Herb potato salad is a light potato salad with a satisfying creamy tanginess from the combination of vinegar, olive oil and herbs. I also suggest many optional additions to add flavour and colour to your potato salad.
Potato salad is a favourite side dish that is fulfilling and nourishing.
A classic creamy potato salad is made with mayonnaise. However, it can be high in saturated fat and sodium. A delicious alternative is mayo-free Greek yogurt potato salad.
Another alternative is a French-style herb potato salad with olive oil and vinegar as the base rather than mayonnaise.
While the ingredients can vary, French-style potato salad typically includes potatoes, vinegar and olive oil, fresh herbs like parsley or dill, onion, chives or spring onions, and sometimes capers. The recipe below is this style.
A herbed potato salad recipe with a lower oil content
The fat content for this herb potato salad has been reduced further by using the potatoes cook water combined with lemon juice or apple cider vinegar to create moist and tangy potatoes.
You might think I’ve gone mad at this step and that it will never work. Be patient. You’ll be surprised by how much moisture the potatoes reabsorb and how this creates a delicious tangy creaminess without excess oil.
This technique allows you to half the oil content from other French-style potato salad recipes.
Keep the skin on your potatoes
Did you know that one potato contains nearly half (~40 %) of your daily requirement of vitamin C?
But you can lose more than fifty per cent of this vitamin C by peeling your potatoes. So, wherever possible, it’s worth keeping the skin on.
I find that some of the skin falls off once cooked, especially when combining with the vinegar and cook water. Remove any detached skin, as it can be slimy and unappealing. But leave on the potato skin that remains attached.
Choosing potatoes for potato salad
Choose potatoes of a waxy variety that will hold their shape when cooked. The label or supplier will often tell you what type of potato is suitable for salads.
You could choose one variety or a medley of potatoes in white, red and purple.
Small potatoes are a great choice, which you can cut in half or quarter. Cut large potatoes into slices or large bite-sized pieces.
Herbs for potato salad
You can mix and match the herbs you add to your potato salad. Herbs that are great in potato salad are:
- Parsely
- Chives
- Mint
- Dill
- Coriander
In the potato salad recipe below, I use chives with a choice of parsley, mint, dill or coriander.
Ingredients for this mayo-free herbed potato salad
For this potato salad recipe, you will need:
- Potatoes
- Lemon juice or apple cider vinegar
- Extra virgin olive oil
- Chives
- Your choice of herbs: parsley, mint, dill or coriander
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
It has a delicious, tangy taste, just as it is. That simple.
However, you can upgrade your herbed potato salad by adding to the dressing:
- Lemon zest
- Chilli flakes
- Crushed garlic
- Mustard (seeded or Dijon)
- Nutritional yeast
Optional additions to this recipe
You may also add additional ingredients for flavour or a contrast in colour. Some delicious additions I recommend are:
- Capers for an added salty flavour
- Sundried tomatoes for tangy sweetness and a contrast in colour
- Jarred capsicum for a smoky flavour and contrast in colour
- Gherkins for a salty flavour
- Celery to add fibre and a fresh crunch
- Jalapeños for a tangy, spiciness
- Corn to add sweetness
- Diced capsicum for colours of green, yellow or red
- Raw or roasted red onion slices of flavour and colour
- Pumpkin seeds to add crunch
- Crispy chickpeas to add protein and crunch
- Radish slices to add bitterness
- Grilled asparagus or courgette for texture
Tips for a perfect potato salad
In the case of this herbed potato salad, you will want to fully cool the potato before adding the olive oil and herbs. This is so that the potatoes have time to absorb the cook water and vinegar, which gives them a creamy, deep, vinegary flavour. It means that the flavours don’t only sit on the surface of the potato but are infused.
How to serve this vegan potato salad
Serve herb potato salad as a side dish on its own or on a bed of lettuce, rocket or spinach.
It is a delicious and satisfying side for grilled or roast meats, salmon, sausages, veggie or meat patties. Try it at your next BBQ!
Herb potato salad can also be served as a component of a niçoise salad (pronounced nee-swaz), a French main dish comprised of a bed of lettuce, potato salad, boiled egg, green beans, tomatoes, tuna, olives and a tangy dressing.
Over to you to create your own herb potato salad.
Have you tried this recipe?
If you’ve tried this recipe, let me know in the comments below.
Share your herbed potato salad combinations in the comments or tag @tansy_joyfuleating on Instagram.
