Loaded Baked Potato Salad solves the argument about whose potato salad is best. Potato salad topped with bacon, sour cream, and Cheddar cheese wins.
In my cooking and eating life, I have found that people are very particular about their potato salad. Some people like it to contain pickles. Some want hard boiled eggs. Some want only mayonnaise as the dressing while others require vinegar or mustard or both.
My mom’s potato salad, which is my favorite, only has potatoes and green onions in it. No pickles and no eggs. The dressing is very tangy with mayonnaise, mustard, and vinegar too. I find it addictive and I can’t stop eating it.
Having said that though, when I’ve made that potato salad for events, I’ve found that only some of the people like it as much as I do. Enter the Loaded Baked Potato Salad recipe.
Scroll down to read more about how it all comes together or click here to jump straight down to the recipe.
What Is Baked Potato Salad?
What I like to do for a real crowd-pleasing dish is to make a loaded baked potato salad. What does that mean? It means that it has all the ingredients that you’d find on a loaded baked potato like sour cream, bacon, and cheese. And who doesn’t love baked potatoes?
What Kind Of Potatoes?
For this potato salad recipe I like to use red potatoes. They are a waxy potato that stays together well in a potato salad. Oh, and we’re not actually baking them. I boil the potatoes like I would for a regular potato salad recipe. The title of the recipe refers to the flavors we’re adding.
Could you use russet potatoes and bake them in the oven? Yes, but they would fall apart more in the salad. Bake them as you usually would, then once they are fork tender, let them cool. At that point you can remove some of the skins if you’d like and chop them before mixing the potatoes with the rest of the ingredients.
Making Loaded Potato Salad
Once the potatoes are cooled down, add in all the fixings – green onions, bacon, sour cream, mayo, and Cheddar cheese. You can cover and refrigerate until serving time if you’re making it in advance. Just add a bit more mayonnaise and sour cream if the potatoes have soaked up a lot of the dressing.
It’s a creamy, tasty, satisfying delight of a potato salad that everyone at your picnic will scoop up without question.
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Loaded Baked Potato Salad Recipe
Loaded Baked Potato Salad solves the argument about whose potato salad is best. Potato salad topped with bacon, sour cream, and cheddar cheese wins.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Total Time: 25 minutes
- Yield: 8 servings 1x
- Category: Entrée
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
- 1 and 1/2 lbs. red potatoes, in 1/2 inch cubes
- Salt
- 3 green onions, chopped
- 6 slices cooked bacon, chopped
- 1/4 tsp. black pepper
- 1 cup sour cream, plus more before serving
- 1 cup mayonnaise, plus more before serving
- 1 and 1/2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese
Instructions
- Put the potatoes in a large pot. Add 1 tablespoon of salt and just enough water to cover them. Stir.
- Cook over high heat until it reaches a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook, stirring occasionally, until fork tender, 7-9 minutes.
- Drain and then rinse the potatoes. Put the potatoes back into the pot with lots of cold water, stir, drain, and then repeat a few times so that they cool down quickly.
- While the potatoes are cooking, in a large bowl combine the scallions, bacon, ½ teaspoon of salt, black pepper, sour cream, and mayonnaise.
- Add the potatoes to the sour cream mixture and stir gently to combine.
- Cover and chill. Once completely cooled, add the cheddar cheese and stir. Cover and refrigerate until time to serve.
- Before serving, stir and then taste. It is possible that the potatoes will have soaked up some of the dressing and that it is now less creamy and moist than it was before. If this has happened, add an additional 2 tablespoons each of sour cream and mayonnaise. Stir and taste. Repeat if needed.
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This post originally appeared in July 2020 and was revised and republished in January 2024.