Here’s my favorite red potato salad recipe! The herby creamy dressing is everything! Every time I make it, people always ask for the recipe!
We took our most popular potato salad recipe and made it even better with creamy red potatoes and an outrageous amount of fresh herbs. I’m completely in love, and I think you will be too!
Serve this creamy, herby salad alongside classic summer dishes like corn salad, shrimp salad, broccoli slaw, and more! I also especially love it for dinner next to my lemon dill baked salmon! If you love herbs but want a mayo-free salad, see my lemon herb potato salad, or try this warm German potato salad.
Key Ingredients
- Red Potatoes: I love using smaller red potatoes since I can cook them whole. Chopping them does help them cook a bit quicker, but potatoes that have been cooked whole taste better and are fluffier in the middle. I do not peel my potatoes for this red potato salad.
- Vinegar: My trick for the best tasting salad is to scatter vinegar over the cooked potatoes while they are still warm. It’s incredible how much of a difference in flavor the vinegar makes. I use red wine vinegar for this salad, but apple cider vinegar, white wine vinegar, and even dill pickle juice work well. I use pickle juice in the video!
- Celery and Pickles: Both add a fresh crunch. I love dill pickles, so we always add them, but you can leave them out or use bread and butter pickles instead.
- Fresh Herbs: I use a lot of fresh herbs in this salad and love it! I use parsley, dill, and chives.
- Creamy Dressing: Have you heard the statement, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”? Well, that’s how we feel about our favorite potato salad dressing. We use this dressing in our original potato salad and love it so much that we don’t see a reason to change it. Our readers love it, too! You’ll need 3 ingredients: mayonnaise, sour cream, and mustard.
Find the full recipe with measurements below.
How to Make Red Potato Salad
Tip 1: Cook your potatoes in well seasoned water. For the best red potato salad (or any potato salad for that matter), always cook your potatoes in water with a good amount of salt. Seriously, if you don’t season them from the start, and there’s no seasoning you can do later on that will help them.
Tip 2: Toss cooked potatoes in vinegar or pickle juice. I also highly recommend that you toss the potatoes with a couple of tablespoons of vinegar (or pickle juice) right after draining them. The vinegar makes a huge difference in flavor, and since the potatoes are warm, they really soak up all that vinegary goodness.
Tip 3: Make our delicious dressing. You need a fantastic dressing, and this recipe delivers! The simple combo of mayo, sour cream, and mustard might seem basic, but trust me, it’s absolutely perfect.
Tip 4: Let your finished salad sit. My last tip is to let your potato salad sit for a bit. This salad gets better with some time in the fridge since it allows all the flavors to mingle. In other words, this is an excellent make-ahead salad!
Creamy Red Potato Salad
- PREP
- COOK
- TOTAL
Small potatoes are best for this red potato salad. This way, the potatoes maintain their natural moisture and sweetness. We prefer the texture when cooked whole, but you can chop the potatoes if you’re in a pinch for time or if your potatoes are large.
If you don’t have red potatoes, use other waxy potatoes, such as Yukon potatoes, white or creamer potatoes, and fingerling potatoes. These are quick-cooking, and since they are already small, there’s no need to chop them before cooking them. Russet or baking potatoes will also work, but the salad’s texture will be less creamy.
Watch Us Make the Recipe
You Will Need
2 pounds (907 g) small red potatoes
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar, white wine vinegar, apple cider vinegar, or dill pickle juice
½ cup (120 g) sour cream
¼ cup (58 g) mayonnaise (try homemade mayonnaise)
1 tablespoon yellow mustard (substitute Dijon or whole grain mustard)
2 celery stalks, finely chopped, about ⅓ cup
1 to 2 medium dill pickles, finely chopped, about ⅓ cup
¼ cup chopped fresh parsley
¼ cup chopped fresh dill
¼ cup chopped fresh chives
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Directions
1Add the potatoes to a large pot and cover with 1½ inches of water. Season with salt (use 1 teaspoon for every quart of water).
