Last Updated on January 25, 2026
Easy Potato Salad Recipe:
Summer is the time of year when no one really wants to be stuck in the kitchen for too long. Salads that can be made up in advance, like my simple potato salad recipe, are a great way to keep things easy.
And, getting the barbecue going is another way to enjoy the sunshine just a little more.
Potato Salad
Ingredients
- 250 g Potatoes You can use any potatoes to make salad. At this time of year, I like using Jersey Royals
- 50 g Mayonnaise Home made or good quality shop bought
- 50 g Greek Yoghurt or Quark If you are trying to keep the calories down, use low fat (and ‘lighter’ mayonnaise. Otherwise, the best results come from a full cream version!)
- 1 tablespoon Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- 1 teaspoon Mustard French Dijon mustard is my favourite. If you are using English mustard, half the quantity
- 1 handful Fresh ‘Soft’ Herbs e.g. your choice from parsley, tarragon, summer savoury, chervil, dill etc.
Instructions
- Clean the potatoes, peel if necessary and cut into chunks about 2 inches in size
- Put the potatoes in a medium size pan, cover with cold water and bring to the boil.
- Once boiling, add a good pinch of salt and reduce the heat
- Cook for around 15 minutes till the potatoes slide off the prongs of a fork easily.
- Drain well and once cool enough to handle cut each chunk in half or quarter, so that you have bite sized pieces. Then dress with the olive oil and season with pepper and a little salt and leave to cool
- Mix the mayonnaise and yoghurt together with the mustard. Stir through the potato mixture carefully
- Stir through the herbs and transfer the mixture to a serving dish. Garnish with a few reserved sprigs of herbs.
The potato salad I made went well with both meals I had planned. Making your own potato salad from scratch at this time of year couldn’t be easier – you don’t even need to peel the potatoes. Though I have to admit, the version I made wasn’t quite ‘from scratch’ because I used shop-bought mayonnaise. In something like a potato salad, where the mayonnaise is tempered with yoghurt or quark and flavoured with mustard, extra oil and various herbs, it really doesn’t matter, and unless I’m catering for a large group, I generally do ‘cheat’ just a bit, with a good quality shop-bought mayo.
The simple recipe for potato salad can be varied easily, depending on what herbs you have and on whether you want something a little more substantial. It works well with the addition of chunks of hard-boiled eggs and chorizo or ham. You can pretty things up too, if you can get hold of some chive flowers, which have a beautifully mild onion flavour. Here’s a recipe I posted a few years ago now for potato salad with quail eggs and chive flowers. You can add capers and peppers if you want a more colourful version. Best of all, potato salad should be prepared in advance and will keep in the fridge without spoiling for two or three days (in fact, I rather like it a day later, when the mixture seems to meld together a bit).
My motto is to enjoy Summer while you can. Cheat in the kitchen where it makes sense – and make from scratch where it makes a difference.
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