This family recipe was created by my mother in law. She is known for her FAMOUS potato salad. It is requested at every family party, even at extended family get-togethers. This recipe is one that I knew I had to learn how to make when I joined this family. And with her gracious permission, you now have this recipe on my blog!
What makes her potato salad so FAMOUS?
First off, from a visual stand-point, it is beautiful. The ingredients add color, so it is very eye-appealing, unlike the kinds you will find pre-made at the store.
The second reason is that her flavors are spot on. They are perfect. Not too much of any one ingredient- you don’t get an overwhelm of dill pickle flavor or mayo or mustard- it’s just perfect.
The third reason her recipe is famous is that the potatoes are always perfectly cooked. Sometimes you bite into a potato salad, and the potatoes are hard- NOT what you want to have in a potato salad.
I now cook my potatoes in the instant pot. It speeds up the process for me because I don’t need to babysit the potatoes. That leaves me free to do other things. This does take a bit of time to make because you peel the potatoes AFTER they are cooked. Luckily you cook them in WEDGES, so it’s not a horrible process.
I promise if you make this, people will be asking for the recipe.
Another thing to note, is that you need hardboiled eggs for this recipe. I also make those in my instant pot. Need a recipe? I got you. You can find it here on my blog. When I make this potato salad, I hard boil the eggs first in the instant pot, get them into the ice bath, drain the water out of the instant pot and make sure the lid is full dry, and then start on my potatoes. You can always plan ahead and get this done the day before as well.
Without further wordiness…here is the recipe.
Grandma’s Potato Salad
Equipment
- 1 Instant Pot
- 1 very large bowl use this for mixing
- 1 large bowl use this for serving
- spoons, knives, measuring cups, measuring spoons, etc
Ingredients
Instant Pot Potato Wedges
- 1 C water
- 4-5 lbs russet potatoes, cut into wedges, LEAVE SKIN ON
- sea salt/black pepper sprinkled
- 1/2 small onion, diced if you have a large onion, you'll only need 1/4
Dressing
- 1 C Mayo I like Best Foods
- 1 C Miracle Whip I use the light Miracle Whip
- 1 large squirt of yellow mustard
- 2 1/4 tsp sea salt
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 1 TBSP DILL pickle juice straight from your pickle jar in the fridge 🙂
- 1 TBSP Worcestershire sauce I use Lea and Perrins
Ingredients to add AFTER you stir the potatoes into the sauce
- 2 oz diced pimentos don't use the liquid that they are packed in
- 1 bunch green onions, diced use both the green and the bulb
- 5 large boiled eggs, diced reserve a few pretty slices to garnish the top
- fresh parsley for garnish on top
- paprika for sprinkling as a garnish on top
Instructions
Instant Pot Potato Wedges
- Gather instant pot, and place trivet inside. Pour 1 cup of water.
- Wash and cut potatoes into wedges. DO NOT PEEL. Cut out any bad parts though, then place into instant pot on the trivet. After you have a layer of potatoes, sprinkle a little sea salt and black pepper, then add another layer.
- Keep adding potatoes until you get to the max fill line. Top with diced onions.
- Close the lid, making sure the vent is closed, and set the time to manual for 12 minutes. This will take about 20 minutes to come to pressure. As soon as the 12 minutes are done, QUICK RELEASE the pressure.
- Carefully open the instant pot, and using a large spoon, remove some of the potato wedges to a plate. You will move them in batches, remove the skin, and cut into bite-sized pieces.
Make the Sauce-while the potatoes are cooking
- While the potatoes are cooking, gather a very large bowl for mixing. Add the mayo, miracle whip, mustard, dill pickle juice, Worcestershire sauce, sea salt, and pepper. Stir well.
- When the potatoes are done and the first layer is on a plate cooling for a few minutes, carefully(as they are still very hot!), remove the skin of the potato wedges using a paring knife(or whatever knife you want). Then slice the wedge into bite-sized pieces and place into bowl with sauce.
- Repeat until all the potatoes are done. After placing a "layer" of potatoes into the sauce, stir them into the sauce to keep them coated so they don't dry out, but instead start absorbing the sauce.
Once all the potatoes are cut up and stirred into the sauce, you can now add the last few ingredients.
- Add the diced pimentos, green onions, and diced hard-boiled eggs(REMEMBER TO SAVE 4-5 whole slices for garnish). I have an egg slicer, so I slice my eggs one direction, then turn the egg and slice it the other direction. This gives very pretty thin-looking slices. But feel free to dice your eggs however you like.
- Stir these into the potatoes very gently. Once they are mixed in well, taste to see if you need to add any more sea salt or black pepper. KEEP IN MIND, that sea salt will deepen in its flavor while this salad sits in the fridge, so even if it isn't quite as salty as you like, resist adding too much more salt.
- After it passes the taste test, scoop salad into a pretty serving bowl and smooth the top of the salad. Place 4-5 pretty sliced on the top. You could do more or less–this is the fun part! Then very lightly sprinkle paprika over the top, and place a bit of fresh parsley for garnishing.
- Cover bowl in plastic wrap, and refrigerate at least 2-3 hours, preferably overnight. The flavors really deepen overnight.
- Before serving remove the plastic wrap carefully. It can get some condensation and you don't want that to drip onto your salad.
- Remember this is a cold salad, so don't leave it out for hours at your party without keeping it cool.:)
Pro tip: If you have a shared kitchen-meaning you also have people who eat gluten in your household, use a jar that is freshly opened OR what I like to do is buy the squirt bottles. I buy these ones for mayo and miracle whip. Yes, my kids can wipe that squirt bottles on their gluten bread, BUT I have trained them not to. A lot of this comes with training, and maybe a bit of praying too! When in doubt, just open a new jar.
Now if you want to use an avocado based dressing, I think that would also work. I like the Primal brand, but I haven’t tried it yet in this recipe. In our home, we have a couple kids allergic to avocados, so we don’t use them.
I hope you will enjoy making Grandma’s Famous Potato Salad!
Emma
