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Potatoes are a staple at my family gatherings in one form or another. Cheesy potatoes at Thanksgiving and Christmas, baked potatoes loaded with chili for Halloween, and the ever present potato salad at all summer events. I’ve never been a fan of any kind of mayo… so I took up the challenge to make a vegan dill potato salad recipe only using fresh dill, creamy mustards and olive oil to bring color and flavor to your next BBQ.
What Makes this Potato Salad Vegan?
Traditional potato salad has eggs either in the mayonnaise or hard boiled in the salad itself. My potato salad swaps the mayo for a delicious olive oil + mustard blend dressing, and loads up on fresh veggies.
Switching from a mayonnaise base to an olive oil one also lightens up the salad a bit. I find mayonnaise-based dishes are fairly heavy, while this lovely recipe remains light and bright… plus, it’s just SO colorful without that white sauce covering everything up!
Tips for Vegan Potato Salad
What are your must-have ingredients for potato salad? Mine include dill pickles, fresh dill, and black olives… because those were always in the salads of my childhood. Yet the original salads from my childhood weren’t vegan, so I love the new take this vegan potato salad recipe has on the classic dish.
I don’t peel the red potatoes for my salad, as boiling them with the skin on helps retain more nutrients. Dijon mustard elevates the flavor in this recipe, so that is my go-to in the dressing.
Potato Salad Ingredient Swaps
- I love recipes where I can easily sub in what I have on hand, and this potato salad is just such a recipe. If radishes aren’t your thing, then swap them with diced cucumbers or corn to keep in a bit of fresh crunch.
- If you really want the feel of a traditional potato salad, then swap in a vegan mayonnaise. These tend to be more processed, yet can give you the feel of enjoying your family’s fav old recipe and that extra creaminess.
- The pop of color in the red potatoes is super fun, yet feel free to use any potato you want (Yukon golds work great too!). If you really want a fresh change up, try using a white sweet potato… and then let me know how it turns out!
- While I love using Claussen pickles for this recipe, I bet a lot of you have great local options you might prefer. I’m a true pickle lover, so tell me your fav kind and I’ll give it a try. For a less vinegary taste, try sweet pickles.
More Scrumptious Vegan Side Dishes
I’ve got so many great vegan salads and side dishes you can share at your next backyard BBQ. Just pick the flavors that you want and get choppin’:
If you make this vegan dill potato salad, please let me know in the comments how it turned out!
Vegan Dill Potato Salad
Ingredients
- 2 cups golden potatoes chopped into 1/2″ cubes
- 2 tbsp red onions diced
- 1 stalk celery diced
- 1 garlic clove minced
- 2 tbsp black olives sliced
- 1 radish halved and thinly sliced
- 2 tbsp dill pickles diced
Dressing
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 2 tsp pickle juice
- 1 tbsp fresh dill stems removed + finely chopped
- 2 tsp Dijon mustard
- â…› tsp ground turmeric
- â…› black pepper
- â…› smoked paprika
Instructions
- Place the potatoes in a large pot with cold water. Bring to boil then reduce the heat and simmer, uncovered, for about 10 minutes or until fork-tender. Drain the potatoes, set aside to cool to room temperature.
- In a large bowl, mix all dressing ingredients together.
- Add the potatoes and remaining vegetables and herbs into the dressing and stir well.
- Garnish with radishes and paprika.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Vegan Dill Potato Salad Common Questions
Traditional potato salad has eggs in it, either in the mayonnaise or hard boiled. My potato salad swaps the mayo for a delicious olive oil based dressing, and loads up on fresh veggies.
I’ve had it both ways! The potatoes are cooked, yet I like mine to chill a bit in the fridge before serving. Honestly, letting the salad refrigerate overnight before serving will bring out the best flavor.
I love using red potatoes. They are super easy to slice up, and taste delicious. You can also use Yukon Gold potatoes for a buttery taste.
What a rush. We’ll make this again and again. The combo was surprisingly delicious and the dressing had great character! Thanks for such a fun dinner.
This was delicious, crunchy, and such a fresh way to have potato salad! My lunch buddy (who is eating the other portion of my salad each day 😉 loved it, too. I am so enjoying this challenge and embracing new ingredients!
Aww! So nice of you to share! Glad you’re both enjoying the recipes!
This was really good! My family really liked it also. The only thing I did different, was the olives went on after serving in my portion because no one else likes them. Tasted even better the next day for lunch.
very tasty
I liked the potato salad. I only added salt for my liking. I do prefer mustard to mayonnaise in my potato salads too. Thank you!
super filling and delicious with great crunch, snappy/zippy flavors. I would double or at least do 1.5x for olive oil dressing.
Great change from the only greens type salads. Loved it!
Nice potato salad. I added in extra pickles and olives because I’m not a fan of celery or radishes. Very filling
This salad was good, the servings amount for the dressing wasn’t enough so I adjusted it the pickle juice & oil . Next time I will try it with sweet pickles
The potato salad was simple, tasty and one I’ll use again. I did however, add 1 teaspoon of dijon mustard to the recipe.
I have never been a fan of potato salad because I’m not a fan of mayo. THIS is delicious. This screams picnic. Fresh, bright, light and the texture allows you to taste how well the flavors blend. A winner that I will be making again.
Glad you found a potato salad that you can enjoy!
Very good. Either my radish was too big or too strong. It gave a really spicy kick. My recipe did not include the Dijon mustard. I think this would have really added to the taste.
I would enjoy more pickle in it, maybe some pickle relish.
Were we supposed to cube the potatoes before or after cooking? I cooked first and the “cubes” were rather freeform.
This will be a fun recipe to play with…so many options to try. I am curious about the taste if a sweet potato is used.
I usually cube my potatoes before cooking them because it makes it easier to cut. As for the sweet potatoes, I think it could def work!
I loved this odd combo of flavors. The crunchy celery and radish against that pickle based dressing on the potatoes was awesome. Also the tumeric just hits it home. I will make this again. I don’t eat a lot of white potatoes, mostly sweet potatoes but this is a good dish.
This is a good, much-healthier option for a potato salad.
Omg! This was so amazing. It’s incredibly flavorful. So far the best salad of the challenge due to the great flavor profile. I added extra pickles cuz I love pickles and reduced the red onions by half because I abhor raw onions. I think mayo is disgusting and always look for alternatives. This fit the bill!
This was good, but had to leave out the radishes and mustard asI don’t like either
Really good! SO and I both liked it. Glad I had the foresight to double the dressing.
This potato salad was an absolute hit my husband! We will be making this again for beach day picnics and lunch must haves.