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Southern Deviled Egg Potato Salad is one of the dreamiest, tastiest side dishes around! It combines all the flavors of deviled eggs with red onion, pickles and tender potatoes to create a fluffy, tangy salad that’s perfect for cookouts, potlucks, tailgates, even holidays!

Love potato salads? Try my Loaded Baked Potato Salad & Creamy Dill Potato Salad!

A small bowl of southern potato salad made with hard boiled eggs using many of the same ingredients as deviled eggs to create a fluffy, flavorful potato salad side dish.

Let’s talk about the #1 cookout side dish of all time- potato salad. There are lots of variations, styles and kinds, but this classic family potato salad recipe makes the most light and fluffy potatoes this side of the Mississippi.

My grandmother made her potato salad this way. True Southern style.

-Leilani

The layers of flavor start while the potatoes are still warm by mixing in a little butter, salt, pepper and plenty of red onion. Then we load it up pickle relish, chopped eggs and a simple mayo based dressing that includes a touch of tangy mustard. No sir, this salad’s not short on flavor or crunch!

A serving bowl filled with yellow potato salad, topped with paprika, chopped chives and sliced boiled eggs as an eye catching serving idea

Why Deviled Egg Potato Salad?
What To Know Before Getting Started
How to Make Deviled Egg Potato Salad
Looking for More Delicious Cookout Salad Recipes?

Why Deviled Egg Potato Salad?

Deviled eggs and a basic potato salad contain many of the same ingredients. So combining the two to create one amazing cookout dish? Pure genius! Not only that, but this is a traditional southern recipe.

So you most likely you’ve had it before, even though it might have been called something different, like Southern Potato Salad or Mustard Potato Salad. Or in the case of my childhood, just potato salad. Because it was the real stuff. Everything else warranted a name.

What To Know Before Getting Started

Ingredients for deviled egg potato salad measured and shown to give a visual of what is needed to make this cookout side dish.

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.

These simple ingredients are ones we all keep on hand. And you know what that means. You don’t need a special occasion; you can whip up delicious potato salad anytime you feel like it!

medium Idaho potatoes (or russet potatoes- I think these are the best potatoes for creating that perfect fluffy texture after cooking and all the mixing needed for potato salad.)
real butter
red onion
sweet pickle relish
hard-boiled eggs (I use large eggs.)
mayonnaise
mustard (yellow or dijon- I prefer yellow mustard for that old school taste.)
salt and pepper
paprika for garnish

Of course, you can always add celery or diced pimentos or substitute green onions for the red or dill pickles for the sweet relish, if you like.

How to Make Deviled Egg Potato Salad

The 4 basic steps to making deviled egg potato salad.

Boil the Eggs. Hard boil the eggs, this means cooking them in boiling water for 10-12 minutes. Remove them from the water and let them sit in an ice water bath (ice + cold water) until cool. The ice bath makes it easy to peel the eggs cleanly. Then just peel & rough chop the eggs and set aside.

Boil the Potatoes. While the eggs are boiling and cooling in their ice bath, it’s time to get started on the potatoes. Peeled, quartered, and in a large pot, the potatoes should boil in generously salted water (about 2-3 tablespoons) over high heat until they are fork tender.

After the potatoes have drained, but are still warm, add them back to hot pot you boiled them in. Then add butter, pepper, onion and mix with a fork. The potatoes will begin to break down as you stir (and continue to do so the more you mix in the next steps), but the potatoes will not be smooth.

FAMILY TIP: My mom uses a hand mixer for this step. Her potato salad is always light and fluffy, almost like a whipped potato salad. So depending on your desired texture, use a fork (chunkier) or mixer (whipped) for this step.

Pro tip to make the best deviled egg potato salad.

A serving of old fashioned deviled egg potato salad, a southern potato salad recipe, to show actual texture of the finished recipe.

Make the dressing. This simple dressing is mainly mayo with a touch of mustard. You could just add them separately to the salad, but combining them beforehand makes it easier to make sure the dressing is mixed evenly throughout the salad.

Your fluffy potato salad will take on a light yellow color because of the mustard in the dressing. And the vinegar in both the mustard and the pickle relish round out the flavors in this cookout salad nicely.

Combine all the good stuff. Now it’s time to fold in the eggs and the pickles. And that’s it! Now, it’s time to let your salad chill in the fridge and become insanely delicious!

A serving bowl filled with traditional southern potato salad, chives, serving spoon and a blue dinner napkin as a cookout side dish idea.

So there you have it! The #1 cookout side dish. Easy, delicious, wonderfully dreamy with just a bit of crunch. But the best part? This Southern Deviled Egg Potato Salad recipe makes enough for sharing. And after all, the joy of having a meal with others is what really good cooking is all about!

Looking for More Delicious Cookout Salad Recipes?

a collage of summer salads you need for every cookout or BBQ you attend this summer.

Made this tonight – a double batch – for Easter tomorrow and it’s fabulous! I can’t wait to taste it after it’s chilled! Home run, friend!!!!

-Kristen