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A simple potato salad made with olive oil and vinegar and topped with crispy bacon and green onions. A lighter, fresher potato salad recipe!
German Potato Salad
Say goodbye to soggy potato salads drenched in mayonnaise….salads that make you forget you are even eating a potato. It’s almost 4th of July, which means there will be millions of bowls filled with this classic side dish. So let me introduce you to the Not Yo Mama’s Potato Salad.
It all started with my Mother, actually. She is NOT a fan of the ever so popular white condiment – mayonnaise. So in order to appease my Mom (because even at my age I still strive to do that), I decided to create a potato salad sans mayo. Could it be possible? Oh yes, it is! You do it by making the potato the REAL star of this salad and not masking it with a ridiculous amount of the white stuff.
This type of potato salad can be referred to as German Potato Salad with oil and vinegar and they apparently knew what they were doing.
This German Potato Salad with Crispy Bacon is light tasting, tossed in a vinaigrette made with extra virgin olive oil, vinegar, dijon mustard, and spices. Oh, and did I tell you about the bacon? There’s BACON! I think I can hear you cheering from home.
This potato salad with a homemade vinaigrette can be served warm, cold, or at room temperature but it’s best a little warm. You want to fry up that bacon until it’s nice and crispy. It adds a perfect salty smoky element to this potato salad. Spread the salad out on a beautiful platter or toss it in a big bowl for serving.
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Not Yo Mama's Potato Salad
Ingredients
- 3 lbs. Potatoes red new or Yukon gold, cut into bite-size pieces
- Salt
- 6-8 Slices Bacon
- 6 Green Onions diced
- 2 Tablespoons Fresh Parsley Finely Diced
- 1/3 cup Parmesan Cheese optional
Vinaigrette:
- 1/3 cup Olive Oil
- 1/2 cup Vinegar apple cider, red wine, white
- 1 Tablespoon Dijon Mustard
- 3 Tablespoons Sugar
- 1-2 teaspoons Salt more to taste
- 1/2 teaspoon Pepper more to taste
Instructions
- Place potatoes in a large pot filled with water and bring to boil over high heat. Generously salt water. Reduce heat to medium-low and cook until potatoes are fork-tender, 15-20 minutes, depending on potato size. Drain and set aside.
- While potatoes are cooking, place the bacon in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Cook until crispy, turning as needed. Place on paper towel lined plate. Once cooled, break into bite-size pieces.
- In a small bowl, mix olive oil, vinegar, mustard, sugar, salt, and pepper. Drizzle over warm potatoes. Top with crispy bacon, green onions, parsley, and optional parmesan. Season with additional salt and pepper.
- Serve warm, room temperature, or cold. Best served warm while bacon is nice and crispy.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Happy 4th of July, my friends! What are your plans for the big weekend? Hopefully, it involves good food (and of course the best German potato salad), friends, and lots of time playing in the water.
Happy Cooking!
Thanks for your recipe. I already have one similar to yours. I am German and My Great Grandmother made the best German Potato Salad. Its a old recipe, if she got it from her mom it would be about 150 years old recipe. The thing that she used to do was to take and add some of the hot bacon grease to the dressing mix. It really gave it a bacon flavor.
Yes the German Chancellor has the same last name as mine. Related, dont think so but its a common name in Germany. Enjoy
This is my new favorite side dish! I loved it. We had no dijon mustard, so i used honey mustard and reduced the sugar to 1 TBSP. (I thought maybe the honey mustard would be too sweet with the sugar). I also cooked my chopped onions for about 10 minutes in olive oil, because was afraid my kids wouldn’t eat it if they tasted crunchy onions. It is a great recipe! Thanks for sharing it!!
Such great ideas, Heather! I love that you sauteed the onions too. I bet that made it taste amazing. Thank you for sharing and for trying my recipe!
Loved this so much! It could be the one I’ve tried that I like best, even with the couple of substitutions I had to make. Will definitely serve it again!
Hi Robin! Thank you so much for letting me know. It always makes me day these kind comments. Have a great Sunday! – Melissa 🙂
This was the hit of the evening! Thanks again I just had to write back to give it a 5. I made corn dogs for the first time and they weren’t bad along with fresh fruit salad. Got the most feedback on your potato salad. You really can make a great potato salad without mayo!
This makes me so happy to hear! Thank you so much for making my day and telling me how much you all loved it. You are the best, Shirlyn! xoxo
Hey when 4th of July rolls around, it’s definitely the time to crave hot dogs! Haha! This will be the perfect accompaniment to your hot dogs. You are the sweetest, Shirlyn. Thank you!
Why, on earth, I’m craving hotdogs is beyond me but this salad will do to cover up my bad judgement tonite. Thanks for sharing MH. As usual when I’m looking for something good to fix you NEVER let me down. Keep um comin’ sweetheart. xo Shirlyn