2Bring the water to a boil, then reduce to a simmer (boiling the potatoes can cause them to hit one another and break apart). Cook for 15 to 20 minutes or until easily pierced using a fork.
3Just before the potatoes are ready, fill a medium bowl with ice and cold water.
4Drain the cooked potatoes and immediately transfer them to the ice bath. Once cool enough to handle, but still a bit warm in the middle, remove them from the ice bath and chop the potatoes into bite-sized chunks. Add them to a large bowl, then scatter the vinegar over the potatoes and lightly season with salt.
5In a small bowl, stir together the mayonnaise, sour cream, and mustard for the dressing.
6Add the dressing, celery, pickles, and herbs to the potatoes. Gently stir to combine, being careful not to mash the potatoes too much.
7Season with salt and pepper to taste. If you have the time, refrigerate at least 30 minutes before serving (it tastes better).
Adam and Joanne's Tips
- What to serve it with: Thanks to the red skins, it’s beautiful on a serving table. It’s perfect for all of your summer gatherings and cookouts. I love it next to grilled steak, grilled chicken, burgers, and hot dogs. It’s also lovely with fish like cedar plank salmon, baked trout, and grilled swordfish.
- Storing: Make potato salad up to 3 days in advance. Keep covered in the refrigerator.
- Sour cream: Substitute ½ cup crème fraîche for the sour cream.
- Dried herbs: You can use dried herbs for this salad. We recommend adding one to two tablespoons. I especially love dill and chives.
- The nutrition facts provided below are estimates.
This potato salad was delicious! I had never made one with sour cream before, always just mayo. I loved the combination of both. The red wine vinegar and pickles were so tasty in it too! This will be my new potato salad recipe!
You mentioned to add vinegar to the potatoes when they are warm. Was confused about the ice bath? You add them to ice bath after you add vinegar?
Hi Cathy, Sorry for the confusion. We do use an ice bath, but take them out when they are still a bit warm in the middle. It is at this point that you chop them and scatter over the vinegar.
Awesome potato salad. Never need to buy prepared again. Also, thanks for enlightening me to using pickle juice as an alternative to vinegar!
Amazing! We love using pickle juice 🙂
Hi! I just signed up because I love your recipes! ** I’m making the Creamy Red Potato Salad for this Sunday BUT it will be as a side dish for 12 people and I DO NOT know how to adapt your recipe corretvexausr I’m NOT a great cook! Can you please let me know ASAP? Thanks! Barb
Hi Barb, I would just double the recipe.
Made it with a pound of potatoes by halving all the ingredients. I used chopped red onions in lieu of chives, but followed the recipe otherwise. So tasty! The fresh herbs really make this salad special.
We are thrilled that you love the recipe! 🙂
Easy and yummy! I used apple cider vinegar, fresh parsley and dried dill weed. Lots of compliments. Thanks
Can’t wait to make this for the
“Ribs” dinner I’m invited to…!!😋
This recipe is perfect for a rib dinner 🙂
This recipe matched the ingredients I had on hand on my farm to feed a one-day large crew of framers at lunch putting up the roof on a farm shed. Tripled the recipe, added a dozen eggs, used red onion instead of chives, served it with hot BBQ chicken sandwiches and corn on the cob, and it was a hit. No leftovers, and some questions asked about what was in it…that’s a big success. Thank you!
Yay! You are so welcome 🙂
I left out the pickles and added chopped hard-cooked eggs, as that is preferred by my family. No chives but I did add grated onion. Otherwise I made the salad as directed and it was very well-received. The dill and sour cream make this salad. I will definitely make it again. Thank you.
Wow!!! It was awesome. I added some red onions and cayenne pepper. The family loved it. Thank you.
I am so excited to make this! It looks absolutely delicious! I do have a question though. I have red potatoes but they aren’t the small ones. Should I dice them before I cook them?
I still cook them whole (they just take longer). That said, if you are in a hurry, go ahead and chop them into smaller pieces.
Easy Peasy goodness! I added 1 egg out of habit and used yellow golds since $1 cheaper than reds. All GOOD!
