German Potato Salad
Updated July 2, 2024
- Total Time
- 40 minutes
- Rating
- Notes
- Read community notes
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Ingredients
Yield:6 servings
- 2pounds boiling potatoes, scrubbed but not peeled
- 4strips bacon
- 1bunch scallions, trimmed and cut into thin slices, including some of the green
- ½cup minced celery, including some leaves
- ½cup cider vinegar
- ½teaspoon sugar
- ½teaspoon salt
- ⅛teaspoon paprika
- ¼teaspoon dry mustard
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (6 servings)
206 calories; 7 grams fat; 2 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 3 grams monounsaturated fat; 1 gram polyunsaturated fat; 29 grams carbohydrates; 4 grams dietary fiber; 2 grams sugars; 6 grams protein; 359 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
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- Step 1
Cut the potatoes in half if they are large, put them in a pot and add enough lightly salted water to cover them by 2 inches. Bring to a boil, and boil gently, uncovered, for about 15 minutes, until just tender. Drain.
- Step 2
While the potatoes are still warm, peel and slice, or cube them, into a large serving bowl.
- Step 3
In a skillet, cook the bacon until crisp. Drain. Pour out all but 2 tablespoons of bacon fat. Add scallions and celery, and cook until soft, about 2 minutes. Mix with potato pieces.
- Step 4
In the same skillet, mix ¼ cup of water with cider vinegar, sugar, salt, paprika and dry mustard. Stirring with a whisk, bring to a boil and pour over salad. Crumble bacon over the top, and serve warm.
Private Notes
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Cooking Notes
Helga
Rich,we have various ways of making potato salad here in Germany. Eggs can often be found in "our" potato salad.
Oh, my mother used to make potato salad with eggs, herring, carrots etc. - a BIG bowl of this herring salad on Christmas evening with breaded fish or sausages was something to look foward to. A great tradition.. that I keep alive.
Rich, just as there are various ways of making apple cake - there are many recipes for potato salad in Germany. Greetings from Bavaria - Helga
Aleks Hunter
When making potato salad, try cooking the potatoes for about two minutes less, they will continue to cook through after draining, and put the dressing on while the potatoes are warm, they will absorb more of the flavor of the dressing. It is tricky, but practice makes perfect, and potato salad is never really unwelcome.
Sally
My Swiss mother-in-law made a fantastic potato salad. Her trick: boil and peel the potatoes and then pour some very strong veggie bullion over them. They soak up the bullion, so that you can use considerably less oil and vinegar on them. Serve slightly warm, it is great. I still call it "Irma's potato salad".
LindaK
I refrigerate my cooked potatoes. Thorough chilling keeps them from disintegrating when slicing or cubing.
Karen J
Hmm...should the recipe say 1/4 of bacon fat rather than 1/4 water as written? I tried boiling the vinegar with the water-even added it to the potatoes-but was sorely disappointed. Drained and saved the potatoes and found another recipe that included cooking down bacon fat with vinegar, etc...
jo chastan
How wonderful to find mention of Joy of Cooking, best basic cookbook ever: my go to wedding present and my go to recipe for German Potato Salad for 50 years !
AK
I made this with mini gold potatoes and didn't peel them -I just sliced them in half. It cut down on the boiling time and saved my finger tips from the usual "hot potato" dance. Delicious!
Bokmal
There is no substitute for bacon.
Jeanne
If you add some vinegar to the cooking water for the potatoes, they will hold together better when you slice them. Also, stir ingredients in a folding fashion like you would with beaten egg whites. This releases the starch better which will blend the flavors. Enjoy!
Christopher
Acknowledging everyone’s preferences in recipes could get out of hand. Take bacon. As a base ingredient, you decide what kind suits your taste or belief—vegan, soy, turkey, uncured, smoked, slab, thick. Likewise sugar. Some believe white sugar is evil, some swear by agave, brown, turbinado, castor, etc. Or salt—kosher, sea, maldon, gray. Or boiling potatoes. Some believe in waxy, red, purple, or god forbid yams. You see how political a recipe could become?
