Simple Mayo-Free Potato Salad

Potato salad is the perfect snack for those hot summer days or BBQs with friends and family. With healthy, simple ingredients, it can be made in massive batches and it’s almost guaranteed to be a crowd favorite.

Inspiration

Growing up, potato salad was a hot commodity in our house. My mom would make it quite frequently and would often experiment with different ingredients and spice combinations. Whatever it was made from, I always enjoyed the cool richness of this dish, and how it always left me feeling completely satisfied. Comfort food? Absolutely yes.

When Memorial Day rolled around this year, my good friend suggested we throw a vegan bbq, and my mind immediately thought of good ‘ole potato salad – which I might add, I haven’t had in years since going vegan! What a perfect way to compliment some freshly grilled corn on the cob and veggie burgers. It just screams bbq and picnic season.

I really enjoyed the mayo substitution from my mayo-free chickpea salad recipe, so I thought I’d follow a similar method for this recipe. It worked out just as well and thus, the mayo-free potato salad was created.

How to make Mayo-Free Potato Salad

This simple potato salad is filled with clean, wholesome ingredients. None of that processed, oily junk! That’s what makes it taste even better, and leaves you feeling good after eating it, as well.

This potato salad is:

Mayo-free

Simple

Filling

Rich

& Savory

Prep the salad

The first step to making this dish is to throw together the salad base. The base consists of peeled and boiled potatoes, onions, celery, and chopped fresh dill.

When the potatoes are placed in boiling water, it takes roughly 15 minutes for them to soften and reach that perfectly tender, but not quite mushy consistency that works so wonderfully in this dish. Once the potatoes reach the exact consistency you like, immediately remove them from the heat, strain out all the water, and rinse them with cold water to prevent them from cooking any further. Add them to a medium to large size bowl with the rest of the salad ingredients.

Make the sauce

If you’re a pro multitasker, make the sauce while the potatoes are doing their thing and cooking. The sauce consists of tahini, aquafaba(the liquid from a can of chickpeas), lemon juice, dijon mustard, salt, and pepper. Place all of these ingredients into a tall cup and use an immersion blender to combine. Blend for at least a minute so the sauce can emulsify and thicken. If you want the sauce to be a little more creamy, add additional tahini or ensure that you use the runny and oily part of the tahini.

Don’t have an immersion blender? No problem. You can add the sauce ingredients to a regular blender or food processor to achieve similar results.

Combine the salad and sauce

The rest is simple. Just add the mayo-substitution sauce to the salad and give it a good mix until everything is fully coated. Bada-bing! There’s some potato salad for ya.

Storing

This can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. If you’re making this in advance, make sure to give it a good mix before serving, as some of the liquid from the ingredients may have separated during refrigeration time.

Liked this dish?

If you did, leave a comment and check out my super simple mayo-free chickpea salad recipe, which has similar ingredients and a similar cooking method!

💛 M