This potato salad was delicious! The dill pickle is an amazing addition! I will definitely save this to my favorites!
So happy you tried it!
Wow!!!! Wow!!!! Wow!!!. I don’t usually care for potato salad but I made the homemade mayo and added some red pepper flakes to get some kick and it was awesome. Had to stop eating so I had some left for the family. 😆
Yay! Good to hear that you left some for your family 🙂
Delicious ! I have tasted this type of salad before but this recipe tastes much better. My husband loved it too. He said this recipe is a keeper and that I should make more often. Thank you for sharing your recipe. Carmelita
This is my go-to recipe for potato salad! My husband is obsessed with it and has consumed a five bound batch of it all to himself…and no, he doesn’t have any regrets lol. It works beautifully with the red creamers and russet potatoes too! I didn’t have sour cream one time I went to make this but did have a tub of Kroger’s french onion dip & that too worked out well. Thank you for an amazing, delicious recipe!
This Potato Salad is so DELICIOUS!!! My husband LOVE IT SO MUCH and me too! Thanks!
This recipe was nice variation from traditional potato salad. The dill and the chopped dill pickles gave it a great flavor.
That makes us so happy! I love the dill in this salad.
Delicious! I’m having some the morning after our BBQ and it’s even better! So I definitely recommend this recipe as a great one for making the day before. I ended up using Greek yogurt cuz it’s the closest I had to sour cream and it’s great! I went with sprinkling pickle juice on the potatoes, love this, and I did 1 Tbsp of dried dill, 1Tbsp dried parsley and the recommended amount of fresh chives and for me the herbyness is perfect. Thanks for a great recipe!
Perfect potato salad, exactly what I was looking for!
I love this variation of potato salad. Creamy and packed with those herby flavors. Using the dill pickle juice was a great idea. We had it with your fall off the bone ribs last night plus your amazing barbecue sauce. So good!
Hi I am new to your channel and I enjoyed looking at your recipes. I love the way the potato salad was made so easy and simple. Thank you for sharing.
Hi Joanne, I would love to try your lovely recipes but over this side of the pond, we tend to use metric measurements. Is it possible for you to include that please?
Hi Helen, We try to add metric measurements to most recipes. Glad you found us!
I am English and, although I don’t mind dill pickles, my husband is not too keen, therefore what would you think to adding chopped pickled onions? Also I do not have dill to hand, can I use fresh oregano instead?
Here in Cyprus, where I live, you just buy potatoes, there are no varieties and no seasonal differences either just ‘patates’ – ‘potatoes’!
Hi Julia, Pickled onions are an excellent substitution. Fresh oregano is fine, but use a bit less since it is quite strong.
Delicious! It was a big hit, might add egg next time.
I was thinking of trying homemade ranch dressing, any thoughts on it?? I am excited to make this
Hi Marian, We love homemade ranch, here’s our easy recipe.
I made this dish as close to recipe as possible. So delicious! great tips thank you.
Excellent! We love this simple potato salad so much.
I don’t use recipes very often but was asked to bring potato salad for tomorrow’s 4th celebration. I wanted to use red potatoes so looked it up & found this recipe. I made it today for tomorrow, hubby & I tasted it, very good just different from my usual way of making it. I have never made potato salad without eggs or onions. Thanks for the recipe.
First, I love your recipes and have added many to my monthly meal rotation. Thanks for sharing! My question – and the instructions, you say to put your potatoes into an ice water bath and then pinch off the skins. However, in your pictures, potato skins are still on the potatoes. I love leaving the Redskins on the potatoes, just want to make sure that there isn’t a better way/flavor if you take them off or leave them on. Thanks for the update!
Hi Barbara, Thanks for your comment and we are sorry the recipe was confusing. You are correct that the potatoes do not need to be peeled. That was a mistake in the recipe. I have fixed it now.
Can Greek yogurt be substitute for sour cream?
Hi there, Greek yogurt is a little bit more tangy than sour cream, but yes, you can use it in this recipe.