Loaded Baked Potato Salad (Easy Video Recipe)

Name: Loaded Baked Potato Salad
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 10 min
Total time: 20 min
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: 6 large Yukon Gold, Russet, or red potatoes; 3/4 C sour cream; 6 Tb mayonaise (not Miracle whip); 3/4 C shredded cheddar cheese; 4 green onions, chopped; 12 strips bacon, cooked crisp and crumbled or 2.5 oz bag precooked bacon pieces; 1 1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper; 2 tsp kosher salt, divided

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Loaded Baked Potato Salad is packed with cheese, bacon, sour cream, and a dash of mayo to make it taste like your favorite stuffed potato. This creamy recipe will turn your potato salad haters into potato salad lovers. This easy BBQ side dish recipe will be an instant hit for all your summer parties and backyard gatherings. You won’t believe how easily the recipe comes together.

Why I Love Loaded Baked Potato Salad

Mainly, this recipe hits home because I need some serious carbs in my life right now. You see, there’s only one week left until summer break. As a mom of six school-aged kids, I am extremely relieved and excited. However, I am also anxious and full of dread.

The first two weeks of summer vacation are comparable to the first two weeks with a newborn baby. You are so happy and miserable all at the same time. You have to keep reminding yourself just to gut it out, then everything will get significantly better. After those first two weeks, everyone makes the needed adjustments and settles into the new schedule. Emotions calm back down to an acceptable level. The new summer mojo becomes the new normal and life chugs along.

To help me prepare for the inevitable summer, I took a gamble on this loaded baked potato salad. It is safe to say that I am ambivalent when it comes to potato salad. Until this recipe, I have never had a potato salad that was worth the carbs and calories! This salad completely changed my opinion. As I shoveled this down, I kept telling myself I needed the carbs for my 5-mile run in the morning. I think I need to double it to 10 miles for the amount I ate. It was life-changing!

Loaded Baked Potato Salad Ingredients

What makes this loaded baked potato salad recipe amazing is that it uses simple ingredients. All the best recipes keep the ingredients whole and the flavors amazing.

Yellow or red potatoes
Shredded cheese
Cooked bacon
Green onions
Sour cream
Mayonaise
Kosher salt
Black pepper

How to Make Loaded Baked Potato Salad

The recipe for this loaded baked potato salad comes together in just a few minutes and there’s no need to chill it before serving.

Time needed: 20 minutes

How To Make Loaded Baked Potato Salad

Prepare the potatoes
Dice the potatoes and boil for 10 minutes in salted water. Cook them long enough just until they are fork tender.
Prepare the base of the salad
Combine the salad mix-ins of bacon, cheese, and green onions with the sour cream, mayonnaise, and seasonings.
Combine the base with the cooked potatoes while they are still warm.
Doing this allows the potatoes to absorb some flavor from the salad base.
Serve at room temperature
You can also chill it and serve it cold if you prefer.

Loaded Baked Potato Salad FAQs

How do you make potato salad special?

Potato salad has a bad reputation for good reasons! No one likes bland potatoes coated in way too much mayonnaise. To make potato salad special, reduce the mayonnaise and replace it with sour cream instead. This keeps the dressing from overpowering the flavors of the salad. Next, think of all the toppings you love on a baked potato and add those: bacon, cheese, and green onions are a great place to start.

What is the base of potato salad?

The base of a potato salad is dependent on the recipe but usually includes mayonnaise and pickle relish. It is fairly strong and can easily overpower the flavor of the potatoes and any mix-ins such as vegetables, bacon, cheese, and onion. For this reason, the base of this recipe uses sour cream with just a hint of mayonnaise.

Can I use red potatoes instead of yellow?

Yes, red potatoes would work well in this loaded baked potato salad. They are waxier potatoes so the texture will be slightly different. Also, yellow or Yukon gold potatoes have a natural buttery flavor to them. To compensate for that when using red potatoes, add a tablespoon of butter to the finished potatoes and allow them to absorb it while they cool after cooking.

How to make loaded baked potato salad ahead of time

Loaded baked potato salad can easily be made ahead of time and tastes just as delicious as the day it was made. Prepare the recipe as instructed below and transfer it into a large airtight container before storing it in the refrigerator. You can make this 5 days in advance and it will still be good to eat. I prefer the salad at room temperature so you can either eat it cold or take the cold off in the microwave before serving.

How long is potato salad good for?

As long as you have kept the salad at a safe temperature while serving it, the leftover potato salad will be good for at least five days. Store it in an airtight container inside the refrigerator until you are ready to eat the leftovers. It could be good past the 5 days but use your best judgment. A refrigerator doesn’t keep bacteria from growing on your food. It just slows that growth.

