Healthy Potato Salad is creamy, flavorful and made low fat with simple ingredients. Healthier Greek yogurt potato salad recipe still has a touch of mayo to retain authentic taste and is a must at any summer gathering.
Other potluck-worthy favorites around here are this low carb cauliflower potato salad, Instant Pot potato salad and healthy pasta salad.
Table of contents
Why This Healthy Potato Salad Recipe Works?
Healthy potato salad works! Growing up in Ukraine, our version of potato salad was called Olivier salad. It is a cross between Greek yogurt egg salad and Instant Pot baked potatoes with addition of diced kielbasa, canned peas and a lot of mayo.
Healthy potato salad recipe with diced pickles, red onion, fresh dill (of course!) and a creamy dressing consisting of yogurt, a bit of mayo, mustard and vinegar.
So good cold, especially if you pair it with this Instant Pot ribs recipe or slow cooker pork shoulder and Instant Pot corn on the cob, this dinner is heavenly!
Ingredients for Greek Yogurt Potato Salad
These are default healthy potato salad recipe ingredients but they can vary on your taste and ingredients you have on hand. See below for variations and substitutions.
- Potatoes: Best potatoes for healthy potato salad recipe are Yukon gold potatoes, red potatoes or baby potatoes. Leave russet potatoes for healthier mashed potatoes.
- Eggs: I use 3 eggs but occasionally I add 5 eggs because I love hard boiled eggs!
- Pickles: Dill pickles vs. sweet pickles are my fave. You can also use chopped sauerkraut or seeded fresh cucumber.
- Yogurt: Plain or Greek yogurt with fat content of at least 2% is the best. 0% or non-fat yogurt tastes chalky.
- Mayo: I am using mayo made with avocado oil. There are many healthier mayonnaise available on the market today like made with olive oil, Vegenaise, any organic and natural brand.
- Red onion: Red onion is more mild and sweeter than yellow onion.
- Vinegar, mustard, salt and pepper: For tang and taste!
How to Make Healthy Potato Salad
Potato salad can be healthy! Follow these steps to make the best potato salad that is also lower in fat and calories.
- Cook potatoes and hard boil eggs together on the stove: Combine potatoes and eggs in a medium pot with enough cold water to cover them, cover and bring to a boil. Once boiling, reduce heat and cook for 7 minutes. Remove eggs and place in a bowl with cold water so they stop cooking. Keep cooking potatoes until fork tender.
- Drain potatoes: 20 minutes until they are cool.
Adding potatoes that are too warm could result in watery potato salad! Be sure to cool potatoes completely.
- Chop, prep and add to a large salad bowl: pickles, red onion, dill, mustard, vinegar, yogurt, mayo, salt and pepper.
- Chop hard boiled eggs and dice/chop potatoes: add to the bowl with other ingredients.
- Stir: all ingredients gently together.
- Chill: place in refrigerator and chill for 3 hours or overnight.
Substitutions and Variations
- If you do not have anything pickled, add fresh cucumber or radishes. Just like pickled veggies add a crunch and flavor, so do fresh ingredients – just a different one. Make sure to seed the cuke with a teaspoon to prevent watery salad.
- Capers with lemon juice also could make a nice substitution for pickles or sauerkraut.
- Celery is truly a personal taste – I add it if in the mood but mostly I save it for this healthy tuna salad recipe.
- Green onion or white onion will work great in place of red.
- Mustard – Potato salad is like a hot dog – classic American food made with yellow mustard. If you are absolutely out, Dijon mustard works and makes it a fancy salad.
- Vinegar – I would highly recommend to stick to traditional white vinegar. Next best contender is white wine vinegar. Apple cider – if you have to. 🙂 And if pickle juice is all you have, go for it.
- Add crumbled bacon for an earthy bite. This is when I would be also adding sour cream, chives and cheddar cheese (a loaded potato salad – which may result in using the term ‘healthy’ loosely, but remember life is about balance!).
Tips on Best Potatoes for Salad
- Cook potatoes whole and unpeeled – This makes potatoes less watery.
- Do not salt cooking water – As soon as salt touches food, it starts leaking moisture.
Add potatoes to cold water to cook – That’s just the rule from grandma. 🙂
- On the stove, cook potatoes and eggs together – All you have to do is remove eggs after 5 minutes and cool off in cold water. Keep cooking potatoes for another 10-20 minutes depending on their size.
- Add vinegar while potatoes are cooling and toss them around. Acid penetrates into the flesh of potatoes adding that punch of flavour we all crave with a potato salad. I do so if I remember. 🙂
- Peel potatoes after cooking or leave skin on – It is a personal preference. I leave skin on for less mushy salad with more nutrients contained in the skin.
- Let potatoes cool almost completely before mixing with mayo and yogurt to get rid of moisture completely. My grandma always cooled her cooked potatoes outside.
Toss the potatoes with vinegar while they are cooling to really ramp up the flavor and give it the classic potato salad taste!
FAQs
According to Healthline, potatoes contain a lot of potassium (especially skin and right underneath), vitamins C and B, and fiber. Potatoes help reduce inflammation, treat kidney stones and diarrhea, and prevent heart disease. Everything else is a sprinkle of love and flavour and this potato salad made as is, is healthier with lower fat and calories, so, yes potato salad can be healthy. 🙂
This recipe adds a touch of mayo for authentic taste, just like my healthy tuna salad. If you really must ditch the mayo, you can use all yogurt or some readers have added a touch of avocado oil to the greek yogurt for great results. (I have not tried either, though!)