I love seeing your creations and having more ideas to add to this and future recipes. If you’re looking for more potato recipes, you may like to try my potato salad recipe with Greek yogurt or miso and garlic mashed potatoes.
Storage
Store salad in an airtight container in the fridge for up to four days.
It’s a great salad to make at the beginning of the week and scoop out servings for meals throughout the week.
Make it a colourful potato salad
It’s often said that we ought to eat a rainbow a day.
And we can paint something of a rainbow with potatoes too!
Potatoes come in a variety of colours: white, yellow, red, pink, purple and orange (sweet potato).
The colours contain an array of antioxidants that can reduce cell damage due to oxidative stress. So, adding a colourful variety of potatoes to your plate could help reduce certain cancers, cardiovascular disease and metabolic disorders. That’s pretty spud-tastic!
In an upcoming children’s book, Radical Spuds, the food characters Chip, Wedge, Fry and Spud reinvent themselves by making a rainbow potato salad, which contains potatoes of many colours.
With the recipe below, you can also make your own radical rainbow herb potato salad.
THE SUPERHEROES ON YOUR PLATE
Every food at the dinner table competes for the title of superhero on your plate.
Which food will claim the title?
Available on most online booksellers.
Herb Potato Salad
Ingredients
- 1 kg potato, cut into bite-size pieces, cubes or thick slices (~ 1 cm thick)
- Pinch salt
- ¼ cup lemon juice, or apple cider vinegar
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ cup (~ 4 tablespoons) extra virgin olive oil
- 4 tablespoons finely chopped chives
- 2 tablespoons your choice of finely chopped parsley, mint, dill or coriander
- ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
Instructions
- Place chopped potatoes with a pinch of salt in cold water in a large saucepan, ensuring the potatoes are completely covered with water.
- Place saucepan on stovetop and bring to the boil. Then reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for 10 to 15 minutes, or longer, until potatoes can easily be pierced with a knife.
- Once cooked, drain potatoes in a colander, reserving ½ a cup of the cooking water.
- Place the still-hot potatoes and the ½ cup of cooking water into a large mixing bowl, and combine with the vinegar and salt. Let it stand to cool, gently stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon or silicone spatula that won’t cut into the potatoes. Remove any loose potato skins as you do this, as these will be unappealing in the final salad.NB. It will appear very watery for a while, but the potatoes will absorb the water with time and reward you with moist and tangy potatoes. Be patient. It can take five to fifteen minutes for the potatoes to absorb the water completely. Place the potatoes in an airtight container for an hour or overnight in the fridge before combining with salad dressing. Omitting this step, means your potato salad will have a fuzzy, creamy coating, as not all the vinegar and cooking water will have been absorbed into the potatoes.Alternatively, you can skip this step and double the olive oil in the dressing.
- Once potatoes are cooled, whisk together remaining ingredients. Then stir through the potatoes. NB. The herbs are best added immediately before serving, but it is not essential.
- Serve room temperature or chilled from the fridge in a salad bowl or on a platter.
Notes
Optional additions to dressing
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest
- 1 teaspoon chilli flakes
- 2 cloves garlic, crushed
- 1-2 tablespoons mustard (seeded or Dijon)
- 1-2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
Optional additions to salad
You may choose to add for flavour or colour (such as a contrast of red) any of the below to your potato salad:- ¼ cup capers
- ¼ cup chopped sundried tomatoes
- ¼ cup jarred capsicum, sliced
- ¼ cup chopped gherkins
- ¼ cup finely sliced or diced celery
- ¼ cup canned corn
- ¼ cup finely diced capsicum; green, yellow or red
- ¼ cup raw or roasted red onion slices
Salad serving suggestions and toppers
Herb potato salad can be served as is or on a bed of lettuce, rocket or spinach. Toppings or other side elements can be added for variety. For example:- 4 tablespoons pumpkin seeds
- 4 tablespoons crispy chickpeas
- Radish slices
- Grilled asparagus or courgette
Storage
Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to four days.
3 comments
Tansy, I love that you are all about the joy of eating. These herbed potatoes was so good, we are making it again this week. Clean flavours!
Potatoes are always loved here! I love this recipe for the amount of herbs and sure my family would love this recipe.
I love a potato salad that has no mayo. This salad was so simple yet so flavorful. I finished almost the whole thing. LOL. Thanks for the great recipe. Next time I might add capers per your suggestions. Txs!