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.
Making this today to go with BLT sandwiches tonight! Easy supper!!
Hey this is the potoato salad my mama makes, I’ve never had it anywhere else. She adds pickle juice to the “dressing” of mayo and mustard but otherwise it’s the same! Great idea to use hashbrowns. I’ll make this for her soon!
So far, I am seeing yellow and brown. How about a little color and add delicious green garden onions? Makes it pretty and delicious. Green peppers give it color and adds a totally different flavor…maybe even some fresh cut-up tomatoes – I don’t know…never tried tomatoes.
I’m thinking using cream cheese instead of shredded will make the sauce really creamy and good. It’s better for us also…going to make one this weekend….going to make about three kinds to give all of them a try…some with…some without…some fried…some not…experiment, experiment, experiment, using some of these neat suggestions from all of you.
Christy, it sounds great. I’m wondering how it would taste to lightly fry the hashbrowns in coconut oil first. It would give it a different taste, for sure. I’m going to try it both ways. Thanks so much for the frozen potatoes idea.
Glad to know about the “Southern Style” hash browns. I’ve seen cooking shows that said you could pick up diced potatoes in your produce aisle. Well in downtown Moulton, we don’t have anything diced or pre-prepared in the produce aisle. I’ll be trying this for the 4th picnic.
Umm, sounds so good and so easy. I like to eat my potato salad warm, so this would be so easy to do. Thank you again for such an easy recipe. Being a mom of three, it’s always appreciated when you bring to us quick, easy, delicious recipes. Thank you so much!!
This is a fantastic idea! Way to go, Christy 🙂 I think I’ll have to make some potato salad here soon. I love that your base recipe is pretty much the same as mine- I put in more like 8 eggs because my fiance prefers for his potato salad to resemble egg salad (which he would just eat with a fork if given the opportunity). Also, last summer I figured out that using a combination of sour cream and mayo results in super creamy and wonderful potato salad. Even light mayo and light sour cream are good 🙂 I want to try making the dressing with light mayo and fat free Greek yogurt. May sound gross, but Greek yogurt is so thick and not as tart as normal yogurt (we’ve actually been using it in place of sour cream on tacos and the like, and I use it in dips), so I think it would be good in potato salad. If you sprinkle a little paprika on top of the finished potato salad, you can call it “Deviled Potato Salad” since it’s pretty much deviled eggs plus taters!
I like to make “Deviled Potato Salad” too! I like to take all the yolks and mash them up with the mayo like you do when you make deviled eggs…So yummy!
I have thought about using frozen potatoes before, but was worried they might get mushy??