Mashed Potato Salad
Y’all, let me tell you, this Mashed Potato Salad is like a big ol’ hug from the fridge. It takes everything you love about classic potato salad and makes it even easier by starting with frozen hash browns. Yep, no peeling and chopping raw potatoes until your arm falls off. Just boil, mash a lil,’ and mix in all that creamy, tangy goodness.
If you’re a fan of creamy comfort, you’ve gotta check out my Loaded Baked Potato Salad, The Best German Potato Salad, and Creamy Cucumbers Salad!
A Quick Look At The Recipe
- Recipe Name: Mashed Potato Salad
- Ready In: 260 minutes
- Serves: 8
- Main Ingredients: 32-ounce package cubed frozen hash browns, boiled eggs, chopped, diced onion, chopped sweet pickles, mayonnaise, sweet pickle juice, heaping teaspoon yellow mustard, salt
- Why You'll Love It: Mashed Potato Salad is a creamy, comforting twist on classic potato salad. Made with cubed hash browns, sweet pickles, mayo, mustard, and boiled eggs, it’s the perfect make-ahead side dish for potlucks, BBQs, or Sunday suppers.
It’s got the eggs for richness, mustard for a punch, mayo for that creamy texture, and sweet pickles because… well, sweet pickles belong in potato salad if you ask me. This is the kind of dish that shows up at family reunions, church picnics, and backyard cookouts, and somehow, the bowl always comes back scraped clean.
Before You Get Started
- Don’t over-mash the potatoes. Lumps make this salad extra good.
- Chill time is key! This needs a good few hours in the fridge to let the flavors come together.
- Keep it sweet. Sweet pickles really do make the difference, but dill lovers can swap if they like.
Recipe Ingredients
- Pepper
- Cubed frozen hash browns
- Boiled eggs, chopped
- Diced onion
- Chopped sweet pickles (or sweet pickle relish)
- Mayonnaise
- Sweet pickle juice
- Yellow mustard (or Dijon mustard for extra tang)
- Salt
How to Make Mashed Potato Salad
1. Cook the Potatoes
Place hash browns in a large pot and cover with water. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat and cook for 10 minutes, or until tender. Drain well.
2. Mash
Transfer potatoes to a large bowl and mash lightly with a potato masher. Leave it lumpy. This ain’t mashed potatoes, it’s potato salad!
3. Make the Pickle Relish
In a blender or small food chopper, pulse the chopped onion and sweet pickles until very finely minced.
4. Mix it All Together
Add mayonnaise, pickle juice, mustard, minced pickles and onions, salt, and pepper to the potatoes. Stir until combined, then gently fold in the chopped eggs.
5. Chill
Cover and refrigerate for at least 4 hours before serving. Enjoy!
Storage
Store leftover potato salad in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days.
Recipe Notes
- Potato swap: I’m just using hashbrowns to make life easier, but you can use regular potatoes instead. Just chop them into small cubes before following the instructions. I recommend Yukon Gold potatoes.
- Add celery: Many mashed potato salad recipes include 1/2 cup of diced celery, so feel free to chop that up when you finely dice the onion and sweet pickles.
- Use leftover potatoes: This is a great recipe to use if you have leftover roast potatoes or leftover mashed potatoes.
- Onion swap: Feel free to swap the yellow onion for sweet onion, red onion, or green onion.
- Other substitutions you can make? Swap yellow mustard for Dijon mustard, add a tablespoon of vinegar for extra tang, and swap half of the mayonnaise for 1/2 cup of sour cream or Greek yogurt instead. You can also use Miracle Whip for a sweeter, zingier salad dressing flavor.
Recipe FAQs
Can I make this ahead of time?
Yes! In fact, it’s better the next day after all those flavors have had a chance to mingle.
Do you have to put eggs in a potato salad?
The short answer is no. I don’t believe Thomas’ mashed potato salad had eggs in it but personally, I just love boiled eggs in potato salad. If you love them, be sure to add them in. If you don’t, feel free to leave them out. For me, they just make it extra special.
Can I use dill pickles instead of sweet pickles?
So, since posting this recipe, I’ve heard from A LOT of people that… a) feel confident Thomas’s used dill pickle 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.
What do you serve with mashed potato salad?
This is a great side dish to pair with so many different main meals. Here are some recommendations:
- Butter Roasted Chicken
- North Alabama-Style Pulled Chicken
- French Dip Sandwiches Recipe (With a Twist)
- Baked Ham With Easy Brown Sugar Glaze
- Slow-Roasted Beef Brisket in the Oven
How do you make Amish potato salad?
Add diced celery and 1/4 cup of granulated sugar to this recipe and you have Amish potato salad.
Ingredients
- 1 32-ounce package cubed frozen hash browns
- 4 boiled eggs, chopped
- 1/2 cup diced onion
- 1/2 cup chopped sweet pickles
- 1 cup mayonnaise
- 1/3 cup sweet pickle juice
- 1 heaping teaspoon yellow mustard
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
Instructions
- Place hash browns in a 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.1 32-ounce package cubed frozen hash browns
- Drain potatoes and place them in a large bowl. Mash all of this up a bit with a potato masher, but leave them 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.1/2 cup diced onion, 1/2 cup chopped sweet pickles
- Place mayonnaise, pickle juice, mustard, finely minced pickles and onions, salt, and pepper in the bowl with the potatoes. Stir until well mixed, then stir in the chopped eggs just until incorporated.4 boiled eggs, chopped, 1 cup mayonnaise, 1/3 cup sweet pickle juice, 1 heaping teaspoon yellow mustard, 1 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon pepper
- Cover and refrigerate for several hours or until cold. Enjoy!
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!
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!!!
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!
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 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.
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
Now I need you to recreate their vinegar based sauce!!!
🙂 perhaps one day!