This classic vegan potato salad is a rich and creamy addition to any summer picnic! Made with perfectly cooked potatoes, red onion, celery, and dill pickle relish. Combined with a delicious dressing made of vegan mayo, mustard, celery seed, and fresh herbs for the perfect blend of flavor!
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❤️ You’ll love this recipe becauseit’s
- a hearty cold dish for those hot summer days.
- gluten-free, dairy-free, and egg-free too, so everyone can enjoy it.
- perfect to share at picnics and cookouts – no one will ever guess that it’s vegan.
🧾 Ingredients and substitutions
- Potatoes – Any good quality potatoes will work. You can peel larger potatoes like Yukon Golds. If you like potato skin in your potato salad, use smaller red or yellow potatoes with thinner skin.
- Apple Cider Vinegar – to flavor the potatoes. Add it to the cooked potatoes and let it soak in as they are cooling off. Apple cider vinegar is also added to the dressing.
- Red Onion – optional, but recommended. You just need a small amount to give this salad, flavor, crunch, and beautiful color. I soak my onions in water before adding them to the salad to mellow out the flavor.
- Celery – for some texture and to lighten the salad up a little. Dice it up in tiny pieces before adding it to the salad.
- Pickle Relish – for flavor and texture. I like the flavor of dill relish in this salad, but you can also use sweet relish if you prefer.
- Vegan Mayonaise – for its rich flavor and creaminess. I use my own vegan mayo for this recipe. It takes less than 5 minutes to make and it has a great flavor. However, if you want to skip this step, use any vegan mayo that you have. There are many brands out there that are easy to find.
- Celery Seed – for flavor.
- Mustard – to flavor the dressing.
- Garlic Powder – to flavor the dressing.
- Salt – to flavor the potatoes while cooking and to add to the dressing.
- Fresh Herbs – chop up some fresh dill or green onions to add color and a fresh flavor to your salad.
- Vegan Egg – (optional) if you want a classic eggy-tasting potato salad, you can make my vegan scrambled eggs with tofu and add about 3/4 cup of the vegan egg to the potato salad for a hard-boiled egg flavor and texture.
🥄 How to make vegan potato salad
Step 1 – Start by peeling and dicing a small red onion and soak it in cold water. (This will mellow the flavor of the onion, so it doesn’t overpower the salad). Leave this onion soaking in water and set aside for later.
Step 2 – Next, peel and dice 2 ½ pounds of potatoes (A little over 1 kg.)
Step 3 – Add the peeled and diced potatoes to a pot of cold salted water and turn the heat to high until the potatoes boil and become tender enough to break when pierced with a fork.
Step 4 – Drain the potatoes, but do not rinse them. Then, place them in a large bowl and sprinkle them with a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar and allow them to cool.
Step 5 – While the potatoes are cooling, mix together the vegan mayo, apple cider vinegar, celery seed, mustard, garlic, and salt. (Mix the dressing in a separate bowl so you don’t have to stir the potatoes too much and break them up. You don’t want mashed potato salad)!
Step 6 – Drain the water off the red onions that have been soaking and toss them into the bowl with the dressing along with relish and/or chopped celery if desired.
Step 7 – Finally, pour the dressing over the cooled potatoes and fold everything together until it’s well-mixed. (The potatoes don’t need to be very cold, just not hot or it will make the mayo separate).
Step 8 – Chill in the fridge until you are ready to serve.
👩🏻🍳 Pro Tips
- Always soak the onion before adding it to the salad so it adds flavor without overpowering it.
- Salt the cooking water to flavor your potatoes.
- Be careful to fully cook your potatoes, but do not overcook them or they will fall apart. (Fork test them frequently while they are cooking).
- Drizzle vinegar on your potatoes when they are hot and before you add the dressing.
- Make sure your potatoes are cool before adding the dressing.
- Let your potato salad sit in the fridge for at least an hour or more to soak up the flavors of the dressing!
🥔 Preparing potatoes
I’ve known many people who have sworn by boiling the potatoes with the skin on. I have tried this many times hoping that it was the answer to my dislike of peeling potatoes. However, this method never seems to work well for me. A bunch of the potato is lost along with the skin and the skin stops the salted water from soaking into the potato and flavoring it.
I personally like to peel and dice the potatoes first, then add them to the salted water. This way I know that I won’t get skin in my salad and the potatoes are flavored all the way through.
