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’ll have to remember the hashbrowns for the next time I need a quick potato salad just for us. Normally while boiling my potatoes I go ahead and mix my mayo, mustard, dill relish and onions and let that be sitting in the fridge to stay cold. Then as soon as potatoes are tender drain and add and in an hour or so we are ready. Will have to try some bacon in the next round too!
Lora, I was trying to decide whether or not to comment on this, but decided to because it’s a matter of food safety. When you finish boiling your potatoes, please rinse them under cold water until they’re chilly, drain, then add your dressing. I learned in a cooking class and a food safety handling class that since cooked potatoes go bad so fast (because they’re really low in acid), adding mayo (which acts as an insulator) to hot potatoes and then sticking them in the fridge really reduces how long your potato salad is good for. When you hear about people getting food poisoning from potato salad, it’s not really from the mayo (assuming you use jarred mayo from the store and don’t make your own from raw eggs), it’s from the potatoes. Also an advantage to rinsing the potatoes under cold water is that the salad is pretty much ready to eat right away since everything’s already cold 🙂
Anything to make cooking easier.. I’m a fan of! Thank ya Christy Lou!
Christy – getting your email in my mailbox is the highlight of my day. (Just wanted you to know that!) I am a “displaced” GRITS and reading your recipes just feels like home to me. Love the idea for a quick potato salad. Gonna try it 4th of July weekend!
I have been using frozen potatoes for a while. I even like the shredded ones. There is an Amish place here called The Cheese Shop that makes the BEST potato salad I’ve ever eaten. They used shredded potatoes, vinegar, majo, sugar, sweet pickle, and egg.
I’ve NEVER heard of putting cheese in potato salad – and I am a Cheese-a-holic from way back. I’m really going to have to try this! Also, I use my microwave egg poacher to do “hard boiled eggs” to chop for potato salad. It’s fast and EASY!
Hey Girl, Just love your humor do you ever get into trouble with some of your sayings I know I sure do.
Just a thought to make this quicker and keep the bacon in it, they have the already cooked thin very crispy bacon that could be kept on hand just for this time if you can keep the kiddos out of it for breakfast. Crumbles very nicely as well.
Keep up the good work you life my spirits for the day.
I BOIL MY EGGS IN THE POT WITH MY POTATOES….WORKS WELL WHEN BOILING REG. POTATOES….COULD MAKE WORK HERE TOO!
Thanks for the potato salad recipe!! Honestly I am not a fan of potato salad, my mom always makes it with onions & celery which ok I dislike both lol. So this is awesome because it has neither! I’m definitely going to give this a try this weekend!