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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.
Ok WOW! I LOVED IT! I thought it had SO much flavor! Surprised other comments thought it lacked flavor! Only thing I skipped was black olives. I thought it was so creamy despite it not being a tradition mayo based.
I skipped this one since I don’t eat potatoes
It’s okay, but I wouldn’t make it again.
Wonderful and refreshing! A salad good for anytime of the year. 🙂
Deeelish! I have always been a fan of non-mayo potato salad. This recipe is reminiscent of a warm potato/lentil salad that I love.
Used daikon and watermelon radish, and kalamata olives as they were on hand! Thanks for kicking me out of my usual salad routine!
For someone who isn’t a huge fan of pickles and mustard, this was pretty darn good! Nice change away from mayonnaise based potato salad.
Nice alternative for a healthier potato salad. I liked the addition of pickles and olives along with crunch veggies.
This was much better than the potato salads that are made with mayo. Loved the pickle in it. Left out the olives because we are not big fans. Just felt it needed a bit more flavor.
This turned out decent, but may be better once it has chilled and the flavors meld a bit more.
I will definitely be making this again. I love that this is an alternative to a mayonnaise based potato salad. Such a different flavor. So tasty! I’ll make this for a summer bbq for sure!
This is a very fresh and tasty version of potato salad, that I prefer much more over the traditional version. I left out the black olives since I’m not a fan and increased the pickles because our family loves pickles. Im looking forward to making this for a cookout this summer. I’m sure I’ll win over people with this recipe!
The potato dill salad was yummy but bland. I would make it again but would need something to spices it up a little. Not sure what but something to give it a little punch or flavor.
This potato salad is uniquely different and satisfyingly yummy! Who knew that radishes and black olives would ever be those two ingredients in a potato salad that you would say go together, but this is one of those times, you cannot judge the ingredients until you try them all at together. It is surprisingly refreshing and delightfully tantalizing to the taste buds. It’s one that you can take to picnics or gatherings and people will be asking for the recipe. So bring some extra index cards with the recipe already printed and ready to go, you’ll be glad you did 😉 Give this a try, you won’t regret it! 😉
This salad is visually appealing and is sure to be a great potluck or picnic favorite. I love the fresh, light. Veg forward spin! I did not make this salad for myself but will be making it for a future event. Thank you for a new potluck (for me) recipe.
Loved this dill potatoe salad. It was a nice change from using mayo and the dill made it taste great!
This salad was great! It was a first at trying something like this. I’m used to a vegan mayo version, but was surprised how excellent it could taste without the mayo. The only thing I would do different when making it again would be to cut the potatoes really small. Everything tastes better but up small lol. Really enjoyed this salad. Thanks!