Southern-Style Potato Salad Recipe

Servings:

This Southern-style potato salad recipe is the quintessential side dish for Southern events. It often makes an appearance at church potlucks, family celebrations, or game-day cookouts.

Packed with crunchy onions and celery, rich and creamy sour cream and mayonnaise, and meaty bacon, this Southern-style potato salad is sure to send your taste buds on a ride. It perfectly complements barbecue ribs, homemade hamburgers, or your favorite casserole. If you try this potato salad and like it, leave a review.

Southern Living Southern Style Potato Salad in a bowl to serve with two glasses of sweet tea behind — Dotdash Meredith

What Is Southern-Style Potato Salad?

Every Southerner has a go-to potato salad, and they're all usually variations on this one—with mayonnaise, mustard, celery, relish, and sometimes hard-boiled eggs. That's what captures the spirit of a Southern-style potato salad: a bit tangy but still rich and creamy, and with a good hint of crunch.

Ingredients for Southern-Style Potato Salad

Here's what you'll need to grab from the fridge or pantry in order to make Southern-Style Potato Salad:

Russet potatoes: You can use another kind of potato if you want, but in this potato salad, we like how russet potatoes break down easily and absorb the dressing. Yellow or gold potatoes are a good second choice.
Eggs: No Southern-style potato salad is complete without hard-boiled eggs. If your potato salad doesn't have eggs, it isn't really Southern. You can grate them or finely chop them.
Mayo and sour cream: These provide the rich, creamy base of the potato salad dressing.
Celery and onion: For crunch and a bit of tang.
Sweet pickle relish: For just a hint of sweetness.
Mustard: We prefer yellow mustard, but you can swap in Dijon or whole-grain mustard if you want. Even Creole mustard would work.
Salt and pepper: To round out the flavor.
Bacon: This is really optional, but we like the umami-rich flavor bacon adds.
Parsley and grape tomatoes: Totally optional toppings. You could also use paprika, slices of hard-boiled eggs, or nothing at all. That's up to you.

Southern Living Southern Style Potato Salad ingredients — Dotdash Meredith

How To Make Southern-Style Potato Salad

With hearty ingredients and delicious flavor, some would assume it would be hard to make Southern-style potato salad. Don't fret—this classic is easy to whip up.

Step 1: Boil the potatoes. Instead of chopping the potatoes before boiling them, you'll boil them whole, cool them, then peel and chop them. This helps to prevent the potatoes from overcooking and turning mushy.
Step 2: Combine eggs and potatoes. Add the grated (or chopped) eggs to the potato pieces.
Step 3: Mix dressing. Combine the eggs, mayo, sour cream, celery, onion, relish, mustard, salt, and pepper in a bowl. Gently toss the dressing with the potatoes and eggs.
Step 4: Chill. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap, and move the bowl to the fridge. Before serving, you can add any toppings, such as halved grape tomatoes, chopped parsley, and sliced hard-boiled eggs.

Be sure to let the potatoes cool before continuing with the recipe. This will help you achieve the perfect texture.

Cooking Tips for Southern-Style Potato Salad

Not convinced you should give this dish a try? Make it your own. Depending on your style and taste, you could add in or remove ingredients.

Change mustard: A little extra mustard or a different kind will enhance the flavor. Instead of yellow mustard, consider Dijon or whole grain.
Swap onions: Reach for shallots in place of the onions. They have a slightly milder flavor.
Spice up: Instead of sweet pickle relish, consider a hot relish, like Wickles.

Can You Make This Potato Salad in Advance?

Yes, in fact, you should. Making potato salad in advance gives it time to chill and let the potatoes absorb a bit of flavor from the dressing. You can make this several hours to one day before you plan to serve it. Just give it a quick toss before you put it on the buffet table, and save any toppings for just before it hits the table.

How To Serve Potato Salad

Potato salad is great as is—no need to add anything else. But make sure you don't leave it out too long. Food-safety guidelines say foods like potato salads should not be left out at room temperature for more than two hours.

If it's outside in temps over 90°F, it should only be out for an hour. If it sits out too long, avoid food poisoning, and throw the potato salad away.

What To Serve With Potato Salad

Southern-style potato salad is a classic Southern side dish, and it will go great with these other recipes:

Ingredients

4 pounds russet potatoes
3 hard-cooked eggs, grated
1 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup sour cream
1/4 cup celery, finely chopped
2 tablespoons onion, finely chopped
2 tablespoons sweet pickle relish
1 tablespoon yellow mustard
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1/2 pound bacon, cooked and crumbled
Garnishes: chopped fresh parsley, grape tomatoes

Directions

Cook the potatoes:

Cook potatoes in boiling water to cover for 40 minutes or until tender; drain and cool. Peel potatoes, and cut into 1-inch cubes.
Combine eggs and potatoes:

Stir together potatoes and eggs.

Dotdash Meredith
Make dressing:

Stir together mayonnaise and next 7 ingredients; gently stir into potato mixture. Cover and chill. Sprinkle with bacon just before serving. Garnish, if desired.

Dotdash Meredith