Potato Salad with Bacon Recipe

💖 Why You'll Love This Recipe

The color, the creaminess, the light crunch of the celery, the smoky bacon flavor, and the tender potatoes - all make this potato salad an absolute winner.

• Quick & Simple: Taking only about 35 minutes from start to finish, this Southern potato salad can be ready for storage in the fridge until ready to eat, or you can take it straight to your event. Simple ingredients that are easy to find and simple to put it all together. Win-win-win!!!
• Everyone Loves it: I recently took this creamy potato salad to an end-of-school-year picnic. You know people really like it when they ask randomly, "Who made the ________?" Well, four or five moms said within my earshot, "This potato salad is amazing." Or, "Who made the potato salad?" Needless to say, this was why I knew this recipe was a definite keeper. My family loves it, but the fact that multiple other families also loved it (including kids who were gobbling it up) was the best way for me to know that the recipe is a success beyond my own family.
• Can Make in Advance: You can make this fabulous potato salad in advance - in fact, I highly recommend that you do so, as the flavors will grow as it sits in the refrigerator (up to 3 days).

🥘 Ingredients

What You'll Need for this Potato Salad with Bacon:

📖 Ingredient Notes

Essentially a bacon and eggs potato salad, as all potato salad recipes worth making include eggs (in my opinion), this is no ordinary salad, and the ingredient list is extensive. With bacon, eggs, green onions, celery, yellow mustard, paprika, and dill all being ingredients I couldn't bear to leave out.

• Potatoes: Use thin-skinned potatoes such as Yukon Gold and/or red potatoes. You will be cooking them first and then peeling them. These potatoes remain firm when cooking (as long as you don't cook them too long), which is essential to a good potato salad. You don't want the potatoes to fall apart but remain as mostly-intact cubes.
• Bacon: Use fairly lean bacon. You will need about one cup of cooked bacon crumbles. Alternately, you could use already-cooked bacon bits.
• Mustard: I just use plain yellow mustard, but you could use spicy or brown mustard if you prefer.
• Paprika: I use regular paprika, but you could use smoked paprika if you like. This will add a bit of spiciness and smokiness that would pair nicely with the bacon flavors.

(See recipe card below for ingredient quantities and full recipe instructions)

🔪 Step-By-Step Instructions

Making Creamy Bacon Potato Salad:

Step 1: Wash and cut potatoes in half. Don't peel yet (easier to do after cooking). Add to large pot and cover with water. Bring to a boil and cook on medium for 10-15 minutes or until just tender (fork enters easily). Don't overcook or let get mushy (image 1).

Step 2: Cut boiled eggs in half and separate yolks from whites. Chop whites in small pieces. Add yolks to small bowl and mash (image 2).

Step 3: To mashed yolks in small bowl, add mayonnaise and mustard and blend until almost smooth (images 3 & 4).

Step 4: In medium-sized bowl, add egg whites, celery, onion, parsley, dill, paprika, salt, and pepper (image 5). Mix together gently with large spoon.

Step 5: Add yolk mixture to large bowl with egg whites and other ingredients (image 6) and incorporate thoroughly.

Step 6: When potatoes are done, drain water. Peel each potato and gently chop into ½-inch pieces (image 7).

Step 7: Add potatoes to egg mixture along with crumbled bacon (image 8).

Step 8: Combine all ingredients thoroughly (image 9) and refrigerate for at least 2 hours before serving (best refrigerated overnight).

(Scroll down for full recipe and print capabilities)

💭 Expert Cooking / Preparation Tips

• Boiling Eggs: You will first need to boil the eggs. Start these, and you can be assembling and preparing the other ingredients while they cook. To boil the eggs, I like to start with cold water in a pot large enough for the eggs to be covered with the water. Add just a shake of salt to the water, which helps it boil faster. Turn the heat to high and wait until it begins to boil. Remove from heat just before the rolling boil and cover with the lid. Let sit for 20 minutes covered off the heat. Next, you will drain the eggs and add running cold water to the pot. The purpose here is to get the eggs cooled down quickly so the cooking process stops, and also your eggs should be easier to peel.
• While the eggs are cooking, you can take the time to cook the potatoes as well as the bacon if not already cooked and gather and combine your other ingredients.
• Once all ingredients are combined, refrigerate for at least 2 hours before serving if possible. It's best if refrigerated overnight. Keeps well for up to three days.

🧐 Recipe FAQs