This Italian Potato Salad will be your new favorite side dish of summer with just 10 ingredients and assembled in under 45 minutes. With fresh flavors of basil, oregano, cherry tomatoes, and olives, it’s guaranteed to be a crowd pleaser at your next picnic or barbecue.
When summer rolls around, my family and friends are always requesting this potato salad at a picnic or barbecue. Now potato salad can be controversial—it’s the perfect dish for mayo lovers and haters to battle over. This potato salad has an olive oil-based dressing, using Italian flavors. And since this isn’t trying to be classic, we can love it for what it is. A delicious, fresh and healthy take on a classic side dish.
And in keeping with not being traditional, I totally get that potato salad it not an authentic Italian recipe. I just love the idea of tossing a zesty homemade Italian dressing over warm baby Yukon gold potatoes, grape tomatoes and fresh basil. It’s so much flavor in each bite.
Plus, we wanted to make sure when developing the recipe that it used a short list of simple ingredients—you only need 10 ingredients to make this recipe!
So get ready to convert any potato salad haters into lovers with this delicious version. If you need another summer salad to take to a party, we have you covered. Try our Carrot and Cucumber Salad, Mediterranean Pasta Salad, or Burrata Caprese Salad.
Table of Contents
Why You’ll Love this Recipe
- Your favorite Italian flavors meet an American favorite. It’s the best of both worlds, ingredients like olives, basil, oregano, and cherry tomatoes are added to a classic potato salad that’s bursting with zippy flavor.
- The perfect summer side dish in under an hour. This recipe is ideal for entertaining thanks to its simplicity. Make it a couple hours or up to 24 hours in advance—great for meal prep or large picnics or barbecues.
- Olive oil-based potato salads will be your new favorite. With no mayonnaise in the dressing, this type of potato salad can be served room temperature or even slightly warm. Ideal for a party or buffet that lasts several hours.
- It’s gluten-free, vegetarian, and vegan. So everyone can eat it! That’s why this really is the best recipe to bring to a picnic, potluck, or backyard barbecue.
Ingredients
For the Potato Salad:
- Baby gold potatoes: Perfect for boiling, they’re creamy and smooth when tender, plus they nicely soak up the dressing.
- Shallot: Adds a light and slightly sweet onion flavor to the salad. Our pro tip is to soak the chopped shallot in cold water while you prep the rest of the dish. This washes away some of the sharp shallot flavor that tends to hang around when used raw.
- Grape tomatoes: Fresh and juicy in flavor, they add brightness to each bite.
- Pimento-stuffed manzanilla olives: Briny and tangy, olives are delicious in this olive oil based potato salad.
- Fresh oregano: Use fresh instead of dried for this recipe, it makes the flavors so much more vibrant!
- Fresh basil leaves: We can’t make an Italian-inspired recipe without the fresh flavors of basil. It takes this salad to a whole new level.
For the Dressing:
- Extra-virgin olive oil: The base of any great salad dressing, choose a good quality oil that’s rich in flavor.
- Red wine vinegar: The acid to round out all of the flavors, it also lightens up an otherwise somewhat heavy side dish.
- Dijon mustard: Adds another hint of acidic punch to the dressing and helps to emulsify it.
- Honey: We always add a touch of sweetness to acidic salad dressings, and the floral notes of honey do just the trick. You can also use granulated sugar.
- Red chili flakes: You can never go wrong with the slightest hint of spice. Be as light or heavy handed as you’d like.
lauren’s Tip
With an olive oil-based potato salad rather than a mayo-based potato salad, it’s better to serve it at room temperature or a little warm.
How to Make Italian Potato Salad
- Add potatoes to a large saute pan and cover with 2 inches of cold water. Place pan over medium-high heat and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium and simmer until potatoes are fork-tender, about 20 minutes. Drain potatoes and allow to cool slightly.
- Meanwhile, add the diced shallot to a small bowl. Cover with cold water and set aside (this takes out some of the sharp flavor).
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the olive oil, vinegar, Dijon, honey, salt and red pepper flakes.
- Once the potatoes are cool enough to handle, tear the potatoes into bite-sized pieces and add to a bowl with the dressing.
- Drain the shallot and add to the potatoes with the tomatoes, olives, oregano, and basil. Toss to combine and season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve.
Expert Tips
- Start your potatoes in cold water prior to boiling. This ensures even and consistent cooking so the potatoes are nice and tender. It’s how the pro chefs cook many at once in a restaurant.
