Sour Cream Potato Salad with Bacon (Potato Salad Without Mayo)

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My favorite sour cream potato salad with bacon and dill and without mayo.

 

NO MAYO POTATO SALAD

 

 

This sour cream potato salad with bacon might become your favorite salad this coming summer. Perfect for a barbecue in the garden, for a potluck party or as a light meal in between. Really, you will not miss anything if all you have for lunch is this potato salad with dill and bacon.

There is always a potato salad at any garden party we organize in the summer. Most of the time are either my mother-in-law’s simple but always delicious potato salad with mayonnaise or my lighter version of a German potato salad with a broth and vinegar dressing.

Both amazing, but ever since discovering this particular sour cream no mayo potato salad recipe I kind of forgot about the other two, I keep making this one.

Actually, I have only made this sour cream potato salad with bacon in November or December for the first time. So, although I didn’t really have the chance to eat it in the garden until now, I must have cooked at least 5 or 6 times ever since, which is a lot.

I know for sure that this sour cream potato salad will be the most loved salad during the barbecue season this spring and summer.

 

 

WHAT POTATOES FOR POTATO SALAD

How to know which potatoes are best for making sour cream potato salad or any other potato salad?

• NOT floury potatoes, that for sure! Floury or starchy potatoes will fall apart when cooked and the salad will be a mess. Floury potatoes are best when making mashed potatoes or baked potatoes.
• The best potatoes to use for a potato salad are waxy potatoes. They contain less starch than starchy potatoes and will keep their shape best when cooked. Look for red potatoes, new or fingerling potatoes.
• I prefer to use small, thin-skinned waxy potatoes when making this sour cream potato salad or any other potato salad.
• However, if you did not buy potatoes especially to make a salad, you can use other sorts of potatoes as well. All-purpose potatoes will give the salad a softer texture, they will disintegrate slightly when mixed and the salad will be creamier.
• Just make sure that they are not starchy potatoes as they will fall apart in the salad and you will have more of potato mash with bits of bacon than a potato salad.

 

 

HOW TO COOK POTATOES FOR A SALAD

• Cook potatoes for salads whole and in their skin. Whole potatoes maintain more of their flavor and have a much better texture when compared with potatoes that have been peeled and cubed or sliced before boiling. Make sure that all potatoes are similar in size.
• It is preferable to use small or medium-small potatoes for making potato salad. I found that when using large potatoes, they not only take longer to cook but almost always have a rather grainy middle which might cause them to break when sliced.
• So, I have learned to only buy small or medium-small waxy potatoes for salads. They cook faster, are easy to peel and can be easily and perfectly sliced.

 

 

• Scrub the potatoes well before cooking.
• Place the potatoes in a pan or pot large enough to hold them all comfortably. Cover well with cold water. Add salt generously, salt is important as it will increase the flavor of the potatoes, they will not taste salty, just have more flavor.
• Bring to a boil. Turn the heat down and simmer the potatoes uncovered. Covering the pot might make the potatoes turn mushy.
• Start checking after 5 minutes already, if the potatoes are very small. Depending on their size the potatoes will need between 10 and 20 minutes to become tender. Check by pushing a fork, small knife or skewer through their center. The utensil used should slide easily all the way to the center of the potato.
• Drain the potatoes in a colander immediately and rinse them with very cold water to stop them from cooking.
• Leave them for 5-10 minutes until cool enough to handle. Now you can peel and slice them.

 

 

HOW TO MAKE SOUR CREAM POTATO SALAD

• To make the sour cream potato salad with bacon, start by cooking the potatoes as instructed above. Peel and slice the potatoes. Place them in a large bowl.
• Cook the bacon in a pan. Let it cool slightly and break it into small pieces. Set aside. If you want to keep the sour cream potato salad vegetarian, leave out the bacon.
• You can also replace the bacon with some hard-boiled eggs or add some extra hard-boiled eggs to the potato salad with bacon as well. I have done it, it is delicious!
• Slice the scallions/green onions into thin rings. Place them in the bowl containing the potatoes.

 

 

DRESSING FOR THE SOUR CREAM POTATO SALAD

This is a potato salad without mayo, which I think makes a wonderful change from the delicious but rather heavy potato salads with mayonnaise. The sour cream and the apple cider vinegar give the potato salad with bacon a slightly tangy flavor, which I absolutely love.

• To make the dressing place the sour cream in a small bowl. Add the single or heavy cream and stir well. The cream will loosen the texture of the sour cream, increasing the creaminess of the dressing and cutting slightly through the sourness.
• Add the apple cider vinegar, mustard, sugar, salt, and pepper to taste. Stir well again and fold in the chopped dill.

 

 

Pour the sour cream dressing over the potatoes, add the bacon bits and stir well but carefully, you don’t want to break the potatoes.

You can serve the sour cream potato salad immediately or place it in the fridge (covered) for later. Bring to room temperature before serving.

 

 

MORE POTATO SALADS:

GERMAN POTATO SALAD – SWABIAN OIL AND VINEGAR POTATO SALAD

POTATO SALAD WITH EGGS – ROMANIAN ORIENTAL SALAD

SALAD A LA RUSSE

ROMANIAN BOEUF SALAD

 

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