Loaded Baked Potato Salad
This Loaded Baked Potato Salad ain’t your regular potato salad. It’s creamy, cheesy, and full of all the favorite toppings that make a loaded baked potato so good. We’re talking crispy bacon, sharp cheddar cheese, boiled eggs, sweet pickle relish, and a creamy dressing that pulls it all together. Oh, and I’ve got a little shortcut to make it even easier!
A Quick Look At The Recipe
- Recipe Name: Loaded Baked Potato Salad
- Main Ingredients: 32-ounce package frozen Southern hash browns, eggs, hard-boiled and chopped, bacon strips, cooked crispy and crumbled, shredded cheddar cheese, mayonnaise, yellow mustard, sweet pickle relish or diced sweet pickles, salt and pepper to taste
- Why You'll Love It: This Loaded Baked Potato Salad recipe is creamy, tangy, and packed with crispy bacon, cheddar cheese, eggs, and sweet relish. Made with a shortcut, it delivers all the flavor of a classic potato salad recipe with a whole lot less work.
The Easy, Cheesy Potato Salad You’ll Want to Make All Summer
If you ask me, no backyard BBQ or church potluck is complete without a good potato salad on the table. From my German potato salad to my mashed potato salad, you could say I enjoy veering away from the traditional every once in a while. This loaded baked potato salad is another fun twist on a classic, and it’s always a hit wherever I take it.
But the really great thing about this version? Instead of peeling and chopping pounds of potatoes, I take a little shortcut with frozen hash browns. It cuts the cooking time way down, but the end result tastes every bit as comforting as a batch made from scratch. It’s hearty, it’s easy, and if it’s your first time trying it this way, I think you’ll be hooked.
Recipe Ingredients
- Frozen Southern hash browns
- Eggs, hard-boiled and chopped
- Bacon strips, cooked crispy and crumbled
- Shredded cheddar cheese (or sharp cheddar cheese for more bite)
- Mayonnaise
- Yellow mustard (honey mustard and Dijon mustard would all work)
- Sweet pickle relish (or diced sweet pickles)
- Salt and black pepper to taste
Variations to Try
- Garnish: Add chopped green onion or freshly chopped chives.
- Make it creamy: For extra creaminess, add ¾ cup of sour cream or plain Greek yogurt.
- Add crunch: Add a cup of chopped celery for extra crunch.
- Extra tang: A tablespoon of apple cider vinegar, white vinegar, or lemon juice will do the trick.
- Add heat: Spice it up with a sprinkle of red pepper flakes.
How to Make Loaded Baked Potato Salad
1. Cook the Potatoes
Start by placing your potatoes in a large pot and covering them with cold water. Bring it to a boil over medium heat and cook for just 2–3 minutes, until you can easily poke them with a fork.
Tip: Don’t boil the potatoes too long! 2 to 3 minutes is plenty. You want them tender but not falling apart, since they’ll soak up dressing as they chill.
Once they’re done, drain them well in a colander.
2. Mix the Base
Now transfer potatoes to a large bowl. Stir in the cheddar cheese until it melts slightly into the potato mixture.
Then add your mayonnaise, mustard, and relish, stirring until combined.
3. Add the Good Stuff
Go ahead and stir in the eggs, crispy bacon, salt, and black pepper. Give it a taste and add more seasoning if needed – this is your salad, after all!
4. Chill
Pop it in the fridge, covered, for a few hours or overnight.
Trust me, the wait is worth it. The flavors meld together beautifully, and it tastes even better the next day!
My Top Tips for this Potato Salad
- Don’t overcook. Boil the hash browns for just 2–3 minutes. You’re looking for tender potatoes, not mush.
- Mix while warm. Adding cheese to the warm potatoes helps it melt slightly into the potato mixture, making the whole salad extra creamy.
- Chill before serving. Like any good potato salad, this one needs a couple of hours in the fridge for the flavors to come together. Cold potato salad always tastes better the next day.
- Personal preference. Feel free to add favorite toppings like green onions, fresh chives, or even a little creamy sour cream if that’s your style.
Storage
Store leftover potato salad in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days. Note that potato salad doesn’t freeze well, as the creamy dressing tends to separate, so fridge storage is your best bet.
