but also texture to the dish, thanks for sharing :)
Just came across this and decided to give it a go.I did the potatoes sous vide and the texture was amazing.Totally different.Will be using this in future.Every body raved about it.
Only made half of this recipe and I didn’t include green pepper and celery because I didn’t have them. It still turned out great. Very delicious!
Was delicious!!! Although replaced onion with spring onions (scallions) and ditched the green pepper – it doesn’t belong there – too overpowering. I also added fresh parsley… Will definitely be doing this again.
Yay! This recipe is fantastic, I just finished making it! Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for sharing your recipe. The potato salad was awesome!
I agree with you!
I don’t normally put mustard in my potato salad, but this was wonderful! http://www.fransfavs.com/2013/07/best-ever-potato-salad/#more-6379
Just made this, with organic potatoes, grass fed bacon, free range eggs…. I had no celery so I used capers and scallions, yellow and red peppers. Made the dressing as is with a little less mayo. Should have reduced the salt, it’s a little too salty with the bacon. And I added black pepper. Once it’s chilled we’ll do the real taste test. I can see this as my go to P-salad recipe!
I just made this last night. It is sooooo…. good! I’m not a potato salad person but now I am. I made it for a cookout tomorrow but ended up bring a pile of it in to work for lunch. I’m officially converted. I’ve already forward on the recipe to two co-workers. Thank you!!!
I was looking online yesterday for a potato salad recipe to make with ingredients I already had. Found this and when I served it to my hubby and son they both said “this is THE BEST potato salad I’ve ever had”! Delish!!!! I cant wait to bring this to my sister in laws next family dinner. I have always thought she made the best potato salad, but this has even got hers beat, hands down. Thanks! :-)
I tried this recipe yesterday, only I didn’t have red potatoes, I used Irish instead.Took off the skin,as we don’t like them.
Didn’t have dijour mustard ,so used reg,I also diced up a small spear of Kosker pickle ,other wise it was fantastic, we both loved it, I am serving tonight with fried chicken YUMMY!!