Red Potato Salad Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What kind of potatoes are best for potato salad? ›

To keep your salad from falling apart into mush, it's important to use the best potatoes for potato salad. Skip the russet potatoes and use a waxy variety instead, like Yukon gold, red potatoes or fingerlings.

Pull the potatoes out of the water as soon as they're tender. This will keep them from overcooking and falling apart. And toss them right away, while they're still hot, with a mixture of vinegar and more salt.

The skin on a potato adds a nice texture and flavor to the potato salad and it's also the healthiest part. We have several potato salad recipes with the skins intact. This link shows off traditional potato salads, classics with a twist, even fried potato salads.

Baby Red Potatoes (and small red potatoes) are done after boiling in 15-20 minutes. Medium red potatoes can take 30 minutes if left whole. Large red potatoes I recommend chopping them in smaller pieces, such as half or quarters and simmer 20-25 minutes. Whole potatoes will take needlessly long to boil.

Always cut up the potatoes into a dice before boiling them. If you boil the potatoes whole, the exterior of the potato will get too soft and crumbly before the interior has a chance to cook through. Best potatoes for potato salad? Russet, Yukon Gold, or red potatoes (new potatoes) are all excellent for potato salad.

If you'd like to add a little extra color and texture to your salad, leave the skins on. Just be sure to scrub them thoroughly with a vegetable brush before you cook them. Once you've either scrubbed or peeled your potatoes, cut them into bite-size chunks, place them in a large pot, and cover them with water.

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 you're ready to serve.

In general small or cubed potatoes will take about 10 to 15 minutes to boil, while larger, whole potatoes will take between 20 to 25 minutes. To check potatoes for doneness, insert a knife into one.

The vegetable absorbs the water it's cooked in, so if you just boil them in unseasoned water, you'll end up with tasteless taters that no amount of mayo, herbs, or bacon bits can help. Adding salt to the water seasons them from the inside out so you'll be able to start with the perfect potatoes for your dish.

A good rule of thumb is to go with a 2-inch dice on the potatoes before boiling them. Cutting potatoes before boiling does aid in removing excess starch. Excess starch can make potatoes gummy or gluey. That said, cutting the potatoes too small can lead to too much water absorbing into the potatoes.

How to make potato salad martha stewart? ›

Red potatoes are great for roasting, cooking in soups, or boiling or steaming for potato salad. The waxy nature of the flesh means they'll maintain their shape, but it also means they will get gluey when overworked, so you'll want to choose a different potato for mashing.

Give them a cold water bath: Once your potatoes are chopped, toss them into a large bowl. Then cover the potatoes completely with cold water and let them soak for at least 30 minutes (or up to overnight). This will help to rinse off the excess starch and help the potatoes crisp up beautifully in the oven.

For most potato dishes it's important to add the potatoes to cold water and allow the water to come to a boil with the potatoes in the water. The potato starch can react as soon as it comes in contact with hot water, which will promote uneven cooking and mealy potatoes.

Waxy potatoes hold their shape well after cooking so are great for boiling, roasting or slicing. Use them to cook casseroles, soups or potato salads.

Yukon Gold

Their smooth, yellow skin often gets them confused with regular yellow potatoes, BUT they are not the same. Yukon golds are a hybrid of white potatoes and yellow potatoes. This means they have qualities of all-purpose and waxy potatoes.

Waxy. Waxy types of potatoes—like new, red, and fingerling potatoes—have a lower starch content and thinner skin. They are best used in recipes that need potatoes to hold their shape pretty well.

Starchy potatoes like Russets work best for hash browns. Waxy potatoes like red new potatoes have a higher moisture content and tend to hold their shape better than starchy potatoes, and as such do not develop the crispiest of edges when fried.