This Southern Potato Salad is loaded with crispy bacon, pimento cheese and sweet pickles. It's easy to make and full of flavor! It's the perfect side dish for all your summer barbecues!
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The Best Southern Potato Salad
With fourth of July right around the corner, I wanted to gift y'all this creamy and rich Southern Potato Salad with Bacon and Pimento Cheese!
So what do you serve it with? I recommend eating 100 hotdogs and doing a huge party spread with my favorite Instant Pot Rib recipe! And since i feel like these go hand in hand, you should also totally make my Mom's Hawaiian Macaroni Salad, too!
If you're looking for a cocktail to pair it with, why not try my sunrise Rum Punch. It's perfect for hot summer days. Or you could even get a little more creative and make Epcot's famous avocado margarita! It's rich and creamy and so refreshing!
How to Make Potato Salad
Making this Southern Potato Salad is a cinch.
To begin, fill up a pot and add quartered potatoes. The small, slightly waxy potatoes with thin skin are best.
When they're soft, strain them and stick them in the fridge to cool.
Meanwhile, create the dressing. Mix together mayo, mustard, relish, hot sauce, vinegar, onion, green onion, pimentos, bacon and cheese. Season with salt and pepper.
When the potatoes are cool, toss them in the mixture and let this southern potato salad sit in the fridge for at least 30 minutes before serving! Enjoy.
How to Make The Best Potato Salad
To make the best potato salad, just follow these easy tips!
- Pick the right spuds. Choose waxy potatoes with thin skin such as fingerlings, yukon golds or the small red potatoes. This variety doesn't have a lot of starch which helps them stay together better. Plus, you won't have to worry about peeling them so it's a double win!
- Boil them correctly. Like pasta, it's super important to start with super salty water. If it tastes like the ocean, you're good to go! But unlike boiling pasta, you'll want to add the potatoes to the water before it starts to boil. This will help cook the potatoes evenly throughout rather than leaving the outside overcooked and the inside undercooked.
- Dress them accordingly. If you're making this Southern Potato Salad recipe, be sure to cool the potatoes before you toss them in the sauce. If you don't, the mayo will separate and you'll end up with oily potato salad. However, if you're making a vinegar-based version, such as German Potato Salad, dress them when the potatoes are hot so they soak up all the goodness!
Recipe:
Recipe
Southern Potato Salad with Bacon and Pimento Cheese
Ingredients
- 3 lbs potatoes quartered
- ½ lb thick cut bacon
- 1.5 cups mayo such as Blue Plate Mayo
- 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
- 1 tablespoon yellow mustard
- 1 tablespoon franks hot sauce
- ½ cup sweet pickles chopped and drained
- 1 7 oz jar pimentos chopped and drained
- ½ cup green onion thinly chopped
- ½ small white onion chopped
- 1.5 cups shredded cheddar
- salt and pepper
Instructions
- Chop potatoes into quarters and put in a pot of heavily salted water. Bring to a boil and cook until a fork easily pierces through potato. Strain and chill in the fridge.
- Meanwhile, cut up bacon into tiny lardons and pan fry over medium heat until they’re crispy and cooked through. Remove from rendered grease and set aside.
- Make the dressing. In a large bowl, combine mayo, red wine vinegar, yellow mustard, hot sauce, sweet pickles, pimentos, green onion, white onion and cheddar. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
- When the potatoes are cool, toss everything together then let sit in the fridge for at least one hour for the flavors to develop. Season one more time before serving.
And if you'd like to save this recipe for later, pin it below!
xoxo,
GCS
Roger
It's not clear just when to add the vinegar for German style, which is pleasantly sour. Overall, a very good recipe.
grilledcheesesocial
Hey there! Sorry you're confused. It says to add the vinegar to the dressing in step 3 before you pour it on the potatoes. This also isn't for German potato salad.... it's for southern style.