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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 potato salad is delicious!!!! It’s so refreshingly different from the typical potato salad. I love the pickles and pickle juice!!!
this salad is not for me
I don’t generally love potato salad, but I do enjoy dill pickles, so this makes for a nice change of pace from green salads.
This was great! Simple too. Reminds me a bit of German potato salad. I may have over done the potatoes but that’s okay!
I’m not a fan of pickles, celery nor olives but wanted to complete the challenge and I’m glad I did….this salad is pretty tasty! I really liked the dressing and really the whole combination . I hadn’t eaten potato salad for several years because I felt like they tasted sweeter each time and I didn’t like that, so with this recipe potato salad will be back on my table.
I’m so glad you tried it and it was a pleasant surprise.
So, I have to admit I was kind of like potato salad I think not, where’s the mayo and I am not going to like this it will be so dry. Boy was I wrong this is very good my entire family enjoyed it and we will be adding this to the regular rotation. I almost skipped this thank goodness I did not.
I just made it for dinner for later tonight- I sampled it which I shouldn’t have because it is so good I could’ve eaten the entire bowl! I never would have put these ingredients together on my own and am so happy to add this recipe to my others. This is so much better than mayo potato salads!
I like the fact that I can eat this salad warm!
I roasted the radish and it gave it more depth than being raw. Enjoyed the addition of olives. Will make again.
Really enjoyed this salad. Pickle juice was a staple to my mother’s traditional potato salad recipe but this is a plus with no mayo and eggs. Will enjoy throughout the summer!
I love Potato Salad, and so I was excited to try this fresh healthy recipe. Again, I was not disappointed! Adding the pickle juice is genius. It is a colorful salad with just the right balance of crisp and soft, and the ingredients ramp up the flavor. Wish I had pre-made this one, and I’m looking forward to see how much the flavors blend in the fridge.
This was ok. I also followed the recipe in the challenge and it did not have the Dijon. I think that would have made it better. I did enjoy the pickle juice and the the dill. I also used gold potatoes and although the recipe card here doesn’t mention potato type the words said red potatoes. I will try that next time
I love potatoes and loved that I could use the dill from my garden in this recipe. It was easy to make and perfect for a make-ahead type dish! Mahalo for the recipe.
I’m used to a creamier or not as dry potato salad but this was pretty good. Mine was just a bit dry. I think maybe I need to add more dressing to it
This one is a keeper. I used the above recipe. The one from the challenge is missing an ingredient which does make a difference. It has a nice crunch with the radishes and celery. The turmeric gives it a nice color. Great recipe
Okay im going to make this my go to dressing. Its so fresh and tangy and as somebody who LOVES pickles this was such a good vinaigrette substitute. Wow!! I seared my potatoes medium well and it absorbed so much flavour from the dressing. I also used stone ground mustard because i prefer it more than dijon. But fresh flavours overall and i think it would make an excellent for a side for a bbq!!
Perfect ideas to change up this recipe, I can almost smell summertime.