Old Fashioned German Potato Salad has perfectly crispy bacon, red onion, and is dressed with a dijon vinegar dressing. Bonus: it can be served either hot or cold! You’re going to love it!
Potato salad is an essential component to any family bbq. As kids, we never really understood what was supposed to be so alluring about potato salad. Cold potatoes coated in mayo? No thank you. We should have known better when the adults never made us add it to our plate, yet always went back for seconds themselves. By the time we finally got around to trying it for the first time, we had already wasted far too many potato salad eating years! Oh well, we are certainly making up for lost time now! However, our true love of potato salad didn’t start with that mayonnaise-loaded stuff we grew up with, but with German potato salad. German potato salad typically refers to Southern German style, and we are all about it. Forgo the mayo and enjoy this dijon vinegar dressing-based potato salad!
German Potato Salad vs: American Potato Salad:
In a Southern German Potato Salad, the dressing is made from bacon drippings and vinegar. In an American Potato Salad, the dressing is largely mayonnaise based. They are both equally delicious!
What is German Potato Salad called in German?
Kartoffelsalat is the name of German Potato Salad in the German language.
Potato Options:
You can use a wide variety of potatoes for this recipe as long as it has a thin skin that is pleasant to eat. Popular options besides the listed red potatoes include Yukon Gold, Yellow, Fingerling and New/Baby) potatoes.
Serving Options:
German Potato Salad can be served either warm or cold. It’s a matter of personal preference, and it is delicious either way.
Storage Instructions:
When chilling, you can simply cover the bowl in plastic wrap and place it in the fridge. For longer term storage, this salad should be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. Since it can be enjoyed cold, no reheating is required.
If you like this recipe, you may be interested in these other delicious German inspired recipes:
Watch the video below where Rachel will walk you through every step of this recipe. Sometimes it helps to have a visual, and we’ve always got you covered with our cooking show. You can find the complete collection of recipes on YouTube, Facebook Watch, or our Facebook Page, or right here on our website with their corresponding recipes.
Wow!! This was excellent. I added a little less oil and a little more salt. Delicious!
I love this! Husband hate mayo so I tried it. Have had it several times and it’s a hit at every get together.
This is delicious. I halved the recipe because it’s just the two of us. At first I thought there would be way too much grease, but it ended up absorbing into the potatoes. I ate it hot last night and room temp for lunch today. Both ways are good, but I prefer it warm. I’ve made other German potato salad recipes, and they ended up bland. This one was great! Thank you!
Very easy and very tasty. Jus like I remember as a young lad in Germany!
Turned out just as I remembered it, delicious!
Made recipe exact. Was excellent and still good as leftovers and reheated. I will use a bit less sugar next time to lessen the sweetness but was great regardless. Thank you.
Tried this recipe tonight and loved it!! Had it with Bratwurst and Knockwurst Currywutst! Husband and son enjoyed it.
I found out at the last minute I was almost out of olive oil so I had bastic salad dressing that had olive oil in it and seasoning use that it was just as good.
This is very reminiscent of my fathers potato salad. He was born in Chicago from polish immigrant parents. He emigrated to Australia after WW2. He used boiled potato, hard boiled egg and crispy bacon, the dressing was white vinegar mixed with powdered mustard (I use Keens) all done to taste. My dad has been passed 27 yrs now but he lives on through this recipe.
Loved, loved, loved this!! I used cheap bacon so had a lot of grease, so didn’t use all of it and still had the bacon flavor and wasn’t dry. I added green onions on top for extra color. The family and potluck crowd went back for seconds and thirds!!