- Toss the potatoes in the dressing while they are still a little bit warm. This is key! The potatoes will soak up the dressing more when they are warm which yields even better flavor.
- Tear the potatoes for better texture. Rather than use a knife to dice all the potatoes, tear them with your hands when they are cool enough to handle. It creates craggy edges that hold onto the dressing better. Genius!
- Soaking the raw shallot removes the bitterness. Yes, not everyone is a fan of raw shallots or onion, but if you simply soak them in cold water for 10 minutes before tossing in a recipe, they become more mild and palatable.
Storage & Make Ahead Instructions
Store the Italian potato salad in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days. Allow to sit at room temperature for 30 minutes before serving to take the chill off.
You can make this salad up to one day in advance, we actually prefer it that way since it allows all the flavors to meld together.
Variations
There are so many different ingredients you can add to a potato salad, that’s what makes them so lovable. Some other Italian-inspired ingredients you could add that we’ve like include:
- Mozzarella pearls
- Capers
- Pepperoncini peppers
- Chopped pepperoni or salami
- Nuts like pine nuts or walnuts
Any way you choose to make it, this salad is guaranteed to be requested by friends and family time and time again.
What to Serve with Italian Potato Salad
We have lots of great ideas of what to pair with this simple, yet flavorful side dish. When it comes to steak, we happen to be experts, our ribeye steak and skirt steak recipes are about as foolproof as they come.
You also can’t go wrong with a classic smash burger or a mushroom veggie burger.
In terms of other sides to round out the menu, blackened corn and peach and cucumber salad are insanely tasty in the height of summer.
Frequently Asked Questions
We suggest olives, olive oil, vinegar, fresh herbs like basil and parsley, cherry tomatoes, red onion or shallot, and even capers.
We love waxy baby potatoes whether they are red bliss or Yukon gold. They hold their shape and are deliciously creamy in texture when cooked correctly.
Make sure you don’t stir together the ingredients more than a day in advance. Be sure to also drain the potatoes very well after boiling so any excess liquid doesn’t go into the salad.
Yes, an olive oil-based potato salad is best when served at room temperature or even slightly warm.
More Delicious Salad Recipes
Italian Potato Salad
Description
Ingredients
- 1 pound baby gold potatoes
- 1 small shallot, finely diced
- 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
- 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
- 1 teaspoon honey or sugar
- kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
- ¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
- 1 cup grape tomatoes, halved
- ⅓ cup pimento-stuffed manzanilla olives, halved
- 2 tablespoons fresh basil leaves, chopped
- 1 tablespoon fresh oregano, minced
Instructions
- Add 1 pound potatoes to a large sauté pan and cover with 2 inches of cold water. Place pan over medium-high heat and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium and simmer until potatoes are fork-tender, about 20 minutes. Drain potatoes and allow to cool slightly.
- Meanwhile, add 1 diced shallot to a small bowl. Cover with cold water and set aside (this takes out some of the sharp flavor).
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together 3 tablespoons olive oil, 2 tablespoons vinegar, 1 tablespoon Dijon, 1 teaspoon honey, 1 teaspoon kosher salt and ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes.
- Once potatoes are cool enough to handle, tear potatoes into bite-sized pieces and add to a bowl with vinaigrette.
- Drain shallot and add to potatoes with 1 cup tomatoes, ⅓ cup olives, 2 tablespoons basil and 1 tablespoon oregano. Toss to combine and season to taste with salt and pepper.
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Equipment
Notes
- Store the Italian potato salad in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days. Allow to sit at room temperature for 30 minutes before serving to take the chill off.
- You can make this salad up to one day in advance, we actually prefer it that way since it allows all the flavors to marinate together.
- Start your potatoes in cold water prior to boiling. This ensures even and consistent cooking so the potatoes are nice and tender. It’s how the pro chefs cook many at once in a restaurant.
- Toss the potatoes in the dressing while they are still a little bit warm. This is key! The potatoes will soak up the dressing more when they are warm which yields even better flavor.
- Tear the potatoes for better texture. Rather than use a knife to dice all the potatoes, tear them with your hands when they are cool to the touch. It creates the most delicious texture, you’ll never make a potato salad any other way.
- Soaking the raw shallot removes the bitterness. Yes, not everyone is a fan of raw shallots or onion, but if you simply soak them in cold water for 10 minutes before tossing in a recipe, they actually become quite delicious.
