Herbed Potato Salad (no mayo!)
This healthy potato salad recipe is full of fresh flavor. It's mayo-free and so easy to make. It'll be a big hit at your next party! Vegan and egg free.
Updated by Kathryne Taylor on September 5, 2024
I never truly loved a potato salad, until I made this one. This potato salad recipe is a riff on classic French potato salads, which contain no mayo and lots of herbs. I opted for lemon juice instead of vinegar for a super fresh-tasting salad.
Unlike standard potato salads that are drenched in mayonnaise, this red potato salad is lightly creamy yet miraculously mayo-free. This potato salad recipe is special diet friendly, too. It’s vegan, egg-free, dairy-free and gluten-free for all to enjoy.
Can I go ahead and call it the perfect potluck potato salad?
This potato salad is for my fellow last-minute people. When you’re scrambling to make yourself look decent, trying to scrounge together a side dish worth sharing, and letting the dog out all at the same time… Potato salad to the rescue!
This recipe is surprisingly simple and quick to make. I hope this potato salad becomes your go-to potluck recipe, as well as a standard side dish at your dinner table. It goes great with burgers, sandwiches, and much more.
Potato Salad Tips
After some trial and error, I’ve discovered some key tips to making great potato salad.
- To make the best mayo-free potato salad, reserve some potato cooking water before draining the potatoes. Then, blend the herbs and olive oil with the starchy reserved water. You’ll end up with a creamy emulsification that infuses the potatoes with fresh flavor.
- Another trick is to slice your potatoes before boiling, rather than afterward. That way, the potatoes don’t break down into mush when you’re tossing the salad later. Plus, your potatoes cook faster this way (five minutes!). We can thank the experts at America’s Test Kitchen for this technique.
Please let me know how you like this potato salad in the comments! I love to hear from you.
Looking for more fresh side dishes? You’ll find more side dish recipes here. Here are a few that would go well with this potato salad:
Watch How to Make Potato Salad
Herbed Potato Salad
This healthy potato salad recipe is full of fresh flavor. It’s mayo-free, easy to make, and sure to be a hit at your potluck! This salad is vegan, egg free and gluten free. Recipe yields 6 side servings.
Ingredients
- 2 pounds small red potatoes, scrubbed and sliced into ¼-inch thick rounds
- 1 tablespoon fine sea salt
- ¼ cup olive oil
- ⅓ cup lightly packed fresh flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped, plus about 2 tablespoons more for garnish
- ⅓ cup roughly chopped green onions, plus about 2 tablespoons thinly sliced for garnish
- 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
- 2 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
- Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 3 stalks celery, chopped
Instructions
- In a large saucepan or Dutch oven combine sliced potatoes and salt. Cover with water by 1 inch. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce heat to medium-low and cook until potatoes are easily pierced by a paring knife and pulled out with little resistance, about 5 to 6 minutes.
- Reserve ¼ cup cooking water, then drain. Transfer the potatoes to a large mixing bowl.
- In a small food processor or blender, combine the olive oil, ⅓ cup parsley, ⅓ cup green onions, lemon juice, Dijon mustard, garlic and freshly ground black pepper. Process until the herbs and garlic have been chopped into little pieces. Then, while running the food processor, pour in the reserved cooking water and process just until blended. (If you don’t have a food processor or blender, just finely chop the parsley and onions and whisk the dressing together until the oil is fully incorporated.)
- Drizzle the potatoes with the herbed olive oil mixture and gently mix to combine. (It will look like you’ve poured in too much dressing, but don’t worry, the potatoes will soak it up!) Let the potatoes rest for ten minutes, gently tossing every few minutes.
- Add the celery to the bowl, along with a couple tablespoons each of additional chopped parsley and green onions. Toss again. Season generously to taste with salt and pepper.
- Serve immediately, or cover and refrigerate until you’re ready to serve. This salad is best served within a few hours, but will keep in the refrigerator for about three days.
Notes
Recipe roughly adapted from America’s Test Kitchen’s The Complete Vegetarian Cookbook and The Sprouted Kitchen Bowl and Spoon.
Suggested equipment: I love my 11-cup Cuisinart food processor (affiliate link).
Nutrition
The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice. See our full nutrition disclosure here.
A healthier alternative to potato salad, and a wonderful way to use fresh summertime herbs. I also used fresh chives (as other people said they did in the comments) since that’s what I had on hand, but also added a little red onion to the dressing.
Hi , cooked potatoes. Does dressing go on warm potatoes? And if we are not eating for 2 days should I put dressing on warm potatoes or keep separate till we are ready to eat? Any difference in putting on right away or waiting 2 days? Thank you! Looks delicious!!!
Hi! This is best adding on as stated when the potatoes are still warm. I hope you enjoyed it!
Easy and delicious as promised!
Another winner! This is my new go to potato salad. Took some inspiration from others and added some fresh dill, garlic scapes ( in lieu of garlic) and kale from the garden. Maybe we should call this the green goddess potato salad?
I’m excited you love it! Thank you for sharing, Steph.
OMG. Fabulous. Made exactly as written. LOVE!!!!
