Dill Pickle Potato Salad

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This Dill Pickle Potato Salad is everything you want from a vinaigrette-based potato salad. Tender potatoes combined with chopped crunchy dill pickles, a light vinaigrette made with pickle juice, and finished with extra fresh dill. It’s refreshing for a warm day, a perfect side dish for summer grilling, and ideal for dill pickle lovers.

Cropped in image of pickle potato salad.

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Ingredients
Step by step instructions
Tips and tricks
Storage
FAQs
📖 Recipe

Ingredients

Potatoes: the best potatoes for potato salad is any waxy variety with thin skin. I particularly like baby potatoes (e.g., little red skinned potatoes or baby gold potatoes) since they are easy to just slice in half or quarters, or yellow potatoes. In this particular recipe, I think the added color from the red skin is nice.
Dill pickles: any brand of store-bought dill pickles – if you want to go above and beyond and make your own, I salute you!
Red onions: adding raw onions plays well with the pickles for an extra little bite. Red onions are ideal, but white onion or yellow onion would also be fine.
Pickle juice: to really bring home the pickle flavor, use some dill pickle juice to help flavor and bring acidity to the vinaigrette.
Red wine vinegar: adds more acidity and balances nicely with the flavor of the pickle juice. You could also use apple cider vinegar.
Dijon mustard: whole grain dijon mustard, helps emulsify the vinaigrette and adds a pretty visual element with the grain. Any grainy mustard really works.
Olive oil: extra virgin olive oil for the vinaigrette.
Salt & black pepper: to season and bring out the flavors.
Fresh dill: amps up the dill flavor that ties to the pickles, and adds a delicious fresh herbaceous element. If you can't find fresh dill for some reason, green onions or chives are a good substitution.

Step by step instructions

Find the full instructions for this dill pickle potato salad recipe in the recipe card at the end of this post.

1. boil the potatoes

2. make the vinaigrette

3. combine and mix together the ingredients in a large bowl

Tips and tricks

Salt the water you cook the potatoes in! They start absorbing flavor while they’re boiling, so you want to season as soon as you can.
I like to put the potatoes back in the pot after draining them, put a lid on, and shake them around; it breaks them up a little for added texture.
This potato salad is best served at room temperature.
If you add the vinaigrette to hot potatoes and toss every few minutes, the potatoes will soak up some of the vinaigrette, enhancing their flavor.
To tell if the potatoes are cooked through, pierce one with a fork – if the fork easily glides in, they are cooked through (aka fork tender).
You can really use any kind of pickle you love, but definitely still add the fresh dill to give it the dill pickle essence. My favorite pickle are horseradish pickles, they’re sweet with a little kick.
Cut the potatoes into same-sized small chunks (about 1 inch) so they cook evenly.
Salt to taste!

Storage

To store, transfer the potato salad to an airtight container and keep in the fridge for up to 5 days.
It’s best served at room temperature, so take it out of the fridge 30 mins - 1 hour prior to serving.

FAQs

Is potato salad healthy?

Potato salad isn’t necessarily “healthy” given the starchy potatoes, but it’s not unhealthy either. This version of a potato salad is better for you than a mayo-based potato salad because it's lighter with a vinaigrette.

Is it better to cut the potatoes before or after boiling them?

It’s better to cut them before, it helps ensure the inside cooks through before the outside gets mushy.

Do I need to peel the potatoes?

Nope! You do not need to peel potatoes for potato salad. You can, but it’s not necessary.

Do I need to rinse the potatoes in cold water after they are cooked?

No you do not. For potato salad, the potatoes do not need to be rinsed after cooking at all.

📖 Recipe