The 6 Potato Salads You Need in Your Life This Summer

Here are six of our favorite potato salads. Choose the one that speaks to you—or to your stomach—and serve it up at your next gathering. (Or don’t be shy about trying them all, all summer long!)

For the tried-and-true American-style potato salad, we started with Yukon Gold potatoes for their ability to hold their shape and stay firm rather than become mushy. For lots of flavor, we boiled the potatoes until tender, spread them out on a sheet pan, and then drizzled a combination of pickle juice and yellow mustard on top while the potatoes were still warm. 

After we chilled the potatoes, we dressed them with more pickle juice, mayonnaise, and sour cream and stirred in celery seeds, celery, and red onion. If you like, you can mix in some chopped hard-boiled eggs just before serving. This one is a classic for a reason.

Our Coleslaw Potato Salad takes the ever-popular classic version and mashes it up with another favorite summer salad: coleslaw. The trick here was boiling the potatoes whole so that they were less waterlogged (than if cut into pieces) and better able to soak up the coleslaw dressing, which is wetter than the usual potato salad dressing. Crisp cabbage and carrots add a refreshing crunch. Now, instead of making both salads, you can just prepare this easy mash-up.

If you’re looking for a potato salad that’s light on the mayonnaise and heavy on fresh herbs and garlic, then you’ll want to try our Torn Potato Salad with Toasted Garlic and Herb Dressing.

To make it, you boil baby Yukon Gold potatoes until they are tender and crushable. While they cool enough to be handled, you’ll heat some oil and garlic and cook the garlic until golden brown for the base of the dressing. Then, you’ll combine the flavorful oil and garlic with just 2 tablespoons of mayonnaise and a tablespoon of sherry vinegar to finish the dressing. Set it aside while you tear the potatoes into 1-inch pieces, and then toss everything together with lots of fresh herbs. (Chives, cilantro, parsley, and dill all work well here.) This potato salad is stunning and perfect for a more elegant al fresco party.

Flavors from the South of France inspired our Fingerling Potato Salad with Sun-Dried Tomato Dressing. Instead of boiling the potatoes, we opted to roast them for nice browning. Before popping them into the oven, we coated them with olive oil and herbes de Provence. Then we tossed the roasted potatoes with sun-dried tomatoes, kalamata olives, parsley, shallot, lemon zest and juice, and garlic. This boldly flavored potato salad can be served hot or at room temperature, so it’s perfect for summer dinner parties.

Why not combine a popular salad dressing with a popular cookout side? We couldn’t think of a reason not to, so we made a Ranch Potato Salad. We started with red potatoes and peeled them so that they could absorb more dressing. While the potatoes boiled, we whipped up a homemade ranch dressing with mayonnaise, buttermilk, white wine vinegar, roasted red peppers (for a sweet counterpoint), cilantro, scallions, garlic, and dill. 

When the potatoes were tender, we spread them on a baking sheet and mixed a little more white wine vinegar with Dijon mustard and drizzled the mixture over top to be sure the potatoes were deeply seasoned. After chilling the potatoes in the fridge, we tossed them with our homemade dressing. This crowd-pleaser is just right served alongside burgers and dogs.

If you’re already having a cookout, it’s nice to be able to make the potatoes for potato salad on the grill too. Our Smoky Potato Salad starts indoors and then hits the grates. We crisp bacon in a skillet and reserve the crispy bacon and some of the flavorful rendered bacon fat. Then we make a quick dressing of red wine vinegar, mayonnaise, canned chipotle chile in adobo sauce (to reinforce the smoky notes from the grill), and some olive oil.

Next, we halve red potatoes and toss them with the reserved bacon fat. We grill the potatoes, along with some onion rounds, until well browned. After they cool slightly, we halve the potatoes again, chop the onions, and combine both with scallions, the crispy bacon, and the dressing. This salad is ready to go; serve it warm alongside whatever else you are grilling.