I have been making this Hellmann’s mayonnaise original potato salad recipe for many years. It is an easy and classic side dish for cookouts and summertime meals. I have eaten many different types of potato salad and have liked almost all of them. It is a dish I make several different ways at home, order out a lot and even buy prepared from the grocery store.
There are versions of potato salad with mayo or without and served warm, room temperature, or cold. Until I met Lee and ate it at his aunt’s house I’d never had it made with mashed potatoes, but that is how Aunt Betty made it. She would use leftover mashed potatoes, mayonnaise, mustard, red onion, sweet pickles, hard-cooked eggs, and a little sugar. There may have been other stuff in there but I am not sure. Now that is a good use of leftover potatoes if you ask me.
While I do like some versions of potato salad better than others the classic potato salad recipe is my favorite. Just a few ingredients and really easy to make. I may or may not have eaten leftover cold potato salad right out of the fridge for breakfast the following day 😉.
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Ingredients
See recipe card for exact amounts.
Ingredient Notes
Potatoes – our favorite types of potatoes for this are Russet potatoes and red potatoes in particular.
Hellmann’s Mayonnaise – this is personal preference, you can use your favorite brand of real mayonnaise. You can even use Spin Blend or Miracle Whip, whatever is your favorite. And, if you want to make this vegan you can use your favorite brand of vegan mayo.
Celery – this gives our potato salad nice crunch.
Onion – I like yellow or white onion, whichever I have on hand. You can use a red onion or green onions if you want.
Sugar – just a little bit of regular granulated sugar.
White Vinegar – adds a little zip to our favorite potato salad recipes.
Salt & Black Pepper – just these two classic seasonings give it great flavor.
Hard-Boiled Eggs – this is a popular ingredient in traditional potato salad, leave it out if making vegan potato salad.
How to Make Hellmann’s Potato Salad Recipe
- Either wash or peel potatoes and cut into 1/2′” to 1″ chunks. Try to get potatoes to be about the same size but when you are working with an odd shaped object that can be hard.
- Place potatoes in a medium or large pot. Cover potatoes with cold water, bring to a boil over medium-high heat and then reduce to a simmer. Let simmer for 9-11 minutes or until fork tender. Drain and allow to cool 10-15 minutes.
- Boil the eggs while the potatoes cook. See the best way to boil eggs in this post.
- Chop the onion, celery and eggs.
- Combine the Hellman’s mayonnaise, vinegar, sugar, salt and pepper in a large mixing bowl. Add the cooled potatoes, celery, onion and hard boiled eggs and toss to combine.
Serve at room temperature or cold.
What kind of potatoes are best for making potato salad?
Virtually any kind of potato can be used. Russett potatoes, red potatoes or gold potatoes all work great.
Waxy potatoes such as new potatoes or fingerling potatoes work great too and are sturdier than other varieties. You just cut them into roughly the same size chunks and boil them until they are fork tender.
It is also personal choice as to whether you peel the potatoes or not. There is a lot of valuable nutrition in the skin so I almost never peel them and never do if I am using small potatoes. I have noticed when using large red potatoes that sometimes the peel comes off the cooked potatoes and is just floating around in the potato salad. So if using red potatoes I usually peel about half of them.
Substitutions & Additions
This is a simple recipe only using a few ingredients. But potato salad is sort of a blank canvas that can be changed up or embellished in many different ways.
- Replace half the mayonnaise with sour cream for a little tang.
- Any variety of onion will also work. Red onion, white onion, yellow onion, green onions or shallots would all go nicely in this dish.
- Swap the white vinegar for apple cider vinegar, red wine vinegar or white wine vinegar.
- Add some pickles. Sweet relish or chopped sweet pickles, dill pickles, or bread and butter pickles would be a great addition.
- Radishes will give this dish another depth of flavor. The red variety have a kind of spicy or peppery taste. Anytime Fitness has a great article about radishes.
- Diced red or green bell pepper would add another nice little bit of crunch.
- Add a little dry mustard or prepared mustard such as yellow mustard, Dijon mustard or brown grainy mustard.
- A little paprika, cayenne, or chili flakes would give this a little heat.
- Other spices such as celery seed, celery salt, mustard seed or coriander would also be nice.
- Fresh herbs such as chives, flat leaf parsley or dill would also give this dish a nice and bright flavor.
- To add a smoky and salty flavor add a little cooked crumbled bacon.
Storage
Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 3-4 days.
What we love about this recipe
- It is perfect for cookouts or potlucks because it can be made ahead of time.
- There are potatoes, and I love potatoes.
- You only need a handful of ingredients.
- It can easily be doubled to feed a crowd, or to have leftovers.
- It is easy and pretty fail proof.
More Salad Recipes You Might Like
Orzo Salad with Feta and Dried Cranberries
Hellmann’s Original Potato Salad
Ingredients
- 2 lb potatoes 5-6 medium
- 1 cup mayonnaise
- 2 tbsp vinegar
- 1 tsp sugar
- 1 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
- 1/2 cup chopped onion
- 1 cup chopped celery
- 2 hard boiled eggs
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Instructions
- Either wash or peel potatoes and cut into 1/2′” to 1″ chunks.2 lb potatoes
- Place potatoes in a medium or large pot. Cover potatoes with water, bring to a boil over medium high heat and then reduce to a simmer. Let simmer for 9-11 minutes or until fork tender.
- Drain and allow to cool 10-15 minutes.
- Boil the eggs while the potatoes cook. See the best way to boil eggs in this post.2 hard boiled eggs
- Chop the onion, celery and eggs.1/2 cup chopped onion, 1 cup chopped celery
- Combine Hellmann’s mayonnaise, vinegar, sugar, salt and pepper in a large bowl. Add the cooled potatoes, celery, onion and hard boiled eggs and toss to combine.1 cup mayonnaise, 2 tbsp vinegar, 1 tsp sugar, 1 1/2 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp black pepper
can i use light or fat reduced Hellmannes mayo?
Absolutely, I have used it before and was happy with it.