This gorgeous 20-minute potato salad is PACKED with flavour and texture. Perfectly cooked potatoes are tossed with crispy bacon, an incredible Caesar dressing, crispy parmesan shards and fresh crunchy scallions. It has all the flavour of a traditional Caesar salad, in a delicious new form.
Caesar salad, but make it potato. Say hello to your new salad obsession. This is a perfect make-ahead salad that keeps well for days (and improves as the flavour develops!). Try it for your next potluck, or barbecue or just make a big batch to enjoy throughout the week.
Why you’ll love this recipe
- Quick and easy – it takes just 20 minutes to make.
- Keeps very well – so it’s perfect for picnics, barbecues, potlucks or meal prep.
- PACKED with flavour – think crispy bacon, parmesan, scallions and an incredible Caesar dressing you’ll want to drizzle on everything.
Ingredients
There aren’t many ingredients that go into this salad – nothing is hard to find and all deliver maximum flavour.
- Potatoes. I’m using baby potatoes and it’s important you use a waxy potato, rather than a starchy potato here. That’s because we need the potatoes to keep their shape after cooking. They need to be firm, but creamy inside. Red, fingerling or Jersey Royals are also good options.
- Bacon. Go for good quality, free-range streaky bacon for maximum crispiness.
- Caesar dressing. I love to make my own Caesar dressing here, but you can of course use a store-bought dressing to keep things easier if you like. If you do make the dressing (I highly recommend it!), you’ll need garlic aioli (or mayo), garlic, miso paste, parmesan cheese, Dijon mustard (or whole grain), fish sauce and black pepper. A traditional Caesar dressing uses Worcestershire sauce and anchovies, but here I’m swapping in fish sauce and miso paste, which gives a similar flavour.
How to make it
Cook your potatoes in lots of salty water over medium heat, and cook your bacon until super crispy. Mix your Caesar dressing, and make your crispy parmesan shards.
Add the cooked potatoes, crispy parmesan, crispy bacon, sliced scallions and 1/2 cup of the dressing into a large mixing bowl. Give everything a very good mix, making sure the dressing is coating all the potatoes. Pile onto a serving plate and serve with more dressing on the side.
Four things to serve the potato salad with
Got a question?
Waxy potatoes are the best to use when you’re making potato salad. They hold up well to being cooked for a longer period of time in water (starchy, fluffy potatoes will start to fall apart quickly). They also have a gorgeous, creamy texture that’s lovely when cold. New potatoes, Jersey Royals, and red or fingerling potatoes are good ones to go for.
Yes! Potato salad actually gets even better over time as the flavours in the dressing have time to absorb into the potatoes and the flavours all get to know each other. This salad will keep well for 5 days, stored in the fridge in a covered container.
This depends on whether you’re keeping your potatoes whole, or you’re chopping them into chunks. I’m keeping them whole in this recipe (and chopping any really big ones in half), so it will take 15 minutes for them to boil when whole. If your potatoes are larger, it can take 20 minutes, but just keep checking them. Once you can pierce them easily with a fork, they’re ready.
Technically, yes you can, but I wouldn’t recommend it. The texture of the salad will be quite different after freezing – it will be very mushy. If you heat it up after freezing it will be a lot more enjoyable than serving it cold, but I’d personally stay away from freezing potato salad.
As potatoes sit, the water content will continue to release from them, seeping into your salad. To combat this, if you’re making the salad ahead of time, make sure your cooked potatoes are dry and cool before mixing them with the dressing. If they’re hot, as they dry and the steam evaporates, it will turn into water and will make your dressing runny.
Like this recipe? Here are more potato ideas you might enjoy
If you make this recipe, I’d love to hear from you! You can leave me a comment below.
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Creamy Caesar Potato Salad with Bacon
- Total Time: 20 minutes
- Yield: 6 servings 1x
- Diet: Gluten Free
Description
This gorgeous 20-minute potato salad is PACKED with flavour and texture. Perfectly cooked potatoes are tossed with crispy bacon, an incredible Caesar dressing, crispy parmesan shards and fresh crunchy scallions. It has all the flavour of a traditional Caesar salad, in a delicious new form.
Ingredients
For the salad –
- 1kg (2.2lb) baby potatoes
- 2 tablespoons salt
- 6 slices of streaky bacon, finely chopped
- 3 scallions (spring onions), finely chopped
- 1/2 cup parmesan cheese, grated
For the creamy Caesar dressing –
- 1 cup aioli (or mayonnaise)
- 2 garlic cloves, crushed
- 1 tablespoon miso paste
- 1/2 tablespoon fish sauce
- 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
- 1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1/2 cup parmesan cheese, grated
Instructions
- Cook the potatoes. Chop any large potatoes in half, or into thirds, then put them all into a large pot. Cover them with cold water, then add 1 tablespoon of salt. Set the pot over high heat and bring to a boil, then turn the heat to medium and simmer the potatoes for 15 minutes, until they can be easily pierced with a fork, but are still holding together. Drain through a colander, then pop back into the now dry pot and let them cool slightly.
- Mix the Caesar dressing. Add 1 cup of aioli, 2 crushed garlic cloves, 1 tablespoon of miso paste, 1/2 tablespoon of fish sauce, 1 teaspoon of Dijon mustard, 1 tablespoon of ground black pepper and 1/2 cup of grated parmesan cheese into a mixing bowl. Use a fork to mix everything into a cohesive sauce, breaking up the miso paste with the fork as you go. Set aside.
- Cook the bacon and crispy parmesan. Heat the oven to 180C/360F fan, and line an oven tray with baking paper. Pile the other 1/2 cup of parmesan cheese into small piles on the baking paper, then pop into the oven for 10 minutes to crisp up. Remove from the oven once the cheese is looking golden and smelling gorgeous, then set aside. While the parmesan is in the oven, cook the chopped bacon in a frying pan or skillet over high heat, until super crispy. Remove from the heat and set aside.
- Assemble and serve. Add the cooked, slightly cooled potatoes to a large mixing bowl, then add the crispy bacon, crispy parmesan, scallions and 1/2 cup of the creamy dressing. Mix well with a large spoon or spatula, so every potato is well coated in the dressing. Transfer to a serving plate, then top with the curly scallions and enjoy.
Notes
INGREDIENT NOTES: Make sure you use a waxy potato, like red, fingerling or Jersey Royals when you’re making this recipe. Stay away from starchy potatoes you’d use for roasting (like Maris piper, agria or russet). Yukon gold are ok here – just watch them in the pot when they’re boiling if you do use them. You can skip making the Caesar dressing if you like and use a good store-bought brand (though I HIGHLY recommend giving it a try!)
MAKE AHEAD: Potato salad is a great make-ahead salad as it gets even better over time. This salad will keep well for 5 days, stored in a covered container in the fridge. Just make sure you’re potatoes are cool before mixing with the dressing if you’re making it ahead – if they’re still warm, they’ll continue to release water as they cool and will make your salad watery.
SERVING SUGGESTIONS: This salad is perfect for potlucks or summer barbecues and works wonderfully with roasted or grilled meat. Try it with miso grilled chicken, sticky gochujang chicken, lamb koftas, slow-roasted crispy pork belly or maple miso glazed salmon. You can also serve it as part of a salad spread alongside green goddess salad, broccoli crunch salad, grilled peach, tomato and burrata salad, smacked cucumber salad, peach and halloumi salad and sesame soba noodle salad. Or, enjoy it by itself!
- Prep Time: 5
- Cook Time: 15
- Category: salads
- Method: stove top
- Cuisine: american
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 166g
Keywords: caesar potato salad, potato salad, bacon potato salad
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