Just the best summer potato salad ever! So versatile with whatever fresh herbs are in the garden. It always gets rave reviews! Thanks Kate, from another ‘Kate’
I’m glad you love it, Katriona! I appreciate your review.
My family doesn’t like mayo and this was a huge hit!y in laws loved it as well as the kids. Thank you! I will make it again. It’s a special experience warm but even three days later cold and delicious. Thanks!
We made this for the first time today. We used chives, fresh dill and fresh cilantro instead of parsley. The celery added a perfect crunch. I threw in a tablespoon of capers. My husband kept sampling it and declared it his new favorite!
Thanks
I love to hear that, Mary! Thank you for your review.
I love how easy the recipe is to make and that it’s egg and mayo free. I used regular russet potatoes and cut them in chunks. Not as pretty as it would have been with the red ones. Nevertheless, tasted great, still looked good with all the parsley & green onions and my husband and I really enjoyed it. We had leftover the next day and added a bit more mustard and some sweet pickle with its juice for sweetness and liked that too. Great recipe! Thank you!
You’re welcome, Ingrid! I appreciate your review.
LOVE LOVE this recipe! It’s perfectly delish. I brought it to a potluck at the beginning of the summer and friends were raving over it. We are about to have another potluck and they are requesting it! Thanks for the yummy recipe :)
You’re welcome, Tiffany! Thank you for your review.
Are green onions spring onions?
Similar and should work ok if you don’t have access to green onions.
I have Yukon gold potatoes from my garden. Can I use them instead of red potatoes? Does the sliced method work o4 are the potatoes too creamy?
You can try it, but it may not turn out the same due to their consistency. Let me know what you think!
I used Yukon gold and it worked great! So yummy!!
Wondering if I could add some lentils to make this salad into a meal?
I used Yukon gold and it worked great! So yummy!!oh my gosh that sounds great!!!
Thank you for sharing this!
I didn’t have parsley but did have some wild arugula with a bite that I chopped up and used instead. I also added fresh broccoli to the dressing along with adding some to the potatoes as they were in the final stages of cooking along with some sliced red onions.
Such a nice change.
I was so happy with the end results, as was everyone else!
Sweet Lord this is Delicious!
I’m glad you loved it! Thank you for your review, Lorriane.
It was very delicious. It’s going to be the potatoe salad to share with friends. Thank you.
Soooo disappointed in this, and I usually LOVE “french”-style potato salad without mayo. The texture was great, but mine was, can I say, even bitter? Family, usually very agreeable to new things, concurred. I do sometimes not love the sub of lemon juice for vinegar, feeling it is too sour, and this was the case here. I will give it another go with the same basic technique but maybe subbing tarragon vinegar instead. And maybe garnishing with fresh tarragon. Thoughts??
I’m sorry to hear that, Lynne. I recommend this best as written. IF you try that, I would be curious to hear how it turns out.
You need to be careful blending olive oil in a food processor or blender. Sometimes it happens to me, sometimes not, but blending the heck out of olive oil with water based ingredients, expecially something like lemon juice, can make it horribly bitter. Over blending the garlic can add to bitterness also. Try hand chopping everything well and mixing with a whisk and see if the bitterness is gone.
This was delightful. Thank you so much for sharing!
Great to hear, Kristine!
Very excited to try this. Is it best served cold or hot?
This is best right away or after it’s chilled.
Hi Kate, LOVE your recipes ❤️❤️
This looks so, so good but I don’t know I’ll be able to find red potatoes. I’m in Tasmania, Australia and we are known for beautiful pink eye spuds or dutch creams. I haven’t seen any red ones around. Could you suggest another type to use?
Thank you so much, & thank you for giving me a happy place to scroll when I’m up with my newborn at 3am ❤️❤️
Hi Louise! Responding from the US. We have many types of potatoes here and I always use whatever I have on hand for tater salad. They all work! Just simmer/boil until you can prick with a fork but the chunks don’t fall apart. It’s a good recipe. Hope all is going well with the little matey!
My favorite potato salad – my guests agree! Even my toddler likes it.
I love to hear that, Amanda!
Thankyou for such a different take on potato salad. I love love love it and will make it again and share with my family and friends.Great way to use lots of herbs.Flavour was amazing. I did add a tiny bit of Morton to take the sharpness off the lemons.
This potato salad is delicious.
Best thing ever made from internet recipes.
I can’t stop eating it – a shame because it’s meant to go out with me to a BBQ tomorrow!
Thank you clever clogs for giving me this recipe!
Respect❤️
Great to hear you enjoyed it, Alison!
Due to my GERD, I left the garlic & onion out, but it was still delicious! I’m always looking for vegetarian lunch ideas and this hit the mark. It was also quick & easy. Since I didn’t add the garlic & onion, there was no need to use a food processor, so clean up was easy, too! Thanks for the recipe!
I’m glad you were still able to enjoy it!
Hi
Can this frozen?
Thanks
I haven’t tried it, but I don’t think this would be a good freezer option.
This is the best potato salad ever!!!
