Summer Cookout Essential: Loaded Potato Salad

This past weekend J-Man’s travel basketball team had a big cookout and each family was asked to bring a side.  Now, I thought pretty hard about what to bring. Should I take pasta salad?  A fruit tray?  Perhaps veggies and dip.  But when I started thinking about the one thing that a cookout is not complete without, I knew I had to take potato salad.  But this led to another question.  How could I make my potato salad super?  I didn’t want it to just be the same old thing that you always see – I wanted it to be fantastic.   So, I thought about how I personally like me baked potatoes – fully loaded!  And then I searched for a way to transform that into a potato salad.  Now, the key to this potato salad was lots of fresh ingredients and a little bit of bacon grease (don’t run off yet – it’s not much and it really makes in amazing)!  And even the hubs (who is not a potato salad fan) gobbled it up!  Here’s how you can make it too!

What You Will Need

8 Medium Russet Potatoes

1 Package of Low Sodium Bacon

Fresh Chives

1 Large Red Onion

1 Block of Gouda Cheese

1 Cup of Low Fat Mayonnaise

1 Tablespoon of Spicy Mustard

2 Teaspoons of Sugar

1/2 Teaspoon of Salt

How to Make It

Start by scrubbing and cubing your uncooked potatoes.  I like to leave the skin on mine to give my potato salad more color and texture but you can ceratinly peel them if you would like.  If you do choose to leave the skin on, be sure to scrub them well prior to boiling.  Add your potato cubes to a large pot and cover them with water.  Salt them well and bring the water to a boil.  Continue to boil them for 12 to 15 minutes or until the are soft.

Once your potatoes are done, remove them from the heat and rinse them in a colander using cold water.  Then place your potatoes in a container and refrigerate them for at least 6 hours (I prefer overnight).  Cooling them prior to mixing your potato salad will help them keep their shape instead of mashing up.  After your potatoes are cool, you’re ready to add your toppings!  Fry your pack of bacon in a frying pan and then set it aside to cool.  Retain 1 and 1/2 tablespoons of the bacon grease for later.  Dice your red onion and chives and shred your Gouda Cheese.  Mix them all together and crumble in your cooled bacon.

Add in your cool potatoes and set aside.  Now, add your bacon grease back to a sauce pan and mix in your mayonnaise, mustard, sugar and salt.  Heat them just enough to combine them all and get a thick liquid consistency (this makes it so much easier to get your sauce to coat your potato salad instead of creating chunks).

Pour your mixture over your potatoes and toppings and gently mix it all together.  Now, you will think this is not nearly enough sauce at first but don’t worry!  It spreads well and coats your mixture.  Adding more will make it too heavy.  Once your sauce it well mixed, refrigerate your potato salad for at least 3 hours.  Right before you are ready to serve it, sprinkle a few chives over the top and you’re ready to go!

I am willing to bet that this will quickly become a cookout favorite in your house!  The mixture of flavors and light taste of the potato salad makes it the perfect side for any summer time celebration!

Enjoy!