Ways to Make Potato Salad Better Using Things You Have in Your Kitchen

Roast or grill your potatoes instead of boiling them.

One easy way to elevate your potato salad is to roast the potatoes instead of boiling them. This will make your potatoes crispy and add an interesting texture to the dish.

Plus, by roasting your potatoes with seasonings like garlic salt, cayenne pepper, or onion powder, you’re locking in extra flavor.

Or, take a leaf out of some celebrity chefs’ books, and grill your potatoes first: Guy Fieri and Aarón Sánchez swear by this method.

You can also use sweet potatoes for a different taste.

You can use sweet potatoes instead of red or golden potatoes. This will make your potato salad taste slightly sweeter, and mixes well with additions like a little brown sugar.

You can also go the spicier or more savory route, depending on which seasonings you choose.

Celebrity chef Geoffrey Zakarian grills sweet potatoes for his recipe.

A splash of vinegar adds much-needed tang to potato salad.

Vinegar is a common addition in potato salads, but many forget to include it. You can use any kind of vinegar you want, depending on the flavor profile of the dish — apple cider vinegar, white vinegar, red wine vinegar, or even some balsamic vinegar.

Martha Stewart uses white wine vinegar in her six-ingredient recipe, while Alton Brown and Bobby Flay prefer apple cider vinegar.

Be sure not to use too much, however. Potato salads only call for a splash of vinegar to achieve the desired level of tang.

Sour cream elevates a traditional mayonnaise-based salad.

When making potato salad, a base of two-parts mayonnaise, one-part sour cream ensures the dish will have the right balance of sour tang and creaminess.

Thousand Island dressing adds a creamy, tangy flavor.

Instead of sour cream, you can also add a dollop or two of Thousand Island dressing to give tons of zesty flavor to your potato salad.

Blue cheese is another great addition.

Blue cheese crumbles can seriously elevate the flavor profile of your potato salad while adding extra creaminess, like in this bacon, blue cheese potato salad.

Bacon goes well in everything, and especially potato salad.

To add a salty, slightly fatty — but delicious — taste to potato salad, fry up some bacon and chop it up along with any other vegetables you want to add.

Pickles make a crunchy, sour addition.

Finely chopped up pickles add a sour, crunchy taste to classic potato salads, and mix well with dill and other vegetables.

Green and red onion are classic additions, but they are important to making potato salad the best it can be.

Red and green onion add much-needed flavor and crunch to potato salad — they’re typical ingredients for a reason.

Some celebrity chefs add garlic to their potato salads.

“Iron Chef” host Alton Brown adds garlic to his potato salad, in addition to other interesting ingredients like sliced cornichons.

Dill is another more classic addition that’s a must-have in many potato salad recipes.

Dill adds a herbaceous, fragrant, and fresh flavor to potato salad, and mixes well with other ingredients.

Potato chips add a crunchy texture.

If you’re looking to up the ante of your potato salad, consider sprinkling some potato chips or potato chip crumbs onto your potatoes. This will add some delicious crunch and, depending on the flavor of chip you choose, tons of flavor as well.

Barbecue, sour cream and onion, and even sea salt and vinegar chips can greatly enhance this classic dish and add a surprising texture.

Chipotle in adobo also brings up the heat.

Chipotle in adobo sauce is a great addition for a spicy potato salad.

To add, simply blend one or two peppers and a spoonful of sauce, to taste, with your mayonnaise, sour cream, and vinegar in a food processor.