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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.
This salad is so simple but really yummy. I happened to have a russet potato so I combined all of the salad goodies in a bowl then topped the baked potato with it…celery, mustard and all.
Great salad, really like this one and the different ingredients.
I loved this recipe. Very tasty and so much healthier without the mayo.
So delish! This better than most potato salads because it’s not too saucy! I like using a bit of the pickle juice in the dressing. I used cooked carrots for colour instead of radishes because I didn’t have any, but know from experience that the crunchy radishes make a great addition. I skipped olives because not my thing. I like how adaptable the salad is – we’re able to choose what we want to use. 🙂
I love this potato salad because it doesn’t have any mayo and it does have a couple of my favorite things: pickles and olives! This is a great lighter version of the traditional potato as salad.
We really like this salad. It has a very fresh taste and is a nice change from mayo based salads.
This potato salad was different, & good, but I am used to potato salad being mayo-based. Even if it is a vegan mayo. But it is good to try new things. I am an olive-lover, but I almost think capers would be good in this one.
I have never been a fan of potato salad, but I gave this one a try. The flavor was fun, but I am still not a fan of potato salad 🙂
So awesome that you stepped out of your comfort zone and tried this salad!
I was hesitant on a potato salad with no mayo in it, but man was I wrong! I did leave out olives for myself but the kid and spouse had them. This is one of the easiest potato salads I have ever made (and I do like and make a lot of potato salads) and also surprisingly tasty. For such a relatively light dressing, it packs just enough punch to pull everything together. I also had not considered putting radish in one before, so that was a nice add. I had watermelon radish in the fridge so those added a nice peppery flavor plus a hint of color. My 5yo did not like the overall taste, but adults in the house loved it, even the radish which was an initial concern. This will be great to make again in the summer!
I ran out of pickles so I used pickle relish in place of that and the pickle juice, also dried dill b cause that’s one herb that always goes off before I can use it up. This potato salad was unique and delicious! Love all the veggies!
This has to be one of my favorites from the salad challenge. I loved the dill flavor and the fact it didn’t have mayo.
I love this! It’s so easy to make and we usually have all of these ingredients on hand! We currently have a bunch of fresh dill growing outside. I honestly think the olive oil/ mustard based dressing is better than the mayo. Such a filling side dish or alone as a lunch.
I went vegan a few years ago. I loved potato salad. I had attempted my first vegan salad last summer. It was decent. I made this one and I’m so happy to not use vegan mayo substitutes! I love the dressing with oil!!! I did all some celery seed as that makes a potato salad for me. I love black olives and never thought to put them in potato salad. Thank you so much for this recipe!
Good but nothing special. However, I maybe unintentionally partial to my mother’s potato salad. All the previous salads were completely new to me.
Mother’s potato salads are the best, but this offers a nice alternative.
It was very crunchy, yummy and truly delicious! The dressing was good too!
It was very good, I did replace the radishes with cucumber Yum!
That sounds delicious!