Potato Salad with Bacon (The BEST)
Quick and easy to make, this is the best potato salad recipe with bacon, tangy pickles and a creamy homemade dressing. We love to share this with friends and easily doubled when feeding a crowd so it is the perfect entertainer!
Why You’ll Love Our Classic Potato Salad with Bacon
What makes the best potato salad recipe is not only the perfect union of ingredients but also how you put the potato salad together. And we will show you how!
This is an uncomplicated recipe with the good, simple, classic flavours of potato salad that we are all familiar with and absolutely adore.
I love the contrasting flavours that is deliciously balanced together. Perfectly cooked potatoes with crispy salty bacon, pops of tangy pickles and aromatic red onion and chives, together with the ultimate homemade creamy potato salad dressing combination, this is a guaranteed crowd pleaser.
The delightful mix of mayonnaise and sour cream together not only enhances the flavour but also imparts a lighter texture. I love how the dressing does not overpower the potato salad and make it heavy and gluggy like other classic versions.
Having made this delicious potato salad recipe many times for family and friends, I know how popular it is! Preparation is a breeze and I can also make it in advance to save time.
This easy potato salad recipe is great for BBQs, potluck gatherings and especially during the holiday season like Christmas and Easter. Plus it is easily doubled when feeding a crowd so it is the perfect entertainer.
Best Potatoes for Potato Salad
We do love a good potato salad. From roasted potato salad to no mayo potato salad recipe, we’ve got potato salad recipes to suit all occasions.
Do we use the same potato variety for every potato salad we make? Well, it depends.
In general, a waxy potato is more suited to potato salads.
Waxy potatoes are low in starch, slightly firmer and hold their shape when cooked. Something like a Dutch cream, Kipler, Nicola, Nadine or Red potatoes are considered waxy potatoes and good for potato salads. Alternatively an all purpose potato like Desiree, Yukon Gold or Golden Delight also work well in potato salads.
If you love roasted potatoes, you will have to try using Dutch creams for our Hasselback potato salad or fingerling potatoes for our smashed potato side dish.
I generally avoid starchy potatoes in potato salads as they will break down too much. The only exception would be our Korean potato salad as the fluffier the better!
Recipe Overview
Flavour/Texture: I love the creamy flavours of the mayonnaise salad dressing with the crispy bacon bits and tangy chopped gherkins.
The texture of this potato salad with bacon recipe is soft but still with a bite. I like to cook the potatoes until just fork tender so the bite size pieces hold shape but are not crunchy.
Ease: This potato salad with bacon is easy to make. Two cooked components of potatoes and bacon and then tossed together with a few other ingredients.
Getting the right texture of the cooked potatoes is probably the hardest part of the salad.
Time: A recipe easily completed in under 30 minutes.
Ingredients
These are the ingredients you need for Bacon Potato Salad:
Potatoes: Go for a waxy potato such as Dutch Cream, Fingerling, Kipler, Nadine, Red potatoes or an all purpose variety like Desiree, Golden Delight or Yukon Gold potatoes. You can use larger potatoes and cut to smaller pieces or baby potatoes are great too.
Bacon: I prefer short cut bacon as it has less fat, but middle/centre cut bacon is good too.
Pickles: To balance and help cut through the richness, I love adding gherkins/dill pickles to the salad. You can adjust the volume of gherkins according to your taste.
Mayonnaise: The creamy base of potato salad is a good quality mayonnaise.
Sour cream / Dijon mustard: Both sour cream and Dijon mustard is to help balance the creaminess of the salad dressing. I love the tartness and zingy flavours of the sour cream and Dijon mustard.
Variations and Substitutions
Egg free option: This recipe does not have eggs in it per se, but mayonnaise is, of course, made with eggs. So if you need to have an egg-free salad dressing, you can substitute mayonnaise with Greek yoghurt or use our creme fraiche and chives dressing instead.
Vegetarian version: Substitute regular bacon with your favourite plant based version or can omit it from the salad.
Other herbs: If you don’t have chives readily available, you can use other herbs like parsley or dill.
Additional ingredients: Treat this potato salad recipe as a base and add your own variations if you like. Other ingredients that go well include hard boiled eggs, corn, green onions, diced celery or even a sprinkling of paprika.
Instructions
Step by step instructions for how to make potato salad with bacon:
How to Make Potato Salad
Peel and chop potato into bite sized pieces.
Add potatoes to a large pot of water. Season with a good pinch of salt.
Bring water to boil and cook for approximately 10 minutes or until fork tender.
Drain potatoes.
Slice bacon into 1-2cm pieces.
