Easy Southern Potato Salad

A bowl of creamy southern potato salad with a mustard based dressing.

5 from 11 votes

Easy Southern Potato Salad

This Easy Southern Potato Salad made with Hard-Boiled Eggs and Pickles is a summertime favorite. It has a creamy, flavorful mayonnaise dressing and is topped with Creole Seasoning for a perfect finishing touch.

Prep Time15

Cook Time20

Chilling Time30

Total Time1 5

Servings:

Calories: 350kcal

Author: Kari

Equipment

a large pot
measuring spoons
measuring cups
a strainer or colander
a large bowl

Ingredients

2 tablespoons kosher salt for boiling potatoes
4 pounds Yukon Gold potatoes peeled and cubed
6 hard boiled eggs

Potato Salad Dressing

1 cup mayonnaise Blue Plate, Duke's, or Hellman's
¼ cup yellow mustard
3 tablespoons pickle juice
½ teaspoon kosher salt
¼ teaspoon black pepper
¼ - ½ teaspoon Tony Chachere's Creole Seasoning + more to garnish with
2 stalks celery, diced
¾ - 1 cup dill pickles diced
¼ cup onion, diced

Instructions

Begin by getting a pot of salted water boiling on the stove. While the water is coming to a boil, start washing, peeling, and cubing potatoes.
2 tablespoons kosher salt, 4 pounds Yukon Gold potatoes
Once the water is boiling, drop the potatoes into the water and boil until just barely fork tender. (8 - 12 minutes.)
Once cooked, drain the potatoes and rinse with cold water to stop the cooking process, then rinse off extra starchy water.
Pour the potatoes onto a cookie sheet and spread them out to let them cool.
While the potatoes cool, prepare the dressing. Combine mayonnaise, yellow mustard, & pickle juice. Whisk until well mixed.
1 cup mayonnaise, ¼ cup yellow mustard, 3 tablespoons pickle juice
Then mix in salt, pepper, & Tony's Creole Seasoning.
½ teaspoon kosher salt, ¼ teaspoon black pepper, ¼ - ½ teaspoon Tony Chachere's Creole Seasoning
The next step is a little different, but it is a fun little tip that I like to use to thicken up my potato salad dressing. I like to mash up about a handful (maybe half a cup or so) of the cooked potatoes.
Then, mix that into the dressing. This will thicken it up a little bit and make the dressing/sauce a little more creamy without having to add any more mayonnaise.
Now, stir in diced onion, celery, and pickles.
2 stalks celery, diced, ¼ cup onion, diced, ¾ - 1 cup dill pickles
Dice up the eggs (I like to add 4, then slice two over the top as a garnish) and combine with the potatoes in a bowl. If you don't want to put any on top, dice them all up.
6 hard boiled eggs
Pour half of the dressing over the top and gently mix together.
Now, another fun tip - I like to flip this into another bowl to pour the rest of the dressing over the top, gently stir it together, then pour it into a serving bowl or storage container. I find that making it this way, I am less likely to mash up the potatoes.
Top with the remaining hard-boiled eggs, sliced if desired, and top with a sprinkle of Tony's Creole Seasoning or paprika - then refrigerate or serve.

Notes

Pickle and onion measurements are subjective - I gave a baseline of what our family likes. We like the crunch of celery and we LOVE pickles. We also don't really love raw onions, but they do add a nice flavor so we only add a little. Use less pickles if you don't like them and add more onions if you like raw onions.

If you don't want to use Tony Chachere's Creole Seasoning, you can leave it out, but I love the flavor it adds. (You can add a pinch of cayenne if you want a little bit of heat.)

Tips

Cook the potatoes until they are just fork tender. A touch less than you would for mashed potatoes - if they are too soft, they will crumble in the potato salad.

Mash a few cooked potatoes into the dressing by mashing them with a fork and stirring that into the dressing before pouring it over the potatoes.

Spread potatoes onto a cooking sheet to cool. I use a plastic flexible cutting board underneath to just dump the potatoes right into the bowl.

Use two bowls and a large spoon to stir the dressing onto the potatoes, that way the potatoes don't get squished when you mix everything.

Nutrition