Potato salad is a side dish that everyone loves. And because this potato salad is a sweet tasting potato salad, it’s one that the kids like too. Take this sweet pickle potato salad to a picnic or potluck, or serve it at your next gathering or backyard barbecue.
You might also like to try our creamy American potato salad, our decadent loaded baked potato salad or our vinegar-based German potato salad.
Ingredients needed:
- Sweet Pickles: Any size pickles will work since you’re going to chopping them.
- Red Potatoes: The best potatoes to use for potato salad are waxy potatoes like red potatoes, new potatoes or Yukon gold. Avoid using starchy Russet potatoes because they tend to fall apart when mixing.
- Sweet Pickle Juice: Save the juice from the sweet pickle jar!
- Mayonnaise: I like to use traditional full-fat mayonnaise. Light mayonnaise and Miracle Whip have different flavors, but you can certainly substitute those if that’s what you’re used to.
- Buttermilk: You only need 1/3 cup of buttermilk. If you want to make your own buttermilk (so you don’t have to buy some especially for this recipe), it’s very easy to do. Add 1 teaspoon of white vinegar or lemon juice to a measuring cup. Then pour in whole or 2% milk up to the 1/3 cup line. Let it sit for 5 to 10 minutes, and then you have homemade buttermilk!
- Dijon Mustard: This pairs nicely with the sweet flavor of the pickles and juice.
- Sugar: Just a tiny bit of sugar is added into the dressing.
- salt and freshly ground black pepper:
- Hard-Boiled Eggs: It’s easy to make your own hard-boiled eggs. Or you can purchase them already hard-boiled in your market’s egg section.
- Red Onion: If you don’t care for using raw red onion, use pickled red onions! It’s also okay to substitute chopped green onion or leave out the onion if you don’t like onion.
- Celery: This adds some great crunch to your sweet potato salad!
How to make Sweet Pickle Potato Salad:
The complete, printable recipe is in the recipe card at the end of this post. Here’s a brief overview.
- Cook the potatoes until tender. Drain the potatoes and then transfer them to a bowl and drizzle pickle juice over the warm potatoes. Let them cool.
- Whisk together the potato salad dressing in a bowl. Pour it over the cooled potatoes. Add the eggs, onion, celery and pickles. Toss gently. Season wiht salt. Refrigerate.
Recipe Tips and Substitutions:
- Always start cooking potatoes by placing them in cold water (for even cooking.)
- Don’t care for sweet pickles? Try making the same recipe using dill pickle and dill pickle juice to create dill pickle potato salad.
- Try adding a little chopped cooked bacon.
- Swap out yellow mustard for the Dijon mustard.
- Use half yogurt and half mayonnaise.
What You’ll Love About Sweet Pickle Potato Salad:
- If you’re a lover of potato salad, you’ll love this one too.
- It’s a crowd favorite!
- It’s a great, sweet flavored potato salad.
Make Ahead and Storage Tips:
- It’s okay to make sweet pickle potato salad one day ahead of serving.
- If you’re setting your potato salad out at a party, you need to note how long it sits out since it’s a mayo-based potato salad. Let it sit at room temperature for up to two hours before putting it back into the refrigerator. If it’s a hot day, play it safe and keep it out for only one hour.
- Leftovers of potato salad may be kept in a covered container in the refrigerator for 4 to 5 days.
- Don’t freeze potato salad!
August 19th is National Potato Day! You must celebrate by eating potatoes any way you enjoy them. I suggest making potato pancakes, French fries, baked potatoes, or this Sweet Pickle Potato Salad!
Fun Facts About Potatoes:
- The potato is about 80% water and 20% solids.
- The average American eats about 124 pounds of potatoes per year while Germans eat about twice as much.
- Thomas Jefferson gets the credit for introducing “french fries” to America when he served them at a White House dinner.
- In October 1995, the potato became the first vegetable to be grown in space. NASA and the University of Wisconsin, Madison, created the technology with the goal of feeding astronauts on long space voyages, and eventually, feeding future space colonies.
- Sweet potatoes belong to the morning glory family. They are not related to the traditional potato.
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Add the potatoes to a large pot of cold salted water, and bring to a boil. Cook just until tender (about 10 minutes). Drain the potatoes, and then transfer them to a large bowl. Drizzle pickle juice over the warm potatoes and toss gently. Let them cool to room temperature.
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In a medium bowl, whisk together the mayonnaise, buttermilk, mustard, sugar and pepper. Pour this mixture over the cooled potatoes. Add the eggs, onion, celery and pickles, and toss gently to blend. Season to taste with salt. Cover and refrigerate (can be made up to 8 hours ahead).
Serving: 1serving, Calories: 336kcal, Carbohydrates: 37g, Protein: 7g, Fat: 18g, Saturated Fat: 3g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 10g, Monounsaturated Fat: 4g, Trans Fat: 0.04g, Cholesterol: 80mg, Sodium: 390mg, Potassium: 990mg, Fiber: 4g, Sugar: 6g, Vitamin A: 246IU, Vitamin C: 18mg, Calcium: 55mg, Iron: 2mg
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.