There is no such thing as "German potato salad"
There is no such thing as "German potato salad". Each region does it differently. I make potato salad according to my great-grandmother's recipe who came from the Southern region (Schwaben) to Switzerland. Add a cup of bouillon to a normal salad sauce. Add only chopped onions, nothing else. Let potatoes soak up sauce, add more bouillon if necessary. It's less calorie rich than the Northern version (mayonnaise). Less acidic than the Bavarian (and Swiss) version (vinegar).
Marjorie Och
Quite good. Watch the potatoes...these can easily go from salad-potatoes to mashed-potatoes. I added more celery and used garden onions because these are what I had. Thank you!
Debbie G.
Rather than boil potatoes for salads, I steam them
Karin
I make warm German Potato Salad very, very similar to this recipe quite often but I usually add a sprinkling of Caraway seeds for that extra "kick" - delicious!
Sean M
I live in Germany, and have often had it served with boiled eggs (and spicy mustard) on the side. That way each can prepare their plate the way they like.
AT Bainbridge
Wonderful recipe. I made a few changes from what I had on hand. I used 1/8 lb pancetta, cooked till crispy then added 1/8 tsp liquid smoke. I only added 1/4 cup apple cider to let the pancetta richness come through. It was delicious. This will now be a regular side for grilled sausages in the summer!
donna
I have three editions of the Joy of Cooking, my go to cookbooks. Thanks for mentioning this stellar book.
Mark
Thanks for resharing this old recipe. It was really good. Used a few of the Comments, which are always great, including adding a couple hard boiled eggs and pouring the sauce (vinegar mixture) on very warm potatoes. Great side!
lagartija
I cut the potatoes up raw and add them to my pressure cooker, having already cooked bacon and onion in it. The liquid must be a sufficient amount to cook the potatoes, but it’s a mix of water, vinegar, sugar, mustard, celery seed if desired. A family favorite.
Stephanie
I chuckle at the comments...there is no single "German" potato salad. The key ingredients of bacon fat and cider vinegar are what distinguish this salad from the mayo based "American" version. My mom's recipe dates back 70 years and has equal parts bacon fat, cider vinegar and hot water, and some sugar to balance out the vinegar. Lots of onions sautéed in the bacon fat. Crunchy celery, dill pickles and chopped hard boiled eggs added. Fresh herbs at the end - a modern addition.
Caroline Fahmy
We have always used sliced hot dogs (all natural, no nitrite/nitrate) instead of bacon in our hot potato salad. We use a whole thin-sliced white onion instead of scallions, but next time I'll substitute some scallions too. We use ½ cup chopped flat-leaf parsley instead of celery (which tends to be strong flavored). I use whatever potatoes I have in the pantry, but for russets, I peel, slice, and par boil them before mixing everything together and baking in a covered dish for 30 minutes.
Sarah Bradley
Every spring, my grandmother would make this with emerging dandelion greens. I still do the same to this day as an ode to the first signs of new life and a celebration of the new life my ancestors were able to make when they immigrated from Germany. Poor and illiterate, they were part of the great tapestry that makes this country so wonderful: the sharing of food, community, and culture.
Chris
I made this recipe according to the directions and I felt it was missing something so I added German mustard and that helped.
mynotes
Made this. Used fake bacon. It was so good!
Julie
Add green pepper and fresh parsley the last five minutes. My German grandma didn't use dry mustard or paprika.
captcook
This recipe was okay. I spent a year studying in Tübingen and enjoyed the way the Schwabens make Kartoffelnsalat.
A. Cleary
The recipe in my copy of The Joy of Cooking calls for hard boiled eggs. Been making it for years and can't imagine it without.
mrbsmith
Peel the potatoes and slice first. Cook a bit less than 15 min boiling.
Rebecca
Delicious! Used 1 1/2 lbs of various potatoes I had left over, made the whole amount of dressing, but with 1/3 cup of vinegar. A little more sugar was still needed for balance so I added a little honey which mellowed the wang. Potatoes soaked up all of the dressing. Used the tip posted about keeping it warm in the oven, worked great.
quaas
excellent. Have done it many times.
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