Grilling season is right around the corner – well for us it started last month but not everybody jumps to the grill the second it warms up a little bit. What would a picnic be if you didn’t have a great potato salad recipe? It is a classic that is at almost every cookout.

This one took a few tries to perfect and we made minor adjustments from the normal ingredients you would expect, but I am sure it will be a hit! This is the favorite here along with my Aunt’s recipe – she has an amazing potato salad recipe also but I don’t know it so I am not able to share it.

What Makes This so Different

Most often when you make or you see potato salad it has celery and carrots in it. Besides the potatoes, usually the celery and carrots are the only vegetables. I am a big fan of peppers and well the store literally had no celery the last time I made this potato salad so I mixed it up. Turns out we liked it better with the added veggies!

We put stop light peppers in. It gives your salad more color and also a nice flavor while adding more healthy ingredients. If your kids do not like green peppers you can use the yellow, red and/or orange peppers. They are sweeter and most kids like them better then the green.

When it comes down to it if you are more comfortable with just the celery and carrots, you are welcome to make it that way too. It is the dressing that helps make it or break it!

Making the Potato Salad Recipe

You can pick which potatoes you want to use here. I have used red, gold and white potatoes. Russet potatoes are good as well, but I usually prefer them for baking and grilling. I honestly pick them by what is on sale and what bags look the best. Sometimes your favorite just doesn’t look great at the store.

Now you want to boil the potatoes whole with the skins on. Seriously, this is the secret to a great potato salad that isn’t falling apart when you mix it. If you have different size potatoes then cook the bigger potatoes for a little longer before adding the small potatoes. Cook until you can stick the fork into the potato fairly easily. I wish I could offer you cook times but it really depends on the size of your potatoes and different potatoes seem to cook at different temps too. Boil your eggs now too and put them in the fridge after cooling down.

Drain the potatoes and allow them to cool down. Probably about 20 minutes or so. You need them to be touchable without burning yourself. I like to run a little cold water over them because it helps to stop the cooking faster – they will still cook slightly as long as they are hot.

Peel them and cut them into cubes. Make sure they have cooled to room temperature, cut up your scallions and add them to the potatoes. Put them in a container and place them in the fridge until closer to dinner.

You can put this salad together once the potatoes are cold, but I usually wait until shortly before turning the grill on or leaving for a picnic. When you are ready to make the rest of salad, add in the peppers, the shredded carrot and the eggs.

The Dressing

What makes a potato salad recipe great? The dressing! You can mix the vegetables up a little bit but without a great dressing, it will be blah.

In a bowl mix together the mayo, apple cider vinegar and sugar. Next add in the spicy mustard (you can use yellow mustard as well), garlic powder, salt and pepper. Stir to combine and add to the potatoes and vegetables.

Sprinkle with paprika and parsley. Enjoy!