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Julia’s Southern Potato Salad

In this post I’ll be sharing my signature side dish recipe for Julia’s Southern Potato Salad. Old fashioned Southern style potato salad is a favorite side dish. 
 
Potato salad is one of my signature dishes. It is a must that I make it for all meal gatherings and celebrations. Who doesn’t love a well made potato salad?
 
Pickle juice is the secret to making the best potato salad ever! 
 
Ingredients
 
  • Russet Potatoes – 4-5 medium to large potatoes
  • Duke’s Mayonnaise – about a cup
  • Boiled Eggs – 4
  • Small to medium yellow onion – 1 diced
  • Yellow Mustard – about a teaspoon mixed with mayonnaise
  • Dill Pickle Cubes – about half a small jar plus some of the juice
  • Salt- to taste
  • Pepper -to taste
  • Paprika – to garnish top

Traditional Old Fashioned Potato Salad

I always make my potato salad the day before to give all the flavors time to mingle . This is a simple recipe but so delicious.
 
Boil the potatoes with the skins on and add a dash of salt to the water. Boil the potatoes until tender when a fork is inserted.
 
Since the potatoes are whole this could take around 45 minutes. You can certainly short cut the cooking time by peeling and cubing the potatoes before cooking. 
 
Does leaving the skins on really matter? Well, yes, it does. There is a taste difference. For some reason the skins seem to add more flavor. I do make potato salad both ways though, so neither method is wrong. 
 

Creamy Potato Salad

Best potato salad recipe ever
 
To boil my eggs I place the eggs in a pot and cover with water bring to a boil and turn down the heat to med-high and boil for 10 minutes. Remove the pot from the stove and cover with a lid and let them sit for 10 more minutes. Fill egg pot with cold water to cool down and the eggs are easy to peel.
 
Once your potatoes are done, allow them to cool enough to handle then peel and cube. If you overcook your potatoes you’ll end up with mashed potatoes. Trust me on this. It still happens to me on occasion if I get distracted working on other stuff.
 
Add your diced potatoes and diced eggs to a large bowl with lots of room to mix the ingredients.
 
Next, add the pickles and some of the juice and season with salt and pepper. Go ahead and add the diced onion. Mix the mayonnaise and mustard together then add and combine all of the ingredients. I like to taste test to make sure the seasoning is just right. Add a few dashes of paprika to garnish, cover and refrigerate overnight.
 

Southern Mustard Potato Salad Recipe 

Yield: 1 Side Dish

Julia's Southern Potato Salad

Amazing Potato Salad Recipe

Creamy and delicious old fashioned Southern style potato salad with a tangy mayonnaise mustard dressing.

Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 40 minutes
Total Time 55 minutes

Ingredients

  • 4-5 Russet Potatoes - medium to large size potatoes
  • Duke's Mayonnaise - about a cup (use more if needed for right consistency)
  • 4 Hard Boiled Eggs, chopped
  • 1 Yellow Onion, diced
  • 1 tsp Yellow Mustard, or more to suit taste
  • Dill Pickle Cubes - about half a small jar plus some of the juice
  • Salt- to taste
  • Pepper -to taste
  • Paprika - to garnish top

Instructions

  1. Boil potatoes with the skins on and add a dash of salt to the water. Boil the potatoes until tender when a fork is inserted. Since the potatoes are whole this could take around 45 minutes. You can certainly short cut by cubing and boiling the potatoes.
  2. To boil my eggs I place the eggs in a pot and cover with water bring to a boil and turn down the heat to med-high and boil for 10 minutes. Remove the pot from the stove and cover with a lid and let them sit for 10 more minutes. Fill egg pot with cold water to cool down and the eggs are easy to peel.
  3. Once your potatoes are done, peel and cube. If you overcook your potatoes you'll end up with mashed potatoes. Add your diced potatoes and diced eggs to a large bowl with lots of room to mix the ingredients. Add the pickles and some of the juice. Add salt and pepper. Add the diced onion. Mix the mayonnaise and mustard together then add and combine all of the ingredients. I like to taste test to make sure the seasoning is just right. Add a few dashes of paprika to garnish, cover and refrigerate overnight.

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

12

Amount Per Serving: Calories: 250Total Fat: 16gSaturated Fat: 3gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 12gCholesterol: 70mgSodium: 238mgCarbohydrates: 23gFiber: 2gSugar: 4gProtein: 5g

Julia’s Southern Potato Salad

 
Awesome Southern Style Potato Salad Recipe

Try this recipe for Instant Pot Southern Style Green Beans from Soulfully Made.

Meet Julia

Author of Julia's Simply Southern

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deb

Wednesday 30th of March 2022

Glad to see that you, too, appreciate the original southern potato salad recipe!!!

Pat

Thursday 3rd of December 2020

I really prefer Southern Potato Salad over any other kind, so, I'm going to be making this recipe. I have a couple of questions: Can this be frozen? And, if so, can you simply defrost it in the refrigerator, or is there a better way. Thank you for your blog and the recipes that you create, test/prepare and share with us. I can't help but think what a disadvantage it was for my parents (both gone now) to come up with ways to make the wonderful food they served to us kids growing up. Now I have access, through sites like yours, to thousands and thousands (millions) of tested recipes...sometimes it is actually overwhelming. To have a few choice, trusted sites where you can find something that seems to work every time is a true blessing in our non-stop world today.

Julia Jordan

Friday 4th of December 2020

Pat, Thank you so much for your support. I do appreciate it. This potato salad is one of my signature dishes and everyone expects it to be on our holiday menu. As far as freezing potato salad - I have never done it but have read that you can but it does degrade the potato salad somewhat and it is just not the same. If you're making this potato salad for one then I'd recommend cutting the recipe back and using just 2 Russet potatoes, 1 boiled egg, a little onion, about 1/4 cup of mayonnaise with a little mustard for color. The dill pickle relish and some pickle juice are what help to give potato salad nice flavor. Some prefer the sweet relish so you can choose to suit your taste. Season with salt and peppers. I add some of the dill pickle juice right on the potatoes while they're warm to soak it up. I also add a little to the "dressing" as I'm combining the mayo/mustard until I have it the color I want with just a hint of yellow. This would give a better amount that you could just store in your refrigerator for up to four days. I hope this helps. ~Julia

Barbara Miller

Saturday 22nd of February 2020

Truly the classic version. Ty. A lot like my Mom's but she never wrote hers down or showed me. I'll be making it again and again.

Julia Jordan

Monday 24th of February 2020

Barbara, I'm so glad that you'll enjoy this recipe. It's one of my signature dishes for holiday meals.

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