Pro Tip: Put the potatoes in a pot of cold water and then turn on the heat. This will cook the potatoes more evenly, and prevent splashing boiling water on yourself when you add the potatoes.
🥚 Creating an egg-like flavor
You can use tofu as an egg replacer in the potato salad. If you miss potato salads that have hard-boiled eggs in them, make a batch of my vegan scrambled eggs (using the black salt for an even egg-like flavor) and add about 3/4 cup of the egg to the salad.
🌟 Oil-free potato salad
If you want an oil-free potato salad, you can substitute the traditional vegan mayo with thishomemade oil-free vegan mayorecipe. It is made of cashews, so it still contains fat, but not processed oil. You may also want to replace the mayo with my homemade vegansour cream recipe with tofufor a lower-fat option.
🌟 More vegan recipes
- Vegan Tuna Salad
- Tofu Egg Salad
- Vegan Chickpea Salad
- Vegan Bean Salad – Southwest Style
- Vegan Chicken Salad
- Vegan Bean Salads
📌 Be sure tofollow me on Pinterestfor new vegan recipes!
📋 Vegan potato salad recipe
Diet
5 from 6 rating
Vegan Potato Salad
Yield: 8
Prep: 10 minutes mins
Cook: 10 minutes mins
Total: 20 minutes mins
Author: Monica Davis
A classic creamy vegan potato salad that has no eggs or dairy and is gluten-free too!
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Ingredients
- 1 small red onion
- 2 1/2 pounds potatoes, peeled and diced
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
For the dressing:
- 1 cup vegan mayo
- 2 tablespoons yellow mustard
- 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
- 1/2 teaspoon celery seed
- 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup dill pickle relish , (optional)
- 1/2 cup chopped celery , (optional – for a little crunch)
- 1/4 cup green onions, for garnish (optional)
Instructions
Start by peeling and dicing one small red onion, then soak it in cold water. (This will mellow the flavor of the onion, so it doesn’t overpower the salad). Leave this onion soaking in water and set aside for later.
Next, peel and dice 2 ½ pounds of potatoes (A little over 1 kg.) into 1/2 inch sized cubes.
Add the peeled and diced potatoes to a pot of cold salted water and turn the heat to high until the potatoes boil and become tender enough to break when pierced with a fork.
Once cooked, drain the potatoes, but do not rinse. Then, place them in a large bowl and sprinkle them with a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar and allow them to cool.
While the potatoes are cooling, mix together 1 cup vegan mayo, 2 tbsp mustard, 1 tsp apple cider vinegar, 1/2 tsp celery seed, 1/4 tsp garlic powder, and 1/4 tsp salt.(Mix the dressing in a separate bowl so you don’t have to stir the potatoes too much causing them to fall apart. You don’t want mashed potato salad)!
Drain the water off the red onions and toss them into the bowl with the dressing along with 1/2 cup relish and/or 1/2 cup chopped celery if desired.
Finally, pour the dressing over the top and fold it into the potatoes until everything is well mixed. (Don't over stir or it will become more like mashed potatoes).
Chill in the fridge until you are ready to serve, top with 1/4 cup green onions if desired.
Notes
- If you like a dill pickle flavor in your potato salad, add pickle relish or chopped pickles to your potato salad.
- If you want a little crunch in your potato salad, add some finely chopped celery.
Tips for making great vegan potato salad every time:
- Always soak the onion before adding it to the salad so it adds flavor without overpowering it.
- Salt the cooking water to flavor your potatoes.
- Be careful to fully cook your potatoes, but not overcook them or they will fall apart. (Fork test them frequently while they are cooking).
- Drizzle vinegar on your potatoes when they are hot and before you add the dressing.
- Make sure your potatoes are cool before adding the dressing.
- Let your potato salad sit in the fridge for at least an hour or more so that the potatoes soak up the flavor of the dressing.
Serving: 0.75cup, Calories: 280kcal, Carbohydrates: 23g, Protein: 4g, Fat: 18g, Saturated Fat: 2g, Sodium: 456mg, Potassium: 602mg, Fiber: 3g, Vitamin A: 25IU, Vitamin C: 16.3mg, Calcium: 47mg, Iron: 4.9mg
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*This recipe was originally published on May 7, 2019. It has been updated on April 16, 2020, to include new images and more detailed information.
