So much of our beloved foods and recipes are loved for the memories attached to them, just as much as the taste. This potato salad is the best potato salad I have ever tasted (in my life) but there is a reason beyond that which makes it even more special.
Photo Credit: https://www.facebook.com/SaveThomasBBQ
Thomas Pit BBQ was an icon in Madison County. I don’t know when it was opened or how long it was in business but I can definitely say more than my lifetime. People would line up and sit in their cars for 45+ minutes to get their juicy smoked chicken, pulled pork bbq, white sauce, and potato salad (among other things). Everything on their menu was amazing. What was even more amazing is that if you ordered a plate in that window in 1980 and then in 2014, you likely had the same people preparing that food and handing that plate to you. We knew them. They were friends and family and we expected to see them when we went to Thomas’s.
My parents used to own a business down the road from Thomas’s and from time to time the owner would trade out bbq plates for goods from Mama and Daddy. We always got the good end of the deal with those transactions :).
But a few months back Thomas’s was bought out by a local chain bbq place. The employees were given less than a days notice and we all watched in horror as the building was torn down and cleared to make way for a new building.
There isn’t a lot anyone can do now so I set about trying to recreate the two recipes that I went there for. I came awfully close with my Dutch Oven Smokehouse Chicken and of course we all have the classic Alabama White BBQ Sauce recipe. Several years ago I figured out how to best duplicate slow smoked pulled pork by using my slow cooker. Today, though, I’m bringing you the recipe that had emails pouring in to me after Thomas’s closed. Folks who know how I love the place immediately started emailing me “I wish you would come up with Thomas’s potato salad recipe!” and my mother has been leading the charge. “Christy, we have to come up with a potato salad like Thomas!” This is a very unique potato salad with an incredible flavor that runs throughout every single bite. My recipe is not the actual recipe they use, I don’t have that, but Mama and I believe it is close enough to pass for it.
So while I can’t bring Thomas Pit BBQ back, I can make my favorite dishes from there and tell my kids about a little bbq joint that used to have folks lining up for wait times few would even consider today – and I can give them a taste of why.
You’ll need: Mayo*, Yellow Mustard, Cubed Southern Style Hash Browns, Sweet Pickles in a jar (not relish), 3-4 boiled eggs, yellow onion, and salt and pepper.
*Okay y’all. I’m not a mayonnaise person. I will eat it in a recipe with no problem but I’m just not someone who ever says “Ooh, yay, mayonnaise.” But so many of you carry on and on about Duke’s that I bought it for this recipe. Once I added it, I licked the spoon a little bit. I’m still not in the “oooh yay, mayonnaise” camp but I will say that it was decidedly different and much better tasting than any mayo I have had before, so you win :).
Place your potatoes (hash browns) in a large pot and add enough water to cover. Bring this to a boil over medium high heat. Once boiling, allow to cook for about ten minutes, or until tender. Drain.
Place potatoes in a large bowl.
Now here is the thing and I don’t have a lot of pictures to represent it so just really pay attention here because this is important. You need to dice, by hand, 1/2 cup of sweet pickles and 1/2 cup of onion. Once they are diced you want 1/2 a cup.
Now, take that half a cup of each (I just put them all together) and run it through a blender, chopper, little smoothie mixer, or something like that because we want it really, really fine. We don’t want it to be a puree but we want it minced like this. This will help that flavor spread throughout every bite of potato salad and is really one of the keys to why this is so good.
Use a hand potato masher or a long tined fork and mash up the potatoes a little bit. You still want them to be lumpy but just a good bit of mashed in there with the lumps.
Add all other ingredients except for the eggs. So you’re adding in your mayo, mustard, minced pickles and onions, salt, pepper, and pickle juice. The pickle juice just comes straight from the jar of sweet pickles. That’s why I didn’t want you to get sweet pickle relish because there isn’t enough juice in there.
Stir that up really good.
Then chop your eggs and add them in.
Now I don’t believe Thomas’ Potato Salad had eggs in it but I just love boiled eggs in potato salad. If you love them, be sure and add them in. If you don’t, feel free to leave them out. For me, they just make it extra special.
Once eggs are stirred in, cover and refrigerate several hours or until chilled.
Enjoy the best potato salad I have ever put in my mouth!
- 32 ounce package cubed frozen hash browns
- 4 eggs, chopped
- ½ cup diced onion
- ½ cup chopped sweet pickles
- 1 cup mayonnaise
- ⅓ cup sweet pickle juice
- 1 heaping teaspoon mustard
- 1 teaspoon of salt
- ½ teaspoon of pepper
- Place hash browns in large pot and add enough water to cover. Bring to a boil over medium high heat. Once boiling, allow to cook for ten minutes, or until tender.
- Drain potatoes and place in a large bowl. Mash all of this up a bit with a potato masher, but leave lumpy.
- Place chopped sweet pickles and chopped onion into a blender, chopper, or small smoothie blender and pulse a few times until very fine, almost like a relish.
- Place mayonaise, pickle juice, mustard, finely minced pickles and onions, salt, and pepper in bowl with potatoes. Stir until well mixed. Stir in chopped eggs until incorporated. Cover and refrigerate several hours or until cold. Enjoy!