With the exception of some chives, I made this as written and thought it was fantastic. Based on a review, I initially added less lemon juice, but it definitely needed the full amount. It was a huge hit, I will definitely make again. Thank you!
You’re welcome, Jake! Thank you for your review.
I pre-sliced the potatoes, a first for me. It took 6-7 min.for 4 lbs. dropped into boiling water. Followed the recipe exactly. It was the best potato salad we’ve had, company thought so also.
Great to hear, Eileen!
Made the Herb potato salad for a Summer birthday luncheon for my daughter. It was a big hit and copies of recipe went out to all. I actually (by mistake) left out the blending of the salad dressing but it was still delicious. Next time I’ll do it right anyway.
Thank you for sharing, Karla!
Made this salad today and it was delicious! I added some extra green onions and diced red onions. Added dill to the dressing. It seemed a bit flat, so I tossed in a splash of dill pickle juice and salt before serving. Will definitely make this again! What a great alternative to gloppy mayonnaise-y potato salad.
I haven’t made potato salad in years because y husband doesn’t like mayo. I found this recipe and was excited to try. You don’t miss the mayo at all!! That dressing is so full of flavor and is absolutely perfect!! I added some extra yummies to make it feel more like moms, Thank you! I am so happy to have potato salad back in rotation!!
Great to hear, Laurie! Thank you for sharing.
Great recipe, 1st time making it. It definitely is my 2nd favorite potato salad (my mom’s was the best) I added
chopped walnuts… a little less garlic for
those that don’t care for a lot of it. It was so easy to make. Thanks for the recipe.
You’re welcome, Jeff!
Hi, I don’t have a food processor and will whisk the dressing ingredients : do I skip the potato water or still include it? Thanks!
Hi Cathy, I would still include it and would just whisk vigorously to combine.
I made the salad before I got your reply; I did include it and whisked it well and it was fine. The salad was great and I’ll definitely make it again! Thank you!
Hi, can you tell me how many serving this recipe makes please?
Hi Tessa! The serving is in the nutrition facts or the recipe card. I hope you enjoy this recipe!
We loved this potato salad so much that we made it two days in a row. It is the PERFECT summer side dish. Thank you!
You’re welcome, Suzanne!
Best potato salad I’ve ever made/had! Thank you, it turned out wonderfully and was a hit at my party. Sorry I can’t supply a photo, it’s mostly gone…I have put a big star on my print out with GREAT! Next to it.
You’re welcome, Wendy!
I made this today and it turned out fantastic! I follow a recipe exactly as given then label it as a. Keep, b. Toss, or c. Tweak and Keep. This recipe is a “Keep” category. I did miss the eggs so I may add them next time I make it but only for personal taste. Thank you for sharing, Kate!
I have a large bag of medium size yellow potatoes. Can I use them?
This is best as written, but you can try it. Let me know what you think, Lori!
Made it twice since finding the recipe last week. Simple and quick to make -start to finish (including washing the dishes)in 40 minutes. My family loved it. Even better warm, which can be done after the fact with a little time in the microwave. Thanks for sharing.
This recipe was so awful I ended up throwing it out. Too acidic. Pretty much inedible.
This is now my go to potato salad recipe! Everyone LOVES it and everyone can eat it! From Kate to Kate…many thanks
You’re welcome, Katriona!
I really love the tip of pre-slicing the potatoes! Most times I make potato salad and I overcook it and it’s mushy but these came out perfect. I did a couple jalapenos to the herb blend and that was delish too!
Delicous :) thank you!
You’re welcome, Emma!
Delicious! Added dill and chives after reading some of the other reviews and it was divine, highly recommend!
Thank you for your review, Aisha!
This would work superbly as a pasta salad with the same principle. Save 1/4 c pasta water which is starchy and will emulsify just the same as the potato water does.
This came out great! Delicious bright flavor and healthy too. Will definitely make again.
Love this recipe! I’ve mixed it up with basil instead of parsley which is delicious for another option, and subbed celery for beans (one of my kids won’t touch celery).
I’m trying to make meals go further and reduce food waste. This dressing is amazing when using some of the potato cooking water and adding to spuds when warm, but has anyone had success with making a whole lotta dressing (to use full lemon/herbs etc) and freezing?
Thanks
This herbal potato salad is off the chart. I’m having it today for Easter with my family. This is going to be one of my all-time favorites. Thank you for sharing your recipes.
Hi Kate,
Thank you for sharing! I can’t eat celery. I think this recipe would work without it, mo? Otherwise, anything else you’d suggest? Thanks.
Hi Ariadny, you could make it without the celery but it will lack that “crunch.” Do you like radishes? Those might be interesting to try.
Thank you :)
This potato salad was a winner at our Mother’s Day Brunch today! My adult daughter has never liked mayo, so this was perfect and much appreciated by her – and so easy to make and delicious! I took the suggestion of some of the commenters and added a little bit of fresh chives at the end with the parsley and green onion garnish. With or without the chives, it would be great! Thanks, Kate! I got Mom brownie points today! ;)
So so good! Will be making this again!
Does this work well made a day ahead?
Yes, this easily keeps for a few days in the refrigerator.