If you’re looking for a festive side dish that embodies the spirit of patriotic holidays, a red, white & blue potato salad fits the bill perfectly. This colorful dish will not only enhance your picnic spread but also bring a vibrant touch to any gathering.
Selecting the Right Potatoes
To create this eye-catching salad, start with small round potatoes, such as baby, new, or creamer potatoes. Small potatoes are young potatoes and differ from small fingerling potatoes, which are fully grown potatoes.
Look for bags that feature a blend of red, white, and blue potatoes. If you can’t find a bag with a blend, buy individual red and blue (which usually appear purple) potatoes, and a few small white potatoes. It is not necessary to have as many white potatoes as the red and blue ones. Red potatoes are white inside, and this color will show once the salad is made. Additionally, blue potatoes are sometimes white inside.
Prepare Your Potatoes
Cook the potatoes with their skins on. Once cooked, drain them thoroughly and dry them with a clean towel. Drying potatoes helps prevent the dressing from becoming runny. Also, let the potatoes cool to prevent their heat from melting the mayonnaise-based dressing. If you’re short on time, submerge them in ice water to speed cooling, then dry them.
Enhance the Red, White & Blue Potato Salad with Fresh Veggies
To add crunch and enhance the color scheme, incorporate chopped red or purple carrots into your mix. Alternatively, substitute extra red bell peppers. Steer clear of orange carrots to help maintain the red, white, and blue aesthetic.
Hard-Boiled Eggs for Red, White & Blue Potato Salad
This salad has hard-boiled eggs. However, if you prefer not to include them, don’t worry; you can simply leave them out. If you use them, be sure to chop only the egg whites, as the yolks will turn the salad yellow.
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Red, White & Blue Potato Salad
Ingredients
- 2 pounds small round red, white, and blue potatoes (approximately 4-20 potatoes; use mostly red and blue ones)
- 2 hardboiled eggs, coarsely chopped, white only (see note below)
- ¼ cup mayonnaise
- ¼ cup sour cream
- 2 teaspoons yellow mustard
- 2 tablespoons juice from the pickles
- ½ cup bread and butter pickles, chopped (or another pickle with a balance of sweet and sour taste)
- â…“ cup celery, chopped into small pieces
- ½ cup red pepper, chopped
- â…“ cup red onion, chopped
- â…“ cup red or purple carrots, chopped
- salt
- pepper
Instructions
- Wash potatoes. Place them, unpeeled, in a pan covered with water. Add 1 teaspoon of salt, then bring them to a boil. Boil for 20 minutes or until tender. Drain, rinse in cold water, pat dry, and let cool.
- At the same time the potatoes are cooking, add the eggs to a pan of water and simmer for 15-20 minutes. Cool the eggs in ice water and then peel. Separate the yolks from the egg whites. Then chop the whites and set them aside.
- Mix together the mayonnaise, sour cream, mustard, and pickle juice in a small bowl. Set aside.
- Cut the potatoes into quarters and place them in a large bowl. Then add the pickles, celery, red pepper, onion, carrots, and egg whites. Toss to mix. Then add the mayonnaise mixture and stir gently until well mixed. Add salt and pepper to taste.
- Refrigerator for 4 hours or until cold.