Creamy potato salad in a bowl with a beer on the side.

I love this Potato Salad Recipe so very much. Potato salad in general will forever remind me of summer potlucks growing up. There was never a bbq, picnic, or gathering that didn’t have a big bowl of potato salad sitting with a buffet of other dishes and it was glorious.

My favorite potato salad recipe is one that’s creamy, includes chopped boiled eggs and a healthy dose of relish (or chopped pickles) to balance out the creaminess. Our version has all those things and we think it’s one of the best one’s we’ve ever tasted!

How to Make Our Potato Salad Recipe

Ingredients

Potato Salad Process

Place potatoes into a large pot. Boil potatoes in generously salted water until fork tender.
Drain potatoes into a colander and cool slightly.

Red potatoes in a colander being drained for creamy potato salad.

Transfer some of the potatoes to a large bowl and mash until creamy.
Once remaining potatoes are cool enough to handle, quarter and add to the bowl of mashed potatoes.

Mashed potatoes in a glass bowl for potato salad.

Mashed potatoes in a glass bowl with chopped potatoes.

Add boiled eggs, pickles, shallots, chives, salt, and pepper to the bowl and gently fold together.

Potato salad with hard boiled eggs and potatoes being mixed in a bowl.

Dressing Process

In a small bowl, combine all dressing ingredients.
Whisk together.

Potato salad dressing ingredients in a bowl.

Potato salad dressing in a bowl whisked together.

Assembly

Fold dressing into the potato mixture until completely combined. Cover and place mixture in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours and up to 1 day. Remove from refrigerator, adjust seasoning and serve.

Why Our Potato Salad Recipe is the Absolute Best!

We use whole grain mustard in our dressing which, adds a really subtle and pleasant tartness to the dish.
Mashing some of the potatoes which really helps to maximize the creaminess without having to add more dressing.
Since we’re big egg salad fans we added some boiled eggs to our potato salad and we just love it so much!

Creamy potato salad in a bowl ready to be served.

Variations

One of my favorite things about our potato salad recipe is its versatility. I love the recipe as written, but it’s also really easy to tweak based on personal preference.

Add chopped bacon – The bits of fatty, salty bacon dotted throughout the dish adds a tasty pop of flavor.
Omit the boiled eggs – If you would rather a purely potato filled potato salad. Just add 2 more potatoes to the dish.
Add more herbs – We personally like adding tarragon and thyme!
Peel the potatoes – Since red potato skins are so thin we keep them on and really love the snappy texture they add when you bite into a piece. If that’s not your thing, no worries! Just peel the potatoes before chopping and mashing them and combining them with the remaining ingredients.
Swap the shallots out for sweet onion (or red onion) and add celery – The sweet onion and celery combination will add a texture contrast to the overall creamy potato salad.
Use yellow mustard instead of whole grain mustard – If you want a tangier dressing, yellow mustard is the way to go!

Make Ahead and Storing Instructions

Our recipe can be made up to 3 days ahead of time. Just transfer the dish to an airtight container, in the refrigerator, until ready to serve.

Something we like to do if we’re making the potato salad ahead of time (although it’s not completely necessary) is to make an extra third of the dressing recipe and fold it into the potato salad just an hour before serving. This helps the potato salad from drying out before serving.