Healthy Potato Salad

This Healthy Potato Salad recipe is creamy, flavorful and low fat! Yet it has classic potato salad taste we all crave and is a summer must-cook.

Our other potluck favorites include this low carb cauliflower potato salad, Instant Pot potato salad and Olivier salad.

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 Instant Pot ribs, turkey burgers or slow cooker pulled pork and Instant Pot corn on the cob on a side, this meal is heavenly!

Why You Will Love This Recipe

• Healthy: Compared to a serving of traditional potato salad that runs at 530 calories, this healthy potato salad recipe is only 232 calories.
• Simple ingredients: Ingredients you can find at any grocery store, like you would buy for a regular potato salad.
• Classic taste: Tangy, creamy, crunchy and with hard boiled eggs! This side dish is a crowd pleaser despite being a healthier potato salad.
• Make ahead: This salad tastes even better next day.

Ingredients for Healthy Potato Salad

These are default healthy potato salad recipe ingredients but they can vary on your taste and ingredients on hand. See below for variations and substitutions.

• Potatoes: Best potatoes for a potato salad are Yukon gold potatoes, red potatoes or baby potatoes. Leave russet potatoes for healthier mashed potatoes.
• Eggs: I use 3 large eggs but occasionally I add 5 eggs because I love hard boiled eggs in a salad!
• Pickles: Dill pickles vs. sweet pickles are my favorite. You can also use chopped sauerkraut or seeded fresh cucumber.
• Yogurt: Plain yogurt or Greek yogurt with fat content of at least 2% is the best. 0% or non-fat yogurt tastes chalky but can be used.
• Mayo: I am using mayonnaise made with avocado oil. There are many healthier mayonnaise options available on the market today like mayo made with olive oil, Vegenaise, or any organic and natural brand.
• Fresh herbs: I use fresh dill but fresh parsley will be great too.
• 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

Here is a quick overview how to make the best healthy potato salad that is also lower in fat and calories. Full recipe card is located below.

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, place the lid on top and bring to a boil. Once boiling, reduce heat to low and cook for 7 minutes.

Cool eggs and potatoes: Remove eggs and place them in a bowl with cold water and ice, so they stop cooking.

Keep cooking potatoes until fork tender. Then drain and let them cool for 20 minutes or so. Adding potatoes that are too warm could result in watery potato salad!

Combine ingredients: In a large bowl, add cooled and chopped potatoes and hard boiled eggs. Then add pickles, red onion, dill, mustard, vinegar, yogurt, mayonnaise, salt and pepper.

Chill the salad: Stir healthy potato salad gently until well mixed together. Then place in refrigerator and chill for 3 hours or overnight.

What Are the Best Potatoes for a Potato Salad?

The best potatoes for a potato salad are waxy potatoes with thin skin like red potatoes, yellow potatoes, yukon gold potatoes or baby potatoes. You can also use new potatoes or fingerlings. They are less starchy and hold their shape better in a salad.

However, if you like more mushy potato salad feel free to use the russet potatoes. They are traditionally used for Instant Pot mashed potatoes because there are starchy potatoes and turn out very creamy.

If you really want to you can even use sweet potatoes to make a very healthy potato salad!

Substitutions and Variations

Here are a few ideas how to make this healthy potato salad your own based on your personal taste and ingredients you have on hand.

• If you do not have pickled ingredients: Add diced fresh cucumber or radishes. Just like pickled veggies add crunch and flavor, so do fresh vegetables, just a different one. Make sure to seed the cucumber with a teaspoon to prevent watery potato salad.
• Capers: Substitute pickles or sauerkraut with capers and a bit of fresh lemon juice.
• Add celery: I think celery is a personal taste. I add it to my healthy potato salad if I am in the mood for it but mostly I save it for this healthy tuna salad recipe.
• Green onion or white onion will work great in place of red onion.
• Mustard: Potato salad is like a hot dog, classic American food made with yellow mustard. If you are out, Dijon mustard works and makes it a fancy potato salad.
• Vinegar: I would highly recommend to stick to traditional white vinegar. Next best contender is white wine vinegar. Apple cider vinegar has distinct taste and can be used if you have to. And if pickle juice is all you have, go for it.
• Add crumbled baked 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 I think life is about balance!

Tips for Best Results

Here are my top tips for the best healthy potato salad recipe! It is mostly advice about the potatoes.

• Do not salt cooking water: Add potatoes to a pot with cold water to cook. And do not add salt. As soon as salt touches food, it starts leaking moisture. This tip helps to prevent dry potato salad.
• On the stove, cook potatoes and eggs together: All you have to do is remove eggs after 5 minutes and place in an ice bath. Keep cooking potatoes for another 10-20 minutes depending on their size. Saves a lot of time and another pot to wash.
• Add vinegar while potatoes are cooling and toss them around: Acid penetrates into the flesh of potatoes adding that punch of flavor we all crave even with a healthy potato salad. I do so, if I remember.
• 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.
• To hard boil eggs separately: If you have leftover potatoes to use or for some reason you want to coo keggs separately, here are tutorials how to hard boil eggs on the stove, prep hard boiled eggs in Instant Pot or make air fryer hard boiled eggs.

FAQs

Serving Recommendations

Serve healthy potato salad cold as a healthy side dish! The following recipes go well with it for a complete summer BBQ:

• Sides: Instant Pot baked beans or Mexican bean salad.
• Protein: Grilled chicken breast or ground chicken burgers.
• Other cold salads: Healthy coleslaw and healthy macaroni salad.

Can I Make Potato Salad Ahead?

First of all, I highly recommend to make this healthy potato salad in advance and let it rest for best taste! It is super important to refrigerate it for 3 hours or overnight to allow flavor to build on. That’s when all ingredients penetrate each other.

This is what makes this potato salad a superb make ahead and leftover salad. Either way, you can store it covered in the refrigerator for 3-4 days before or after making it. Like borscht soup, it tastes even better next day.

I do not recommend to freeze it as potatoes do not freeze and thaw well. Their texture is very unpleasant upon thawing.

More Healthy Salad Recipes to Try

• Healthy shrimp salad
• Healthy pasta salad
• Vinegret salad
• Healthy chicken salad
• Healthy egg salad
• Healthy broccoli salad

52 healthy salad recipes to try this year because they are better than any restaurant.