Loaded Baked Potato Salad FAQs
Yes, frozen hash browns are my shortcut here, but you can swap in red potatoes, russet potatoes, Yukon Golds, or even baby potatoes if you’d rather boil your own. Just cut into bite-sized pieces and cook until fork-tender. The frozen hash browns are simply a time-saver.
Absolutely! This potato salad will last in the fridge for up to 5 days, so you can make it multiple days in advance and let those flavors marry together in the fridge.
Homemade potato salad can easily be the start of the show as a side dish, so I recommend serving it with a simpler main meal, such as grilled chicken tenders, Crockpot beef ribs, maple-glazed pork chops, or slow-roasted beef brisket.
Made this recipe? You’re my kind of people! Leave a star rating and a comment below, so I know how it went. I read every single one!
Ingredients
- 1 32-ounce package frozen Southern hash browns
- 3 eggs hard-boiled and chopped
- 5 bacon strips cooked crispy and crumbled
- 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
- ½ cup mayonnaise
- 2 tablespoons yellow mustard
- ⅓ cup sweet pickle relish or diced sweet pickles
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Place cubed hash browns in a large pot and cover with water. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Once potatoes reach a boil, boil them for two to three minutes and then drain in a colander.1 32-ounce package frozen Southern hash browns
- Place in a large bowl and stir in the cheese. Add mayo, mustard, and relish, and stir again. Add in bacon, eggs, salt, and pepper. Stir.3 eggs, 5 bacon strips, 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese, ½ cup mayonnaise, 2 tablespoons yellow mustard, ⅓ cup sweet pickle relish, salt and pepper
- Refrigerate for several hours or overnight before serving.
I absolutely LOVE the idea of using the frozen hash browns! We love potato salad, but I hardly ever make it because I hate dealing with the potatoes!! I always add cooked, crumbled bacon to my potato salad (when I DO make it), though. Then, I saute a handful or so of chopped onions in the bacon drippings, pat with paper towels to absorb the grease, and then stir them in. So YUMMY!! And I want to thank Bobbie (above comment) for the hint of adding a bit of food coloring when hard-boiling eggs to have on hand in the fridge; that is a great suggestion!
what a great idea… I will have to start my eggs earlier, since I always boiled them with my taters… and they were always cooked perfect and never green.. hate green boiled eggs.
I love your emails but you make me hungry every time I read them.. going to have to save them for after supper reading. LOL.
thanks for all the good ideas!!
Boiling the eggs with the potatoes is a good idea too!
I would have never thought about boiling the eggs with the potatoes! Thanks for a GREAT tip!
Wow, I never even thought of that! I’m definitely going to use this recipe when I get the hunger for potato salad and I don’t want to spend all the time using whole potatoes. Thanks, Christy! <3
Oh my goodness! I swear you are reading my mind before every post!! I have been hankering for potato salad, but I don’t have any potatoes! I am so praying to the good Lord above that Walmart in the midwest sells southern style hash browns!
My husband and son are at Cub Scouts Day Camp and I know they are going to love this potato salad when they get home!
Thanks Christy . . . hope you didn’t pick up an accent when you visited New York! Glad you had a great time.
This is just how I make our potato salad except I use dill pickle relish an sometimes o’brien potatoes if I’m feelin’ sassy.
Hash browns are a quick start to potato soup too! That’s our go-to dish when someone is sick at our house. My 6 year old calls it sickpotato soup. Also delish with bacon…(if you aren’t the sick person.)
That looks really delicious and how clever to use the frozen taters. I’d have to add a little onion, though.
But you are going to HAVE to find out the rest of the story about guests who demand potato salad. That is like to keep me up at night wondering.
Awesome!!! I never would have thought to use frozen hash browns either! I was making potato salad once for a church potluck, and I overcooked the potatoes a bit. They got too mushy and mashed potato-like as I added everything in, and I ended up adding some canned, cubed potatoes from the pantry. It worked in a pinch, and my hubby still tells friends about my “mashed potato salad”, and how good it turned out!
I will definitely try cheese and bacon in the future, as both are loved in my house. And I also use the prepackaged real bacon bits that are sold in bags or jars at the store. Another good time saver. 🙂
Our School lunchroom used mashed(cream) potatoes to potato salad. Just added boiled egg, salad pickles and mayo. I do this if I have leftover creamed potatoes.
*to make potato salad.