Hey Everyone! I’ve heard from a LOT of people (please emphasize “lot” as much as possible when you read this) that they:
A. Feel confident Thomas’s used dill instead of sweet pickle.
or
B. Can’t bear the thought of sweet pickle in a potato salad and prefer dill.
So I just wanted to pop in and reiterate that this is my version of the recipe and as a person who really, really loves sweet pickles, that is what I naturally used. You, of course, are welcome to substitute dill if that is what you prefer. There is a good chance that is what Thomas’s used since they served dill pickle spears with some of their entrees. Just go with whatever cranks yer tractor.
Thank you to everyone who let me know this. You’ve kept my inbox from being lonely, that’s for sure! 🙂
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Well done is better than well said.
~Benjamin Franklin
Yum 
Sounds delicious, like what my mom used to make with the onion and sweet pickle. I love the short cut of using the hash brown cubes instead of peeling and cutting up potatoes. Can’t wait to try it!
I hope you enjoy it Sheila, have a Happy Thanksgiving!!!
I use dill pickles and also add chopped bacon with a TVs of fat to the dressing this sounds so much like my mother in laws recipe and she is gone 15 years
I make my potato salad just like this only I use mashed potato’s. I am going to try the hashbrowns next time because I think the extra texture would be great. By the way, I always use sweet pickles in mine also as a matter of preference. Thanks for sharing.
Hope you had a great thanksgiving.
It was a sad day for us when we found out about Thomas closing.
Thank you for the recipe, it was one of our favorites.
We moved from Huntsville to Atlanta about 15 years ago and visiting my wife’s parents in Madison I would buy a gallon of their (red) bbq sauce once or twice a year and take back to Atlanta.
Do you know of where there may be a recipe for the sauce?
Turkey’s BBQ in Huntsville taste like it to me.
I have yet to eat a bite of homemade potato salad that I didn’t like. This recipe has a little different twist to it, so I will be making it soon. I like the shortcut of using hash browns. Thank you for posting!
I did everything exactly, including the egg, and it was the best flavor of all the potato salads I have tried to master. The only thing a little off was the texture of the potatoes. I HAVE to make this again, but I will use 2 pounds of fresh Russets instead. Otherwise it was awesome. The way the pickle and onion puree mixes throughout the whole salad is genius. And I like being told how much salt to use. “To taste” always throws me off. The salt measurement turned out to be perfection. Thank you for this post. I’m from California and never heard of Thomas Pit BBQ. I am gushing about this recipe. The tastes were spot on.
Hi Diana! I am so glad you gave it a try and thrilled that you loved it!!!
In my 77 years, I have NEVER eaten potato salad that was mashed up. Of all the church dinners and family reunions I have attended, I have never even seen mashed potato salad. I’m having a hard time wrapping my mind around the idea. But I have always heard “don’t bash it if you’ve never tried it”. So, I will have to, at least, try it. Potatoes taste the same whether chopped, sliced or whole.
Mimi, I love your heart and your attitude! I bet life around you is such a blessing!
Love the idea of hash browns, will have to try it. I also used those ingredients, and add, chopped dill pickles, onion and green and black olives. My in-law never had olives in their potato salad, but was won over to that idea.
I made this the other night. Not exactly sure where I went wrong but it turned out quite soupy… but the flavor was delicious! I’m definitely going to make it again but perhaps with less pickle juice.
Miss Christy, thank you for sharing this recipe. I wouldn’t have thought to use the cubed hash browns. My Dad made the best potato salad and his recipe was similar to this one as he used to mash the potatoes. I actually prefer my potato salad this way. This is a great shortcut, I will be making this again soon. Also I am firmly in the sweet pickle camp for potato salad, but everyone should make it how they like it! Thanks again!
I grew up in Oklahoma and my grandmama would occasionally make a mashed potato salad with mashed potatoes, onion, dill pickles, eggs and mustard with just a spoon of mayonnaise. It’s like she reversed the mustard and mayonnaise ratio from her traditional potato salad that she usually made for us. It was really good and i have tried, as an adult, to duplicate her recipe but she used dill pickles that she canned and the store bought pickles i use just can’t duplicate it, although it’s still good, it’s not as good. This recipe has me thinking of her. I’m using your recipe next weekend for a potluck bbq that i’ll be attending. Thank you for sharing this. All of your recipes look fantastic!
It would be great if you could find someone near you that made homemade dill pickles that you could buy some from. My friend Jyl keeps talking about Boars Head dill pickles, she said they are only in the deli of stores that sell Boars Head deli meats. That might be something else you could look for to try. I know how frustrating it can be trying to duplicate a recipe and not be able to get it just right.
This is basically the recipe I use but I cook my potatoes after peeling them. I guess I cook my potatoes a little longer, because I don’t mash but there are creamy potatoes in with the chunks. To me this is the best potato when you have ethe creamy with the chunks. Makes me want potato salad, may have to get to cooking.
🙂 I like the way you think Kay!!
Mine turned out soupy, what did I do wrong
Hey! I’m sorry it didn’t turn out like you’d hoped. Next time I would drain the potatoes for a few more minutes in a colander and make sure you drain your relish or pickles for a few as well.