German Potato Salad Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What is the difference between American and German potato salad? ›

There are two main differences between American and German Potato salads. American potato salad is usually tossed in a mayonnaise-based dressing and served cold. German potato salad is tossed in a vinegar-based dressing and is traditionally served warm (but you can totally serve it cold too! It's still delicious!).

German Potato Salad Ingredients

Bacon: Bacon (and its grease) adds tons of meaty flavor to the hearty German potato salad. Onion: An onion, cooked in bacon grease, lends even more complexity and flavor. Vinegar: White vinegar adds tanginess that cuts through the richness from the potatoes and bacon.

Read's brand canned German potato salad.

To keep your salad from falling apart into mush, it's important to use the best potatoes for potato salad. Skip the russet potatoes and use a waxy variety instead, like Yukon gold, red potatoes or fingerlings.

1. Bratkartoffeln (Fried Potatoes): Bratkartoffeln are a common side dish in Germany. Sliced or diced potatoes are usually pan-fried with onions, bacon, and various seasonings until they are crispy and golden brown.

As far as vegetables go, green beans, broccoli, peas and cabbage are staples at the German dinner table. Vegetables are often boiled, stir fried or come from the oven, to keep them slightly chewy.

Waldorf salad is named for the Waldorf-Astoria hotel in New York City, where it was first created for a charity ball given in honor of the St. Mary's Hospital for Children on March 13, 1896.

The white vegetable in the photo above is actually asparagus. The green variety is more popular in other countries, but Germans love their white asparagus and anxiously await its arrival in spring, keeping a lookout in late April for the first stalks of their "white gold" to appear in stores and roadside stands.

American style “German Potato Salad” originated from German immigrants based upon the German Kartoffelsalat. But the true origin of this recipe may be southern Poland.

What country is potato salad from? ›

Potato salad is widely believed to have originated in Germany, spreading largely throughout Europe, North America, and later Asia. American potato salad most likely originated from recipes brought to the U.S. by way of German and other European immigrants during the nineteenth century.

Only two brands of canned potatoes were worthy of our ranking: Signature Select (a proprietary brand sold at Albertsons-owned grocery stores) and Amazon Fresh. These Signature Select canned whole potatoes don't have the most potato flavor, but they earned a spot on the ranking for their smooth, creamy texture.

Drop a whole russet into the pot and by the time the outside has cooked through, the inside will still be raw. Larger potatoes should be cubed to ensure they cook evenly (peeled first if desired). Smaller potatoes tend to have thin skins and can be boiled whole, no peeling required.

If you're going for the starchy potato, I would peel it first, then cut it into bite-sized pieces and boil it. Other potatoes have thinner skin and I think seeing the skin of potato adds some interest to the salad. You might disagree or want a more uniform look in which case, grab your peeler.

There's no reason at all, so my advice is to leave the skins on. The skin on a potato adds a nice texture and flavor to the potato salad and it's also the healthiest part. We have several potato salad recipes with the skins intact.

Description/Taste

The flesh is a vibrant yellow to gold and is firm, waxy, and dense. When cooked, German Butterball potatoes have a creamy and tender flesh that takes on a smooth consistency and offers a rich, buttery flavor.

It's worth remembering that Amish potato salad does share many similarities with other styles. Southern-style potato salad usually includes the sweet pickle mentioned above but less sugar and no vinegar. German potato salad also uses vinegar but in a sauce as an alternative to the mayo-slash-mustard base.

In German supermarkets, bags of mehlig kochende potatoes often have a blue label. The best-known varieties in Germany include: Adretta, Aula, Freya, Gunda (pictured top), Karat, Libana, Lipsi, Melina and Naturella.

Germany's many varieties of potatoes are divided into three categories: festkochend (waxy), vorwiegend festkochend (medium waxy) and mehlig (mealy). German stores label potatoes based on these three categories with a colored coded strip: green for festkochend, red for vorwiegend festkochend and blue for mehlig.