How to Make My Best Creamy Potato Salad - Potluck Favorite

This hearty potato salad has a creamy, tangy dressing accented with a little crunch from celery and mellow bites of egg. Plus - no onions to ruin your day. Just classic, tried and true flavors that taste like summer and feel like home.

Grandma's old fashioned potato salad is making a comeback in our lives, starting today. 

Take it from me (a real grandma), I've been making this perfect potato salad for nearly 40 years, and my family thinks this version is the best. This recipe has been to more barbecues, picnics, and potlucks than I can count, and I always come home with an empty bowl.

It's creamy without being heavy, but hearty enough to fill you up.  So take a bite, close your eyes, and feel the summer sun on your shoulders as you savor my classic potato salad.

Jump to:

• Potato Salad Ingredients
• Make This Salad the Day Before
• Step by Step
• How to Make My Best Creamy Potato Salad - Potluck Favorite
• Serve and Store Potato Salad Safely
• What to Eat with Potato Salad
• Yummy Summer Sides
• 💬 Comments

Potato Salad Ingredients

Let's talk about what's going into this bowl and why each ingredient earns its spot. Scroll down to the recipe card to see the full recipe amounts and instructions.

• Russet potatoes: The type of potatoes you use matters. Use regular russet potatoes, not waxy potatoes or Yukon gold potatoes. Russets are starchy and a little dry when boiled, which is exactly what you want. They soak up the vinegar and dressing like a sponge, which gives you flavor in every forkful. You'll need about 8 cups of cooked, diced potatoes, which usually means around 4 large raw russets, or 3 pounds.
• Boiled eggs: You'll need 3 eggs total. The yolks get mashed into the dressing for richness and body, and the whites get chopped and folded into the salad. If you've got an instant pot, check out Instant Pot Easy Peel Eggs for my favorite quick way to boil eggs.
• Celery: Two stalks, finely diced, add the crunch that keeps this salad from feeling like mashed potatoes in disguise. Don't just slice the celery - dice it very small. You want the potato to shine in this salad - the celery will just be the accent.
• Mayonnaise: This is the creamy backbone of the dressing. Use a good quality mayo, not Miracle Whip. You want fat and flavor here. Try my homemade mayo - no seed oils or preservatives, and it can be made in a couple of minutes in a food processor.
• Sour cream: this adds some creamy tangy-ness. You can also sub plain Greek yogurt if you prefer, but sour cream is the family favorite here. For a dairy-free version, Tofutti makes an excellent dairy-free sour cream that works beautifully in this recipe.
• Mustard:  mustard adds a nice bite of sharpness to this mellow dressing. Use all-American yellow mustard here, not dijon mustard.
• Vinegar: I prefer apple cider vinegar for its fruity tang, but white vinegar works too if that's what you have. This is the ingredient that gets sprinkled on the warm potatoes before anything else, and it's what makes the flavor stick.
• Pickle relish: Two teaspoons of dill pickle relish, or you can finely dice a couple of dill pickles if you want more texture. This adds little bursts of briny, tangy flavor that cut through the creaminess. Sweet pickle relish is also fine.
• Spices: Celery salt, paprika, garlic powder, salt and pepper. These aren't just garnish. Celery salt amplifies the fresh celery. Paprika adds color and a hint of smokiness. Garlic powder brings savory depth. And salt and pepper to round it out.

You can find all of these ingredients at any grocery store. The only one that might require a special trip is the Tofutti sour cream if you're going dairy-free, but most larger stores carry it in the dairy or natural foods section.

Step by Step

Here's exactly how to put this simple potato salad recipe together, step by step.

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Serve and Store Potato Salad Safely

• Potato salad keeps beautifully in the fridge for up to 4 days, and honestly, it tastes better on day two and three than it does fresh.
• Store it in an airtight container or a big bowl covered tightly with plastic wrap or a lid. The dressing will continue to soak into the potatoes, and the flavors will mellow in the best possible way.
• If you're serving this at an outdoor event, keep it cold. Potato salad should not sit out at room temperature for more than 2 hours, and if it's hot outside, that window shrinks to 1 hour. Use a cooler with ice packs, or nestle the serving bowl into a larger bowl filled with ice. 
• Leftovers are perfect for lunch boxes the next day. Pack it in a small container with a cold pack.
• This is the kind of recipe that rewards a little planning. Make it the night before, let it chill, and show up to your next gathering with a dish that actually tastes like you care (because you do).

What to Eat with Potato Salad

This potato salad is the perfect side dish and goes with just about anything you'd serve at a summer cookout.

It's a great addition to grilled meats. My 20 Minute Air Fryer Chicken is fast, juicy, and pairs beautifully with the creamy tang of this salad. If you're firing up the grill, my Ultimate Grilled Chicken Sandwich is a crowd favorite, and the potato salad makes it feel like a real backyard feast. For something a little more unique, try my Chicken BLT with Pesto Cream Cheese alongside this salad, and you've got a meal that'll make everyone happy.

If you're going low carb for your main but still want a hearty side for the rest of the table, my Low Carb Sesame Ginger Chicken is a great complement. The bright, tangy flavors in both dishes play off each other nicely.

Serve this salad at the next barbecue, or as a hearty side dish for dinner, and don't be surprised when it's the first thing to disappear.

And after nearly 40 years of making this salad, I can tell you with total confidence: this version is the one that'll be remembered at potlucks, picnics, and backyard barbecues. It's creamy, it's tangy, it's hearty, and it's worth every single bite.

Yummy Summer Sides