BLT potato salad;
This BLT potato salad is everything you love about a sweet and tangy potato salad but stuffed into a traditional salad with extra leafy greens and tomatoes and crispy salty bacon shards on every bite! This recipe comes straight from Salad Freak, a recipe book by Jess Damuk, Martha Stewart’s personal chef. I have to say, recipe books are recipe books, but Salad Freak was true to it’s name–it got me excited about salads!
I’m finding that the key to salads I want to eat is making sure they have an element that I’m looking forward to. Whether spiced nuts in the raspberry California salad or the insane Parmesan dill dressing in my sweet celery salad, there’s something I’m willing to shovel greens into my mouth for. In this BLT potato salad, it’s the potato salad part.
The potato salad is a simple but effective stand-in for dressing. Plus, the soft texture of the potato cuts through the crunch of lettuce and sweet popping tomato nuggets.
Potatoes are the base of your potato salad (shocking, huh?). I feel the traditional potato salad potato is red-skinned potatoes, but I prefer small baby gold potatoes. But either will do wonders in your BLT potato salad! You want to boil your potatoes until fork tender in salted water. As soon as fork-tender, strain the water and add to a bowl of cold or ice water to stop the cooking. You don’t want a mashed potato salad.
Boil your baby gold potatoes in salted water, and strain as soon as fork-tender. Don’t skip the salt in the water!
secret to success
Don’t skip the salt in the water either. Sure we’ll add some back when we assemble the full BLT potato salad but potatoes are notorious for needing lots and lots of salt to stand up to their starchy goodness.
I like to cut my potatoes into roughly 3/4”- 1” cubes, but you can halve, slice, peel, or leave in tact your potatoes. BLT potato salad is pretty forgiving to build your own adventure. Personally I like peeled potatoes (but I don’t sweat a little skin) chunked into 3/4” cubes. I find this a good size to spear with a fork and a hearty amount of lettuce, maybe a tomato, and lots of crispy bacon.
In a bowl, add all the potato salad ingredients and mix together. East right? I personally will sometimes skip the garlic as raw garlic upsets my stomach, but if you have it available to you—don’t! The garlic adds so much of the tang and flavor in this simple BLT potato salad recipe.
I highly recommend using a microplane to grate your garlic, but in a pinch you can chop it–just make sure to chop it finely.
secret to success
I highly recommend using a microplane to grate your garlic. Because it’s raw, it’s potent. So getting a fine texture helps balance the intense flavor throughout the whole salad. Worst case, you can chop it, but make sure you chop it as finely as possible to achieve the same effect. Unless you love raw garlic and don’t mind a slightly bigger chunk here and there. In that case, follow your heart!
Depending on how much you like onions, this is another place to tailor to your liking. I’m quite satisfied with just chives in mine, but the original Salad Freak recipe calls for both chives and scallions. If you like extra onions, add both to your salad. Anything that gets you excited about eating salad is a good thing.
Depending on how much you like raw onions, opt to include or skip the scallions.
secret to success
Another word to the wise: If you care about keeping your bacon crispy in this salad, then add your bacon crumbles right before serving. I find that storing the bacon in the fridge, especially when in close contact with the moisture in your veggies and potato salad. If you’re like me and don’t care, then add them in and store it that way. They get a little chewy, but they still add (albeit a different) texture, and they’re still sweet tiny gems of salty goodness. It also helps if you chop them small, which will help them blend into a cohesive bite of your BLT potato salad.
secrets to success;
Want all the best tips and tricks to make this recipe a success? Check out the blog post above to find out more!
more recipes;
Looking for other great summer recipes? Check out the wide variety of recipes shared on Best with Chocolate!
- My favorite summer potluck dessert will always be these three-ingredient lemon cake bars. They’re light and airy, and the tang of lemon and sweet cake makes for the perfect summer treat. Plus with three-ingredients, you really can’t get much simpler than that!
- For Fourth of July celebrations, my favorite Firecracker Cookie Bars pop in your mouth–literally! Decorated red, white, and blue with a pillowy sugar cookie base, icing, and festive M&Ms, add some popping rocks to really make fireworks go off in your mouth!
- Some of my other fresh summer salads include raspberry california salad with blue cheese and pecans, and sweet celery salad with an amazing creamy dill parmesan dressing.
blt potato salad;
Ingredients
blt salad;
- 1 large head green leaf lettuce (alternatively, Salad Freak recommends Little Gem lettuce)
- 1 pint cherry tomatoes halved
- 1-2 sprigs scallions (optional)
- 1 lb bacon cooked crisp
potato salad;
- 1½ pounds baby gold potatos (alternatively, use red skinned potatoes)
- ¼ cup mayonnaise
- 1 lemon zest and juice
- 2 cloves garlic
- ¼ cup fresh chives chopped
- olive oil extra virgin, preferred
- salt & pepper
Instructions
- potato salad;
- Add 1½ lbs of baby gold potatoes to a large pot and cover with water. Add 1 tsp of salt to the water and bring to a boil. Cook until potatoes are easily pierced with a fork, approx. 12 minutes.
- Once fork-tender, drain and rinse in cold water, then drain again and allow to cool in a bowl or spread out on a plate or baking sheet.
- Meanwhile, in a large bowl, add ¼ cup mayonnaise, zest from 1 lemon, juice from ½ the lemon, and grate 2 cloves of raw garlic using a microplane into the bowl. Add a splash of olive oil and season with salt and pepper to taste.
- Mix together until combined. Cut or chop chives and gently mix into the mixture. Set aside until the potatoes are done cooking and cooled.
- Once potatoes are cooled, slice or cube into roughly ¾" pieces and add to the mayonnaise mixture. Toss everything together until evenly coated and set aside.
blt salad;
- Cook bacon on the stovetop or in the oven (400°F for 12-15 minutes) until crisp, and remove to a paper-towel lined plate to drain. Once cooled, crumble or chop crispy bacon to desired side
- Wash and dry the lettuce, then tear or chop to desired size. Add to a large bowl.
- Halve or quarter your cherry tomatoes and add them to the lettuce. Optionally, thinly slice scallion whites and greens discarding the roots, if using, and add to the bowl.
- To serve immediately, add the potato salad and bacon bits, and use tongs or salad forks to toss everything together.
- To preserve freshness and crisp bacon, store salad and potato salad separately. Bacon bits often get a little chewy if stored in the fridge so best to make bacon fresh, or if you're comfortable keeping it sealed at room temperature, you can do that as well.
- Add additional salt and fresh ground pepper as desired before serving.
