People take their potato salad very seriously here in the South. I learned that pretty quickly when I moved to Southern Louisiana over twenty years ago (omg, how has it been that long??). I was never a fan of potato salad in my youth, but it quickly became my favorite after eating it made the Southern way—with mayo and mustard. My version is rich, creamy, tangy, and with just the right amount of crunch. This Southern Style Potato Salad is pure comfort food, the kind that shows up at every cookout and makes you go back for seconds.
“I made it tonight and we really enjoyed it. Lots of levels of great flavors. Thanks!”
Hettie
This Southern style potato salad has a creamy and tangy dressing that has both mayonnaise and mustard, plus plenty of texture from the finely diced celery and sweet relish. Of course, every family has their own take on a Southern potato salad, but this is the one I was introduced to and the one I keep coming back to (I’m a little bit obsessed). 😉
I do like my potato salad with slightly less dressing, rather than super heavy or goopy, so if you like yours more “wet,” you may want to make more dressing. I’ve also shared some of my favorite substitutions and variations at the end if you want to make this recipe your own!
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Gather all of your ingredients.
Prep the potatoes: Start by washing, peeling, and cubing 3 lbs. of potatoes. Now, rinse the potatoes briefly with cool water to remove excess starch. I find this helps stop your salad from getting dry and gluey and helps the dressing cling to the potatoes better.
Add the cubed potatoes to a large pot and cover with cool water. Add 1 tsp salt to the water and place a lid on the pot. Bring the water up to a boil over high heat and boil until the potatoes are tender (this usually takes about 10 minutes, depending on the size of the cubes). I use a fork to pierce one of the larger pieces to test the doneness and make sure they are fully tender. There’s nothing worse than hard potatoes in your potato salad!
Drain the cooked potatoes in a colander and rinse again briefly with cool water to cool the potatoes and remove leftover starch. I prefer my potatoes to be cooled when I mix them with the other ingredients. Let them drain well over the sink while you prep the rest of the salad.
Cook the eggs: You can get started on your boiled eggs while the potatoes cook. I use my fool-proof method for boiling eggs, which goes as follows:
Add 2 cold eggs (large) to a small pot and cover with cool water. Bring the pot up to a boil, and then let the eggs boil for one minute before turning off the heat. Let the eggs sit in the hot water with a lid on top and the heat turned off for 15 minutes, then carefully pour out the hot water. Immediately run cold water over the eggs to stop the cooking process. Once the boiled eggs are cool enough to handle, peel the eggs and dice them, then set them aside.
Make the dressing: Add 3/4 cup mayonnaise, 1 Tbsp yellow mustard, 1 Tbsp red wine vinegar, 1 Tbsp sweet relish, 1/2 tsp Tony Chachere’s (or your favorite seasoning salt), and 1/4 tsp freshly cracked black pepper to a bowl. Whisk the ingredients together, taste, and add more seasoning salt if desired. Remember, you want the dressing to be heavily seasoned because the flavor will become less pronounced once mixed with the potatoes.
Make the salad: Place the cooled potatoes in a large bowl along with the diced celery, sliced green onion, and diced eggs.
Pour the dressing over the ingredients in the bowl and then stir until everything is combined and coated in the dressing. To make everything slightly less chunky, you can mash the potatoes a little as you stir.
Taste and serve: Now have a taste and adjust the mustard or seasoning to your liking. You can serve it right away or store it in the fridge until needed. See my full storage instructions below, and enjoy!
Potato salad is pretty flexible, and every family has its own special way of making it. In general, here are a few items that are pretty easy to substitute or add without straying too far from the Southern-style roots:
This recipe will stay good in the refrigerator for about 3-4 days. If you can not finish a full 8-cup batch within that amount of time, consider making a half batch instead. Simply change the number of servings in the recipe card above, and all the ingredient amounts will adjust accordingly.
This Southern style potato salad is one of those sides that I bring to just about every summer gathering or BBQ. It’s creamy, tangy, and just feels right next to anything smoky or grilled. I personally love serving it with BBQ grilled chicken and a three bean salad when I fire up the grill on the weekend.
It’s also great with burgers (my black bean burgers are a delicious veggie option) and a big scoop of stovetop baked beans. And if you’re headed to a picnic or potluck, don’t forget the coleslaw. That crunchy, tangy bite always belongs on my plate with these creamy potatoes!
Our Classic Southern Style Potato Salad recipe was originally published on 3/12/2010. It was retested, reworked, and republished to be better than ever 6/13/25.
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