With summer coming up, many of us are planning to enjoy the sunshine with barbeques. One of my favourite things about having a barbeque is making potato salad. There’s just something so nice about a homemade potato salad in the summer, but the cooking times for potato salad aren’t the same as when making other potato dishes such as mashed potato. Boil your potatoes for too long and you will have a soggy mess. So how long to boil potatoes for potato salad?
What is potato salad?
Potato salad is a classic dish that has been enjoyed for generations. It’s a simple combination of potatoes, mayonnaise, and various herbs and spices that come together to create a delicious side dish. Potato salad is perfect for summer barbeques, picnics, potlucks, or just as an easy lunch or dinner. Whether you’re looking for a classic potato salad recipe or something a bit more creative, there’s sure to be something here for everyone!
Do I have to peel potatoes for potato salad?
Generally we would recommend that you peel your potatoes when using them in a potato salad.
Whilst it won’t ruin the dish completely if you don’t peel your potatoes, the skin on some potatoes can be quite thick so it might be best peeling them.
Small salad potatoes don’t need to be peeled for potato salad.
Do you need to cut up potatoes before boiling them for potato salad?
Yes, you want to cut up your potatoes into 2″ cubes when making potato salad.
They need to be the same size in order to cook evenly and ensure you have a stable potato salad that doesn’t disintegrate when you pierce the potatoes with a fork.
What kind of potatoes do I use to make potato salad?
Any kind of potato will work for making potato salad, so if you already have potatoes in your kitchen you don’t need to go out shopping for more.
How Long to Boil Potatoes for Potato Salad
As long as you stick to cutting up your potatoes to 2″ cubes and they are all the same size then you can expect to boil your potatoes for potato salad for between 10 – 15 minutes.
You can check if they are ready by piercing a fork through a potato cube and ensuring that the fork can easily pierce through without the potato cube crumbling or disintegrating.
I recommend checking the potatoes after 10 minutes of cooking, and then checking again every minute if they aren’t ready.
Be sure not to overcook your potatoes for potato salad or they will turn into a mush.
How to cube potatoes for potato salad
In order for your potatoes to cook evenly for your potato salad you will need to cube them.
Do this by gently scrubbing away any dirt on the potatoes and rinsing them.
Peel your potatoes if desired.
Cut your potatoes in half lengthways.
Cut each half in half again.
Repeat the above steps until you have 2″ sized cubes.
Potato salad mix in ideas
One of the seasons that I love potato salad so much is that you can add anything at all to your potato salad. You might also like these summer roast potatoes.
You can keep it simple with mayonnaise and seasoning, or you can add pretty much anything.
Here are some ideas that we love:
- Spring onions
- Red onions
- White onions
- Bacon
- Boiled eggs
- Chives
- Parsley
- Olives
- Peppers
- Celery
- Pickles
- Salt
- Pepper
- Mustard
- Paprika
And so many more!