Amish Potato Salad Old Fashioned Recipe

Loaded with starchy potatoes, hard-boiled eggs, and a richer-than-rich dressing, it’s ridiculously creamy and decadent. Celery, onions, and carrots add another layer of flavor to the salad, but frankly speaking, this dish is predominantly rich and savory. Served chilled, this side dish goes great with classic cookout mainstays, such as barbecues, burgers, and steaks. If you want to impress your party guests, this Amish potato salad recipe must be present.

What Is Amish Potato Salad?

Just like regular potato salad, Amish potato salad is a delectable dish made of potatoes, hard-boiled eggs, and a creamy dressing. What sets it apart is that its dressing has a deeper flavor. It’s made with a combination of eggs, vinegar, milk, mustard, mayonnaise, and butter. It’s slightly sweeter, tangier, and has a more complex flavor than classic potato salad dressing, which is usually just mayonnaise.

Ingredients

Potatoes – The star of the dish. Pick from my top 3 potato varieties for Amish potato salad.Eggs – An essential element to the dressing. Aside from binding the ingredients together, it also helps give the dressing a smooth and creamy consistency.Cornstarch – The ingredient responsible for thickening the dressing.Salt – A little bit of seasoning goes a long way.Apple Cider Vinegar – It adds just a subtle tartness to the dressing, providing a nice contrast to its richness.Milk – For an incredibly rich and creamy dressing.Yellow Mustard – Adds subtle tanginess to the dressing.Butter – Adds shine and even more richness to the dressing.Mayonnaise – Also adds extra creaminess and richness to the dressing.Onion, Celery, Carrots – Mix-ins offer flavor and color to the salad.Celery Seed – For flavor.Hard-Boiled Eggs – Another element that provides creaminess and richness galore! They’re also what gives the salad its signature yellow hue.

The Best Potato for Amish Potato Salad

You’ll want to use potatoes that are starchy because they do a fine job at absorbing the salad. They should also be firm enough that they won’t fall apart when you toss them with the rest of the ingredients. That said, the perfect candidates for Amish potato salad are russet potatoes and Yukon Golds. Coming in at third place are red baby potatoes. They’re waxy and able to keep their shape when boiled. I also like that their skins are soft enough that I don’t need to peel them. Plus, because of their size, they’ll cook faster.

How Do You Make Amish Potato Salad?

Boil the potatoes. Place them in a large pot and fill it up with enough water to cover the spuds. Season the water with 1 tablespoon of salt. Cook the potatoes until they’re fork-tender and drain. Set them aside to cool slightly. It’s your call whether you want to peel the potatoes or not. I usually peel mine if I’m using either Yukon Golds or russets. For red potatoes, though, it’s not necessary as their skins are already very tender.
While the potatoes are cooling, boil the eggs and chop them up.
Make the dressing. Combine eggs, sugar, cornstarch, and salt in a saucepan. Add in the vinegar, milk, and mustard. Cook and stir until the sauce thickens. Turn off the heat and mix in the butter. Let it cool completely. It’ll be faster if you chill it in the fridge. Once cool, mix in the mayo. You won’t want to add the mayo while the dressing is still hot because it may cause the oil in the mayo to separate.
Remove from heat and mix in the butter. Allow the dressing to cool in the fridge. Mix in the mayonnaise.
Slice the potatoes and combine the salad mix-ins. Once the spuds are cool enough to handle, cut them up into bite-sized chunks. Toss them with the onions, celery carrots, and hard-boiled eggs.
Toss in the dressing and allow the salad to cool. Potato salad tastes better the longer it chills, so try to let it rest in the fridge for 24 hours. If you can’t wait that long, just at least let it cool for an hour.

Tips for the Best Amish Potato Salad

Don’t slice the potatoes before boiling them. This might cut down the length of cooking, but it’ll also make the potatoes too mushy. When you boil the potatoes with the peels on, the skins will protect the spuds from absorbing too much water.It’s your call whether you want to peel the potatoes or not. If you decide to peel the spuds, do so post-cooking. It’s much easier.Salt the boiling water for better-tasting potatoes. Drain the potatoes well. Any excess water will add unnecessary moisture to the dressing, which will result in a watery salad.Let the potatoes cool slightly before you toss them together with the dressing. Combining hot potatoes with the dressing will cause the potatoes to sweat, also resulting in a watery salad.At the same time, you’ll want the potatoes to still be a little warm so that they’ll absorb the dressing better. Coat the potatoes with the dressing very gently. You’re making potato salad here, not mashed potatoes!Don’t slice the potatoes too small as they will break up further into smaller pieces when you toss them with the dressing.Amish potato salad tastes better the next day! Make it up to 2 days in advance for better flavor.Storage: Place Amish potato salad in an airtight container or cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 3 to 4 days.I don’t recommend freezing the salad as the potatoes will get mushy and grainy once frozen and thawed.

Variations:

Add herbs for a fresher flavor. Dill, chives, basil, tarragon, thyme, and parsley all taste great with potatoes.Amish potato salad is already rich and decadent, but adding bacon crumbles will make it even more so.You know what else tastes great with potatoes? Cheese! Top the salad with shredded cheddar and thank me later.Spice up the salad with paprika, red chili flakes, or cayenne pepper. Other spices and seasonings such as onion powder, and garlic salt make great flavor additions, too.Turn the salad into a full meal by mixing in your favorite small-shaped pasta such as macaroni, farfalle, or fusilli.