In a large fry pan, sauté the bacon over medium heat until crispy. Drain on paper towel.
Finely chop red onion, pickles and chives.
How to Assemble the Salad
In a large bowl, add mayonnaise, sour cream and Dijon mustard. Mix well.
Add warm potatoes to dressing and mix well.
Add sauteed bacon, chopped pickles, red onion and ¾ of chopped chives to the potato mix.
Toss together.
Season with salt and pepper.
Sprinkle remaining chopped chives to serve.
How to Make This Salad Perfectly (Expert Tips)
Choose the right kind of potato: This is very important when trying to avoid a mushy potato salad. Use a waxy or all-rounder potato variety for potato salad.
Do not overcook the potatoes: Even if you have the right kind of potato, make sure you don’t overcook them in the boiling process. You want to get to just fork tender but not too soft.
Dress when the potatoes are still warm: This is a new technique I discovered whilst testing different potato salads. By adding the salad dressing to warm potatoes, I found that the potatoes absorbed the dressing well, adding more flavour.
Homemade potato salad dressing: Don’t use store bought dressing. Homemade potato salad dressing is so easy. Adding sour cream to mayonnaise makes it lighter but still creamy.
The hit of Dijon mustard in the salad dressing will help cut through the richness. This is the best potato salad dressing recipe.
Season well: No one wants a bland potato salad. The combination on ingredients in our bacon potato salad will give it the pop of flavours needed but make sure you taste and season it well with salt and pepper as required.
Great Mains for This Salad
A classic potato salad deserves some rich flavours meats. Here are some great main recipes to try:
These slow cooker Dr. Pepper BBQ ribs are to die for and you’ll n doubt be lickin’ those fingers!
If you love your air fryer you can’t go past these chicken quarters rubbed with garlic powder and paprika. Alternatively, you can also try out this bourbon marinated grilled flank steak. Perfectly cooked and still pink on the inside.
Frequently Asked Questions
You can make potato salad in advance. You can even make it the day before. One type of salad that will not go soggy if you dress in advance!
Potato salad is one of those salads where I love eating leftovers. The moreish flavours of potato and bacon are so comforting the next day. Store in an airtight container in the fridge.
I did peel my potatoes as I prefer it in this recipe but it is not necessary especially if you are using baby potatoes because the skin is usually thin enough to eat.
Once you have made our bacon potato salad recipe, you will not be going back to the usual gluggy mess with store-bought dressings.
It is amazing with robust flavours and effortless to make in 25 minutes. Moreover, if you need to prepare it ahead of time, you can! It’s easily transportable, making it perfect for BBQs, picnics, potluck gatherings, and even festive holiday celebrations.
That’s all!
More Easy Salad Recipes
Follow us on Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram and Twitter for the latest updates!
Classic Potato Salad with Bacon
Click on the toggle below for conversion to US Cooking Units.
Instructions
Salad
- Peel and chop potato into bite sized pieces. Add potatoes to a large pot of water. Season with a good pinch of salt. Bring water to boil and cook for approximately 10 minutes or until fork tender. Drain potatoes.
- Slice bacon into 1-2cm pieces. In a large fry pan, sauté the bacon over medium heat until crispy. Drain on paper towel.
- Finely chop red onion, pickles and chives.
Salad Dressing
- In a large mixing bowl, add mayonnaise, sour cream and Dijon mustard. Mix well.
Assembly
- In the mixing bowl with the dressing, add warm potatoes, bacon, pickles, red onion and ¾ of chopped chives to the salad dressing.
- Season with salt and pepper.
- Toss together.
- Sprinkle remaining chopped chives to serve.
Notes
- Choose a waxy or all-rounder potato for the best results. Do not use a starchy potato.
- Make sure you don’t overcook the potatoes in the boiling process. You want to get to just fork tender but not too soft.
- Dress when the potatoes are still warm so they are fully coated with creamy salad dressing and absorb the flavours.
- For an egg-free salad dressing, substitute mayonnaise with Greek yoghurt or use our creme fraiche and chives dressing instead.
- For vegetarian potato salad, substitute regular bacon with your favourite plant-based version or can omit it from the salad.
- If you don’t have chives readily available, you can use other herbs like parsley or dill.
Nutrition
*Disclaimer: Nutritional information provided is an estimate only and generated by an online calculator.
Don’t want to miss out on a recipe? Feed your FOMO and we’ll deliver it into your inbox!
Disclaimer: This site contains affiliate links to products. We may receive a commission for purchases made through these links at no additional cost to you.
This potato salad is BOMB!! The best…😋
Thank you! Glad you enjoyed the recipe!