Well, this recipe is dangerously good! But, I think the real question is ‘how long can potato salad be left out unrefrigerated’? Because of the mayo and yogurt, 1 – 2 hours is probably max for leaving this classic picnic salad at room temp (and if its a hot day, 1 hour to be safe!).
Serving Recommendations
Serve healthy potato salad cold as a healthy side dish! The following recipes go well for a complete summer BBQ:
- Sides: Instant Pot baked beans or Mexican bean salad.
- Protein: Grilled chicken breast or the best turkey burger recipe.
- Other cold salads: Healthy coleslaw.
- Dessert: Healthy zucchini brownies or classic chocolate chip cookies.
Making Potato and Egg Salad in Advance
Let it rest! It is super important to refrigerate this Greek yogurt potato salad for 3 hours or overnight to allow flavor to build on. All ingredients penetrate each other and as Buddy Valastro says “marry each other”.
This is what makes healthy potato egg salad a superb make ahead and leftover salad. Either way it is good for 3-4 days before or after making it. Like borscht soup, it tastes even better next day.
More Healthy Potluck Salad Recipes
- Healthy shrimp salad
- Healthy chicken salad
- Italian pasta salad
- Healthy broccoli salad
- Mexican street corn salad
50 healthy salad recipes to try this year because they are better than any restaurant.
Healthy Potato Salad
Ingredients
- 2 lbs baby potatoes Yukon gold or red potatoes
- 3 eggs large
- 3/4 cup pickles sauerkraut or fresh cucumber, diced
- 5 tbsp red onion finely chopped
- 4 tbsp dill finely chopped
- 1 tbsp yellow mustard
- 1 tbsp any light colour vinegar
- 1/2 cup plain yogurt 2%+ fat
- 1/4 cup mayo
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
Instructions
- To cook potatoes and eggs on the stove: In a medium pot, add potatoes, eggs and enough cold water to cover. Place lid on top and bring to a boil on high heat. Reduce heat to low and cook for 7 minutes. Remove eggs with a slotted spoon into a bowl with cold water. Keep cooking potatoes more depending on size: baby – extra 10 mins, medium – 20 mins, large – 25 mins. Or until fork tender.
- To cook potatoes in Instant Pot: To 6 or 8 quart Instant Pot, add 1 cup cold water, basket or trivet and place potatoes on top. Cook on High Pressure with Quick Release: baby potatoes – 10 mins, medium 12 mins, large – 15 mins. Then you will have to make Instant Pot eggs separately or boil them on the stove for 7 minutes.
- Drain potatoes and let cool for 20 minutes uncovered.
- In the meanwhile, prep and add to a large salad bowl: pickles, red onion, dill, mustard, vinegar, yogurt, mayo, salt and pepper.
- Chop the eggs and add to the bowl.
- Cut potatoes into desired size pieces – some like chunky potato salad (cut into 2 inch cubes) and some more mushy (diced potatoes). Add to the bowl and gently stir salad with large spoon.
- Chill for at least 3 hours or overnight before serving.
- Serve cold with corn on the cob, grilled chicken or healthy turkey burgers.
Notes
- Store: Refrigerate in an airtight container for up to 3 days. Do not freeze.
- To avoid watery potatoes, do not salt cooking water, peel or dice potatoes before cooking.
- I used avocado oil mayo. 0% yogurt will lack flavor, so use at least 2%.
- If using fresh cucumber, remove seeds with a teaspoon.
- If using sauerkraut, chop it coarsely.
- Dijon mustard will work and any mustard I use is wet – from a bottle.
- You can also add diced celery or crumbled bacon.
Due to my husband’s recent heart attack, I changed our diet and this potato salad recipe fit right in… best of all it’s delicious. I’ll be making more of your healthy recipes! Thank you!
I am so happy to hear you both enjoyed this recipe!
Delicious and easy to prepare! Thanks
So glad you enjoyed it!
Hi. This looks good! I wonder whether the dressing you devised would work for what I knew as ‘Ensalada rusa’ a.k.a. Russian salad. This is sometimes known as Oliver salad, which was supposedly created by a French chef in Russia more than a century ago. It consists of gently cooked cubed potatoes and carrots, to which blanched peas are added. It sometimes has olives and pimentos. To this is added mayonnaise, in its most simple form. What do you think? You can see a recipe here: https://www.curiouscuisiniere.com/ensalada-rusa-oliver-salad/ Thanks.
Hi Martin! I LOVE Oliver salad so much! I am planning on posting my recipe next month but I will tell you how I make it. Yes, cubed and boiled potatoes, carrots, eggs. Diced pickles and any cooked sausage like kielbasa or ham. Blanched peas or even thawed frozen peas or canned like traditional recipe. All eye balled. Then I add a bit of mayo and a lot of yogurt, salt and pepper to taste. THE BEST!!! Enjoy!
Olena,
I loved the Notes. Very helpful!
Sally
Thank you!
Oh wow this is so nice i am going to make this salads for my family they gonna love it .
thank you very much i really like cooking especially now that i have you , thank you very much .
So glad to hear! Can’t wait to hear how they like it 🙂
I followed this recipe to the T, except, I used 1/2 cucumbers and 1/2 chopped pickle. Delicious! We loved it. Thank you!
Fantastic! Glad you enjoyed the recipe!