Baked Potato Salad Recipe Variations

Being a home cook provides endless opportunities to experiment with recipes, personalizing them to your tastes and creativity. Any of the following variations would be great spin-offs of this loaded baked potato salad recipe.

Add spice to the dressing with a few shakes of red pepper flakes, or a few shakes of your favorite hot sauce. You could also add some fresh diced jalapenos with the green onions.
Add vegetables to the salad for a bit more fiber and flavor. Small pieces of blanched broccoli or cauliflower would be delicious. As would fresh chopped bell peppers and mushrooms.
Make it vegetarian by either eliminating the bacon or using a bacon substitute. If you want to add protein to the salad, you could use garbanzo beans in the salad.
Add more protein with some chopped cooked chicken or your favorite beans.

What to Serve With Loaded Baked Potato Salad

While potato salad is often reserved for backyard BBQs and picnics, this specific recipe really pairs well as a side dish with so many dinner recipes. When deciding what to serve with the salad, keep in mind that it is creamy and rich from the dressing, cheese, and bacon. Think about recipes that balance that on the other end of the spectrum. Here are a few suggestions:

Loaded Baked Potato Salad Video

Watch this short video to see how easy it is to make a loaded baked potato salad at your house! You’ll never buy the nasty stuff from the store again.

Looking For More BBQ Side Dishes?

If this loaded potato salad was just what you were looking for, be sure to check out these other delicious recipes. Go grab them now before you forget!

smoked mac and cheese in a blue bowl — Smoked Mac and Cheese

broccoli cauliflower salad — Smoked Mac and Cheese

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Loaded Baked Potato Salad

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Print Recipe

Our favorite BBQ side dish recipe because we hate normal potato salad. This tastes just like a baked potato with cheese, bacon and sour cream.

Total Time: 20 minutes
Yield: 12 servings 1x

Ingredients

Scale

6 large Yukon Gold, Russet, or red potatoes
3/4 C sour cream
6 Tb mayonaise (not Miracle whip)
3/4 C shredded cheddar cheese
4 green onions, chopped
12 strips bacon, cooked crisp and crumbled or 2.5 oz bag precooked bacon pieces
1 1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
2 tsp kosher salt, divided

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Instructions

If you desire, peel the potatoes or leave the skin on for a more rustic salad. Dice the potatoes into bite sizes pieces. Put them in a large pot of water and cover the potatoes with cold water. Add 1 tsp kosher salt to the water, cover, and bring to a boil.
Once boiling, cook for about 8-10 minutes depending on the size of the potato pieces. You want them tender enough to cut through them with a fork, but not so tender that they fall apart. Keep an eye on them! Drain the potatoes and set aside to cool a bit.
Mix together all the remaining ingredients in a medium bowl, holding back a bit of the green onions and bacon for the topping on the salad. Once the potatoes have cooled slightly, mix in the dressing, top with the green onions and bacon you set aside.
Serve immediately if you would like it warm. You can also serve it cold, but wait to top it with the extra chives and bacon until serving.

Author: Carole Jones
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Category: Side Dish
Method: Boiled
Cuisine: American

Nutrition

Serving Size: 1/12th
Calories: 148
Sugar: 1 g
Sodium: 490 mg
Fat: 5 g
Saturated Fat: 2 g
Unsaturated Fat: 2 g
Trans Fat: 0 g
Carbohydrates: 18 g
Fiber: 2 g
Protein: 7 g
Cholesterol: 12 mg

73 comments

Thanks for sharing this recipe. There are some things that I do differently but I’m not great at potato salad so I’ll try this one. One thing caught me… there’s no ‘baked’ potatoes in this baked potato salad recipe. I was so confused for a bit. haha.

Very good point Lisa! I call it that because it has all the ingredients people love in a baked potato. You could certainly bake your potatoes if you want and then make them into the salad 🙂

I cannot wait to try this. It sounds delicious and easy to make. I am a little puzzled by the name though. Loaded Baked Potato Salad? You do not use baked potatoes nor do you bake this. Am I missing something?

Hey there Judy! No, you are completely correct. I refer to it as baked potato salad because it tastes just like a loaded baked potato with sour cream, bacon, cheese and green onions. Come back and let me know how you liked it!

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Hey I love Miracle whip in my Potato salad. :O) kidding aside I made this with just sour cream, Never with mayo, and sour cream… Looks good thanks for the recipe…

Thanks for your comment Chris! Glad you make it work for you!

We are going to a family get together and I was asked to bring the potato salad because “your is the best. So yummy!” I will give you the credit this time! Thanks for the wonderful recipe.