What’s not to love when everything you love about loaded baked potatoes meets the South’s favorite side dish, easy potato salad? Tender potatoes and all the best baked potato toppings- chopped bacon, sharp cheddar, green onions and a creamy sour cream dressing with a little Ranch seasoning- are tossed together to make a Loaded Baked Potato Salad everyone will crave!
What Is Baked Potato Salad?
To set the record straight, this isn’t a baked ‘potato salad.’ It’s a baked potato ‘potato salad’- a potato salad that uses the ingredients of and is made to taste just like your favorite loaded steakhouse baked potato!
It can be served warm or chilled and is tender, “baked potato” fluffy and absolutely loaded with all the things that make a baked potato so good- sour cream, salty bacon, shredded cheddar and a bit of green onion! It’s everything you love about a baked potato in one easy scoop, making it perfect to serve at tailgates, potlucks and cookouts.
What Makes This Potato Salad Different
- This salad is different from a classic potato salad recipe because the potatoes are baked instead of boiled.
- Loaded Baked Potato Salad also uses Russet potatoes which aren’t usually used in potato salads because they break down easily. But since it’s that baked potato texture we’re after, it’s baking potatoes we’re using!
- The dressing in this recipe gets an extra flavor kick from a little Ranch seasoning and red wine vinegar. It’s just enough “sumpin’ sumpin'” to turn heads and make this potato salad everyone’s favorite side dish!
Ingredients & Recipe Overview
I’ll walk through an overview of ingredients & steps in these next sections along with helpful tips!
Look for specifics at the end of the post in the recipe card.
- Russet potatoes
- bacon (I like thick sliced bacon, but any kind is delicious.)
- green onions
- grated sharp cheddar cheese (Grating your own will make the best salad.)
- sour cream
- real mayonnaise
- Ranch seasoning mix
- red wine vinegar (not pictured)
- salt & black pepper
- olive oil
Recipe Substitutions
- Instead of Russet potatoes, try using red potatoes. Red potatoes aren’t used for baked potatoes so the texture will be different than a steakhouse baked potato, but the skin is thinner making for a really tasty skin-on potato salad.
- Add a little chopped celery. Also not a baked potato staple, but just a stalk or two of chopped celery does add a bit of crunch to this salad if that’s what you’re craving!
- Apple cider vinegar (1:1) or just a touch of mustard (1 teaspoon) will work in place of the red wine vinegar. Vinegar or mustard brings that perfect hint of acid/tang to the dressing. Your guests won’t know what it is that makes YOUR baked potato salad so good, but this sets the dressing & salad a part!
How To Make Easy Loaded Baked Potato Salad
Bake the potatoes. Preheat oven to 450℉. Pierce each washed potato’s skin with a fork several times. Rub with olive oil and sprinkle all over with salt. Place on a baking sheet and bake for 45 min.- 1 hour or until potatoes are fork tender. Remove from oven and set aside until cool enough to handle.
Make the dressing. Whisk sour cream, mayo, vinegar, & Ranch seasoning together in a large measuring cup. Add black pepper to taste. Cover and refrigerate while the potatoes are baking.
Prep the other ingredients. Cook bacon until crisp, then chop. Slice the green onions and grate the cheese.
Assemble the Salad. When the potatoes are cool enough to handle and won’t melt the cheese in the salad, cut the potatoes into large chunks, leaving the skin on where you can. In a large bowl, combine dressing and potatoes. Fold in chopped bacon, sliced onion and grated cheese.
Serve! Top with any extra cheese, bacon or onions, if you like. Serve warm or cover and refrigerate to serve chilled.
Tips for Making the Best Baked Potato Salad
- Let your potatoes cool before dressing them and adding the cheese so the cheese doesn’t melt.
- If you are wanting to serve your baked potato salad warm, the potatoes can be warm (but not hot) when you dress them. Just make sure to add the cheese and green onions last.
- Russet potatoes usually aren’t used for potato salads because they crumble and break down easily after being cooked. Keeping this in mind, the chunkier you cut up the potatoes in the beginning the more pieces of potato you will still have after dressing and stirring in all the ingredients.
FAQs About This Recipe
- Loaded Baked Potato Salad is perfect for making the day before. Just cover, refrigerate and serve chilled. The flavors only get better!
- You can also cook the potatoes and bacon the day before to cut prep time down to almost nothing!
- Leftovers will usually last in the refrigerator for 3-4 days, if covered tightly.
- This potato salad doesn’t freeze well because the dressing usually separates when thawed.
Did You Know?
Mayonnaise usually gets a bad wrap when it comes to potato salad going bad. But did you know that mayo isn’t the bad guy?
Most of us buy our mayonnaise from the store instead of making it from scratch. Commercial mayonnaises have been acidified to make them more shelf stable. So mayonnaise on its own is pretty low risk.
Fruits and vegetables, however, account for about half of the food borne illnesses that occur. And its the combining of the potatoes with the mayo and sitting at warm temps for more than 2 hours that can encourage the bacterias to grow. (Summer Food Safety Myths)
What to Serve with Loaded Baked Potato Salad
- Juicy Lucy Broiler Burgers
- Easy Crock Pot Boneless BBQ Chicken Thighs
- Peppered Pork Tenderloin
- Crock Pot BBQ Beef Pot Roast
More Cookout Salads to Love
If You Make This Recipe, I Can’t Wait To Hear About It!
Leave A Comment & Rating Below Or Snap A Photo To Share.
Loaded Baked Potato Salad
Ingredients
- 4 large Russet potatoes (baking size)
- olive oil & salt
- 7 slices bacon, chopped
- 1 ½ cups sour cream
- ½ cup real mayonnaise
- 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
- 2 tablespoons Ranch seasoning mix
- ground black pepper, to taste
- 2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese
- 5 green onions, sliced
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 450℉. Pierce each washed potato's skin with a fork several times. Rub with olive oil and sprinkle all over with salt. Place on a baking sheet and bake in preheated oven for 45 min.- 1 hour or until potatoes are fork tender. Remove from oven and set aside until cool enough to handle.
- While the potatoes are baking whisk together dressing, cook bacon and prepare the onions and cheese.
- To make the dressing, whisk sour cream, mayo, vinegar, Ranch mix together in a large measuring cup. Add black pepper to taste. Cover and refrigerate while the potatoes are baking.
- Cook bacon until crisp, then chop. Slice the green onions and grate the cheese.
- When you are ready to assemble the salad and potatoes are cool enough to handle and won't melt the cheese in the salad, cut the potatoes into large chunks, leaving the skin on where you can.
- In a large bowl, combine dressing and potatoes. Fold in chopped bacon, sliced onion and grated cheese. Top with any extra cheese, bacon or onions. Serve warm or cover and refrigerate to serve chilled.
Notes
- Let your potatoes cool before dressing them and adding the cheese so the cheese doesn’t melt.
- If you are wanting to serve your baked potato salad warm, the potatoes can be warm (but not hot) when you dress them. Just make sure to add the cheese and green onions last.
- Russet potatoes usually aren’t used for potato salads because they crumble and break down easily after being cooked. Keeping this in mind, the chunkier you cut up the potatoes in the beginning the more pieces of potato you will still have after dressing and stirring in all the ingredients.
Nutrition
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