Mom’s Potato Salad Recipe

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easy potato salad recipeFor the past two years I’ve been assigned the potato salad for a family event.  Confession:  I hate making potato salad!  Who the devil invented the potato salad?  Honestly this one SIDE dish takes more time than a dinner.  First you have to peel and cook the potatoes, then chill them.  Then you need to cook the eggs, then peel them and chill those.  Then you have to chop celery.  And then there is the sauce, the sauce makes or breaks a potato salad.   What makes it worse is the our family recipe for the sauce in potato salad.

On the phone:

“Mom do you have a recipe for the potato salad?”

“You just add some mustard, mayo, brown sugar, vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, salt, some onion powder, paprika, maybe some garlic powder.  You just kind of mix it together until it tastes right.”

“That’s it?”

“Sometimes I add pickle juice.”

Grrr.  Last year I spent TWO hours working on the sauce.  My kitchen looked like I was conducting a science experiment, with spices all over the counter tops, me tasting it every two seconds deciding if it was right..  Finally my husband asked me to call it and finish the salad.

This year my husband was trying a new chicken recipe.  “Angel you need to try this”.

I tasted the marinade and it tasted very similar to…Mom’s potato salad.  “just modify this recipe it will save you time!”

When I was asked to make the salad this year I had a plan.  I would modify this recipe and streamline the sauce process….

I wish I could tell out it came out perfectly, but the salad I made had two major flaws:

1. My husband accidental bought light ranch – it didn’t taste right

2. I forgot the Worcestershire sauce in the mix ( and it really needed it)

Next year I’ll have this recipe ready for simplified sauce.  Now if only there was a shortcut for peeling and cooking potatoes and eggs.

Mom’s Potato Salad Recipe

Ingredients

  • 6 large potatoes (peeled, cooked, chilled and diced)
  • 8 eggs (boiled, peeled, chilled chopped)
  • 4 stalks of celery chopped
  • 1 1/3 cup ranch dressing
  • 2/3 cup mustard
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • 2 tsp paprika
  • 3 T Worcestershire sauce
  • 1/2 T vinegar

Instructions

  • Cook eggs and potatoes. Allow to chill.
  • Wash and chop celery, set aside.
  • Once completely chilled, dice potatoes.
  • Chop 6 eggs (reserve 2 for the top - slice those)
  • Mix dressing ingredients together.
  • In a large bowl mix sauce and other ingredients together - gently. Place sliced eggs on top. Allow salad to chill for several hours ( over night is best) to let the sauce seep into the potatoes.

3 Comments

  1. In the dairy section, you’ll find a bag of peeled, hard boiled eggs. They’re ready to go. 🙂

    Can’t help you with the potatoes….

    I’m with you, though. I love… Adore…. Crave my mom’s potato salad. Her recipe J’s like your mom’s… Oh just add this then that then a touch of this and a dash of whatever. Just give me exact measurements! It stems from my great grandmother making cakes and literally measuring flower and sugar with her palms…. Ugh.

    So not only does potatoe salad take an insane amount of time to fix, it never ever ever tastes like my mom’s….

    And my husband likes his mom’s…. Which is totally different. We’re from the deep south. Hubbs and his family and northern Midwest. *smh* two different beasts….

  2. Whenever I make potato salad I do the potatoes and eggs a day ahead that allows time to add the sauce so it can seep into the ingredients while it refrigerates overnight.. I usually double the recipe because I also make one with cream cheese, sour cream and miracle whip in place of the ranch dressing. And I add bacon I cook, cool and crumble the night before as well. Everyone devours it! While traditional potato salad is always left over.
    My daughter uses canned potatoes, hard boiled eggs premade from the deli and a cole slaw dressing she buys in the salad dressing section…it’s not too bad.
    There are so many potato salad recipes and all of them take time…I would like to know who invented it too! Someone had way too much time on their hands…LOL!

  3. Easiest potato salad dressing and no refrigeration needed!! Great for picnics!!! 1 cup sugar, 1 cup apple cider vinegar, 1 large or X large egg. beat all ingredients in a sauce pan over med heats and bring too a boil until thick. pour over potato salad and mix.
    Easy Peasy!!!

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