Our Editor's Favorite Potato Salad Recipes for July 4th and Beyond

Overhead view of classic potato salad served in a light blue bowl. — Serious Eats / Eric Kleinberg

With fluffy, tender chunks of potatoes and crisp, chopped celery all smothered in a creamy, mayonnaise-based dressing, it's hard not to love classic potato salad. Besides its nostalgic appeal, part of the dish's allure is also logistical: it's portable and can be prepared well in advance, making it ideal for potlucks and cookouts. As delicious as traditional potato salad is, there are many other spud salads worth making, too. Below, we've gathered our favorite versions, including a delightful Scandinavian salad flecked with dill and a warm German salad tossed with bacon bits and onion. Whichever route you go, we're sure there's a fantastic recipe you and your guests will love. (Don't forget to check out our primer on potato varieties before getting started!)

June 2024

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Easy Fingerling Potato Salad With Creamy Dill Dressing

Serious Eats / J. Kenji López-Alt

Inspired by Scandinavian-style potato salads, this salad pairs creamy fingerling potatoes with dill, red onions, and a tangy sour cream-based dressing.

Easy Fingerling Potato Salad With Creamy Dill Dressing
Fingerling Potato Salad With Chorizo, Onion, and Arugula

Serious Eats / Vicky Wasik

This mayo-free potato salad gets its peppery flavor from arugula and spicy, savory notes from Spanish chorizo. Pickling half the onion and sautéing the other half makes the most of one basic ingredient: The pickled onions bring crunch and a pop of brightness, while the caramelized onions give the salad sweet, savory depth.

Fingerling Potato Salad With Chorizo, Onion, and Arugula
Erdäpfelsalat (Austrian-Style Potato Salad)

Serious Eats / J. Kenji López-Alt

This Australian potato salad is dressed with Dijon, white wine vinegar, minced red onion, chives, and a half-cup of chicken stock. If you have the time to plan ahead, Kenji's found that storing potatoes in the refrigerator for a few weeks makes them noticeably sweeter, and especially well-suited for this Austrian potato salad.

Erdäpfelsalat (Austrian-Style Potato Salad)
Green Goddess Potato Salad

Serious Eats / Stacy Allen

This version delivers a fun, herby, and zesty spin on the classic, combining creamy potatoes with crisp-tender haricots verts, perfectly cooked hard-boiled eggs, and a verdant green goddess dressing that elevates this familiar side into an unforgettable crowd-pleaser.

Potato Salad With Green Goddess Dressing

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German Potato Salad

Serious Eats / Diana Chistruga

This warm salad is dressed with fried bits of bacon and onion—along with the drippings they were cooked in—plus plenty of whole mustard, vinegar, sugar, chopped parsley, and chives. Logistically, this may not be the best salad to tote to a picnic or cookout, but if you're planning to make the salad right before meal time, it can't be beat.

German Potato Salad
Classic Potato Salad

Serious Eats / Eric Kleinberg

This is our go-to "purist" recipe, for when we want superb results whilst avoiding any ruffled feathers at a cookout. Kenji's take hits all the right notes: tangy, salty, and sweet with a texture that's simultaneously creamy, crunchy, and fluffy in each bite.

Classic Potato Salad
Yukon Gold Potato Salad With Tarragon Pesto and Pickled Onions

Serious Eats / Daniel Gritzer

This simple tarragon-parsley sauce has bright, clean flavors and makes an excellent dressing for this summery potato salad. Here, quick-pickled onions give the salad a kick of acidity and crunch, while black olives add a briny note.

Yukon Gold Potato Salad With Tarragon Pesto and Pickled Onions
Japanese Potato Salad With Cucumbers, Carrots, and Red Onion

Serious Eats / Qi Ai

One of the most popular yōshoku dishes (Western food done Japanese-style) throughout Japan is this unique take on classic potato salad. Cucumbers, carrots, and chopped hard-boiled eggs are folded into mashed potatoes, then dressed in a creamy, tangy dressing of rice vinegar, savory Japanese-style mayonnaise, and hot mustard.

Japanese Potato Salad With Cucumbers, Carrots, and Red Onion

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Simple Grilled-Potato Salad With Grilled-Lemon Vinaigrette

Serious Eats / J. Kenji López-Alt

This grilled potato salad offers a range of textures—crispy, crunchy, and creamy—with a nice smokiness from the grill. A tart grilled lemon vinaigrette, enhanced with fresh herbs, shallots, and scallions, brings it all together.

Simple Grilled-Potato Salad With Grilled-Lemon Vinaigrette
Creamy Vegan Fingerling Potato Salad

Serious Eats / J. Kenji López-Alt

This salad gets its creaminess from a dressing that incorporates mashed potatoes and a splash of the potatoes' starchy cooking liquid. Whole-grain mustard, white wine vinegar, pickle relish, sugar, and capers round out the dressing, giving it a briny, spicy, sweet-tart punch.

Creamy Vegan Fingerling Potato Salad
Fingerling Potato Salad With Aioli, Pesto, Fried Shallots, and Pecorino

Serious Eats / Joshua Bousel

To make this easy potato salad, toss your spuds with aioli, then top it with big dollops of basil pesto, a liberal dusting of Pecorino Romano, and a handful of crispy fried shallots.

Fingerling Potato Salad With Aioli, Pesto, Fried Shallots, and Pecorino
5-Ingredient Smoked Salmon and Potato Salad

Serious Eats / J. Kenji López-Alt

Smoked salmon gives this dish its rich, satisfying flavor and, according to Kenji, is what "elevates [the dish] from being a mere side to the King of Side Salads." There's no need to shell out for fancy hand-sliced salmon—this is the perfect opportunity to use up ends and scraps if you have them.

5-Ingredient Smoked Salmon and Potato Salad