This easy potato salad is packed with fresh dill, dijon and whole grain mustards, and coated in creamy buttermilk dressing! It’s the perfect make-ahead side for picnics and potlucks and is best served cold.
I can’t even remember how many times I’ve made this recipe. It’s so simple, always a crowd-pleaser, and the ingredients go together perfectly. Best of all: I use a secret trick when making this ahead of time to make sure the potato salad never dries out!
The dressing is a simple mixture of mayo, buttermilk, plenty of fresh dill, and dijon and whole grain mustards. The base of the salad is nothing more than potatoes, celery, and onion. It’s easy to make and perfect for your next picnic, grill-out, or Fourth of July celebration, and is best served cold.
In this post I’ll talk about how to make this potato salad, how to make sure the potato salad doesn’t dry out, how to make sure it’s seasoned perfectly and never bland.
How to make this Dill Potato Salad recipe
The first thing you’ll do when making this dill potato salad boil some whole red potatoes. They’re done when you can pierce them very easily with a knife.
Next thing you’ll do is whip up a DELICIOUS dressing in the bottom of a large bowl. It includes buttermilk, mayonnaise, dijon mustard, whole grain mustard, and lots of fresh dill, along with some salt and pepper.
Then, and this is important, reserve half of the dressing in a small bowl for later. Cover it and put it in your fridge.
Once the potatoes are done cooking, let them cool for a bit until you can handle them without burning yourself. Cut them into approximately 1-inch pieces (mine were small enough that I cut them in half, then cut the halves in half or quarters, depending on how big it was to begin with).
Chop up some celery and red onion, too.
Then, add the potatoes, celery, and onions to the bowl with half of the dressing and stir to coat. Cover, and put in your refrigerator for at least an hour until it’s completely cool.
How to make sure the potato salad doesn’t dry out
I don’t know about you, but I’ve eaten, and cooked, some dryyyyy potato salad in my life.
Here’s what happens. When the potatoes are added warm to the dressing, they absorb a lot of the dressing as they cool. Then, when you go to serve the potato salad, it’s dry as a bone, even if it’s still flavorful.
So here’s the trick- just before you are ready to serve, mix the reserved dressing into the potato salad!
Woo hoo! Now every bite is coated in a generous amount of this delicious buttermilk, dill, and mustard dressing.
How to make sure the potato salad isn’t bland
It’s easy to make potato salad that’s bland. That’s because potatoes need a LOT of seasoning to not taste bland or too “potato-ey,” for lack of a better word.
You need a LOT of salt, and you need to add it to the ingredients twice.
First, heavily salt the water in which you boil the potatoes. And I mean heavily. I added about 2 tablespoons of kosher salt to the water, same as I would when making a traditional pasta with bolognese sauce.
As the potatoes cook, they will absorb the salty water, making sure they’re flavored from the inside out.
Second, make sure you add enough salt to the dressing. Taste it and adjust before mixing in the other ingredients!
What to serve with this potato salad
- Two-Ingredient Crispy Oven Baked BBQ Chicken
- Grilled Chicken Skewers with Sweet Pepper Relish
- Salmon Burgers
- Quinoa, Mushroom, and Zucchini Veggie Burgers
- Instant Pot Pulled Pork
Did you make this Dill Potato Salad with Mustard and Buttermilk Dressing? Please comment below and Rate this Recipe!
Dill Potato Salad with Mustard and Buttermilk Dressing
Ingredients
- 3 lbs. red potatoes
- 3/4 cup mayonnaise
- 1/3 cup buttermilk see notes for substitute
- 1/4 cup fresh dill roughly chopped
- 1 tablespoon dijon mustard
- 1 tablespoon whole grain mustard
- kosher salt
- black pepper
- 2 ribs celery diced
- 1/2 cup red onion diced
- Green onions for garnish optional
Instructions
- Place the potatoes in a large pot and cover with water. Add a generous amount of kosher salt (about 2 tablespoons) and bring to a boil. Turn the heat down and simmer until tender (pierce with a fork to check doneness, about 30 minutes). Strain, and allow to cool until you can handle them.
- Meanwhile, whisk together mayo (3/4 cup), buttermilk (1/3 cup), fresh chopped dill (1/4 cup), dijon mustard (1 tablespoon), whole grain mustard (1 tablespoon), and kosher salt and black pepper to taste in the bottom of a large bowl.
