This Simple, Tangy Potato Salad Requires Only 4 Basic Ingredients (2024)

All you need are four basic ingredients for this simple potato salad recipe: scallions, mayonnaise, white-wine vinegar, and Yukon gold potatoes. While the potatoes are steaming, mix the vinegar with scallions, and season with salt and pepper. Tossing the cooked potatoes in this tangy mixture while they are still hot allows them to absorb the flavors. After they cool, stir in the mayonnaise and more scallions, and the salad is ready to serve. The result is a tangy, just-dressed-enough summer side that’s simple without being boring. Perfect for cookouts, potlucks, and parties, this recipe couldn’t be easier to pull together.

Why We Use Yukon Gold Potatoes for This Recipe

For this potato salad recipe, we use Yukon Gold potatoes, our favorite all-purpose variety because of their creamy texture and flavor. They are widely available and well-suited to all kinds of potato dishes, from mashed to scalloped.

As an alternative, use a waxy type of potato, such as Red Bliss. Waxy potatoes are low in starch and high in moisture, so they hold their shape well in a potato salad.

Do not use starchy russet potatoes—the kind best suited for baked potatoes—as they will fall apart in your salad.

The Technique

Our foolproof method produces an easy potato salad every time. Here are the steps that set our recipe apart:

Leaving the Skins on the Potatoes

Perhaps the most controversial thing about our easy potato salad is that we leave the skins on the potatoes. There are several reasons for this: ease (one less prep step), look (we like the pop of color that the skins offer in the potato salad), and they add texture.

Cutting the Potatoes

Aside from choosing the right potato variety, the most important step for making a good basic potato salad is cutting the pieces into uniformly sized pieces so they cook evenly. If you have a mix of sizes, smaller pieces will be overcooked or start to fall apart, while the larger pieces will not be cooked through.

Steaming Rather Than Boiling the Potatoes

Many potato salad recipes call for boiling the potatoes. Depending on the potato used, the size of the pieces of potato, and how long they are cooked for, boiling can result in overcooked, watery potatoes, which results in a mushy potato salad. Steaming gives you more control and keeps the pieces intact, which is what you want for potato salad.

Making Ahead

Potato salad can be made ahead and refrigerated for up to 2 days. Some people say potato salad tastes better the next day. Even if you’re not in that camp, you need to allow about 1 hour for the potatoes to cool before adding the mayonnaise.

1. Prep steamer basket and pan:

   Set a steamer basket in a Dutch oven (or large pot with a lid), and add enough salted water to come just below basket; bring to a boil.

   

2. Steam potatoes:

   Place potatoes in basket, cover pot, and reduce heat to a gentle simmer. Steam potatoes, gently tossing occasionally, until tender, 15 to 25 minutes.

   

3. Combine vinegar and scallion whites:

   Meanwhile, in a large bowl, combine vinegar, scallion whites, 1 teaspoon coarse salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper.

   

4. Toss potatoes in vinegar mixture and chill:

   Add hot potatoes to vinegar mixture; toss to combine. Cool to room temperature, tossing occasionally, about 1 hour.

   

5. Add mayonnaise and scallion greens:

   Add mayonnaise and scallion greens to cooled potatoes; mix gently to combine.

   

6. Serve or refrigerate:

   Serve, or cover and refrigerate up to 2 days.

   

Storing Potato Salad and Food Safety

Potato salad must be refrigerated. Like other chilled foods, it should not be out of the refrigerator for more than four hours—and for a far shorter time in a hot room or outdoors. Potato salad is often served at backyard BBQs and other outdoor gatherings and can pose a health risk if left outside for an extended time in hot weather. Place it on the buffet out of direct sunshine, don’t leave it out for more than one hour, and move any leftover potato salad to the refrigerator once everyone has loaded their plates.

How Long It Lasts: Leftover potato salad will last up to two days in the refrigerator.

Try Our Other Potato Salad Recipes

• Martha's Favorite Potato Salad
• Dill, Potato, and Egg Salad
• New Potato Salad With Red-Wine Vinaigrette
• Old-Fashioned German Potato Salad
• Test Kitchen's Favorite Potato Salad
• French Potato Salad
• Potato and Green Bean Salad
• Deviled Egg Potato Salad
• Smoky Potato Salad With Corn and Chipotles