This vegan potato salad with no mayo is a super easy summer side dish that comes together with just a few ingredients! It tastes just like salt and vinegar potato chips, has tons of fresh herbs, and can be served warm or at room temp. I love it with cast iron skillet salmon for a delicious weeknight dinner, or as a summer potluck side dish offering.
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Hello, hello flavors of middle school chip dreams wrapped up in some adult ingredients.
LOOK! It's a no mayo potato salad!
Listen, I love super fatty, carby side dishes in the summer. Seriously. A lot. BUT, I'm also into dishes that can feed a variety of dishes and are light enough that we can Eat All The Things and not feel uncomfortably full.
Like this vegan potato salad! This is one of those side dishes that goes with ANYTHING all summer, and the flavor combo is riiiight in the middle of salt and vinegar and sour cream and onion potato chips, aka heaven.
Ingredients:
Gather up ingredients first! Some potatoes, oil, vinegar, some green stuff, salt and pepper. That's it. I've made this with extra chopped veggies before (cucumbers, celery, etc) but my favorite version is honestly the plain herby vinegar-ed potato salad.
Ingredient Notes:
- Potatoes: Use any kind of potatoes you have on hand or love for this potato salad! I love potato skins and can't be bothered with peeling things that are completely edible, but you can peel the potatoes if you'd like.
- Herbs: I like to use soft herbs for this such as parsley, mint, cilantro, basil, and dill. Use a combo, use all of one, totally depends on your preference and what you have! I particularly like dill and parsley together, but combos of any of the above works great.
- Vinegar: I use white distilled vinegar for this, but any mild vinegar you like will work well such as champagne vinegar or rice vinegar. Make sure to choose a plain, mild vinegar so that the flavors of the herbs and potatoes shine through. No balsamic or white balsamic unless you want a balsamic potato salad.
Vegan Potato Salad Recipe:
So, it's easy! Scrub the potatoes well, then cut them into bite-sized chunks. Place the potatoes in a large pot with water and salt. The water should come to about 2 inches ABOVE the potatoes.
Add 1 tablespoon of salt here, too!
Bring the potatoes to a boil and boil them for 7-10 minutes until the potatoes are fork tender. Check them after 7 minutes to be sure they don't overcook. Since we aren't making mashed potatoes we want the potatoes just barely cooked, not mushy if possible.
(in fairness, sometimes my potatoes get mushy and this potato salad is still delicious with slightly softer potatoes)
While the potatoes are cooking, slice the green onions and chop the herbs.
Drain the potatoes when they're cooked, and transfer them to a large bowl.
While the potatoes are still warm, drizzle them with the oil and vinegar. Give the potatoes a gentle stir and taste; they should already be tasting really, really good.
Add the salt, herbs, scallions, and several grinds of pepper. Stir the potato salad all together, and keep tasting for seasoning. The potatoes should be tender and not dry after the addition of the oil and vinegar, and tangy + salty. The best possible plain potato situation, basically.
Prep and Notes
- You could absolutely make this a few days in advance and keep it in the fridge - just taste it before you serve it and add more oil and vinegar if it dries out a bit! Flavors sometimes diminish in prepped items or leftovers, so don't hesitate to add more vinegar/oil/salt to the situation.
- I love serving this warm or at room temperature as well. It's a little reminiscent of a German Potato salad minus the bacon dressing (not a bad thing), and goes so well with tons of summer dishes.
I love this as a summer potluck side dish offering, but it's also GREAT with some favorite dishes to make an entire meal. Throw some things on the grill, maybe a greens salad, and tangy, herby potato salad to round things out.
What to Serve with Vegan Potato Salad
- Grilled marinated chicken
- Spicy grilled shrimp
- Baked tofu
- Snap pea salad
- Corn and tomato skillet
- Warm lobster rolls
THE POINT IS, this potato salad checks tons of boxes and is hugely flavorful no matter what it's served with. I hope you love it!
Recipe
Vegan Potato Salad
Ingredients
- 2 ½ pounds gold potatoes scrubbed and cut into 1-inch pieces
- ⅓ cup white vinegar
- ⅓ cup olive oil
- ½ cup mixed fresh herbs chopped
- 4 scallions thinly sliced
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- black pepper
Instructions
- Place the cut potatoes in a large pot. Cover with water by at least 2 inches and salt the water well. Bring the water to a boil and boil the potatoes uncovered for 7-10 minutes just until fork-tender but not mushy. Drain the potatoes and place them in a bowl to cool.
- While the potatoes are boiling, I chop, slice, and measure the rest of the ingredients.
- When the potatoes have cooled just slightly but are still warm, drizzle with the oil and vinegar. Add the salt and a few grinds or pinches of black pepper, and stir gently to combine.
- Taste the potatoes for seasoning. They should taste wonderful. If they’re a little bland or dry, add more salt, pepper, oil, or vinegar until you think “wow, that’s a really freaking good plain potato.” Salt is usually the answer here.
- Add the herbs and scallions to the potatoes. Stir gently again, and taste once more to be sure the potato salad is amazing.
- Serve warm, at room temperature, or cold. Enjoy!
Notes
This recipe was originally published in July 2012 and has been updated with new text and images. It's still just as delicious!
This makes the perfect side dish to my favorite main dishes or pasta! It looks really good!
Such a great side dish! Thanks for the recipe! d
this potato salad turned out amazing! super great for a quick and tasty side!
Salt and vinegar potato salad looks delicious
So delicious and rich in flavor. We are making it again for this weekend's bbq. Thank you.
I'll prepare this vegan potato salad this coming weekend. Thanks!:)
One of my favourite summer salads, even as a non vegan. I love that you can leave it out for a longer time than mayo based potato salads but it still has amazing flavour.
Now that looks amazing!!