Easy Southern Potato Salad (Classic Recipe)

Southern Potato Salad is a creamy blend of mayonnaise, yellow mustard, boiled eggs, sweet onion, and dill relish. A summer staple in the South that goes perfectly with almost everything.

Jump to Recipe Print Recipe

Why You’ll Love This

This classic old-fashioned potato salad is creamy, tangy, and absolutely delicious.

It’s quick and easy to make.

This Classic Southern Potato Salad is the perfect potluck dish that is even better made ahead.

Some of our other favorite barbecue side dish recipes are Succotash recipe, Cold Broccoli Salad, Herb Potato Salad (no mayonnaise), Baked Macaroni and Cheese, Baked Beans with Rotel Tomatoes, and Marinated Raw Vegetables Salad.

What is Southern Potato Salad

There are a multitude of southern potato salad recipes in the south. They are all pretty much the same but with slight changes here and there to suit their taste.

But most Southern potato salads contain two main ingredients mayonnaise and yellow mustard.

Note I said “mayonnaise,” not Miracle Whip! And yellow mustard, not Dijon mustard.

In this house, Southern style potato salad requires dill pickle relish! No sweet pickles in our potato salad. There is much debate about this, but it’s a matter of personal taste.

Ingredients Needed

• Potatoes – Russet potatoes are best for their starchy creaminess. They also hold their shape better after boiling. You can also use Yukon gold potatoes, red potatoes, or new potatoes, but the flavor and texture will differ.
• Add-Ins – Sweet onions like Vidalia onions, hard-boiled eggs, and dill pickle relish.
• Dressing – Mayonnaise (not salad dressing such as Miracle Whip), yellow mustard, dill pickle juice, kosher salt, and black pepper.

How to Make Southern Potato Salad

Peel and cube the potatoes, place them in a large pot and cover them with 1 inch of water.

Bring to a boil, add about 1-2 teaspoons of kosher salt, and cook about 10-12 minutes, until fork tender. This will depend on the size of the potato cubes. Drain the potatoes well.

While boiling the potatoes, combine the mayonnaise, mustard, dill relish, onions, pickle juice, salt, and pepper in a large mixing bowl.

Add the well-drained cooked potatoes and chopped hard-boiled eggs to the dressing ingredients. Fold in gently to coat thoroughly with the dressing.

Don’t stir too hard. You want to keep most potatoes in their cube form and not mash too many.

Let cool to room temperature, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate until chilled before serving.

Garnish with paprika and chives if desired.

Tips

• Be sure to cube the potatoes into equal sizes so they all cook evenly.
• If you like a cubed potato salad that doesn’t mash too much. The potatoes should have a soft center but still be somewhat firm, holding their shape. For this potato salad recipe, we prefer that some of the potatoes are mashed.
• If you prefer, you can boil whole potatoes, remove the skins when they have cooled, and then cube them.
• Be sure to have the dressing ingredients mixed before the cooked potatoes are done. The hot potatoes will absorb the dressing and its yummy flavors.
• Mince the onion finely, especially if you have family and friends that don’t like onions.
• I highly recommend Duke’s mayonnaise and Mt. Olive dill relish, plus Mt. Olive kosher pickle juice.
• You can replace the kosher pickle juice with apple cider vinegar if desired.
• Try steaming your eggs instead of boiling them. They will peel much easier! We use an electric egg cooker.
• When garnishing with paprika, sprinkle it lightly over the potato salad using your fingers, not the spice shaker. This will help avoid dumping a lot of paprika on the potato salad.

Variations

• Pickles – If you like a sweet taste, use sweet pickle relish instead of dill.
• Onions – Green onions can be used for a milder onion taste.
• Add-Ins – Add some diced celery for a little more crunch. Add some Dijon mustard or stone ground mustard for a little more tang!

FAQs

More Barbecue Side Dishes

Share With Your Friends And Family!