German Potato Salad

I was surprised to learn recently how popular German potato salad is in other countries. It certainly is tasty! But it is also cheap and quick if you make it with leftover steamed potatoes from your previous meal. There is, actually, no one German Potato Salad – potato salad is simply any salad from, or with, potatoes. How it is normally done varies regionally.

You can jump down here to the recipe, or have a look here at Herring Salad which is a different type of potato salad (with beetroot, and you can also make it without the herring).

There are two general types of potato salad and some people have almost religious convictions as to which is the proper one: With mayonnaise, or without it. I grew up in a family that definitely made potato salad without mayonnaise! If you buy potato salad at a Bratwurst booth or on a fair, you will nearly always get it with mayonnaise; a hint that it was industrially produced and is taken from a big plastic bucket. But of course there are also people who make it with mayonnaise at home! As I said, it is mostly a regional preference.

What to have your potato salad with

Potato salad can be served as a side dish with sausage or meat balls/meat loaf. In my region, it is also seved with pickled herring. But it is also a meal on its own. Some people simply add slices of sausage (Bockwurst, which is more or less a hotdog sausage). You can see that a typical German potato salad is a very simple dish from cheap ingredients. You will hardly ever get it in a good restaurant (unless they have created some spruced-up version!), but at an inn or at a street stand that sells German fast food. And of course, at a German barbecue party!

German Potato Salad – is it a summer or a winter dish?

For my family, potato salad is a much-loved summer lunch because it is served lukewarm or cold and the tangy vinaigrette makes it a refreshing dish.

For many other German families, though, potato salad is their traditional lunch on Christmas eve! It is, in fact, the most popular Christmas lunch or supper in Germany. Not because anyone considers it a festive meal (that would be roast goose with red cabbage and dumplings, but since we open our presents on the 24th, we have time for such a meal on the 25th) but because there is not much time for cooking on a typical German Christmas Eve.

A quick meal, if you prepare it beforehand

Potato Salad can be prepared on the previous day. I would just boil the potatoes beforehand, but you can also prepare the whole salad and keep it in the fridge. Outside of the fridge, it does not keep well at all. I would always keep it as cool as possible and put it in a glass or clay bowl, covered with a plate, tea towel or wooden cutting board. Plastic may make it go off sooner. But if you put it in the fridge, it will be fine. Many people prefer it that way because “es muss durchziehen”, i.e. they want the vinaigrette to marinade everything thoroughly and the potatoes to get a bit mushy. I prefer every ingredient to taste of itself, and the potatoes to keep their original consistency.

So this is how I make basic potato salad:

Recipe for German Potato Salad

Ingredients (for two adults and two children)

Potatoes, hard boiling or medium: 1.5 kg

Pickled gherkins: 150g or as many as you like

Half a cucumber

Onion: One big, or two smaller ones (chalottes provide the best taste, red onions look best; but a simple brown onion will be good, too)

Two hard boiled eggs

Vinegar: Apple cider vinegar or white wine vinegar (NOT the sweet type).

Oil: I prefer olive oil, but it would be more “German” to use sunflower seed oil.

Fresh (or frozen) herbs depending on your taste and their availability: Dill is best, but parsley and chives are very suitable, too. At this time of year, I would take wild garlic but of course you can´t get that everywhere. In summer, I would take Dost (wild Marjoram) from our garden in addition to other herbs. Spring onions would also be an option. If I can´t get fresh herbs at all, my default dried herb to use for most things is Savory Plant. I also add garlic to a potato salad, but most people do not.

What to do

Steam the potatoes (not soo soft), or use leftover steamed potatoes from the previous day.

While the potatoes are cooking, boil two eggs for about eight to ten minutes. They should be really hard boiled!

Dice the pickled gherkins and cucumber to a convenient size, chop onions finely.

Chop/cut herbs finely.

Now peel the potatoes and cut them into slices or dice of a convenient size (not too thinly, not to small, you want them to keep their shape!).

Peel and dice the eggs.

Put everything, except the herbs, into a bowl.

Add salt, pepper, (mustard seed), oil and vinegar according to your taste – or, if you don´t feel confident about this step, mix oil, vinegar, pepper and salt in a cup and taste it before adding the herbs and pouring onto the salad. I am not giving you an exact instruction here because I like it very sour, but you may not! Try twice as much oil as vinegar, then adjust to your taste.

Now pour your vinaigrette on the salad and stir carefully.

Decide whether to have your potato salad by itself, with pickled herring, meat balls, hot dog sausage, Bratwurst or even Schnitzel (if they serve you that latter combination somewhere in Germany, know that you are in a fastfood place). Beer goes well with it, but so does water or anything that is not too sweet.