- Set aside about half of the dressing in a small bowl or container. Cover and refrigerate.
- When potatoes are cool enough to handle (after about 10 minutes), cut them into approximately 1-inch pieces. Add them to the dressing along with the 2 ribs diced celery and 1/2 cup red onions.
- Refrigerate for at least an hour before serving (or overnight). Just before serving, mix the remaining dressing into the potato salad. Garnish with green onions, if desired.
Notes
- Money Saving Tip: baby red potatoes are more expensive than large red potatoes. Baby will cook faster, but larger red potatoes will be cheaper.
- If you don't have buttermilk, you can mix 1 cup of milk with 2 tablespoons of vinegar. Plain yogurt can also be used. Tip: this works in almost all recipes that require buttermilk, like pancakes.
- To make this Dairy-free and Whole30/Paleo compliant, omit the buttermilk and add more mayo with a bit of vinegar or lemon juice, or even pickle juice for added acidity.
- The provided nutrition information does not include any added sodium from seasoning to taste, any optional ingredients, and it does not take brands into account. Feel free to calculate it yourself using this calculator or by adding the recipe to Yummly.
Nutrition
Nutrition Information Disclaimer
The provided nutrition information is my best estimate and reflects one serving of the recipe (total servings indicated at top of recipe card). It does not include any added sodium from seasoning to taste, any optional ingredients, and it does not take brands into account. I use an automatic API to calculate this information. Feel free to calculate it yourself using one of these tools:
This Dill Potato Salad with Mustard Buttermilk Dressing Recipe first appeared on Bowl of Delicious in June 2016. It has been updated with new photos, clearer instructions, tips, tricks, and process shots.
Shawn
Really easy and foolproof!
No eggs to hard boil and the dill makes it so tasty!
Thanks
Elizabeth Lindemann
So glad you liked it!
Hannah
This is very yummy!
I added a splash of pickle juice and instead of whole grain I used stone ground mustard. And freeze dried Dill worked great too!
Elizabeth Lindemann
So glad you liked it! Love the idea of adding pickle juice.
kailey
Salad was delicious! I’m not a big dill lover but fresh dill in this salad is perfect!
Elizabeth Lindemann
So glad you liked it!
Elizabeth Martucci
it was so good my girl friend wants the recipe she also loved it to now i have to make more thank you
Elizabeth Lindemann
So glad you and your girlfriend like it!
Suzanne K Valadez
YUM!!! Absolutely yummiest dressing, and what a great idea to save half for just before serving! Love, love, love the fresh dill. My husband suggested next time to add pickle relish, but I’m happy the way it is. This is a keeper recipe! Thank you!
Elizabeth Lindemann
So glad you liked it!
Kevin
Simply Fantastic!!! Creamy and so good. I added half of the dressing before serving and that was key. I made 20 pounds for a church dinner and people just loved it – thanks for sharing the recipe.
Elizabeth Lindemann
So glad you liked it!
Linda Migura
Talk about delicious! and I even forgot to salt at the beginning. I did peel my potatoes. I also made your Two Ingredient Oven Barbecued Chicken – it was delicious as well. Thanks for such great recipes.
Elizabeth Lindemann
Thanks so much! So glad you liked this and the BBQ chicken recipe. Sounds like a delicious meal :-)
Judy
Just made this…..absolutely delicious! The fresh dill is perfect. Thank you!
Elizabeth Lindemann
Yay! So glad you liked it.
Carl Timberman
Your recipes are good.C
Elizabeth Lindemann
Thanks so much! So kind of you to say.
Jocelyn Wilson
Oh boy, you were right about this recipe. My mother used to make potato salad with buttermilk & sour cream and it was lovely. But this is better. I used Bodega Red potatoes & dill grown in my garden. I used shallots instead of red onion.
Elizabeth
So happy you liked it! I’m actually going to be making this tomorrow for a bbq we’re having this weekend. The dill from my garden is bolted and totally done now (it’s HOT here in TX!) so I’ll have to settle for store bought. Thanks for the comment!
Lisa Crace
Yummy. I needed to use up some leftover buttermilk. I severed it as a side with BLTs. I didn’t have fresh dill so I substituted dry dill. I used less than what the recipe called for. It was still delicious.
Elizabeth Lindemann
So glad you liked it! That’s a great way to use up leftover buttermilk. Thanks for sharing your experience with dried dill!