Today I want to show you how I make my easy German potato salad recipe. It’s pretty good, y’all! I developed this recipe for my friends at the Idaho Potato Commission. Thank you for working with me, friends!
While I generally prefer starchy potatoes for mashing and general eating, red-skinned potatoes shine in this potato salad made without mayonnaise.
You can also make this Whole30-compliant if that’s important to you. For another side dish you’ll be happy to eat while you’re on a Whole30, check out my salt potatoes salad, too.
For ease of browsing, here are all of my side dishes. Thanks for stopping by!
White Potatoes and Whole 30
Time was that white potatoes were Off Limits on a Whole 30. No more, though!
If you’re a white potato lover, you can rejoice that, as a low-fat and nutritious whole food, white potatoes are now fair game.
But still no French Fries. That’s okay. You can get your white potato fix using Idaho® Red Potatoes to make potato salad that’s loaded with flavor, and 100% Whole 30-compliant. Yay!
The big deal with making this salad Whole 30 is using bacon with no sugar added. Fortunately, there are several widely available brands to choose from.
My favorite is Pederson’s.
What Makes This Salad Different?
I grew up eating “southern potato salad” with lots of mayonnaise, probably some sugar, diced up celery and onion. Probably some pickle relish and maybe some chopped up hard boiled eggs if the cook was feeling fancy.
German potato salad is Not That.
It has a pretty short ingredient list, it comes together quickly, and it’s served warm, which makes it a lovely change from my “normal potato salad.”
And as an added bonus, since it doesn’t contain any eggs and is great warm or at room temperature, it’s a nice salad to bring to a potluck or cookout, even on hot days.
Ingredients
- Idaho® Red Skinned Potatoes
- water (for boiling)
- kosher salt
- bacon (Whole30-compliant if you are on Whole 30)
- apple cider vinegar
- bacon fat, strained
- chopped onion
- Dijon mustard
- fresh or freeze-dried garlic
- freshly ground black pepper
- flat leaf parsley, roughly chopped
Procedure
It’s pretty easy to make any kind of potato salad, and this version is no different.
Here’s the rundown:
- Boil the potatoes whole, and then cut into thick slices
- While the potatoes are cooking, cut bacon in pieces and cook until crisp
- Reserve the bacon. Strain the drippings and keep 1/4 cup for the vinaigrette
- When the potatoes are tender, drain well and return to low burner
- Drizzle vinegar on the potatoes and let steam
- While the potatoes are steaming, make the vinaigrette
- Cook onion and garlic in the bacon fat
- Add the mustard and salt and pepper
- Pour hot dressing over the potatoes. Fold gently to coat all the potatoes evenly
- Fold in crumbled bacon and flat leaf parsley
- Enjoy!
How Long Will It Keep?
Any leftovers can be refrigerated for up to 5 days.
Warm it gently in the microwave or in a pan before serving.
Note that the bacon will lose its crispiness once refrigerated.
What To Do With Leftovers
Aside from just reheating to serve as a side dish, we have found that this dish reheats really well as part of a breakfast frittata.
- Cut the potatoes in smaller pieces, heat up in a nonstick skillet. It won’t need any additional oil because it already contains bacon fat.
- Once hot, spread out in the pan and pour 3-4 beaten eggs seasoned with salt and pepper evenly over the potato mixture.
- Cook the eggs on medium heat, lifting the cooked edged up so the runny egg can run underneath to get cooked.
- Once mostly set, about 3-4 minutes, finish in a 375F oven or under a low broiler until the top is set.
Voila: German potato salad frittata!
Looking for More Side Dishes?
If you’re like me, you enjoy the side dishes more than the main event. Here are some of my favorites from the site:
My mom’s macaroni salad is one of my favorite things to eat, seriously. It’s homey and comforting and I almost always have the ingredients on hand.
If you like sort of outside the box potato salad, I think you may want to give my curried potato salad a try. It is a tiny bit sweet and a tiny bit spicy, a little bit different, and a whole lot of delicious!
And last but not least, this spicy succotash is perfect almost any time of year, but it’s especially nice at Thanksgiving.
If you have any questions about this or any other recipe or post on the site, there are a few ways to get in touch.
You can leave a comment on the post, and I’ll be back in touch within 24 hours.
If your question is more pressing, don’t hesitate to email me, and I should be back in touch within 4 hours (unless I’m asleep) or often much more quickly than that.
Let’s Get Cooking!
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Easy German Potato Salad
This easy German potato salad is easy to make and absolutely delicious. It is also easy to make it Whole30 compliant if that is important to you. Many people are not fans of potato salad made with mayonnaise. While I am not one of those people, I live to serve, and bring you this warm potato salad which doesn't use mayonnaise. Hooray!
Ingredients
- 1 ½ pounds Idaho® Red Skinned Potatoes, scrubbed
- 3 quarts water
- 1 ½ Tablespoons (4 ½ teaspoons) kosher salt
- 8 oz Whole30-compliant bacon
- 6 Tablespoons apple cider vinegar, divided use
- ¼ cup reserved bacon fat, strained
- 1/2 cup chopped onion
- 1 ½ Tablespoons Dijon mustard
- 1 teaspoon fresh or freeze-dried garlic
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt, or to taste
- ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, or to taste
- ¼ cup flat leaf parsley, roughly chopped
Instructions
- Place the potatoes in a pot with the water and first amount of salt.
- Bring to a boil and keep at a low boil until potatoes are easily pierced all the way through, about 10-13 minutes depending on size.
- While the potatoes are cooking, chop the bacon into 1/2" pieces and cook over medium heat until crisp.
- Remove the bacon to a paper towel-lined plate to drain. Strain the bacon fat in the pan and measure out ¼ cup, reserving the rest for some other use.
- When the potatoes are cooked, thoroughly drain them.
- Hold each with tongs or with a heat proof glove and slice each potato into ½” rounds. Return them all to the pot.
- Drizzle 3 Tablespoons apple cider vinegar over the potatoes and put the lid on to let them, steam and absorb the vinegar, about 5 minutes.
- In the skillet you cooked the bacon in, reheat the 1/4 cup bacon fat over medium heat until hot.
- Stir in the onion and cook for 2 minutes, stirring constantly.
- Add in the mustard, garlic, the rest of the apple cider vinegar, second amount of salt, and pepper.
- Cook for 2 more minutes.
- Remove the lid from the potatoes and pour the dressing over the still-hot potatoes.
- Use a spatula to gently toss to coat the potatoes with the dressing.
- Let sit for 2 minutes to soak in.
- Stir in the chopped parsley and reserved bacon.
- Serve immediately or let cool to room temperature and then serve.
Notes
TIPS:
Pouring some of the apple cider vinegar into the potatoes when they are still hot allows the vinegar to really soak in and flavor the potatoes all the way through.
MAKE IT WHOLE30 COMPLIANT:
There are now many different brands of bacon that are Whole 30 compliant, so check your labels and do a little research online.
STORING:
Store leftovers in the refrigerator for 4 days. Reheat in the microwave or over medium heat on the stove top.
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Nutrition Information
Yield 6 Serving Size 1Amount Per Serving Calories 340Total Fat 22gSaturated Fat 8gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 13gCholesterol 46mgSodium 1102mgCarbohydrates 19gFiber 2gSugar 2gProtein 15g
The stated nutritional information is provided as a courtesy. It is calculated through third party software and is intended as a guideline only.
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Enjoy the salad. Thank you again to my friends at the Idaho Potato Commission for partnering with me!
Take care, and have a lovely day.
Beth says
This is delicious, and a nice change from the mayo-dressed potato salad I learned from my mom.