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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 extra-virgin olive oil
- 2 tsp pickle juice
- 1 tbsp fresh dill stems removed + finely chopped
- 2 tsp Dijon mustard
- โ tsp ground turmeric
- โ black pepper, ground
- โ 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 was so different and I loved it! Iโm not a mayo lover, so this was perfect and so fresh tasting! I will definitely be making it again.
The Vegan Dill Potato Salad was delish, even though I forgot to add the red onionโฆ.ugh! I added the garlic and did 2 radishes, and used Bloody Mary pickles, so it was fine on flavor.
I actually made it early in the day and let it sit in the refrigerator until I got home for dinner and I think it tasted better after sitting for a while.
The first potato salad Iโve tolerated. Not a mustard fan, so I used turmeric cashew cream to make it yellow. I was skeptical, but after sitting in the fridge overnight, I was surprised to see how coated instead of slippery the potatoes were.
Iโm not crazy for pickles or olives. It was just ok for me.
This dressing is amazing I will NOT be going back to mayo. Also, who knew olives and pickles were so delicious and a potato salad? YUM -E!
I love love love the dill in this salad!
Great – tasting potato salad, even without the eggs and mayo!
I loved this recipe too. I love potatoes and olives and garlic and onions, you really. can miss with that combo. the pickles, I would not add again, though my husband thought that was the best. I am not a fan of pickles or radishes, but I tried to be a good sport and mixed it just the way you had it. Over all I would make it again.
So I had to make adjustments as I didnโt get dill pickles (forgot to add to pick up). So I did use juice from olives which was very good. I added a little too much Dijon. Iโll be sure to make this one again just making sure I follow recipe exact. Agree surprise we didnโt miss Mayo. Big fan of the fresh dill.
I finished Mondays salad. Can’t eat potatoes too much carbs.
I love the garlic and onions in this, it added a lot of flavor to the potatoes. I wasn’t feeling the olives and radishes today so I left them out this time. This was nice and refreshing over the heavy mayonnaise laden salads we’re used to.
This was different and since dill pickles and mustard aren’t my favorites I was on the wall. Enjoyed but not loved. Creamy and cruchy combo
I’m not really a pickle or a dill fan, nevertheless I enjoyed this salad. Had it with a little chicken parmesan cutlet (no sauce) and they paired rather nicely.
I enjoyed the differences in texture of this salad–celery and radish–and the salty pops of olive when they got on the fork.
Very flavorable!! I enjoyed this side salad and I was a little shocked because I love my mayo based potato salads.
Making this Vegan Potato Salad was new for me. I wasn’t sure about the black olives (never tasted them before) and I just didn’t think this potato salad could hold up against the one I grew up with. I was wrong!!!! The black olives are nice and so was not having mayonnaise. I loved this Potato salad; thanks, Jen!
I have three words for the Vegan Dill Potato Salad…
BURSTING WITH FLAVOR!
I used russet potatoes because that is what I had. Liked the taste of the potato salad and I used green olives in place of black. I did miss the creaminess of the mayo, but the dill put a different spin on this salad. Would definitely make this again.